When you read the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke, it’s actually quite amazing what the people in that story went through. If we stopped and tried to imagine what we would have thought, felt and done if something like that happened to us – I think we would understand how loving and loyal those people were. Today, we’re going to look at some of the things Joseph went through around Jesus’ birth.
Matthew 1: 18 – 25 NLT
“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.”
Joseph was in a very difficult situation. He was known as a righteous man. I assume he was known to go to the synagogue, and practice all the rituals and requirements at the time. He was a carpenter by trade, and was currently engaged to be married. So he was likely working on getting his home built. Many people in that day, and even still today in the Middle East, build on to the parental home when a son gets married. Whatever his plans were, we don’t know, but he would be getting ready for the wedding and life after. Then he starts hearing all the gossip around town that Mary is pregnant. Stop for a moment and think about what Joseph was thinking and feeling, You are a good person, widely respected – and your financee is pregnant, and you know it’s not yours???
It shows you just what a wonderful man Joseph was when it says “he did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly”. Honestly, would that be your reaction if that situation happened to you? Would you be gracious and kind, or would you make sure everyone knew that baby wasn’t yours and Mary must be a “s?s?” to have done something like that?
But Joseph is also a sincere follower of God. He actually believed what he heard and saw in a dream. He married his financee and didn’t have sexual relations with her until after the baby was born. I’m sure he was the talk of the town. People would have lots to say about a man who obviously got his girlfriend pregnant. I’m not sure if people would have believed him if he talked about the dream he had. Would you believe it if someone told you that story? Life for Joseph would have been difficult.
And life’s difficulties didn’t stop there when he married Mary. The Roman Empire decided to take a census of all the inhabitants of the empire, and they had to travel back to the place where your family first lived. Joseph had to take Mary from Nazareth back to Bethlehem (174 kilometers) – and she was 9 months pregnant. And they didn’t have a car, bus, or train! hink of how patient Joseph would have to be on that trip. Nativity scenes often show Mary sitting on a donkey. Was Joseph wealthy enough to own a donkey? How much did they walk – and how slow with a pregnant woman?
And then she gave birth in some kind of animal shelter because there was no room in any place in town. Your wife is in labour, and you have no place to stay. You’re not in home-town; you’re in a strange town. And there are also lots of people crowding into town because of the census. Again, just stop and think how you would have reacted if something like that happened to you.
After Jesus’ birth – sometime in the first 2 years – Joseph had to take his family and escape to Egypt. King Herod was going crazy after the wisemen said there was another ruler somewhere. That “ruler” needed to be killed. So all the boys under the age of 2 were being slaughtered. Joseph loved his family, but heading to a foreign country wouldn’t be easy. Where would you get a job and place to stay? They had to stay in Egypt until Herod finally died before they could return to Nazareth and family.
If you got involved in some difficult situation today, would you stick it out and be a person your family could depend upon? Did Joseph ever think down deep that all this horrendous stuff wasn’t his fault? Did he ever wish his life could have been as calm as his friends? Did he ever wonder if God really cared because everything was so difficult?
Yet, Joseph did stay with his family. We read about him taking the family to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover when Jesus was twelve. He even had to circle back to Jerusalem when he discovered his son was missing from the group travelling home. There he found Jesus in the Temple talking with the temple teachers. Again, how would you have reacted as a dad in that situation?
In our culture today, marriage and family life tends to focus on how much it feels good to you. If it’s too hard, if you have to make too many sacrifices, then get a divorce. But God asks us to cherish family. Keep it together.
Our song for today is You’re A Good Good Father by Chris Tomlinhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqybaIesbuA