The Five Words of Christmas: Guidance

Luke 1:22-2:52

Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
December 12, 2021

“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 1:19-20

I’m curious, if you were given the opportunity to meet any person in the first Christmas story, who would you choose? This would be a difficult task for me. There are so many fascinating people:

Herod–That wicked old toad squatting on the throne of Israel, insanely jealous lest a baby steal his glory.

The Magi–The Wise Men from the East. Who were they? Where did they come from? Were they astrologers? How did they know about the Star?

The Innkeeper–We can see him in our mind’s eye. A good man, harried, frustrated to turn away business. Did he ever discover who he turned away?

The Shepherds–Here’s something you probably didn’t know. Nearly all the shepherds in modern Israel are teenagers– many of them girls. There is every reason to think that the shepherds were not the old men of tradition but teenagers who were 15 or 16 years old.

There are so many others. Anna the prophetess. Simeon who took the baby Jesus in his arms and blessed his parents.

And then there is Mary. Luke wrote his story about her. Wouldn’t you like to meet the mother of Jesus? I’d wager a guess that many of us would like to meet Mary.

But there’s someone else that perhaps would be equally intriguing to meet. He is the forgotten man of Christmas. Matthew wrote his story about him. His name is Joseph. He is the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. He’s the person from the first Christmas story that many of us would most like to meet.

Theologians call Joseph “the forgotten man of Christmas,” and that’s not an exaggeration. Not much is said about him in the Bible. Not many sermons are preached about him. As a matter of fact, there’s just not much written about Joseph at all.

If you flipped through our hymnal, you’ll discover there are very few times that his name is mentioned.

–Mary is mentioned by name 7 times.

–Joseph is never mentioned–not even one time.

In the great hymn “Angels We Have Heard on High,” there is a verse that mentions him– ”See within a manger laid, Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth! Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, sing with us Messiah’s birth.” Some hymnals omit that verse, which means that Joseph is left out completely.

Let me briefly list for you the things we know about Joseph:

–His father was Jacob.

–His family hometown was Bethlehem in Judea but he lived in Nazareth in Galilee. That meant that Joseph and Mary had to travel about 95 miles in the dead of winter in order to register for the census.

–He is from the royal line of David. The genealogy in Matthew 1 makes that clear.

–He was a carpenter by trade.

–He was a poor man. We know that because when he and Mary presented Jesus in the Temple, they brought a turtledove to sacrifice. Jews only did that when they could not afford a lamb.

–He was a religious man, a devout keeper of the Law, a fact we will observe more closely in just a moment.

–How old was Joseph? We don’t know the answer for sure, but most writers agree that he was a young man and probably a teenager. If we said 17 years old, we would probably be about right.

What do we know about Joseph?

I. JOSEPH WAS PLEDGED TO BE MARRIED

Matthew tells Joseph’s story this way:

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)

What our version calls “pledged to be married,” the older versions call “betrothed.” It refers to an ancient Jewish marriage custom. In those days most marriages were arranged by the parents–with or without the children’s approval. The two sets of parents would meet and draw up a formal marriage contract. When the contract was signed, the man and woman were legally “pledged” to each other. This period of betrothal would last up to a year, at the end of which period they were formally married in a public wedding ceremony.

Then the story gets interesting: now Mary turns up pregnant. Joseph only knows one thing for sure. He’s not the father.

What words describe a man at a time like this? Anger … Confusion … Frustration … Embarrassment … Shame … Rage … Disappointment.

What did he say to her? What did she say to him? Did she tell him about the angel Gabriel? If she did, can you blame him for not believing her?

Did he say to her, “Mary, how could you? You were pledged to me. We were going to get married. I was going to build a little house for us in Nazareth. Mary, Mary, how could you do this? Why, Mary, why? I kept myself for you. Why couldn’t you keep yourself for me?”

Perhaps Joseph cried harder that day than he had ever cried in his life.

II. JOSEPH EXPERIENCED A TEENAGER’S DILEMMA

Put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. You’re a teenager in love and suddenly your girlfriend turns up pregnant. You aren’t the father but you don’t know who is. What do you do? If you’re a typical American teenager, you give her $200 to go get an abortion. It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s cheap, and just like that, you can make the problem go away. A half-million teenage girls take that option every year. It’s the preferred solution for what people call an “unwanted pregnancy.”

Providentially, Joseph and Mary didn’t have that option. Abortion was very rare in ancient Israel and Planned Parenthood hadn’t opened up a clinic in Nazareth yet.

Joseph’s dilemma was of a different variety. He was an observant Jew and under the Law he had the right to divorce Mary for unfaithfulness. In fact, the Law forbade him to marry her under those circumstances.

Here is the greatness of Joseph. HE LOVED HER EVEN THOUGH HE THOUGHT SHE HAD BEEN UNFAITHFUL TO HIM. HIS LOVE COVERED HER SHAME.

This is how the Bible puts it:

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man (that means he wanted to do what was right in the eyes of God) and did not want to expose her to public disgrace (that means that he although he thought she had been unfaithful, he still didn’t want to humiliate her), he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

We read that every step along the way, God used the angel to speak to Joseph and guide him in the direction that he should go.

The angel says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (21)

The angel explains just enough and nothing more. The baby is “from the Holy Spirit” and thus not of man. Nothing more is said. We are not told precisely how the virginal conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary took place. It remains one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. After 2000 years of debate, we know nothing more about it than Joseph did.

The angel added a detail about who this baby will be. His name is Jesus, which means “Savior.” His mission is to save his people from their sins.

That’s all. It’s not a long message. But it is enough.

III. JOSEPH’S FINEST HOUR

Verses 24-25 are insufficiently celebrated as great Christmas verses. They reveal Joseph’s finest qualities:

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she had given birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Every step he takes testifies to his greatness:

1. By marrying her quickly he broke all Jewish custom, but he protected Mary’s reputation. She was pregnant and he wasn’t the father but he married her anyway.

2. By keeping her a virgin until Jesus was born, he protected the miracle of Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit against slander by unbelievers.

3. By naming the baby he exercised a father’s prerogative and thus officially took him into his family as his own legal son.

I think we would enjoy meeting Joseph. He strikes us as a very good man.

IV. JOSEPH WAS TOUGH AND TENDER

We give more attention to Mary and rightly so. But Joseph deserves his credit, too. He is a model of the man of faith, struggling with his doubts, persuaded to believe what God has said and ultimately acting upon his persuasion.

In these days of confusion, Joseph is a wonderful model of what a godly man looks like:

He was tough when he could have been weak.

He was tender when he could have been harsh.

He was thoughtful when he could have been hasty.

He was trusting when he could have doubted.

He was temperate when he could have indulged himself.

I pause to ask this question. Men, could we use those same words to describe your life?

–Are you tough-minded, determined to do what is right no matter what it costs?

–Are you tender with your loved ones?

–Are you thoughtful, taking your time to make important decisions, or are you quick to jump to conclusions and quick to say things you later regret?

–Are you trusting even when you think you could figure out a better way to do things?

–Are you temperate and considerate of your loved ones and their special needs, or do you pressure your loved ones to perform up to your standard of perfection?

There is one other line of proof about the kind of man Joseph was. When Jesus grew up and began his ministry, he chose one word above all others to describe what God is like. He called him Father.

Where did Jesus learn about fathers? From Joseph. Consider this fact: the way your children respond to God depends largely on the kind of father you are. You teach them something about God every day–just by the way you live in front of them.

Now, the so what moment? How does the story of Joseph speak to me where I live, how does it inform what I am facing today?

The same guidance and revelation that Joseph received is available to you today.

When we feel panic because we’re not sure of the next step, remembering how God dealt with Joseph can be reassuring to us. Throughout this story, God warned and directed Joseph step by step. The Bible says God still shares insights with those who walk with Him.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13).

God directs our path.

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (Pro. 16:9).

God’s ways can often baffle us. If we’d been directing the events of the first Christmas, we would have preempted the tension and misunderstanding between Mary and Joseph by sending the angel to Joseph before he met with Mary. We would have warned him about their need to flee before the middle of the night they had to leave. But God’s ways are not our ways—they are better (Is. 55:9). And so is His timing. God sent Joseph the direction he needed when he needed it, not before. He’ll do the same for me and for you. The third word of Christmas is Guidance.