This is a third of six sermons on the characters of Christmas by the Reverend John W. Howe of True Old Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. This sermon is entitled Joseph, and the scripture reference is Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25. We've been studying during this Advent season some of the characters who surround the Christmas story. And last week, for instance, we looked at John the Baptizer, and we saw four little vignettes in his life. This morning we come to Joseph, and interestingly enough, we really only have three vignettes or glimpses into his life and the way that he impacted the whole story that is before us.

Joseph, it appears, was a resident of Bethlehem, which is just down the road from Jerusalem, about six miles out of town. It was and is a little town and a place that was not particularly important until he came and had some very exciting things happen in his life and the life of his family. He had moved, though, from Bethlehem up to the northern part of the country, up to the area around the Galilee and specifically to a place called Nazareth.

We're not sure why he had done that. Perhaps because conditions in Judea were tough. Herod was king.

Things weren't very pleasant under Herod. Perhaps there were economic problems. We really don't know.

Maybe it was because the woodland up in the area around Nazareth was much better for someone to ply the trade of a carpenter. But anyway, that's where Joseph lived, being a resident originally of Bethlehem. He was a descendant many generations removed from King David, and therefore of royal lineage.

although his own beginnings were very humble indeed. There's a lot of speculation about Joseph. Some would say that he was an old man when we meet him, betrothed to a rather young girl.

Some would even go so far as to say that he was married previously and had been widowed. And some have even speculated that he may have had children by another marriage. We really don't know any of those details.

That's strictly speculation. We meet him on the very first page of the New Testament. in the passage that I just read to you.

We find him betrothed to Mary, who also, interestingly enough, was a very distant relative of King David. Now betrothal in those days, and for the Jews, was something much more formal and much more binding than our contemporary engagement time. It lasted at least a year, a year of formal betrothal to each other and preparation for the wedding.

But during that time, even though the wedding had yet to take place, they were called husband and wife. And it was virtually as binding as the marriage itself. The only way out was by a formal bill of divorcement or by death.

Once you had entered into such a covenant relationship, you came under all of the laws of the Leverite marriage. You were subject, for instance, to the penalties for adultery, should that happen. Should your partner die, even before the wedding takes place, you were considered widowed.

So it's a very binding thing indeed. In the midst of all this, Mary comes to Joseph with the wonderful news that she's pregnant. By Jewish law, a capital offense.

By anybody's standards, a scandal, particularly in those days. Had Joseph wished to do so, he could have brought all of the authority of government and church down upon her. Could have made it a public scandal.

But we read that he was a just man, and he didn't want to do that. He wanted to spare her, spare her and her family, spare himself for that matter. the shame and the disgrace.

To make matters worse, she comes and tells him she's not only pregnant, but she's still a virgin. And the child inside of her womb has been put there by the Spirit of God. And so he's got not only scandal, moral disrepute to deal with, but she justifies all this with an explanation that borders on madness.

No way is Joseph going to accept this story of angels and visitations and immaculate conceptions. Put her away quietly. And then we read that in the midst of his anguish and confusion and disappointment, Joseph has a dream one night, and in it, an angel comes and confirms Mary's story.

I don't know how about you men, but I would have trouble with that. I'm amazed that Joseph accepts this dream as from God. The angel says, go ahead, marry the girl, and raise that child as if he were your own.

Rather than being a product of sin, this is the child of all time. God's sending him into the world to do away with sin. And Joseph believes it.

And he does it. I'm interested in this man, Joseph. I'm interested in how very much followed from that one man's simple decision to obey the angelic command.

Just for instance, did you realize that Messiah has to be a descendant of King David? He has to be legally a descendant of David if he's going to be an heir to David's throne. Now, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever what his mother is as far as a legal claim on King David's throne.

It has to be through his father that he has a right to occupy the throne. And that's true whether his father is adoptive or not. For Jesus to fulfill all of the expectation that he will come and be Messiah, heir to David's throne, it has to be reckoned through his father.

And no way could he make that claim legally, even though Mary also is biologically descendant from David. It doesn't make any difference. Secondly, Scripture says a rather remarkable thing about the birth of Messiah.

In fact, on the surface of it, it appears that there's an inconsistency. It says very clearly that Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. You may remember that when the wise men come looking for the king, You remember they go to Herod and they say, where is he to be born King of the Jews?

And Herod says, beats me. And he calls in his counselors and they know perfectly well where Messiah is to be born. Because they're familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures.

And they turn to the book of Micah chapter 5 and it says, But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old. Do you hear that? There's one to be born in Bethlehem, but that's not his beginning.

His origin is from ancient times. He precedes his own birth. And that's to happen in Bethlehem.

And as a matter of fact, in this Bethlehem, at Bethlehem Ephrathah, there were two Bethlehems in those days. One up in the north and one down near Jerusalem. And it specifies which one?

the little town of Bethlehem. That's where Messiah is to be born. But it also says He shall be called a Nazarene.

Now, how, if He's born in Bethlehem, is it to be called a Nazarene? If He's born in Bethlehem, then presumably He'd be a Bethlehemite. You see, the only way He could be called a Nazarene is if He had residence in Nazareth.

But if He lives in Nazareth, and how come he's born somewhere else? You might think that's rather a problem for God. But you see, what God did was He allowed on the stage of history at this particular moment one of the vainest tyrants in all of our history.

A guy who was on an incredible ego trip. And Caesar Augustus takes it into his mind that it would be really super to take a census of everybody. But I'm going to insist that people go back to their origins and be enrolled there, because that way I'll be able to know my strength politically, militarily, and every other way, my taxation base in each town in Hamlet.

So it just happens, you see, that this fellow Joseph, who's living up there in Nazareth now, has to go all the way back down to the south and enroll in Bethlehem. and because Mary is espoused to Him, she has to go with Him even though it's very inconvenient and she's already into her ninth month of pregnancy. And she gets there just in the nick of time to bring forth her firstborn son.

No room in the inn. But that's okay. She lays him in a manger.

It just happened. Don't ever think that the government is getting so powerful that the agenda of God is going to be squeezed out. God knows what He's up to.

Now, there's a footnote on all of that. You may or may not be aware of it, but if you search through the Old Testament Scriptures, as a matter of fact, you will nowhere find the phrase which I just quoted to you. He shall be called a Nazarene.

It doesn't say that. What it says, and it says it over and over and over, is he shall be called the branch. For instance, Isaiah chapter 11.

It says, There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow up out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall be upon him, and so on. It's as if the tree that was growing, the line of David, Jesse's line, the kingly line had been cut off. It looks like it's been destroyed.

There's nothing living there anymore. It's just a stump. But then out of that stump, a new shoot begins to grow.

A little green shoot grows up and it becomes a mighty branch and that branch grows up to inherit the throne of his ancient father David and becomes in fact Messiah the King. Well, the last king of Israel was killed, a very bloody killing, nearly six centuries ago prior to this happening. It looks like the Davidic line is all over as far as kingship goes.

It's been cut off as just a dead stump. But the Word says there's going to be a little shoot grow up. A branch who's going to grow out of that dead stump.

Jeremiah chapter 23, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I'll raise up for David a righteous branch. Zechariah 3 verse 8, Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. and over and over again there are many many other passages my servant the branch but what does that have to do with Nazareth the word Nazareth means city of the branch how about that did you know there are many men named Jesus at this time it was a very popular name Yeshua really the same thing as Joshua or Jesus and it really means it's a variant on the Lord is with us you ever wondered why they said Emmanuel but they called him Jesus, it means the same thing.

But there were many men with that name and so you had to distinguish between them. Jesus Jones, Jesus Smith. And they called this one Jesus of Nazareth.

Do you see what's happening? Every time they ever greeted him, they said, Jesus, the branch. Jesus, the branch.

They didn't even realize what they were saying. But they're fulfilling Scripture in the most extraordinary way. He shall be called the branch.

And that's what they called Him. Even those who didn't believe in Him at all. Even Jews today who would never call Him Christ because they know that means Messiah.

And they're not prepared to give Him that title. Call Him Jesus of Nazareth. None of which would have happened but for Joseph's obedience.

Scripture is fulfilled. That's the first glimpse we have of this man. He's willing to have his life interrupted, rearranged, totally dislocated, to play not second fiddle, third fiddle.

Not just to his son, but to his wife. It's not really Joseph's story. It's Jesus' story and it's Mary's story.

And Joseph is just sort of on the periphera of the whole thing. But he's willing to be drawn into it. He's willing to be ridiculed for this improbable story.

He's willing to be caught up in a drama that will certainly entail great suffering, not only for Jesus, but for His whole family en route to great glory. The second glimpse comes about two years later. Most of the time we collapse the whole thing and we have the wise men arriving still in Bethlehem at the manger, but in fact it was approximately two years later.

They come not to a stable, they come to a house. They come not to a baby, they come to a small child. And you may remember that they come first and they go to Herod, as I already mentioned, and they say, where is he, king of the Jews?

And Herod goes into an absolute rage to suppose that there would be someone who would be a competitor for his power. And he decides at any cost he's going to destroy this young child. again an angel comes to Joseph again in a dream and he warns him you better get out of here take your family and flee from the slaughter that is about to be unleashed and so they escape by night and they go down to Egypt and they wait there until it's all over and again scripture is fulfilled because Hosea says out of Egypt I have called my son I wonder what the Spirit of God might say to some of you gentlemen this morning, husbands and fathers, about your role in protecting, in guarding, in caring for what God is doing in your family.

That's what I see in Joseph. A man who's willing at great cost to have his whole life interrupted and rearranged to guard what God is doing in his family. Often it seems, I'm not quite sure why, but often it seems that God begins to do something in the wife a little bit before it gets to the husband.

Have you noticed that? I know you've noticed it. Some of you are dragged here by your wives.

Joseph is not threatened at what God is doing in his wife as soon as he's aware that it's God he welcomes it and he protects it may I say to you gentlemen if God is doing something in your wife don't try to fight him it's a battle you cannot possibly win your arms are too short to box with God If you try to fight God for your wife, you may lose everything. Joseph welcomes what God has implanted in Mary. And he bends his life to protect it.

How about our kids? Joseph is willing to have his job set aside, his home set aside. He's willing to rearrange His priorities to guard and protect what God is doing in the life of His Son.

How do we make our decisions, gentlemen? Supplies generally to both parents, but especially, gentlemen, how do we make our decisions? Are you going to take a new job just because it's offered?

Even if it means uprooting family? Take them away from Christian nurture? Take them away from fellowship?

Take them away from church? Are you going to make your decisions primarily on the basis of what God is doing in your family? Maybe it does mean uprooting.

That's what it meant in this case. I'm willing to be uprooted and moved or I'm willing to stay put. The issue is what is God up to?

What are you prepared to pay that God would have His way in your family? The last glimpse we have of Joseph comes another ten years later. Jesus is 12.

I'm sure you remember the incident. They go up to the temple in Jerusalem. Probably they went every year to a high festival service.

And on this particular occasion, as they're making their way back home with all the other travelers, all the other pilgrims going back up home, they suddenly realize that their 12-year-old son is missing and they look around for him. Maybe he's with some of the other pilgrims. Maybe he's with some relatives.

No, he's nowhere to be seen. They figure they better retrace their tracks back to Jerusalem and sure enough, that's where he is, in the temple talking to the rabbis and the chief priests and the various teachers and he's learning the Scriptures and people are already astonished at how well he knows them. And Joseph and Mary lose two full days in going back to get Jesus and at first they're somewhat put out about it.

Son, how could you do this to us? And he says, didn't you realize that I've got to be about my father's business? and they accept that and that's the last sight we have of Joseph he drops out of the story some have speculated that he died during Jesus' teenage years again we really don't know but I'm interested in this man he's willing to accept as from God the responsibilities of fatherhood even though it's only adoptive and rearrange his whole life accordingly and yet there comes a moment when he's got to step aside and let Jesus begin to respond to his real Father, his Father in Heaven, and he's willing to do that.

And again, I'd say to moms and dads, there comes a time when we've got to step aside and allow our kids to begin to be responsive to what God is doing in their lives, even if it means setting aside our own plans and hopes for them. You do understand that your kids are not your own. They're lent to you.

And you're given the privilege of raising them in the fear and admonition and love of the Lord to come to know Him and walk with Him. But your principal role in life, as far as your family is concerned, is to bring them to the point hear God speak to them directly and begin to respond to Him. So I give you Joseph.

This wonderful man. This quiet, unassuming carpenter whose obedience is so critical in the unfolding of God's purposes in Christ. May we walk in His footsteps.

Let's bow our heads together. Father, I would pray for Your help in being the kind of husband and father that Joseph was, in welcoming what You're doing in my family, and in bending my priorities and my schedule to accommodate that. to protect it, to nurture it, to care for it, to bring it into fruition, and to get myself out of the way of Your purposes.

And I pray that for all of us, especially for the husbands and fathers in our midst. For Your great namesake. Amen.

Amen.