Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 24 Dec 2012.[1]
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read a 2008 version: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2008/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe.html
Today, on this Christmas Eve, we look forward to the joy of tomorrow: Christmas Day. This is the celebration of the birth, the incarnation and the advent and of the Christ. Let us for a moment focus on from our passage today, Joseph, the man, the fiancé and the husband of Mary. Oh how it must have been for him. Pretend with me for a moment that you are he.
Joseph is a carpenter; Joseph is a stone mason. He is from the tribe of Judah and – of course –King David is among his most famous ancestors. Matthew records for us a few things about Joseph. We are told in our text today that Joseph, Verse 19, is righteous. In our world these days when we think of a righteous person… if someone were to tell you that this person that they know is righteous… if someone were to say this visitor that we have here with us today is a righteous woman or man, what would we think that they would be like? We would probably think that they would pray, read the Bible, love God and love their neighbour (cf. Luke 10:27)? All of the above would probably be true of someone described as a righteous person today and more. This was very much what it would have meant for Joseph too. Joseph was a first century Judean who served God and to the average first century Jews, to be righteous meant that one was very good at keeping the religious law of their time.[2]
Matthew tells us also, Verse 18, that Joseph is pledged to be married to a girl named Mary.[3] Now, betrothal in first century is not like it is today. When you are engaged then you are already bound. You are already considered as husband and wife and the union can only be dissolved through death or divorce.[4] And before Mary and Joseph ever ‘know each other’ in the Biblical sense, before they ever come together in THAT way, Mary becomes pregnant. Imagine this scenario with me, if you will – men in particular: you are engaged, you have not had relations with your fiancée and all of a sudden you find out that she is pregnant. What would you do? What would you say? What would you feel? What would you think? What would you think and what would you do if your girlfriend to whom you are engaged becomes pregnant – and not by you? Would you still get married? Joseph, when he finds out that Mary is pregnant, is planning to call off the wedding altogether. Now in those days Mary could receive up to even the death penalty for this; so as Verse 19 records, Joseph wants to do this quietly so as to not bring any disgrace upon Mary. He is a righteous man.
Then something happens. Joseph has a dream. He dreams about an angel and in the dream this angel tells Joseph that he should ‘take Mary home as his wife’, Verse 20, ‘because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’. He then dreams about what to name this child and how this son will save people from even their sins. It is now that Joseph has a number of decisions to make.
1) Does Joseph believe in visions and does he believe in this vision in particular?
2) Does Joseph, when we awakens, still believe that an angel actually has spoken to him and does he believe that what this angel has said to him is true?
3) And how will Joseph respond to this belief? Will he ignore his conviction that this vision is from God and press on with the separation/divorce anyway or will he accept the commission given to him from God through a messenger in a dream? What would you do? Do you believe in your dreams?
Joseph does. Joseph is a righteous man. When Joseph awakes from his sleep, Verse 24, he does everything the angel from the Lord tells him to do, including taking Mary home as his wife and not having any sexual relations with her until this child is born. This is Joseph. Joseph is a righteous man. He follows his dream. He follows God.
This was Joseph prior to the eve of the Messiah’s birth. The questions still stand for us on the celebration of that eve, on this Christmas Eve, now 2000 years or so later.
1) Do we believe in visions from God and do we believe in this vision?
2) Do we believe that angels actually speak to people and do we believe that an angel actually spoke to Joseph that what this angel has told him is true?
3) And, if we do believe, how do we respond to this belief? Do we ignore the conviction that this vision is from God and press on with our own lives the way we want to lead them or do we accept the commission given to us from the Lord to share the Good News of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus with the whole world so that we all may be saved? On this Christmas Eve, 2000 or so years later, what will we do? What will you do? Do you believe in your dreams?
[1] cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Luke 1:26-37: Do You Believe?' Presented to the Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/luke-126-37-do-you-believe.html and Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Matthew 1:18-25: Do you believe?' Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007 and the CFOT chapel in Winnipeg, December 2006. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe.html
[2] Walter W. Wessel and Ralph Earle, ‘Matthew’ in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Mi : Zondervan, 2002), note on Matthew 1:19, p. 1467.
[3] cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 51 and E. Earle Ellis, 71. Betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony. They did have a public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year.
[4] M. Eugene Boring, ‘Matthew’ (NIB VIII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1995), 134.
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