Joseph, the Invisible Man
Matthew 1:18-2:23
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Harry G. Winsheimer
December 7, 2008

Aren’t we fortunate?  We live in a nation where leadership changes peacefully, and we do not fear our leaders?

No so in the Holy Land in 4 B.C.  Their politics resembled those of Afghanistan and Iraq today.  You needed a glossary to know who had killed whom, who still lived, who was aligned with whom in Rome.  Only Herod the Great survived.  He could out-talk, out-bribe, out-murder, out-soldier, all of his rivals.  For thirty years he had ruled most of Jewish country.  And he could build!  Cities, palaces, fortresses and the Temple in Jerusalem rose.  With foreign mercenaries, a system of forts and a centralized bureaucracy, he gave the people order and some economic progress – at the price of high taxes and pagan self-centered leadership.  At the time of our story, Herod was in his early seventies.  Over his long career, he murdered three sons, his wife, his mother-in-law and others of his court. To be related to Herod was hazardous to one’s health.  He was a skillful, brilliant, corrupt, murderous, megalomaniac bully. 

At least one generation younger, our hero lived as Herod’s subject.

For reasons unreported, this Jewish descendent of King David moved from Bethlehem to Nazareth.  Joseph was his name.  Carpentry was his occupation.  His life probably was that of the typical carpenter.  Using wood from the nearby forest on the Lebanese hills, he worked in the room attached to his house.  Wearing a long, free-flowing garment hitched up by a belt, his hair cut short on the sides and shoulder-length in the back, a sliver of wood over one ear as the mark of his trade, he was a versatile builder.  His skill was valued more because wood was expensive.  He cut the tree and did the work of the cabinetmaker, jointer, carver, and house builder.  Sitting on the earthen floor, bracing his work between his leather apron and his feet, he manipulated it with toes as skillful as his hands.  Joseph had few implements and tackled simple time-consuming projects.  All buildings were stone and flat, requiring only the laying of beams and the covering of them with reeds and mud.  The tools of the farmer took shape in Joseph’s shop -- the yoke, plough, and wheels.  He made utensils for housekeeping -- rakes, grape presses, and stools.

He observed his religious rituals, attending the synagogue every Friday evening and saying his prayers daily.  The Old Testament was his root. God was his master.  Now, established in Nazareth, Joseph was ready.  No man could be a full man without a family.  He needed sons to carry on his business and to support him in his old age.  If Joseph was to have sons, he needed a wife.  So……

His family arranged for him to marry a teen-aged girl named Mary.  This marriage custom was so different from ours as to seem to be another social institution.  As we read in our English Bibles, Joseph and Mary were betrothed.  What was that?  Is it equivalent to our engagement?  No.  It was different.  This is how it probably worked.

Joseph’s family chose Mary, and Mary’s family agreed.  Joseph sent a present, a dowry.  Mary would have been quite young, possibly just into puberty.  Then, the betrothal ceremony took place.  In the presence of two witnesses, rings were exchanged, a formula of question and answer was followed and the event concluded by a benediction.  With this Joseph and May were betrothed, but not married.  The relationship was binding.  If they had intercourse with anyone else, it was adultery.  They were as committed to each other as if they were married, although it might be some time before they lived with each other.  Proverbially they said, “Love comes after marriage, not before.”  Betrothal was marriage without the marriage bed or shared living.  What do you think?  Do you want, did you want, your parents to pick your spouse?  Mary and Joseph were betrothed, not married, when God began the unique act for the salvation of humanity. 

Why do I spend so much time on betrothal?  To make the point that they were committed.  The whole village knew they were.  Everyone knew!

Before they were married she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit.  Wow!  That discovery always shocks!  Joseph knew that he was not the father!  Just imagine being engaged to a girl, not having slept with her, and she tells you that she is pregnant.  Speaking of blowing the mind!  What could he do?  At this point we learn the first quality of Joseph.  Matthew reports that he was a “just” man.  He was a righteous and upright man.  He was always straight.  What the word means in Matthew’s Gospel is that he treated people right and had integrity.  When he built a plow, he did not deceive his customers.  If the wood had a weak spot which might give way under repeated stress, he informed the customer.  Honest as the day is long, true, and religious too.  He was the kind of man with whom we want to do business, whom we want to live next door, because he wears so well in relationships.

Obviously, Mary had not kept her part in the betrothal.  She had been unfaithful.  Therefore, Joseph, not wanting to shame her further, having no desire for public scandal, resolved to end the betrothal as quietly as possible. (The shame before their relatives, neighbors and customers would have been devastating!  Remember, Nazareth was a small town.  Everyone knew everyone all their lives.  Everyone’s business was the subject of conversation; what else was there to talk about?  Reputation was priceless!)  He is concerned for Mary, but she has cancelled the betrothal.  She is no longer his responsibility.

Then, Matthew informs us of another significant characteristic of Joseph – his deep piety. 

While he was thinking about all this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said:  “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife.  For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived.  She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus – for he will save his people from their sins.

Matter-of-factly, Matthew tells us:
So when Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and married Mary.  But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son.  And Joseph named him Jesus.

Can you imagine the trust that Joseph had in God to accept Mary!  Men, would you have done it?  Since he believed that God had communicated the go-ahead to him, Joseph obeyed, enduring the embarrassment.  Undoubtedly all the relatives and neighbors assumed that he had not been able to wait and it was his doing.  He had to risk his reputation to accept God’s instructions.  And, he took on a responsibility not his!

Given the circumstances, how many men would have been a fit husband for Mary and a proper father for the coming Messiah?  God chose the right man.

When Mary was about to deliver, Joseph and Mary were forced by the Empire to travel to Bethlehem to be counted in the census.  While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus. ( Excuse me for slipping over the climatic birth; we will highlight Jesus’ birth another day.)

Further strange phenomena happened.  Shepherds came at angelic invitation.  Being good Jews, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple when he was a week old and dedicated him to God.  There, old man Simeon identified the baby as the promised Messiah.  This further astonished the parents.  Then ancient Anna also told them of Jesus’ role.  And one night, three astrologers arrived with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, very valuable gifts.  They had asked King Herod where to find the baby.  When they consulted with Herod, they had phrased their inquiry, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?”  Again God came to Joseph in a dream and said,
Get up, take the child and his mother and run away to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.  Herod will be looking for the child to kill him.

Immediately, without waiting even for dawn, Joseph took Mary and Jesus and slipped off to Egypt.  What faith!  Astounding commitment!  To become a refugee in a foreign land in order to save the life of a baby-not-yours indicates a tremendous faith and commitment.  The boy may not have been his biologically, but he belonged to Joseph spiritually.  What a man! 

Joseph took care of the family.  So did God.  A pastor whom I knew had a totally unsubstantiated theory, but plausible.  Have you wondered what happened to the gold, frankincense and myrrh?  I never did, until he speculated that God provided for the family in Egypt with those gifts.  They financed the exile.  Maybe.

Physically and mentally degenerating, given to uncontrollable outburst of violence, Herod issued one of the most savage orders ever.  According to Matthew, Herod ordered the extermination of all the boys who were two years old or under in Bethlehem and its neighborhood.  All died to make Herod feel safe from the imagined threat from the king of the Jews sought by the Wise Men.  The picture of those little ones being yanked from their mother’s arms and their heads split makes me ill.  It was one of his final wanton cruelties. 

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said: “Get up, take the child and his mother and go back to the country of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead.”  So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the country of Israel.  To Nazareth in Galilee, to the north of Jerusalem.

A decade of biographical hiatus followed.  All we know about Joseph is that he took the family to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Feast of Passover which coincides with our Holy Week.  As they started home one spring, they assumed that their twelve year son was in the caravan.  When evening came, they were shocked not to find him.  For two days they searched frantically through Jerusalem.  On the third day, they located him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions.  Imagine the state of Mary and Joseph by that point! 

That’s it, folks!  That’s all there is.  Joseph’s life-story was not concluded for us.  He just became invisible.  When Jesus was in public ministry at about age thirty, Mary appeared.  But, Joseph is not mentioned by any of the reporters.  It is as though Joseph served a fatherly purpose in Jesus’ development and then became invisible.  The Heavenly Father took center stage. 

I wish that we knew more about this saint.  He impresses me as the kind of man whom I would like.  He was not a talker.  Not one quote was attributed to him.  He was a man rooted in his God, a man of faith and action.  No loud voice today. Today, I speak calmly to be true to the spirit of Joseph.  To shout about Joseph would be like playing a lullaby on a tuba.

God works through and with a variety of personalities.  Think about the heroes and heroines in your life.  How many of them have been or are like Joseph?  Joseph reminds me of people whom I have known – faithful, honest, reliable, fair, considerate, doing, invisible but to family and friends.  My father was such a person.  If words were rain, he had an eighty-eight year drought, and every day working hard, being honest and fair, dependable and considerate, and always faithful.  My Dad could have been Joseph. 

Can you think of men or women who are like Joseph?  Think about them this week, and thank God for them. 

And, think about Joseph.  What about Joseph would you emulate?  To help you think about yourself, ask: If a future speaker talks about me, as Harry talked about Joseph, what do I expect he will say?  Is that what I want said?

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