The Scandal of Joseph

In the past, I have written about Christmas from different angles. I re-posted what I wrote about the shepherds who were specifically invited to worship the Christ just yesterday. I have also mentioned in the past that the shepherds had nothing to offer, and yet they were invited so that they could give Jesus their adoration. I also have mentioned the faithful response of Mary when she submitted her body to the desire of God. This year, I considered a post about the Magi, but couldn’t come up with a fresh angle on them. They certainly were invited in a way they could understand to see Jesus, and their road was much more dangerous, yet they came.

Yes, there is much you could say about their place in the Christmas story, but my mind has been on one of the most well-known figures in the Bible about whom I have never heard a sermon or read a book. Not even a chapter. That person is the one that most of the world considered to be the father of Jesus, a carpenter named Joseph. His first mention (not including the listing of ancestry) is one that shows the scandal that he faced while still betrothed to Mary.

Matthew 1:18-19
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

This was certainly a showing of grace on Joseph’s part, and I believe that Joseph may have considered the fact that he may never be married. While some may say that it would be better for him to quietly and quickly marry her to try and quell some of the rumors, we must remember that Joseph lived under the Law of God, which was taken quite literally in a physical sense by the religious rulers of the day while they failed to recognize the Law as a conduit that reveals aspects of the nature of God and the standard that all are called to meet.

Leviticus 20:10
“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

This was the rule of law for anyone caught with evidence of premarital sexual relations in Israel and it was enforced as often as adultery could be found. When you consider this, I really have to wonder why the Pharisees submitted so quickly to Christ when they were told that the one without sin should cast the first stone. Their submission tells me that, perhaps, their eyes were opened to one degree or another regarding their misinterpretation of the Law. Either they had misinterpreted it or Jesus was negligent when he didn’t condemn the woman. Nonetheless, this misinterpretation was the understanding among the Jewish people at this time.

But Joseph did not seek to have Mary killed. He resolved to quietly divorce her.

Matthew 1:20-23
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

I do find it interesting that the angel of God would refer to Joseph as a son of David, for it was foretold that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David, the youngest son of Jesse. In fact, through the scriptures we can see that the Messiah through David’s descendants would not only be the savior but also the eternal king. Yes, this statement must have been one that shocked Joseph, a mere carpenter and a man of no close proximity to the royalty that the Jews expected from their Messiah. With this wonder fresh in the mind of Joseph, more information was given. The child was not a product of sin, for He was coming to save His people from their sins. He was, in fact, God with us. If Joseph wasn’t perplexed by the appearance of the angel in his dream or by the original salutation, the clarification given in the next statements must have been breathtaking. With this revelation given to Him, there was only one choice for Joseph to make.

Matthew 1:24-25
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Just as Mary had been given the assurance she needed to carry this child, Joseph was given the assurance he needed to go through with the marriage desired by God. There was certainly a sense of scandal for a time, and the family was not given a good reputation through this matter. But the admiration of man is not required of us. Rather, we are called to be obedient to God as we despise the shame of man. Joseph and Mary disregarded the taunts that I imagine must have been hurled at them from time to time, knowing the whole time whose presence they shared.

Have you ever been accused of a sin that you know you are not guilty of? Most of the time, we are able to use reason and evidence to either show our innocence or to show that it is unlikely to be true. Joseph and Mary did not have this luxury. Yes, Mary could have been examined by a doctor to show that she was still a virgin but the Bible does not say that she did this. It does show that Jesus was born into a scandal and that he carried the errant stigma of being conceived out of wedlock. The son of a loose woman and a man who wasn’t fully committed to the letter of the law, if you will.

When Jesus encountered the woman who was accused of adultery, he understood what that meant. When he spoke with the woman at the well in John 4, he could relate to her situation. He did so with love and with truth. He used the circumstances of His own birth, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the example given by the man who served as His earthly father to reveal a truth that the Sanhedrin had failed to find in the Law. He showed the world love and grace with an emphasis on those who hold the most overt needs for the mercy of God.

This Christmas, I urge us all to remember the same example given by Joseph as we encounter people who have been stigmatized by sin. We all carry burdens with us and nobody is without a skeleton in the closet. How we approach these chance meetings is up to us. We can respond with a judgemental attitude such as the Pharisees or we can use the love of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us to reach out to these people, that they too may come to a knowledge of the truth made possible by the scandal of Immanuel.