122119 – Matthew 1. 18-25
This is a “wonderful story” about the “SENSITIVITY” and the “KINDNESS” of A MAN.
It almost comes off as a “STARTLING-SURPRISE.” And yet, it is ALL very STRIKING!
GET READY to be ASTONISHED, AMAZED and to witness the UNEXPECTED!
Some “men” CAN BE SENSITIVE and KIND!
Some men…not ALL by any means, but SOME…
Now I certainly cannot speak for all men, nor would I ever attempt to do so, but SOME OF US – can come off “sometimes” as NOT BEING the “most sensitive creatures” on the face of the earth.
Apparently we DO NOT always “SEE” what we are supposed to “see.”
We DO NOT always “HEAR” what we are supposed to “hear.”
AND even if WE DO, chances are good that we are NOT going to “say” ANYTHING about it, anyway.
SO, obviously we DO NOT always ACKNOWLEDGE “things” that we are “apparently” supposed to “acknowledge.”
It’s “a guy thing!”
I have EVEN heard that we DO NOT always “REACT” as we are SUPPOSED to “react!”
Face it guys, we can be a MESS.
But this guy WAS SENSITIVE! This guy WAS KIND and UNDERSTANDING, too! And this guy WAS “perceptive.”
This guy’s name just happened to be Joseph of Nazareth. He was a tradesman.
A guy who worked with his hands…
…Probably someone you would not PEG for sensitivity and kindness (and there too,) is where some SURPRISE enters in…
He was NOT going to EMBARASS a woman whose name was Mary.
He COULD have. If he would have ASKED – “others” they may have counseled him that he SHOULD have.
But he chose NOT TO.
You see, Mary was “in the family way.” And the WHOLE POINT of THIS – is that Joseph WAS NOT the father.
Mary and Joseph were BETROTHED…a fancy “old way of saying” they were engaged to be married.
“Joseph was unwilling to expose her to public DISGRACE and put her to SHAME”…which is interesting, seeing as they lived in an HONOR and SHAME society.
So, Joseph was ONE of the original GOOD guys! We might even call him a “righteous dude!”
That one line in the scriptures tells us so much about him.
Joseph didn’t want to HURT Mary.
He didn’t want to DESTROY her.
Joseph was NOT “punitive.”
He was NOT “revengeful.”
Joseph was NOT looking for his “pound of flesh.”
He could have been. But he WASN’T!
Joseph was SENSITIVE and KIND.
Instead, Joseph had these feelings of GRACE towards Mary, and so he resolved to divorce her QUIETLY.
NOT tell “her” parents.
NOT tell “his” parents.
NOT tell “their” Jewish rabbi.
NOT tell the “entire village” and anyone who would listen…that he might meet along the way.
NOT tell the Jewish COURT so he might get his BRIDAL PRICE back.
This story about the BIRTH OF JESUS is a story of COMPASSION, a story of GRACE, a story of a man who had been shattered by a pregnant woman and he vowed NOT to punish her.
He would take the “higher pathway.”
He would show the kind of man, he was…
He had been humiliated yet he still CARED for her and TOOK CARE of her.
The “primary purpose” of the story IS NOT to tell us that Joseph was “RELIGIOUS or RIGHTEOUS.” Which he obviously was…
The “primary purpose” of the narrative is to tell us that Joseph WAS NOT the BIOLOGICAL father of Jesus. “THAT is the point of the story.” Joseph WAS NOT the father of Jesus. He WAS the LEGAL father – YES. He WAS the ADOPTED father – YES. But he was NOT the biological father of Mary’s child.
So, even before Jesus is born we have the story of this LOVING, CARING, SENSITIVE man, who is more than willing to do the RIGHT THING…and to show MERCY…Because HE CAN.
All of which says…that Jesus is going to be brought up in household with a strong self-assured, confident, positive, authoritative male figure.
Amen.