Angel Came to Joseph Om a Dream Art Contemporary Do Not Be Afraid
Twenty-four hours 8. The Affections Appears to Joseph (Matthew 1:xviii-25)
Sound (9:51)
2nd WEEK OF Appearance
Sunday, Second Calendar week of Advent
(Readings and prayers for lighting the Second Advent Candle are available in Appendix 1.)
Anton Raphael Mengs, 'The Dream of St. Joseph' (1773-1774), oil on canvas, 860 x 1140 cm., Kunst Historsches Museum, Wien, Republic of austria.
Read in Your Bible: Matthew 1:18-25
Nosotros're already at the Second Sunday of Advent. How fourth dimension flies! Today allow's examine a core Christmas passage -- the angel appearing to Joseph.
Pregnant (Matthew 1:eighteen)
"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came well-nigh: His female parent Mary was pledged to exist married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:xviii)
Put yourself in Joseph's shoes. Your fiancée, your betrothed -- already your wife by law, though your marriage isn't consummated until later the wedding ceremony -- is a young teenager, peradventure xiv or 15. You're the village carpenter; she'due south a girl who has grown upwards in boondocks and defenseless your eye. Y'all honey her, and i mean solar day yous ask to marry her -- offset her father and then Mary herself. She beams at your proposal!
Just a few months agone, all of a sudden, something about her seems to be different. She is distracted, concerned, and so y'all find that she'due south going on a visit to her cousin Elizabeth's home several days' journeying s of Nazareth in the hill state of Judea.
She's gone 3 months, and y'all can inappreciably wait for her to come home. But at present that she'due south back, at that place is talk that she'south pregnant. You lash out at the people spreading the gossip. Simply y'all can't assist but wonder, especially when y'all yourself come across that her abdomen is growing. And now y'all are shocked, angry, depressed. It'southward not your kid -- you know that for certain!
A Quiet Divorce (Matthew 1:xix)
"Considering Joseph her husband was a righteous human and did not desire to expose her to public disgrace, he had in heed to divorce her quietly." (Matthew 1:eighteen-19)
When yous are a righteous Jew, yous simply don't marry a girl with a tarnished reputation. It isn't right! She is not only disgraced, just the shame extends to you. You tin't go ahead with the wedlock, that'due south sure.
Merely you are legally married. There will have to be a divorce. Not a public shaming and self-righteous outcry. No. But a tranquility divorce between the families involved, witnessed by the authorities, and it'll be over. Every bit much as y'all love her, as much equally you don't want to, y'all demand to go ahead with it. Perhaps yous'll find another wife old -- that's what he'due south thinking about as he falls asleep.
The Angel of the Lord (Matthew 1:20-21)
Joseph has tried to resolve a crisis in his ain wisdom, the wisdom of a God-fearing, compassionate, righteous man. But he has no inkling equally to how God will resolve the "crunch." Indeed, the "crisis" is of God's own making.
"20 But after he had considered this, an affections of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do non be agape to take Mary home every bit your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will requite nascency to a son, and yous are to give him the proper name Jesus, because he will relieve his people from their sins.'" (Matthew 1:20-21)
The angel'due south message is articulate:
- Don't be agape to go on with your marriage to Mary.
- The infant growing in her was conceived41 by the Holy Spirit.
- Mary volition bear a son.
- Name the son "Jesus."
- The son will salve his people from their sins. More than on that in a moment.
The proper noun Jesus has great significance. It is a mutual Hebrew proper noun that goes back to Joshua and across. The full name in Hebrew is a judgement name: 'Yahweh saves.'" Jesus' proper name is his mission.
Emmanuel, God with The states (Matthew i:22-23)
The name Emmanuel is likewise meaning. It is a two-word Hebrew phrase42 pregnant "God is with united states" -- and so plumbing equipment to describe Jesus who is God in homo flesh. Matthew points us to Isaiah 7:14.
"22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 'The virgin will be with child and volition give nativity to a son,
and they volition telephone call him Immanuel'--
which means, 'God with us.'" (Matthew i:22-23)
In its original context the prophecy seems to speak of a kid who volition be born in a threatening time when Syria and the Northern Kingdom have joined with each other to conquer the Southern Kingdom. The prophecy is that before the kid is very quondam, God will bring peace. But as many Old Testament prophecies, there is a contemporary fulfillment likewise as a future awarding.
Joseph Obeys the Lord (Matthew 1:24-25)
"24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the affections of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary abode as his wife. 25 Just he had no marriage with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." (Matthew one:24-25)
I'm amazed at Joseph's faith. One mean solar day he plans to quietly, compassionately divorce Mary, significant by some other. And the next twenty-four hour period he takes steps to bring her home as his married woman, so the kid will be seen to be his own and avert the public scandal of adultery. To the townsfolk he seems to acknowledge his ain sexual impropriety, unworthy of an upright Jew. And he takes on the responsibility to raise this Holy Child every bit his ain, imperfect though Joseph will surely be equally a begetter. All of us fathers are fallible and imperfect! He believes the affections and, through his bold and resilient religion, blesses Mary and Jesus and the whole world.
The Ii Names -- Jesus and Emmanuel
This cursory passage points to two names which capsulize Jesus' mission.
- Emmanuel, "God with united states," tells united states that the Kingdom of God is indeed in our midst (Luke 17:21) in the Person of Jesus, that God has become Homo.
- Jesus, "Yahweh saves." The price of Yahweh'south conservancy is unimaginable to us, but it displays the immeasurable gift of his great, self-sacrificing beloved.
We often retrieve about the purpose of Christmas is almost presents and gift-giving. No. Nor is it really nigh peace on earth and the absence of disharmonize. No. The real meaning of Christmas is found in Jesus' name. The real pregnant of Christmas is that God sent his Son to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves -- salvage united states of america from our sins, give us eternal life, and secure our future forever in him.
We'll pick up the Christmas narrative side by side Sun, the Tertiary Sun of Advent. But this coming week nosotros'll continue to meditate on more than Messianic prophecies.
Prayer
Father, thanks for Joseph'due south bold faith. I tin can't imagine the bind he is in and his backbone in following your lead. When I face crises, please help me to trust you, be obedient, and exercise what yous directly, even though those around me cannot sympathize. Requite me faith. In Jesus' proper noun, I pray. Amen.
Word Question
Q8. (Matthew i:18-25) What exercise these verses tell u.s.a. about Joseph'southward character? His faith? When he takes Mary home to exist his wife, how does this impact his reputation in Nazareth equally an upright Jew?
http://www.joyfulheart.com/forums/topic/2082-q8-joseph/
Endnotes
References and Abbreviations
[41] "Conceived" is the Aorist passive participle of gennaō, "become the parent of, beget past procreation." Here passive, "exist fathered" (See Galatian 4:23, 29), "conceived" (BDAG 193, 1a).
[42] ʿImmānû ʿēl.
Copyright © 2022, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
kirkhopeabirloyst.blogspot.com
Source: http://www.jesuswalk.com/advent/08-joseph.htm