Many years ago, my young niece attended a Christmas service at church. It was particularly special to her because my sister (and her mom) was singing in the presentation that year. My niece absolutely loved it and to my amazement said that the sermon was great! So, I asked her what stood out to her about it and she said ‘Joseph stood out to me. We often forget about him in the nativity story. He had a tough job and he obeyed.’ It was music to my ears to hear my 8-year-old niece share her reflections and it deeply encouraged me to revisite the role of Joseph in the nativity story.
From Scriptures we learn that he was engaged to be married to Mary but before they got married ‘…Mary was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit’ Matthew 1:18. And the passage goes on to say that because he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace his fiancée, he planned to divorce her privately (engagement or betrothal was legally binding in Jewish culture). But an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream to dissuade him from divorcing Mary and to explain to him what was happening. It is not only in this encounter that Joseph is told that the Child that Mary was carrying was conceived of the Holy Spirit, but the angel also tells him what he should name Him:
21 She will give birth to a Son and you will name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21
In this passage, Joseph is entrusted with the revelation of Jesus’ Name and along with it Jesus’ mission which was to save us from our sins. The passage continues on to explain how Jesus’ conception and birth were the fulfillment of one of many Old Testament prophecies:
22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, 25 but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.
Matthew 1:22-25
In verse 25, we learn that Joseph did indeed obey. He still married Mary and believed that the conception of the Child was indeed of God. And when the Child was born, he named Him Jesus as he was told by the angel who appeared to him. What is also interesting to me is the other name of Jesus in verse 23, ‘Emmanuel’ which means ‘God with us’. Through His miraculous conception and birth as one of us, Jesus was indeed ‘God with us’. In his Gospel, John puts it like this:
14 So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 1:14 (NLT)
The reality of ‘God with us’ is extremely important when we consider the nature of Jesus’ mission and the ‘why’ behind it: to save mankind from their sins. In the first 3 chapters of the book of Genesis, we learn that God created the Heavens and the Earth and every creature including mankind. His intention was to have fellowship with us and He did with the first man and woman, Adam & Eve, in the Garden of Eden. But because the first couple sinned and disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil (which God told them not to eat from) they and all the rest of humanity became mortal sinners and cut off from a right relationship with God. As a consequence, God could no longer be ‘with us’ fully and forever without doing away with our sins and restoring us unto Himself. And this is exactly what Jesus or ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ came to do. By becoming human and living a sinless life in full obedience to God ‘to the point of death, even death on a cross’, Jesus saved us from our sins (Philippians 2:8).
In Matthew 2, we see Joseph lead his new family with bold faith and courage. He would have 3 more encounters with an angel of the Lord to guide and direct him in the face imminent danger in order to keep his young family safe. In doing so, Joseph accepted the great responsibility and call to father and protect ‘Emmanuel, God with us’ and in so doing played his part so that ‘Emmanuel’ would grow up from babe to man to save us from our sins and those who would put their faith in Him generation after generation would also enjoy the gifts of salvation and the presence of ‘God with us’ forever.