A Reading:
Matthew 1:1-25 (NASB)
1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.
7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.
8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel ," which translated means, "God with us."
24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,
25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
An Advent Meditation:
Joseph is at the end of a long line of people! Think about it, we live in a day that many people get excited by the discovery of their genealogical history. Who is it that is in your line? Mine were all Germans from Northern Germany who came over in the mid-1800’s. Some people can trace their genealogy back through several generations. It’s an interesting thing to discover your Great-great-great-great-great… Grandparent was _________ (fill in the blanks) in __________ (fill in the country).
Matthew spends a great amount of energy telling us about Joseph’s lineage – the human line of Jesus’ birth goes all the way back to Abraham. While ordinary and common in his own time, Joseph came from a long line of “covenanted” leaders. Fourteen from Abraham to David…from the promise to be a “people” of a nation to the nation’s greatest leader. Fourteen from David to Babylonian Exile…from the nation’s highest to the nation’s lowest…from success, honor and nobility to failure, shame and slavery again. Fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Jesus…from that failure, shame and slavery to “Immanuel” – the one who would “save his people from their sins”.
May it remind us that God knows you and I. He knows where we come from, and He knows who we are – through and through.
Look at the list – not everyone in this list is known for doing great things: Jacob, who deceives; Judah, who sleeps with Tamar; David, who bore Solomon, but very clearly took Uriah’s wife to do that (notice Matthew doesn’t say Bathsheba). There’s Uzziah, who makes a huge mistake and suffers the consequences of his sin, and Manasseh (no one was called more wicked as a ruler in Judah). Altogether Matthew lists 42 names that precede the final name – Joseph.
It’s Joseph who is in the final chapter of God’s knowing-the-geneaology.
It is Joseph who becomes Jesus’ earthly dad.
It’s Joseph who God trusts in to hear Mary’s unbelievable story.
It’s Joseph that doesn’t understand what-in-the-world is going on until the Angel of God visits him in the night.
It’s Joseph who hears God in another dream and takes him to Egypt to avoid the insane King Herod’s violence.
It’s Joseph who fades into oblivion from the life of Jesus in the story of the Gospel.
What happened to Joseph? How long did he live? Did he get to see Jesus the Man, or did he fulfill his purpose in Jesus the Boy?
We don’t know…but this we do know, God Knows. He knew the right time, He knew the right people to entrust his gift to the world, and He knows you and me too!
Can you say with Joseph, “I don’t understand how, but I will trust in you Lord?”
A Prayer: “Lord you surprised Joseph with this out-of-the-box request. You asked him to do the unthinkable – to seemingly break your own law. Yet he responded in faith, belief, trust, and dignity. May I learn to do the same in all that lay before me in life.”
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