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Dec 8 Advent 2: Joseph of Bethlehem 1 Samuel 16: 1-5; Matthew 1: 18-25
Communion in Activity Center
Children’s time: Advent Wreath. Beth or Sherry in A.C.
1. Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Last week I spoke of Mary
and her hometown of Nazareth. This week we look at Joseph and his
hometown of Bethlehem. For this sermon, I started my preparation with
chapter two of Adam Hamilton’s book, The Journey, but much of what I
have here is from other sources, including my trip to Israel in 2011.
Google Images has a whole host of images for these various places.
We know less about Joseph than we do of Mary. Luke tells us that
Joseph was descended from the house and family of David, but it
doesn’t say where he lived when these events began. It could have been
Bethlehem or Nazareth or even some other city, Matthew tells us they
are engaged without any details beyond the statement that they are not
yet living together. But since Joseph has an obvious connection to
Bethlehem, we begin there today.
2. First a map of Israel. To the north is the region of Galilee. You can
see Nazareth and Sepphoris west of the Sea of Galilee. In the middle
was the region of Samaria in Jesus’ day. South of there you find Judaea
with the cities of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem about five miles south.
3. Many significant events occurred in and around Bethlehem in the
history of Israel.
 Jacob’s wife Rachel died here after giving birth to Jacob’s twelfth
son, Benjamin. Jacob buried her near this town and built a
monument to her that stood for hundreds of years.
 Bethlehem was also the hometown of Elimelech, who was married
to Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, who comes back to
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Bethlehem with Naomi and marries Boaz. They have a son named
Obed, who has a son named Jesse. Jesse is the father of David,
who Samuel anointed as king over Israel. Thus Bethlehem was the
hometown of King David.
 4. The prophet Micah foretold the day when a new king would
come to rule Israel. “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who
are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for
me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from
ancient days.”
5. This is the prophecy in Matthew chapter 2 (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6)
that the chief priests and scribes used to direct the wise men to
Bethlehem to look for the Messiah. Bethlehem was the spot.
6. Bethlehem means literally “house of bread”. In Jesus’ day Bethlehem
was a village of 500-1000 people. We can imagine lots of fields and
sheep as the town supported Jerusalem as a “bread basket.”
7. Near Bethlehem where was also a large palace built by King Herod
the Great about 20 years before Jesus’ birth called the Herodium. It was
a fortified palace near Jerusalem that was secure and luxurious.
Located at the edge of the Judean Desert, it was built as a fortress-palace
that he could retreat to if he needed to escape to a secure location in the
event of a revolt or attack. Herod had several of these fortress-palaces
built but this was the only one he named after himself in a show of pride
and power. It could be seen for miles around. Today the ruins are still
quite impressive.
8. Today, Bethlehem is a large town of about 25,000 – really, a suburb
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of Jerusalem. The most well-known church is the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem which we will talk more about in future weeks. It is built
over the site that is thought to be the place where Mary gave birth. This
site dates to 385 AD and was one of the few churches not destroyed
during the Persian invasion in the 7th century.
9. The exterior is surprisingly plain. Bethlehem as long been a place of
conflict rather than a peaceful city.
10. In this photo you can see where the crusader arch has been bricked in
to keep people from riding their horses into the church. As a result, one
must bow to enter.
11.Today Bethlehem is a Palestinian Arab town, with a mixed Muslim
and Christian population (although the Christian population has been in
steady decline over the years). But still, many visitors make the trip each
year; and every Christmas, Manger Square is filled with pilgrims.
12. The security perimeter built by the State of Israel has isolated
Bethlehem from Jerusalem and a checkpoint there has made travel back
and forth much more difficult.
13. While we know a lot about Bethlehem and its history, we know little
about Joseph. The two birth narratives in the Bible are found in the
gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke says more about Mary; Matthew
says more about Joseph, but it is not much. The book of Matthew begins
with Joseph’s genealogy from Abraham to David to the exile to Joseph
so we know Joseph is in the line of King David.
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14. Joseph is commonly known as a carpenter, but the Greek word here
is tekton, which can be translated as wood worker, or craftsman, or
stonemason. He most likely built things with his hands. A master builder
was called an arch-tekton, like architect, but Joseph was simply a tekton.
Given the overabundance of stone and brick as building materials during
that period, Joseph probably worked more with stone than wood.
15. Joseph’s age is another question. Was he a young man, near to
Mary’s age but typically a few years older like in the last picture? Or
was he an elderly widower with children from a previous marriage?
Different traditions developed about Joseph in the following centuries,
but the Bible makes no comment on his age.
Adam Hamilton says one source claims he was 93 when they
married and Joseph died at 111. This fit with the tradition that Joseph
was an elderly man who took in Mary but she remained a virgin
throughout her life. If that were the case, Jesus would have been much
younger than his siblings, they could have been decades older than him.
There is a lot of church art which portrays Joseph as an older man.
16. I do not get that sense from Matthew 13:54-56 when the people of
Nazareth are asking, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these
mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother
called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon
and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this
man get all these things?”
17. On the whole we know very little about Joseph. Joseph does not
speak a word in the Bible. Many others seem to have a much larger role.
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But he obviously played a large role in the holy family. We read in
Matthew 1:18 that Mary was engaged to him and in verse 19 he is called
her husband. This seeming disparity is because engagements were
formal agreements in those days. To back out of an engagement was
equivalent to getting divorced. But the marriage was not consummated
until after a time of waiting and the wedding ceremony. During that time
of waiting Joseph found out that Mary was with child from the Holy
Spirit. We aren’t even told how he found out. This news had to shock
him to his very core. He was unwilling to cause her harm, but he is also
unwilling to continue with the marriage. He is called righteous in his
response to her condition as he decides to dismiss her quietly.
18. This begs a question of us, just as it did of Joseph: What is the
righteous thing to do? Joseph knew the child was not his and he had no
continuing obligation to her. The letter of the law called for a harsh
punishment. I’m sure Joseph was torn between his own sense of betrayal
and loss and his compassion for Mary. A messenger from God, an angel
in a dream, helps him find God’s path forward. Don’t be afraid to take
Mary as your wife. We learn something here of Joseph character and
willingness to set aside the pain he felt. And so he took Mary, probably
had an early and less extravagant wedding, but he had no relations with
her until she had borne a son which is somewhat different than saying he
had no marital relations with her.
19. From the visit of the angel we also learn about Jesus. Just as Mary
was told, he is to be name Yeshua or Jesus, meaning God saves, or as
Matthew puts it, “he will save his people from their sins.”
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20. We also hear the explanation for this pregnancy, which goes against
everything we know about how children are conceived. But Matthew
makes the clear claim that this is God working in a supernatural way.
Jesus is not simply a man. A regular working Joe and a young girl have
been chosen to care for and raise the son of God. And so we learn of
Jesus’ humble beginnings, born not as a king in a grand fortress palace,
but as a simple boy.
21. We also learn another name for Jesus. He shall be called Emmanuel,
which means God is with us. The dream included this reminder of the
prophecy found in Isaiah 7:14.
22. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call
his name Immanuel”.
In Jesus Christ, God was breaking into the world so that we would
know we are not alone, God is with us. As followers of Jesus, are we
also to be the sign of God with us to others? A physical reminder of
God’s presence and love. There are so many ways we can invite God’s
presence and remind us that God is already here.
23. There is much we can learn from Joseph and his response to this
situation and the message from God. The dream did not protect Joseph
or Mary from the scandal that was sure to follow. People know why
quick weddings are arranged. He no doubt lost standing in the
community. He certainly had to endure difficulty that would not have
been the case if things had progressed normally.
But we learn from Joseph about true greatness as we see his
willingness to set aside his pride, anger, and hurt to take Mary and create
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a home with her for Jesus. His compassion and faith made for a good
father. He trusted God and submitted himself to following God’s will.
Joseph had a huge impact on the life of Mary and Jesus without having
to grab center stage or demand that everything be perfect. God used this
man to guide Jesus as he grew up. Joseph is never mentioned after the
trip to the temple when Jesus was 12. We don’t know how or when he
died, but he is no longer part of the picture as Jesus begins his ministry.
But there is no doubt the father has an impact on his children, even when
they are not his children.
24. Joseph gave what he had and in Joseph we see that righteous is a
matter of following God’s way of love and mercy. We love God by
loving others. The ultimate demonstration of love and righteousness is
Jesus Christ as he gave his sinless life that our sins are forgiven, but in
Joseph we see a path that is perhaps easier for us to imagine for
ourselves, a live of giving ourselves for others and making a difference
in someone’s life.
25. Perhaps we hear so little about Joseph because the gospel writers
wanted to focus on the one true father of us all and the relationship that
Jesus had with God the Father, rather that his relationship with Joseph.
That is not to say that Joseph was not important to Jesus any more than it
is to say our own parents are not important to us. But most important for
any person is the relationship we have with Our Father. The one who has
acted in history to demonstrate his love for us.
26. Next week. Mary visits Elizabeth at Ein Karem