Living Stones – Saturday, December 23, 2017

Good man

Matthew 1:19

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

Guys want to marry a virgin. Good, we got that out of the way quickly. First-time sexual intercourse for a woman established a blood covenant between the newly married couple, this is the design. In contemporary times that might not be a big deal for some. Many young people have been living together first, called trial marriage in the 80s, before deciding to actually get married. Many many more young people are sexually active with the age of initiation getting constantly lower. Sexual activity in these situations is never considered to be a commitment or covenantal. The chances of a guy finding and marrying a virgin might soon be slim to nothing.

However, the birth narrative took place in occupied Israel over 2,000 years ago. It was a different time, and a very different culture. It was normal for a man to expect that he was getting married to a virgin. There are romantic aspects to this matter of virginity and its loss. These are captured well by the 1970 Betty Wright hit, Tonight’s is the night, and Madonna’s 1984, Like a Virgin, is a song with a totally different background but some of the ideas of the freshness and desirability of virginity carry over.

The Roman Catholics, and some other denominations, hold on to a doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity that has no basis in scripture and that seems to make the joys of sex and the ‘loss’ of virginity, negative things. This is very unfortunate. I grew up in an Anglican home and attended Roman Catholic High School and still remember reciting the confessional in the liturgy saying, “I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, [along with some other and Father] to pray to the Lord God for me.

Joseph, one of the neglected players in the Christmas retelling of the birth narratives faced some difficult choices. For one, his supposedly virgin fiancé is pregnant. Now how could this be? Joseph, as a Jewish Man from the Abrahamic-Davidic line would be very familiar with the Law.

Here is what it says in Deuteronomy 22:13-15, “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her, and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.” You can read the remainder for yourself later.

Joseph felt just as strongly about Mary’s action and condition as any other man of his time and persuasion would have. As far as he was concerned he was deceived, she was not what she and her parents presented her to be. And there was really no need for bloody sheets at the city gate because he didn’t sleep with her yet and she was pregnant already.

The day was saved first because Joseph was a good man. Joseph was contemplating how he could separate from her without the public drama. And public drama it would be because the proper consequences for her conduct was a stoning to death at her father doorway by the men of her city (see Deuteronomy 22:20-21).

Here is where we begin to see Joseph as a just and godly man. It would seem that once Joseph went to sleep God had his attention. Joseph receives and executes a series of instructions from the angel of the Lord that kept his young family together and most importantly, kept the baby Jesus away from those who were determined to kill Him, and ensured that prophecy was fulfilled.

We should learn a few lessons from Joseph like we did from Zacharias. Joseph had to be a man who was open to hearing from God, a man who could recognise that it was God speaking. With all the noise around us, and all of the voices in our head, it is often difficult to distinguish the voice of God. It is only by constant attention and confirmation that we are able to recognise God in the midst speaking to us. Jesus said it this way later, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27.

Joseph also demonstrates for us that we should lay aside the traditions and the teachings and customs of old when God demonstrates to us that He is on the move. Moses had been sent by God to rescue the children of Israel from Egyptian captivity, but in the end, getting them out of pharaoh’s grasp seemed easier than getting them to be faithful and obedient to God.

It is God who had said through the prophet Isaiah (43:19) Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.

Think on these things:

1. What traditions and customs from your family or culture do you hold on to and how do those affect your faith?
2. Are there any traditions and customs of Christmas that you think you should give up?
3. Have you sensed in your spirit that God is pulling you in a new direction in your walk with Him or your ministry?

Prayer focus:

Let us pray today that we would remain faithful and prayerful in spite of the circumstances around us.

In His Grace

Pastor Alex