The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Matthew 1:18 “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, desired to put 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 that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.’ 22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 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 arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” (NASB)
“When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” The only time we heard the word “betrothed” these days is in the Bible readings at Christmas time or in movies/tv shows that are set in the middle ages. Today we don’t use the word because the idea, that is the institution pretty much died off in the early 20th century. The word betrothed means “truth, a pledge.”
To be “betrothed” meant, by virtue of a young man’s and a woman’s (or their parents in the case of arranged marriages) word of honor, they were married. They just weren’t living together yet. They hadn’t consummated the marriage. Consummation means, “made complete, made perfect.”
In 1929 F.A.E. Pasche wrote and Concordia Publishing published devotional book titled, “Daily Bread.” In that devotional, Pasche included a devotion on betrothal as part of his treatment of marriage. Listen to the first paragraph of that devotion.
Two things make a rightful betrothal: the free will of the contracting parties and the consent of their parents. Such rightful betrothal must not be broken. Why? Because holy wedlock begins with such promise. The matrimonial estate is entered into by rightful betrothal. When you open the Bible, you find it written on the first page of the New Testament that Mary was espoused, or promised, to Joseph. But in the very next verse, in verse 19, you will see that the Holy Ghost calls Joseph Mary’s husband, although he was only engaged, or promised, to her. And the angel of the Lord, in verse 20, calls Mary Joseph’s wife, although she was only promised, or betrothed. And in verse 24 the Holy Ghost again calls the Virgin Mary Joseph’s wife. Thus the Holy Ghost has shown that a rightful betrothal is as binding as wedlock itself, yea, that the marriage is entered into by this mutual plighting of troth.
Pasche ends his devotion on betrothal with this warning. “Act, therefore, in the fear of God when becoming betrothed; when lawfully engaged, beware of breaking faith.” In days gone by breaking off an betrothal could bring about church discipline.
We have come a long way and not for the better from the days when “Mary had been betrothed to Joseph.” By the custom of their day, Mary and Joseph were in fact already husband and wife. At the same time, they had not yet begun living together as one household and as husband and wife, their relationship had not been consummated, made perfect yet.
Then one day, very, very un-expectantly Mary tells Joseph the good news. She is with Child–obviously not his. She is pregnant with the Son of God. She tells Joseph that the spoken Word of God, spoken to her by an angel has caused her present condition and that she was still in fact a virgin.
Joseph wasn’t buying it. Who could blame him? But there it was. What’s Joseph supposed to do now? Simply believe the story and go about the business of trying to convince family and friends, the religious leaders at the local synagogue, and the people of Nazareth that the Child in Mary’s womb was not his, but was in fact the Son of God incarnate?
In those days out of wedlock pregnancies immediately demoted the couple involved to the scorned and undesirable status. In a small town or village, where everyone knew it could be very hard to earn a living. In particular the mother and child would live in internal exile.
So now what is Joseph to do? How does he maintain his good standing in the community? Joseph looks to what he knows. He looks to the customs and laws of the land, which tell him he it is in his best interest and he has every right to publicly divorce his betrothed. He has the right to humiliate her. He even has the right to have her stoned to death for the “offense” of infidelity.
While these are all options under the law, Joseph is a righteous man, a kind man, a man who loved Mary, although that affection was probably injured by what he believed was a betrayal. Most people then and now don’t handle betrayal well.
When betrayed by infidelity, immediate and deep hurt is the most common response. That is soon followed by anger, in part, a righteous anger. The righteous anger usually gives way to a desire to strike back by telling family and friends what a terrible person said spouse had become. Some people never get over it. They never really heal. They never stop being angry. They never move beyond that betrayal.
Joseph no doubt felt that sense of betrayal, but Joseph was a righteous man. That meant he was a man of humble faith. Though a kind and honorable man, Joseph knew himself to be a sinner and as such he wasn’t going to cast stones, literally at Mary. Joseph conducted himself as every Christian ought to conduct himself/herself when wronged by another or when they become aware of their neighbor’s dark secrets.
Joseph didn’t run around exposing what he believed to be Mary grievous sin. He doesn’t use her condition as a base line to show his moral superiority. That’s pretty much what everyone does. “See that man there, he’s a terrible man, a low life. I am glad I am better person that he is.”
Joseph was determined to do what was right according to the laws and custom of the day, namely divorce her. If it had to be Joseph was going to do it in the kindest possible. Even in the present circumstance, Joseph was going to take care of Mary and do what was best for her under the circumstances.
“Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly.” Having settled on the best way to handle the matter, Joseph fell asleep. 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 that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”
That must of been about as real as a dream as any dream can get. Joseph doesn’t write it off as simply the normal run of the mill dream. What the angel had told him matched what Mary told him. There is no question in Joseph’s mind, he had been visited by one of God’s heavenly messengers.
Joseph was a righteous man. He knew the Old Testament Scripture and he knew that one day God would send the Messiah into the world and that God’s only begotten Son would be born of a virgin. He just didn’t think it would be the virgin betrothed to him. In light of the good news the angel just preached to him, Joseph’s righteousness prompted him to do exactly as the angel instructed. 24 “Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”
Hundreds of years earlier God had given an unfaithful and evil king, king Ahaz a sign of His grace. “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Sinful human beings always try God’s patience. I can also tell you that is especially true of us, the church, God’s very own children. These days people inside and outside the church are surely trying God’s patience.
“Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:13-14)
Hundreds of years later God was making good on this promise. He gave Joseph a sign, an angelic visit and a name that would be above all names – Jesus – the One Who saves the people from their sins.
The virgin birth must have been a hardship for everyone associated with Mary and Joseph, but the Scripture spends no time on what they faced or how they dealt with it. Joseph simply did what King Ahaz would not do. He forsook his own plans on how to handle the situation and believed the Word that had been preached to him. The warning given to Ahaz was coming to pass.
Salvation was coming to the house of the Lord, literally. God was dwelling in the womb of the Virgin Mary. “Behold, a virgin will . . . bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
“God with us.” In the Babe of Bethlehem and in the Nazarene on the cross, God was with us in the flesh. Today God is with us in the Word and Sacrament ministry. God is with His church as her Husband. In fact, as members of His Bride the Church, you are “betrothed” to Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is betrothed to you. That is, He has pledged Himself to you and you have been pledged to Him in the waters of Holy Baptism.
Hosea 2:18-20: “. . . In that day . . . I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, And will make them lie down in safety. I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.”
Again here in Isaiah 54:4-6, “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the Lord of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.”
As the congregations in the city of Corinth struggled with what it meant to be Christian, St. Paul wrote of them in 2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”
Listen to how Revelation 21:3-4 marries the Immanuel, God with us to the Bride of Christ. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.’”
In the waters of Holy Baptism and in the gift of faith God the Father betrothed you to Christ and Christ Jesus to you. On the Last Day, when the new heaven and new earth come to pass our relationship with the Son of God will be consummated, made complete and we shall stand before the Lord our God, the Husband of His Bride the church and you will have no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that you will be holy and blameless in the sight of all.
AMEN
May the Peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.