November 30/December 1, 2002

Matthew 1:18-19

WHY MARY AND JOSEPH?

"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly."

Last year as I was preparing a series of sermons on the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke in preparation for Christmas the question "why" entered my mind. I began to ask why the people and events in the story were there. Surely they were not accidental. An event of such monumental importance would have been planned down to the last detail. Every person that took part in the story, every word that was spoken, every event that transpired was planned. Nothing happened by chance. So, why did God pick Mary and Joseph and not someone else? Why did He pick Bethlehem rather than some other town in Israel? Why did God have His Son come into the world through a birth? God went to so much trouble to make it happen it must have been very important to Him. Why are there shepherds in the story? God did not alert the High Priest in Jerusalem. He did not alert Caesar in Rome. Why did He send angels to announce the birth to shepherds? They must play some very important role in the event. And last, why does the story end on such a sad note with the death of the infants in Bethlehem? We will explore these issues over the next few weeks and will learn that the Christmas story reveals truths about God that will bless our lives.

The issue we wish to address in this message is why Mary and why Joseph? Why were these two people chosen by God out of the people who could have been chosen for the task? Their selection to be the earthly parents of the Son of God seems improbable. Mary and Joseph lacked the qualities we use to distinguish people. They were not said to be exceptionally bright or beautiful or wealthy or politically powerful or well educated or endowed with leadership qualities or possess any of the other qualities that we would expect to find in people who would be chosen by God for such an important task. If anything, Mary and Joseph seemed to have been only common, everyday, ordinary people. So, why did God choose them?

The obvious answer is that Mary and Joseph met certain criteria for which God was looking in the earthly parents of His Son. Both were Jewish. Both were the right age at the right time in history. Both lived in the right city in the right country and were descendants of King David. Thus, Mary and Joseph met the biological, the historical, the social and the scriptural criteria that enabled them to fulfill prophecy. This is the obvious answer. They had to meet these criteria or they were out.

But Matthew and Luke make us to understand that there is a second set of criteria that is never directly mentioned that was also important to God. Mary and Joseph possessed the essential characteristics that God looks for in His people. These two people were chosen out of all of those who could have been chosen because they modeled the kind of life God approves.

The characteristics they possessed are characteristics that endeared them to the heart of God and made them suitable to be the earthly parents of God's incarnate Son. These characteristics provided the environment in which God wished His Son to be raised. Mary and Joseph also serve as role models of these characteristics for Christians down through the centuries. The characteristics they possessed are the characteristics God seeks to develop in us. We will look at three of those characteristics in this sermon.

The first of these characteristics is-

1. LOVE: They loved God.

Imagine that God sent an angel to Israel with instructions to find a couple among the descendants of King David who could serve as parents to His Son. The angel went first to Bethlehem the home of David. He walked unseen up and down the streets of the city. He watched couples holding hands. He saw them laugh and flirt with one another. The angel returned to heaven and researched their genealogy. Both the man and the woman were descendants of Israel's greatest king. The angel is surprised that his job has been so easy. He submits his report to one of the archangels for review. The archangel leafed through the report and said to the young angel, "But what about their heart?"

The young angel said, "I never thought about that."

He went back to Bethlehem and slipped unseen into each of their houses. The angel took out his heavenly stethoscope and listened to each of their hearts. Both of their hearts were young and healthy and both could expect to live long and full lives. The young angel flew back to heaven. He said to the archangel, "Both the man and the woman have healthy hearts."

The archangel stifled a smile and said to his young protégé, "It is not the health of their hearts, but the condition of their hearts that concerns me."

The young angel scratches his head of blond curly hair and says, "What are you talking about?"

The archangel said, "Do they love God with all of their hearts?"

The young angel's eyes widen with sudden insight. He winged his way back to the earth and visited them again unseen. He heard them talk about many things. They talked about their families. They talked about the work they had to do. They discussed the weather. They dreamed of the home they hoped to have some day. They talked about many things, but they never mentioned God except when they went to the synagogue. The young angel shook his head. He knew that though they knew God, they did not love Him with all of their hearts.

The young angel set out to look for others who might serve as the earthly parents of God's Son. He spent days and weeks and months at his task. He looked all over Bethlehem. Then he went up to Jerusalem. He scoured the city. Not one single candidate was overlooked. He did not find anyone who loved God with all of his or her heart.

The young angel returned to heaven defeated. He reported that he had not found anyone in Bethlehem or in Jerusalem who loved God with his or her whole heart. He was afraid God would have to find some other way to send His Son into the world. The wise old archangel who listened to the report reached across his desk and patted his young counterpart on the shoulder.

"You have worked hard," he said. "You deserve a rest. But as soon as you have rested, I want you to go back down to the earth. While you have been down there searching for the right couple, I have been up here checking the prayer requests that have come in to heaven. I think I may have found a couple at which you should take a look." The wise old archangel gave his young assistant the name and location of the couple.

The next day, the young angel flew back down to earth. This time he went to Nazareth in the north of Israel. There he found Mary and Joseph hard at work. The angel was surprised at how poor they were. They labored long and hard from dawn to dark. Often each of them sang as they worked. They sang of their faith. He noticed, too, that both often said a prayer when they began a new task. The angel followed them around for the better part of a month and watched all that they did and said. He noticed that each of them loved God with a deep and passionate love.

The angel returned to heaven and reported his findings. But he seemed lost in thought and sat for a long time across the desk from the archangel after the report was ended.

The archangel said to him, "Something on your mind?"

"Yes," said the younger and now wiser angel. "We angels see God and we love Him with all of our being. I guess the reason God is sending His Son to the earth is so that they can see Him also and love Him the way we do in heaven."

The story is fanciful, but the truth it teaches is real. God sent His Son into the world so that we might learn to love Him the way the angels in heaven love Him. First John 4:19 says, "We love because he first loved us."

The second characteristic Mary and Joseph possessed was-

2. TRUST: They trusted God.

It has always amazed me at how almost matter of fact Mary and Joseph accepted the incredible revelations they were given. An angel appeared to Mary and told her that she had been chosen to be the mother of God's Son. She responded by saying that she could not be a mother because she was still a virgin. The angel told her that her pregnancy would be a miracle. Mary replied, "'I am the Lord's servant, . . . . May it be to me as you have said'" (Luke 1:38). The impression is that the conversation lasted only minutes. Mary did not ask for time to think about it. She did not have the angel explain the details to her. She did not bargain with the angel for God to resolve the problems her pregnancy would cause with her parents and with her neighbors and even with the man to whom she was betrothed to be married. In an incredible act of the most absolute faith, Mary put herself in the hands of the Lord that He might use her as He saw fit. Talk about trust!

And Joseph was just as trusting. The angel did not even appear to Joseph in person. He appeared to him in a dream. Joseph was not given a chance to question what was happening. He was not offered an opportunity to have any of it explained to him. He was told to accept it and he did. Again, talk about faith!

These two simple, common, everyday, ordinary people demonstrated complete faith in God. They did not understand what was happening. They did not ask to understand it. They must have had thousands of questions, but they never voiced them. They were willing to trust God to work everything out.

Mary and Joseph hold before Christians of all ages their example of complete trust in God.

A third characteristic they possessed was-

3. OBEDIENCE: They obeyed God.

The essence of sin is disobedience. We do it our way. The essence of holy living is obedience. We do it God's way.

What would have happened if, when God called Abraham to go to the land of promise, he had said he did not want to? God would have called someone else and they would have been the patriarch of Israel and the Father of the faithful.

What would have happened if, when God called Moses to go down to Egypt to lead His people to freedom, if Moses had refused to go? God would have called someone else to go and Moses would have missed out on the greatest adventure of his life.

What would have happened if, when Jesus called Peter and Andrew and James and John to follow Him, if they had said they were busy? Jesus would have called other disciples and they would have been the eyewitnesses of the greatest event in the history of the world.

What would happen if God called you and me to live holy lives in an unholy world, and we chose the world over God? Two things would happen. One is that we would break the heart of God because He loves us with a perfect love. The second thing that would happen is that we would loose everything because this world and all of its desires is passing away while the kingdom of our God will last forever (I John 2:17).

Mary and Joseph were just ordinary people like you and me. The reason God picked them out of all of the candidates who could have been chosen is that-
they loved God with all of their hearts;
they trusted God completely; and
they obeyed God absolutely.