“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” (Matthew 1:24)
We’ve spent the last three weeks talking about God conceiving and delivering the miraculous in us, and Mary has been our example. But what about Joseph’s miracle? God worked in a mighty way in him, too.
There is a sense in which Joseph is the “forgotten man” of Christmas. He is Joseph, The Silent. He appears in the birth narratives of the gospels without uttering a word and then disappears, never appearing again.
Joseph is the last figure set up in our nativity scenes and the first one taken down. He is an extra in the scene with only minor credits. And although there are 15 cities in the U.S. named after him, he remains largely forgotten. This shouldn’t be because he is an incredible example of strong, silent obedience to God.
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you say.” And it’s a good thing, because although Joseph does not speak, his actions speak volumes to us today. His obedience was immediate, fearful, painful, consequential, and influential. Let’s talk about it Friday evening!
Join us Christmas Eve for our final Christmas sermon, “The Forgotten Man of Christmas.”
And remember to join us on Sunday! I believe God’s given me a prophetic word over you for 2022: “Favor!” Don’t miss it!
