THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

December 27, 2023

LIFE IN THE FOLD

When we think of why we celebrate Christmas, we think of Jesus' birth. We often think of His earthly mother, Mary, too. But for the past few days I've been thinking about Joseph. Scripture says more about Mary than it does Joseph, so we don't really know a whole lot about him.

We first read about Joseph in Matthew 1:16-25. The chapter begins with the genealogy of Joseph's family. Verse 16 says, "Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah."

Then verse 18 begins by saying, "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about." Then it gives a short synopsis of the story. His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly or secretly.

Scripture doesn't say how Joseph found out about Mary's pregnancy. Most translations say that they were betrothed. That is a term that just means engagement in our culture, but had a very different meaning to the Jewish people back during that time. There were two steps to marriage; first the betrothal, wherein the couple formally committed to marriage. At this time, they were legally considered married and were referred to as "husband" and "wife". They could only end their marriage through death or divorce. But the marriage would not be consummated at this time.

The second part of the marriage process was the formal home-taking ceremony. The interval between the two events could last as long as a year. During this time, the bride prepared for the ceremony and for her upcoming move and the husband was expected to prepare a home that he would bring his wife into.

So it seems that Joseph and Mary were in this in-between stage when the angel appeared to Mary. They had formally committed to marriage, but Joseph had left to go prepare a home for them and had not yet gone back to bring Mary back to live in his home as his wife. Sometime during this period, Joseph somehow finds out that Mary is pregnant; and he knows that the child is not his. In order to best protect Mary and her reputation, and so as to not cause her public disgrace, he chose to dissolve the marriage quietly.

As Joseph was considering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Joseph was just a normal working man. Nothing is said about what he worked at here, but in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus had returned to Nazareth, his hometown. People said, "Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracle?" Then scripture says in verse 55, "Then they scoffed, "He's just the carpenter's son...." We see here that carpentry was Joseph's trade.

I'm sure that Joseph had never had an angelic encounter before this, so when an angel appeared to him in a dream it got his attention and he knew that he needed to pay attention and listen. Perhaps he then remembered the words from the prophet Isaiah, which is written in Matthew 1:22-23: "All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet: 'Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.''"

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife; which I think means that he went and brought her into his home, to fulfill the final part of the marriage process.

I wonder if Joseph felt the responsibility of being extra careful with Mary, to insure that she had a healthy pregnancy and was safe; after all, she was carrying the Son of God in her womb. "Here Mary, don't lift that -- let me do it!" "Mary, be sure and put your feet up and rest!" "Mary, is there anything you need to make you more comfortable?" When he saw her kneeling before the cooking fire, did he run up and offer her a hand; "Mary, let me help you up!" If so, did Mary enjoy his attention and care or did she think, "Joseph, I'm fine! Stop worrying so much!"

They had almost made it to the time of the birth, when the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. Everyone was to return to own ancestral towns to register for the census. Because Joseph was a descendent of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancestral home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took Mary with him. This would have been about a 90 mile journey and probably took close to a week for them to make it.

Upon their arrival in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. There was no lodging available for them, so the only private place Joseph could find was a stable; which was very likely a cave where animals were kept.

It seems from the story that only Joseph and Mary were present for the birth of Jesus. As Mary's labor pains began in earnest, Joseph must have felt the stress and burden of delivering this child. Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and they called him, Jesus, just as they had been instructed.

Shepherds arrived and found Mary, Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. The shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. Scripture says that Mary, "kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often." Nothing is said about Joseph's response to everything that had taken place.

Jesus' parents took him to the temple to present him to the Lord as the law required. Mary and Joseph were amazed at the words that Simeon spoke as he held Jesus in his arms.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph once again in a dream and told him, "Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother. Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." That night he left for Egypt with Mary and the child and they stayed there until Herod's death.

When Herod died, an angel once again appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. The angel told him to take the child and his mother back to Israel. He received one last recorded dream upon their arrival in Israel, which was a warning to go to Galilee and live in Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said, "He will be called a Nazarene."

There is only one more mention of Joseph in scripture. When Jesus was twelve years old, he and his parents went to the Passover festival as usual. When the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth. His parents had assumed that he was among the other travelers so didn't realize that he was missing at first. When he didn't show up that evening they began searching among their relatives and friends. When they couldn't find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there.

They searched for three days, before finally finding him in the temple. Jesus was sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. His parents didn't know what to think.

Mary said, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere." Jesus response was, "But why did you need to search? Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house?" They didn't understand what he meant.

Jesus returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.

That's all we know about Joseph. It seems as if his role was but a minor one in the story of Jesus; but it really wasn't. Even though we don't know a lot about him, we do know that he was a righteous man and faithful to the law. He cared about Mary's reputation and wanted to protect her. He listened to everything the angel of the Lord instructed him to do in his dreams and obeyed. The people in Nazareth knew that Jesus was the carpenter's son. We don't when Joseph died, but it was before Jesus' ministry and death and resurrection.

I think when Jesus ascended into heaven he saw Joseph there and remembered the role that Joseph had in his life. Perhaps he remembered their conversations and times they had spend together while on earth. I believe that Jesus had a special love in his heart for his earthly father.

God handpicked Joseph to be the man who would care for and raise His Son; just as He had chosen Mary to be the one who would give birth to and be the mother to Jesus. It wasn't coincidence that Joseph had chosen Mary to be his wife, but by God's design and plan. He knew that Joseph would be a godly earthly father to His Son and be obedient to do all that he was instructed in his dreams to do.

God is also involved in our lives and directs our steps and has plans for each of us. Psalms 37:23 says, "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives." Perhaps at times it seems as if someone else's story is more significant than ours or they are more important, but God has a purpose for each of us. We are each special to Him and it gives Him joy to be involved in every detail of our lives!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

We watched an episode of a comedy series that depicted the confrontation between Joseph and Mary before Joseph was visited by the angel. The two characters who were playing the scene tend to mangle doctrine and Biblical stories horribly, so at first, it seemed like it must be completely wrong. In short, 'Joseph' yelled at 'Mary' and called her names, and said there was no way he would ruin his good name by marrying her.

It seemed completely wrong to see 'Joseph' yelling and outraged at 'Mary'. But after some thought, it seemed more and more likely. Matthew 1:19 clearly says that Joseph planned to call off the betrothal/marriage (it was considered a divorce). He was compassionate enough to do it discretely, and not demand to have Mary stoned to death. But it doesn't say Joseph was happy about it.

Fortunately, Joseph took some time before he did anything. He slept on it, and the angel helped him change his mind.

That's good advice for most of us today. When we are confronted with something huge and painful, it is best to sleep on it. If there is something we need to know or consider, it gives us time to reconsider our plans. Let us all be slow to anger.

ON THE MENEWE:

Smoked Turkey Leg and Greens

Season the water to your desired taste. Suggested seasonings: cajun, garlic, onion, powdered chicken bullion.

Add in smoked turkey legs. Make sure there is enough water to cover them; add water as needed. Cover and boil until the meat falls off the bone.

Wash the mustard greens very, very well! Strip the greens from the stem and tear into bite-sized pieces.

Once the turkey falls off the bones, remove the bones and shred the meat up. Add back to the seasoned water and add in the greens.

Cover and let it cook until the greens are tender. Taste the broth as you go and add more water or seasoning as needed.

This is very good!! Amount of ingredients depends on how much you want to cook.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Recently I had kept my nephew's two five-year old's for the afternoon. On the way home the little girl started making up Christmas songs. She would sing one, then ask if I liked it. After making up a fairly long song she told me, "When you get home, sing that song to Uncle Jon!" I told her to sing it to me again so I'd know how it went. She said, "I can't do that! You're supposed to sing it over and over in your mind so you will remember it! That's how you do it!!" Needless to say, I didn't come home and sing her long made-up song to Jon.... the only words I could remember out of her song was "jingle bells"; but there were a lot of other words I couldn't remember!!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Don't leave Jesus in the manger. Don't remember Him only at Christmas.

Instead, learn to walk with Him every day. - Billy Graham

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org