Joseph reminds us of the hymn, “Trust and Obey.”
Watch the service
Advent celebrations continued at Copper Hill church. Reagan Luchina lit the candles and Griffin and Connor Mandirola served as readers for our December Communion Sunday. Pastor Kelvin continued our exploration of “The Journey” written by Adam Hamilton with a character study on Joseph, the silent and most often neglected figure on the nativity scene. Pastor reminded us that Joseph was a direct descendant of King David, and his ancestral town was Bethlehem of which the prophet had written,
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Micah 5:2
So Joseph had the right heritage and place connections to be the legal father of the Messiah.
But the real test for Joseph came when he learned that his fiancée was pregnant. Engagement in Joseph’s day was very formal and required a formal divorce to break. If a woman was unfaithful and found to be pregnant during the engagement, she could be stoned for adultery as the OT law prescribed. When Joseph found out that Mary was expecting, he know that he was not the father and he knew that Mary’s life was in his hands. If he accused her publicly, she would likely be stoned. So he intended to divorce her quietly, an option which would spare her life though at some personal cost to him both in reputation and likely also in forfeited dowry. But the Bible calls Joseph a “righteous man” because he intended to choose this option. He was considered righteous, not for adhering to the letter of the law but rather for loving mercy and having compassion.
Pastor Kelvin also showed us from Scripture that Joseph had three angel encounters, all in dreams. In response to each one, he obeyed quickly and without question. I think today, we would have been inclined to beg for time to consider our options, but not Joseph. He trusted the word from God each time and acted immediately. That’s why he can be called the “Trust and Obey” man. What an inspiration for us all.