The announcement of the coming birth of Christ for a person, a man named Joseph, initially came with suspicion, disappointment, a sense of betrayal, and the dread of a violent and very public death of the child’s mother, Mary. We know the story well, do we not? The story of Joseph and Mary?  Perhaps we do and perhaps there are some parts of it that we do not but need to know.

          The story of this announcement and subsequent birth of Jesus is found in the Gospel of Matthew. The story consists of just eight verses. The story comes after 17 verses detailing the genealogy of Joseph beginning with Abraham.  The story of the birth of Jesus is remarkable because of what it says and because of what the story does not say.  We will look deeper into what it says but let’s consider for a moment what this story does not say.  The story does not tell us anything about a Roman census causing Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem.  The story does not contain anything about an innkeeper, stable, manger, and there are no shepherds. In fact, the only person in the story is Joseph.  Mary is mentioned but she has no part in the story.  And the same is true for Jesus, mentioned but he has no part in the story. In the story, Joseph, the only person in the story, says nothing.  He only sleeps.  An angel speaks to Joseph while Joseph sleeps but the angel is not seen.  If the children’s Christmas pageant was based solely on this story, we would only need one child and a narrator.  The only acting the child would need to do would be to pretend to take a nap.  Yet, despite the lack of characters, changes scenery changes, and the absence of dialogue, the eight verses Matthew wrote about the announcement and birth of Jesus are packed with human drama of suspicion, disappointment, a sense of betrayal, the dread of a violent and very public death of Mary, and spiritual insight into the work of God. In fact, the absence of all the other elements was purposeful.  Matthew wanted to strip everything else from the scene so as to focus the story to be on the conflicts that Joseph faced.  For it would be in the conflicts that Matthew would foretell the nature of the full gospel story about the Messiah, named Jesus.

          Let’s look at what Matthew said happened.  “18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph” (Matthew 1:18a). Joseph and Mary’s father had met and discussed Mary becoming Joseph’s wife.  The two had entered into a formal contract to make Joseph and Mary a married couple.  At that point, the Joseph and Mary were legally bound together, and that contract could only be broken by divorce or death.  At that moment, the couple could not live together until Mary and her family had completed her preparations for the wedding and Joseph had secured a suitable place for the couple to live.  Until the formal wedding ceremony, Mary would live with her father and there was to be no sexual contact between Joseph and Mary.

          But.  There is always a but.  “But before they (Joseph and Mary) came together, she (Mary) was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18b).  We have quickly entered a crisis in the story.  Mary, pledged to Joseph, was now pregnant.  This should not be so.  The narrator, Matthew, tells us that the pregnancy occurred through the power of the Holy Spirit, but there is no indication that Joseph understood that was the case.  The pregnancy of a woman pledged to marriage was a very serious situation.  There was, of course, the natural response of suspicion, disappointment, and a sense of betrayal.  But in this case, the Law of Moses carried with it a death penalty for Mary. The Law stated, “23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 22:22-23).  Joseph, not knowing of the intervention of the Holy Spirit, would be required under the Law to make a very public spectacle of Mary and that Mary could be killed along with the baby she was carrying.

          Matthew then shifted our focus from the crisis to the nature of Joseph, who had to make the decision on Mary’s fate and the fate of her unborn child.  “19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he [Joseph] had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19).  Joseph knew what the Law required, Mary’s death, and Joseph feared disobeying the Law as well as obeying the Law.  Joseph being a righteous man struggled to expose Mary to death because the words of the Law also said that God had placed before him death and life and that he should choose life.  How then could Joseph choose life and yet uphold the Law?  And so, Joseph thought that divorcing Mary as quietly as possible might accomplish something of under the Law while also saving Mary’s life and the life of her baby.  Joseph thought he had solved his dilemma.

          But.  There is always a but.  “20 But after he [Joseph] had considered this [a quiet divorce], an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20). God had revealed to Joseph that Mary’s baby was conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit and not by some other man. This should resolve Joseph’s suspicion, disappointment, and sense of betrayal.  Moreover, the angel said Joseph should lay aside his fears and take Mary as his wife.  Joseph was not to publicly accuse Mary.  Joseph was to publicly affirm Mary.  There was to be no divorce.  There was to be a wedding ceremony.  There was to be no death of mother and child, there was to be the birth of a child and Joseph, acting as the child’s father, was to name the child, Jesus.  Joseph, a righteous man, was to learn that righteousness sometimes was more costly than following the legalisms of the Law.  For in righteousness, there may be persecution and accusations, but there will be no fear of God.  Proverbs 28:1 says, “The righteous are as bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).  Joseph was being called to be incredibly brave.

Matthew wrote, “24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus” (Matthew 1:24-25).  Joseph emboldened by God’s message, fearlessly took Mary home to be his wife and she gave birth to a son whom Joseph named, Jesus.

          And there we have a very short story about the birth of Jesus, told entirely from the perspective of Joseph, who would appear, slept through most of the story.  What was Matthew focused on in this story?  In a word, Matthew was focused on righteousness. Matthew wanted his readers to know that he would share in the remaining gospel account that righteousness and not legalism was at the heart of the relationship with God.  Righteousness speaks to the inner being of the person and is valued over the outward appearance of meeting the letter of the Law.

          How did that idea of righteousness play out balance of the Gospel of Matthew?  First, Jesus inaugurated his ministry by being baptized by John.  When Jesus approached John for baptism, John paused and said he, John, needed to be baptized by Jesus.  But Jesus said, ““Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented” (Matthew 3:15).  Jesus was setting the example for his followers to choose to be publicly baptized as a sign of inner renewal and commitment to follow the pathway of God.

          Jesus then began his active ministry with the Sermon on the Mount.  There Jesus said, “6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).  If people desire the righteousness of the Lord as strongly and as often that they desire to eat and drink, then God will bless them with hearts able to receive and display righteous thoughts, words, and actions.  And that God would bless those who were persecuted for acting righteously.  For Jesus said, “10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).

          Jesus affirmed that righteousness was the heart of his message when he said, “20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).  Jesus again confirmed that righteousness was the pathway of life.  Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33a).  Again, in Matthew 13:43, Jesus said, “Then the righteous will shine line the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Matthew 13:43).  And again, “This is how it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous” (Matthew 13:49).  Finally, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).  Matthew would provide us a gospel about righteousness from the announcement of Jesus’ coming to the climax of his death upon the cross.

          The time, setting, and circumstances of the birth announcement of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew through the story of a righteous man named Joseph, told with all other elements removed, brought immense attention to the thrust of gospel message. Jesus came to call the sinner into righteousness that they could have eternal life.  What then does it mean to be righteous?

          We might think of righteousness this way.  Righteousness is being in the state as you ought to be.  There is a correctness of thinking, your emotions, your words, and your deeds.  You are authentic to the way you are supposed to be, and you have integrity because the ways you think, speak, and act are consistent.  You do not think one way, speak a different way, and act, perhaps differently than you speak or think.  In righteousness, you are as you ought to be.  But there is always a but.  But who determines how you ought to be?  As Jesus used the term righteous, he, of course, was referring to God’s view of how you ought to be.  God made humanity right.  We were made free, fearless, unashamed, content, happy to be in fellowship with God, and happy in fellowship with others.  We were in the state as we ought to be because we were right with God. Righteousness, the way one ought to be with God was not to be found in temple or other religious practices.  And it is still not to be found in church or religious practices.  Righteousness is following the commands of God without needed to do it in some legalist manner but in a manner that shows a deep understanding of the purpose of those commands.

Jesus was sent to earth that we would choose life. Jesus came that he could lead us into righteousness, transforming us into the people we ought to be, the people God always intended us to be.  The gospel of Mark tells us what Jesus did.  The Gospel of Luke tells us how Jesus felt.  The gospel of John told us who Jesus was.  But the Gospel of Matthew told us what Jesus said, and Jesus had a lot to say about what it means to live a righteous life.  Let’s give ourselves a gift this Christmas season and read the words that Jesus said that we could come to know life as it ought to be – lived in the righteousness of God.  Amen and Amen.