Joseph

A Quiet Father

READ Matthew 1:18–25

In many organizations, there are quiet people working behind the scenes who don’t get much credit or attention but who are integral for everything to work smoothly. I have found, working in churches, that often the office administrator has a better finger on the pulse of the pastoral needs in the congregation than anyone else. Yet people rarely view this person as a primary resource for the church’s spiritual needs. Sometimes it is the quiet and unassuming people who have the most important roles. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was a person like this.

Joseph probably had a fairly humble vision for his future. He would marry a young woman named Mary, the two would settle down, he would work his trade, and they would raise a family in the region of Galilee. Things were moving smoothly in this quaint direction until the unthinkable happened. While Mary and Joseph were still engaged, he found out Mary was pregnant.

Breaking off an engagement wasn’t as simple then as it is today. Joseph couldn’t just ask for the engagement ring back so the two could move on in separate directions. No, breaking out of their engagement would require a formal divorce. And this caused Joseph some anguish. He had valid grounds for this divorce: Mary was pregnant, after all, and he knew he had nothing to do with it. But divorcing Mary on the grounds of committing adultery would mean Mary could be put to death—at the very least, it would subject her to a lifetime of shame and disgrace.

The Bible says Joseph was faithful to the law, yet he did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace. He sought to uphold the standards of God’s law, but also wanted to obey God by showing mercy. He wanted to live the truth while being full of grace. Because of this, he decided to divorce Mary quietly, rather than making the issue a public spectacle. Joseph seems to have embodied Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 4:2: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Seeking to deal with the situation quietly suited Joseph’s character, at least as far as we know. The fact is, the Bible never records a single word from Joseph. In the narrative, he’s a quiet servant of God.

Not all of God’s servants are gifted to be preachers, teachers, or evangelists. Not all of God’s people will lead Bible studies or use many words at all. For many, gifting comes in quieter forms—but this does not make their service any less noble or God-glorifying. God delights in humble servants.

Before Joseph could act on his divorce plans, God sent an angel to him in a dream. The angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The child she was bearing was conceived not by another man but by the Holy Spirit. Her child would be a son, the angel told Joseph, and that son would be named Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Now, put yourself in Joseph’s shoes for a moment. You have this dramatic dream in which an angel speaks to you. On the one hand, you know from the stories of your faith that dreams ought to be taken seriously. On the other hand, you might think it was only a dream. It did sound, after all, quite unbelievable. So what would you do?

The Bible says Joseph simply obeyed. He did not ask questions. He did not resist God’s calling, as many other people in the Bible often did. Joseph’s response was completely matter-of-fact: “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” (v. 24).

Joseph’s witness to us is in his faithful and quiet obedience. This dream and this child guaranteed that Joseph’s life would not be what he envisioned, and yet he yielded his life and his future to God. What a difficult lesson this can be for us to learn! So often, we make plans that we grow too attached to. We use pros and cons lists and factor in any number of considerations, and then we set out resolutely toward our imagined future. Our hope isn’t for God to show us his plans, but rather for God to bless our plans. This is the wrong approach. Our hearts must stay open to God’s guidance.

When you think of people whose faith you look up to and have been inspired by, what are the qualities they possess that attract you and earn your respect? Is it sure knowledge and gifts for speaking? While we may be inspired by certain preachers who possess wonderful gifts of using words to make God’s love seem so present and alive, often it is the faith of people like Joseph we should look to as an example. Pay attention to the people in your life with a quiet faith, a humble faith, who obey with a simple trust, even in moments of uncertainty. A quiet faithfulness, like Joseph’s, speaks volumes about God.