THURSDAY 23 December 2021 “Secrets” Matt. 1:16-25

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

We’re now two days away from Christmas, 2021. Secrets can be powerful things can’t they. Do you remember a time in your life when you had a big secret? Something so significant that if it became known it would dramatically change your relationships, or it might cost you a job, or it might result in legal action? Secrets are one of the main aspects of the Christmas story aren’t they?

Zechariah had a secret encounter with the angel Gabriel, and it changed his life, but he was struck mute by Gabriel, so his secret was unknown for a long time. Elizabeth had a secret, miraculous pregnancy and she remained in seclusion for 5 months, not ready to share the news with anyone other than Zechariah, as they tried to discern from God how they should handle the miracle of being parents to John, the forerunner of Messiah. Mary had a secret too, didn’t she! She shared it with Elizabeth and Zechariah and spent three months with them trying to discern how God wanted Mary to handle her secret, miraculous, pregnancy. How could she tell Joseph her fiancé, and how could she expect him to understand her secret? But for Mary, Joseph was only the beginning. For the rest of her life Mary would frequently “ponder all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19) as the true identity of her son was doubted by almost everyone.

I left you yesterday with Mary bidding farewell to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and beginning her journey back home to Nazareth. Let’s walk along with her. She’s at least 3 months pregnant now, with this miraculous, Holy Spirit of God pregnancy, that she is working so hard to understand. The worst possible problem for a young Jewish girl like Mary who is engaged to be married, would be her current problem… she is pregnant with no logical explanation. No one could be expected to accept her secret story of an angel appearing to her and a God accomplished pregnancy. She and her family knew the laws of God well. Deuteronomy 22:13-30 was painfully clear. Her pregnancy before marriage was punishable by death of stoning, unless she was forcibly attacked and raped by a stranger, and could prove it! Joseph, her fiancé, would be suspected to be the father of course, and unless he could prove otherwise, he would be stoned as well. God’s law was clear, “purge the evil from Israel”.

700 years before Isaiah the prophet had proclaimed “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Is. 7:14) but the truth is, my friends, hearing such a statement and actually being the person experiencing it, are two very different things. The Jewish people had revered this statement for a very long time, but now that Mary was the living proof of it, no one was ready to accept it as practical truth. Do we sometimes do that with Biblical truth? Do we find ourselves hearing things God has said in the Bible and agreeing with them as truth, but when we face the practical reality of it, do our attitudes change, and perhaps we consider those God statements as preposterous? I doubt we can imagine the hand wringing anxiety and worry which Mary felt as she walked toward her home town, anticipating no one… not her parents, not Joseph, not the Rabbi, NO ONE would believe her. Almost certainly profound shame and maybe death would be her destiny! Yet her secret was that she had said to the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be unto me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38) Mary had willingly offered herself to God.

Matthew Levi, one of Jesus’ disciples, wrote several unique, important aspects of the Christmas story. Being a tax accountant, family lineage record keeping was very important to Matthew in his business. So it should not surprise us that Matthew opens his account of the story of Jesus, by giving us the family lineage of Jesus going all the way back to Abraham! With great courage, Matthew concludes that lineage by writing this: “…and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.” (Matt. 1:16) From his earliest memories, I’m sure Joseph frequently heard his parents tell him the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons, especially his most famous son Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, but became the Prime Minister, second in authority only to the Pharaoh himself. Do you suppose Joseph felt an expectation by his extended family, that he would grow up to be a modern day Joseph for the town of Nazareth, and maybe even all Jews living under Roman domination?

Do you notice Matthew boldly proclaims, from his very first chapter, that this child, born to Mary, is “The Christ”? “Christ” means “Messiah”! Matthew’s primary purpose, in his entire 28 chapters, is to prove Jesus is the long awaited, God promised, Jewish Messiah! But of course Matthew wrote AFTER Jesus lived, died, rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven. On this day, as young, virgin, pregnant Mary walked toward Nazareth, Matthew was likely a young child, playing with other kids near his home, and Mary was alone with her secret!

We don’t know exactly when or how Mary told Joseph her secret. But Matthew tells us what happened next: “Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him 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. 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.” (Matt. 1:18-21)

We don’t know how long Joseph wrestled with his double secret… both Mary’s explanation of her pregnancy and what the angel told him in his dream. Nothing could have more complicated his life, his future. I have no doubt both Mary and Joseph considered eloping and running away from Nazareth, to somewhere no one would know them, and try to start a life there. Matthew tells us what they actually did: “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.” Now ponder that a moment, my friends… what would you have done?

What courage and integrity do you see in Joseph as he protected Mary from what certainly was a continual avalanche of humiliation? What risks do you see Joseph took? What do you suppose motivated Joseph to take Mary home as his wife and care for her, love her, protect her, provide for her, when no clear thinking person would believe her story? How much did Joseph’s dream and the angel’s explanation affect Joseph? Why do you suppose Joseph respected Mary and her pregnancy enough that he had NO sexual union with her until after the child was born? We can assume Joseph knew the Scriptures well. All young Jewish boys studied with the local Rabbi. It seems clear Matthew’s explanation was Joseph’s courageous conclusion in this matter: “All this took place to fulfill what the LORD had said through the prophet: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us’.” (Matt. 1:22,23)

Let’s pause right here my friends and simply watch Joseph and Mary as they try to live as a newly married young couple in Nazareth, as day after day Mary’s belly grows. Her pregnancy is no longer a secret, everyone can see the evidence. But the truth secret that she and Joseph know, does anyone believe, even their parents? How difficult were those months, every day?

And then one day Roman soldiers stand in the town square announcing a new edict from the Caesar… a tax census, and everyone must go to the town of their family lineage to register, no exceptions. Suddenly that long list of names in Matthew chapter 1 is important, for that determines where Joseph and Mary must go to register. And the soldiers make it clear… no exception, and no delay! Tomorrow we’ll walk with Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, but for today, watch them as they live with their secrets which are a public scandal in Nazareth. What would you have done? Is there something in your life, your extended family, your world, that God is challenging you to consider today, that might be much more than what it appears?

Here’s a song with video support of the Nativity story, to help us consider this…

Today’s Scripture is Matthew 1:16-25.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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