A simple carpenter from Nazareth once repaired a roof more slowly and carefully than any other in his life, because Mary lived in that house. Joseph tells this story in his own words: four hundred years of God’s silence, a dream of an ordinary home, and the evening when everything fell apart (Matthew 1). The sermon moves from the question every generation asks, where is God? to a manger where the answer turns out to be startlingly close. Listen if it feels as though God goes silent exactly when you need him most.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Matthew 1:18-25 Joseph decides to divorce Mary quietly. What does this decision reveal about his character and how he held together faithfulness to the law and care for Mary?
- The angel names the child Jesus because he will save his people from their sins, and recalls Isaiah's prophecy of Immanuel, God with us. What would these names have meant to a people who had not heard a prophet for 400 years?
- In the sermon Joseph asks: where is God, if I prayed for a good wife and this happened? In what situations in your life does that same question come up?
- Joseph wanted to run as far away from this story as possible. What makes you want to run from God or from people in hard times instead of trusting?
- The almighty God became a baby who had to be fed and changed. How does the fact that he stepped into ordinary human life change the way you think about God?
- The sermon ends with an invitation for Jesus to step into the story of your life and become your king. Where will you look for God present in your everyday life this week?
