The Beauty of Silent Obedience

The Role of Joseph in Advent

I’m teaching tonight at Holy Saints, so I’ve been studying Joseph the last few weeks. I’m not going to upload my notes because they are chicken scratch, but here are some thoughts about Jesus’ earthly father as we head into the season of Advent.

P.S. I’ll be doing one of these super short devotionals for each Sunday leading up to Christmas, but the next three are for the faithful subscribers only.

The Advent story often feels larger than life: angelic proclamations, miraculous births, and songs of glory filling the heavens. Yet woven into this grand narrative is Joseph—a tradesman from Nazareth, whose act of worship was not sung, but lived.

Joseph is the quietest figure in the Christmas story. In fact, he doesn’t speak a single word in Scripture. Yet, his life tells a testimony of faithfulness. When faced with the shame and confusion of Mary’s unexpected pregnancy, Joseph’s response was not one of righteous anger, but merciful justice. In fact, Matthew appears to show Joseph as an ideal Israelite. It says,

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. -Matthew 1:19 (emphasis added).

Joseph, apparently, was righteous enough to not allow (what first seemed) infidelity to mark his marriage, but also merciful enough to not expose Mary to the officials at the city gate to be stoned in accordance with the Law.

And as the story shows, when Joseph slept that night, in a dream (or a nightmare), an Angel of God confirms Mary’s child is of the Holy Spirit—and that changes everything.

Joseph’s role in the Advent story is not flashy. He isn’t the one delivering the Magnificat or heralding the Messiah’s birth to shepherds. He isn’t an earthly king bringing gifts to the King of kings. Instead, Joseph is the earthly father who raises the Son of God in anonymity and humility.

Worship is not always done with music or prayers, or experienced in sermons or the sensational, many times it is done simply in silent obedience. Joseph’s life shows us that worship involves laying our lives down in surrender, a death to self-will, and plan, and even choice or preference… and choosing to trust in God’s will instead.

As we enter this season of Advent, Joseph’s story reminds us that faithfulness usually doesn’t come with fanfare or grand actions that bring recognition.

Many times, the greatest acts of faith are carried out in the background—in the beauty of silent obedience to the Lord.