Joseph: The Forgotten Hero of Christmas · Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. 1

   James pointed out we sing about Mary, the shepherds, and the star, and Joseph gets a cameo and a mountain of responsibility — not one word of his is recorded anywhere in Scripture. What do you learn about a person from watching them that you would never learn from hearing them talk?

2. 2

   Matthew's genealogy of Jesus keeps Rahab in it, and David and Bathsheba. James said God uses broken things and broken stories to bring about his purposes. What does it do to you that Matthew left those names in rather than tidying up the list?

3. 3

   The angel opens with "Joseph, son of David" — James said God sometimes has to remind us who we are, because life just beats us down. What is the true thing about you that you most need someone to say back to you right now?

4. 4

   Joseph had already decided to divorce Mary quietly. He never got an explanation — he got one instruction. James said faith is often not having all the answers, just enough to take the next step. What is the one next step you can actually see, even though the rest of it is dark?

5. 5

   James's wife found his father's little pocket New Testament — highlights, notes, prayers written in the back — from a man who had not always walked with the Lord and never preached a sermon in his life. If someone found something of yours in thirty years, what would it be, and what would it tell them?

6. 6

   James quoted Bonhoeffer: one act of obedience is worth more than a hundred sermons. He said the loudest sermon you will ever preach is how you live. Name one act of obedience this week — small, unglamorous, and likely to go unnoticed. Who will you tell so they can ask?