Christ has come and Christ will come again - Day 3

Matthew 1:18-25

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

We know very little about Joseph. From this passage we know that he was both a righteous man and a compassionate man. (vs. 19) (The verse says that Joseph was Mary’s husband. But vs. 18 says they were engaged. How can both be the case? To be engaged in that day in Israel was as binding in law as being marriage – it required a divorce to break an engagement. But the couple was not living together.) 

Joseph was a man who desired to live by God’s pattern. In his following of God, he balanced an adherence to God’s laws with a living out the warm-hearted love of God. Therefore, Joseph wanted to end the relationship with Mary, she was pregnant by someone else, but he wanted to do so in a God-honouring way. While he was struggling with how to do that, the angel appeared to him and set him on a different path of following.

Joseph the righteous man was told to marry Mary, and in doing that he obeyed God and became the center of the gossip in town. The gossip that said that Joseph and Mary “had” to get married. As a result of Joseph living by God’s plan his reputation as a righteous man was destroyed in the eyes of the other people in town. He and Mary knew the truth, and they lived in that truth even though many would not have believed them.

We are called to live by God’s pattern and plan, even when those around us may think we are foolish and worse to do that. When we follow the Jesus way we will be out of step with the surrounding culture.

PRAYER:

God, you have called us to follow you. But we confess we are worried that following you will damage our reputations. People will ridicule us and talk behind our backs. And so, we are hesitant to follow. Give us the single-mindedness of Joseph, that we would put you first above all else. In Jesus’ name. Amen.