Joseph, A Righteous Man Considering Divorce and a Prophet
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18–25 ESV
What We Know and What We Don’t about Mary and Joseph
Look at that reading up there. See that space between verses 18 and 20? That’s about 3 inches in your Bible, but we don’t know how long that was for Joseph. We know from logic that it was under 9 months, since Joseph was committed to Mary when the Baby was born. Joseph isn’t mentioned when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist) for three months. It could be after those 3 months that she was “found to be with child” which would mean Joseph would have just a few months to make a decision.
Don’t Read Into It
It’s easy to look at the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke and start making up what goes in the gaps. Bret had a good point this past Sunday, “This is God’s story and He tells it the way He wants to tell it.” God helped the writers of the Gospels to focus on the parts that He really wanted to focus on, and to leave out the details that didn’t matter. Rather than focusing on what we don’t know, focus on what we do. Mary was poor, Joseph was righteous, and this child is fulfilling a 760 year old prophecy!
Read Into It
Our modern eyes might see this whole story and speed through it as fast as we speed past a window display at the mall. We know it all so well we could sing it without needing a song book. But don’t do that. Think through the events of the Savior’s birth. Joseph was a young dude that was excited about having a family. Mary saw an angel – which only happens in the Old Testament when a kingdom is about to be overthrown by war! Joseph was spoken to by God in a dream, which only happened to prophets.
Savor the Christmas story this year, and look for things that God wants to show you through it. Hebrews says the word is living and active, so you can get something new out of the Christmas story every year.
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