Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us." And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
My thoughts -
My wife and I started dating when we were both teenagers. We got engaged when we were nineteen. Everyone said it was stupid. Everyone said we were too young. Everyone said it wouldn't work. So we listened to everyone and cancelled the wedding. And then she got pregnant.
We were scared. We were in over our heads. We had no idea what we were doing or how it would work out. Even now, looking back twelve years later, I still don't really know how we did it. But God provides. We had a loving support system of family and friends and we made it. I guess maybe I should say we are making it. This journey is not over.
I don't say this because I think that our situation was like that of Joseph and Mary's. But I do feel like I can relate, at least a little. And, given my own story I try to imagine what it was like to be Joseph in this. I try to imagine his emotions and experience.
First off, Joseph knew he was not the father. That is very different from my experience. I knew I was the father and I was embarrassed and ashamed. I made a mistake. The evidence of this mistake was out in the open. There was no denying it, I just had to own up to it and deal with it as constructively as possible. I had to do the right thing. We had to do the right thing. Although young, reckless, irresponsible, and crazy in love we were married with no idea how to go about the business of being a family.
Joseph, too, made a decision to do the right thing. Though he had every right to believe he had been betrayed he still loved Mary enough to not want to embarrass or shame her. I don't know that I could have done that. I haven't known that kind of betrayal. My assumption is that, in my anger and pain, my concern would not have been to limit the embarrassment and shame of the woman I believed had betrayed me. But Joseph was a righteous man.
Second, Joseph was open to the word of God. It was revealed to him through an angel in a dream that he was not betrayed, that the child was conceived by God and that this child would be our Saviour.
Now that sounds crazy, doesn't it? It's delusional nonsense, grasping at straws, willing to believe anything if it saves the relationship he has with this woman he so clearly loves. How could anyone believe such a thing? It's ridiculous!
And yet, the angel of the Lord spoke and Joseph believed. Joseph believed and then Joseph did God's will. Joseph did the right thing, kept his wife, raised a son that was not his own, and the child saved the entire world.
Joseph believed. Joseph obeyed. What could be more righteous than that?
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8
No comments:
Post a Comment