A righteous man
Joseph, to whom Mary was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. Matthew 1:19
At the centre of the account of Jesus’ birth is a man about whom we know very little. Joseph was the legal father of Jesus and Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus’ family line through Joseph. But after the birth of Jesus, we meet Joseph on only one occasion. That was when the family went for a Passover visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 years old. We get the distinct impression that Mary was a widow by the time Jesus’ public ministry began. One verse in the New Testament tells us that Joseph was an artisan (Matthew 13:55) and it has been generally assumed that he was a carpenter but we can’t even be sure of that. The word for artisan could also mean that he was worker with iron or stone.
Although we know so very little about this extremely important man, we know about his character. Joseph was described as a “righteous man”, which means that he was concerned to be obedient to the law. But, when we meet Joseph in this passage, that made life incredibly difficult for him because he was engaged to a woman who was pregnant. Engagement, at the time, was a much deeper commitment than it is these days. It could only be brought to an end by death or divorce. When a woman who was engaged became pregnant by another man the original penalty was death by stoning, but by this stage it had become divorce. So, according to the law, Joseph was obliged to divorce Mary. But he was clearly a gracious and sensitive man and, although he was eager to obey the law, the last thing he wanted to do was to disgrace or humiliate Mary. He resolved that the best course of action was to divorce her quietly. An angel was just about to step in and change things, but I warm to the way in which Joseph set about handling this incredibly awkward situation.
Life is full of awkward situations and challenges. I thank God for the Josephs of this world; good, honourable people who always strive to do what is kindest and most honouring to God.
QUESTION
What do you learn from the way in which Joseph handled his predicament?
PRAYER
Loving Father, help me to live so close to you that I will always make wise and careful decisions. Amen