C. S. Lewis once said: “Is there any pleasure greater than a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?” I think Joseph would have been that sort of person – a wise counsellor you always wanted to be around, because he had such a heart for God.
When we meet him, he already has a faith that stands out. Having learnt that Mary (his betrothed) is pregnant, in his kindness, he doesn’t want her getting the punishment that fits the crime. A betrothal is a binding agreement; she’s virtually already his wife, and the Law says adulterers should be stoned to death. Since Joseph doesn’t want her publicly disgraced, he wonders about divorcing her instead.
It’s when he’s considering this possibility that God’s angel meets him in a dream and he learns how Jesus was conceived – by the Holy Spirit. There was no other man in the equation after all, and Joseph’s told not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife.
When he wakes up, he has some decisions to make. He must choose whether to have faith in what he’s dreamed and be obedient to it – marry Mary and take on the responsibility of Jesus’ upbringing. Not only that, he has to be self-controlled and not give in to temptation. Hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah wrote: “The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name Him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), so for this to come about, Mary has to remain a virgin until Jesus is born. Joseph ticks both boxes. He marries Mary, and Matthew makes sure to tell us they have no sexual contact until after she’s given birth (Matthew 1:25). People must have been fairly sure of Joseph’s good name because they question Jesus’ paternity some thirty years later, saying: “We don’t even know where this man comes from” (John 9:29). They don’t automatically assume that Joseph and Mary had a moment of weakness.
Sadly, Joseph doesn’t feature much in Jesus’ earthly life. He’s not mentioned after the incident at the temple when Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41-51), so perhaps Joseph died, but what we can learn from those early years is that dreams and faith continued to play their part. After the wise men visit Jesus, Joseph’s warned in a dream of an impending crisis. He and his family must flee to Egypt because Herod’s going to search for the child and kill Him (Matthew 2:13). Also years before Jesus was born, another of God’s spokesmen wrote a message about Israel. “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called My son out of Egypt” (Hosea 11:1). Herod had people in his sphere of influence who read the Jewish Scriptures. Wasn’t it possible he could have consulted them, and gone to Egypt looking for Jesus? Perhaps Joseph felt any decision he made would be fraught with danger. Nevertheless, he was consistent. He stood by his dream and went to Egypt, and when the crisis was over, another dream prompted him to return to Israel (Matthew 2:19-20).
Will we be like Joseph? When we feel a prompting from God to do something, will we follow it, even if it seems strange or risky? The joy of Christmas is that God wants to speak to us, just as He spoke to Joseph. He sent Jesus into the world as a message of love, to show how special we are to Him and the lengths He’s prepared to go to for us. As we remember Joseph’s faith and how he followed God, may it encourage us to do the same.
I like this devotional. I had not thought much about joseph. I think he must of been one of those quiet achievers who just got things done. Practical too as we see when he moved his family to Egypt.
Cathy