MATTHEW 1.18-25
By now Mary would have arrived back in Nazareth after her three-month visit with Elizabeth. Mary may have shown signs that she was going to have a baby. Although Mary was a virgin, she was pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph. Understandably, Joseph was deeply disturbed to discover that his promised bride was expecting a child. He could have disgraced Mary publicly, but because he was a devout man, Joseph’s faith taught him to be gentle and gracious. He decided instead to privately cut his ties with Mary. Because of the marriage customs of that day, this required a legal divorce even though Joseph and Mary had never been together as husband and wife.
Then an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel told Joseph that Mary had been faithful, and that her child was the product of a miraculous work of God. He instructed Joseph to take Mary in as his wife and, when Mary’s son was born, to name the child Jesus. Matthew reminds us that the virgin birth of Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. God always keeps His promises. When Joseph woke up from his dream, he humbly and obediently took Mary home as his wife, sheltering her from disgrace and honouring her as the virgin mother of Jesus. Truly a remarkable man, Joseph fulfilled a unique role in the drama of the birth of Jesus Christ.
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