What was in Joseph’s heart as he tossed and turned in his bed that fateful night? His world had been shattered, his heart broken. The woman who had agreed to be his wife was pregnant and Joseph knew he was not the father.
Can you imagine the feelings of betrayal? Can you understand his sorrow and disappointment? Did he think he had been played the fool? Her condition confirmed that she did not love him, at least in Joseph’s mind.
Long into the night he must have wrestled with the hobgoblins of anger, doubt and fear. How easily we all seem to fall prey to such enemies in the loneliness of the dark. Would Joseph insist on the full measure of the law as outlined in Leviticus 20 where Mary could be stoned under certain circumstances? Would he strike out in anger and do her as much physical hurt as the emotional and mental hurt she had done to him? Would he get even?
A choice
For many that is the choice. Motivated by self-centeredness we strike out at people, even people we claim to love, whenever we are hurt.
Yet Mary was the woman Joseph loved. He had asked her to marry him. How would Joseph balance his love for God, love for God’s law and his personal sense of morality with his feelings for Mary?
Joseph must have prayed long into the night. Finally he rejected making a public spectacle of his betrothed. Instead he would invoke a provision of the law found in Deuteronomy that allowed him to “put her away quietly.” He would divorce her.
Only after Joseph reached his decision did he find enough inner peace that he could sleep. And it was only after Joseph revealed what was in his own heart that God revealed the great mystery of redemption of which Joseph would play such a critical role.
How often God waits to see what is in our hearts before sharing with us what is in His. Our minds and hearts must be attuned to God’s mind and heart before we can hear His message.
Joseph rejected anger and vengeance in favor of love and mercy. Now God revealed how He rejected anger and vengeance toward humankind even though “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
To Joseph God sent an angel to announce that Mary’s Child was not the result of some sex act. The Child was a Holy Creation of the Spirit of God who hovered over her in a similar way that the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep at the beginning of time (Gen. 1:2, Matt. 1:20).
The child’s name would be called Jesus which means “God is salvation.” His purpose in life would be to “save His people” (Matt. 1:21).
The cherished hope of the Jewish people was being fulfilled, the angel told him, and Joseph got to play a part in God’s redemption story. He would be the foster father of the Son of God.
When Joseph awoke, he acted immediately. He took Mary for his wife. All the public scorn that was to be heaped on her for being pregnant before marriage, he now shared. The sting of the gossip and accusations fell on him, not just her. He accepted the public shame. Joseph intentionally placed himself between Mary and public humiliation. He would be her strength and she would be his.
How like the gospel is that story? God acted in love and mercy toward humankind even though we were guilty. Each of us repeated Adam’s story and turned away from God. Yet despite His broken heart caused by our sin, God did not strike out in anger. Rather as Romans 5:8 declares, “While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
This Holy Creation in Mary’s womb would one day bless Joseph, Mary and all who call on the name of the Lord with forgiveness and reconciliation. This Jesus who “will save His people” would be God’s channel of love and mercy.
Through Jesus, God identified with our sinful condition for “He who knew no sin was made to be sin” for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Through Jesus, God’s righteousness was met as Jesus paid the price for our sin. First Peter 2:24 teaches, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.” God’s own strength through Jesus became our strength because it is “by His wounds that you are healed,” the verse adds. Our hope of glory is Christ in us through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus (Col. 1:27).
Redemption’s story
Redemption’s story continues as God’s Word declares that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). But do not miss that this story begins when a man shattered by what had all the appearances of sin chose love and mercy over anger and vengeance. In that decision Joseph gave the world a glimpse of the gospel.
Now those who know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior are called to live before God in ways that provide glimpses of the gospel as we live in love and mercy with one another.
Share with others: