The
Christmas story is familiar to most people, Christians and non-Christians. We know the story about Mary being
overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and trekking to Bethlehem where they had the
baby Jesus in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. How well do we know the main characters in
the first Christmas? Let's take some snapshots from the first Christmas and look at several of the major characters in the familiar story of Jesus' miraculous birth.
Both Joseph
and Mary were common people. Joseph was
a carpenter and Mary was a young woman from a simple background. They were normal every day people with a strong
faith in the Lord. Marriages were
arranged in their culture. The Bible
does not indicate their ages when they were engaged but it is safe to say that
Mary was probably in her mid to late teens and Joseph was probably in his late
teens at the most.
When Joseph
was informed of Mary’s pregnancy, it put Joseph in an awkward position. Scripture does not indicate was his initial
reaction was to the news. We do not know
if he was upset from Matthew’s account, Joseph was a righteous man and did not
want to disgrace Mary. Joseph very much loved Mary. It is likely that Mary was shunned due to
being pregnant outside of wedlock and probably was not viewed very highly by
those around her. Joseph, though, did
not want to disgrace her. He knew the
character of Mary and knew that she came from a righteous family. Her premarital pregnancy was out of
character. It made no sense. According to Deuteronomy 22:20-31, a woman should
be stoned if she was found to be pregnant out of marriage. Mary should have been stoned but due to the
laxness of the Jewish theocracy and because they were under Roman law in Joseph’s
day, there were two other options. One,
Joseph could make a public example of her by charging her with adultery in a
public court. She would be shamed in
front of everyone and her reputation would be permanent ruined. A second option was that he could quietly
write a bill of divorce before two or three witnesses and end their
relationship. There would be no fanfare
and nobody would need to know. Mary
could simply go away some place and secretly bear and raise her child. Joseph considered what to do. The word “consider” (in Matthew 1:20) can be
translated from the Greek to also mean ponder or reflect upon. Joseph, in being a righteous man but also one
in love with Mary, he likely considered and prayed about this for some
time. He did not want to make a rash
decision. He may have even asked others
for counsel considering the seriousness of this situation. While Joseph mulled over his options, he fell
asleep and received the dream from God.
Mary had no way of protecting her reputation and was at the mercy of Joseph. She could have tried to explain what happened
to him, but would he believe her? There
had never been a virgin birth before.
The angel’s words must have provided Joseph with a great deal of relief
and comfort. Not only could Joseph go
ahead and take Mary as his wife with honor and righteousness, but he also could
rejoice at the privilege of being allowed to bring up God’s own Son. Joseph believed God. Would we expect anything else considering God
chose before the beginning of time who would be Jesus’ parents?
I think
Joseph is an example of man who wanted to do what was right and when God spoke
to Him in a vision, he obeyed without wavering.
Do we take God at His Word, as
Joseph did or do we trust our own thinking in making decisions? All of us are sinners and therefore will
never follow the Lord fully in our sinful flesh but for those know Him, we
should desire and strive to follow His Word more daily and strive to take Him
at His Word. His Word is always true!
In the next blog, Lord willing, we will look at Mary, the mother of Jesus.
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