Holy Boldness

by the fact that Joseph and Mary were already “betrothed.” In Israel, at that time the only way to break a betrothal was to obtain a divorce. So the situation was not only a social embarrassment, it was also a legal issue as well.

Joseph’s Story from the book of Matthew

One would imagine that it must have been a tremendous heart break for Joseph also. But this is never stated. It is only stated, “Joseph, being a righteous man and being unwilling to disgrace her, sought to put her away privately.” (Matthew 1:19) Though Joseph had no desire to shame Mary, at the same time, he knew he could not marry her given what he knew about the situation. So he began proceedings to carry out the divorce. Before Joseph carried out his plan, Matthew records one addi tional action that Joseph took that reveals something about his character: the text reads, “But when he considered this, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him…” (v. 20) Joseph had put together a humble plan of dealing with the scandal of Mary’s unexplained pregnancy. No one could fault him for his decision. Nevertheless, before he followed through, he stopped to consider… The word means that he was revolving the matter over in his mind. He was meditating on it and looking at it from various angles. It is the type of thing a good carpenter does when he builds a house or shop and is faced with a challenging decision about how some thing should be put together. It reveals patience and humility on the part of Joseph. That temporary pause yielded an extraordinary heavenly response. In a dream an angel told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as His wife, “…for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (v.20) Once again the explanation of how Mary became pregnant is left vague except that it was acknowledged that God was in some way responsible through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Matthew states that this event was a fulfillment of the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child…” (v. 23) an Old Testament scripture, which gave a biblical foundation for the unprecedented event. Matthew records that Joseph awoke from the dream and did everything the angel told him to do, apparently without asking questions, taking Mary as his wife and additionally, he kept her a virgin until Jesus

3 4