JOSEPH: THE QUANDARY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18-19

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Life had to be pretty good for Joseph. He was a man who strived to be faithful to the law as God required, such was his devotion to Him. And as he walked in obedience to God, seeking His righteousness, he also got to experience the richness of blessings that comes to God’s faithful servants. One of those blessings was the gift of a wife named Mary to which he was pledged, or in terms we could better understand, engaged.

Now, don’t think this engagement was similar to anyone we know of today in the 21st century. It wasn’t like Joseph and Mary ran into one another one day in the village and fell in love, dating for awhile (and today, even living together) until the time when their relationship was ready to go to the next level of marriage. In those instances, typically the man has some elaborate plan drawn up where he will make a proposal to his girlfriend and ask her to marry him. If she accepts (and most of the time she does), then a marriage is planned and carried out, sealing the expected permanency of the relationship (even though today, the permanency part is a big problem it seems).

This was nowhere close to how it happened for Joseph and Mary and it’s where the word “pledged” begins to make a little more sense when we know the context.

In the New Testament times of Joseph and Mary, Old Testament law and customs were still the order of the day. The road to marriage started when two families got together to discuss arranging the marriage of their children. In the case of our story, Mary’s parents pledged her to Joseph’s parents to be his wife. Once this was accepted, Joseph and Mary were considered husband and wife, even though their marriage had yet to be consummated. As you see in our passage today, Joseph is referred to as Mary’s husband.

Once the engagement happened, it would typically last for one year before the relationship would enter the betrothal stage for another full year. At the end of the betrothal stage, the couple would be married in the third year. Again, Joseph and Mary were considered husband and wife before marriage occurred and were expected to remain faithful to one another during that time. Both were to remain celibate and virginity was to be maintained. Neither would be allowed to have sexual relations with one another and certainly not any relations with anyone else. To violate this would be to violate the law and the penalty could be as severe as death by stoning in public (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).

With this, you can see how Joseph found himself in a quandary after Mary became pregnant by way of the Holy Spirit. They were still only engaged and now she was pregnant which would indicate that she had lost her virginity, even though we know she didn’t. Her conception was not done physically but rather supernaturally.

But Joseph had no idea how Mary had become pregnant. He only knew she was and as a man who was devoted to upholding the law, he wrestled as to what he should do. Not doing anything wasn’t an option and because of Joseph’s obvious compassion and caring for Mary, he did not wish for her to have to go through public shame, humiliation, and eventual death. Thank goodness that Joseph had another option to go to, one that would allow him to stay true to the law and yet be merciful to Mary.

This was because the law did allow for a divorce to be granted in lieu of public execution. In that case, all the husband had to do was write a certificate of divorce, give it to his wife, and then send her away (Deuteronomy 24:1). Joseph decided that this would be the best way to solve the quandary he was in.

But God had other plans, plans that would ensure His only Son, Jesus, came into the world on His terms and no one else’s.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at that proposition.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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