A MODEL OF OBEDIENCE (PART 2)

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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.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son.

Matthew 1:18-25a

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

Consider the lives of Mary and Joseph before Gabriel came on the scene. Things were ordered for them and all they were required to do was go through the pre-arranged marital motions once they were pledged to marry one another, waiting for the day when they would be joined forever as husbands and wife.

But the Lord had other plans for the young couple, plans that they could have never imagined would happen to them, plans that shook their respective life foundations to the absolute core and tested their faith and obedience to the God they loved and served.

In yesterday’s devotion, we saw how Mary passed her test despite the social ramifications she knew would come after she, a virgin, became impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Mary’s response to God’s plan is worth mentioning one more time before we turn toward Joseph. She simply said to Gabriel:

“I am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to Your word.” Luke 1:38 (HCSB)

Through her words and submission to the Lord’s will, Mary showed herself to be a model of obedience to all, including us more than 2,000 years later.

And so Mary was with child, a child who would be God’s own Son, a child conceived through divine, supernatural circumstances beyond mere human comprehension. As we shift our attention to the Gospel of Matthew and Joseph, we find that Mary’s sudden pregnancy was well beyond his understanding. As far as he knew, Mary had chosen to have sexual relations with another man and as someone faithful to the law, Joseph knew that adultery carried the harshest of consequences. Look again at our passage for today:

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.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son.  Matthew 1:18-25a

Indeed, Joseph found himself in a moral and ethical quandary.

On one hand, he was a man who was faithful to the law and knew it had to be followed to the letter without deviation, lest one be found disobedient to God’s word.

On the other hand, he was truly in love with Mary, despite the fact that their marriage had been arranged.

Joseph had to suffer in anguish as he tried to process through the emotional tug of war raging inside his heart and mind, a tug of war that pulled one way toward exposing Mary for her infidelity while pulling the opposite direction toward penalties that would be least harmful to her, guarding her from public shame by divorcing her quietly. Joseph knew it would be hard to get things to go the way he would like and right as he was stuck in knowing what to do, we find Gabriel enter into the picture, just as he did with Mary, to share this important message from God:

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

Exhausted from the weight of the decision he faced, Joseph fell into sleep and it was there, in the midst of a dream, that the message from the angel came with an assurance that was meant to put Joseph at ease. The angel spoke the same words to him as he did to Mary, urging Joseph to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife because what had happened regarding her pregnancy was nothing less than an act of God Himself. Mary had not been unfaithful to her fiancée. Rather, she had been conceived, not by any man, but by the Holy Spirit.

What a relief this must have been for Joseph’s tired and anguished mind! There was no need to divorce Mary. Instead, there was every reason to celebrate and rejoice because she was carrying the predicted Messiah, the very Son of God who was coming to save mankind from the destruction of sin. All Joseph needed to do is be there for Mary and give their son the name Jesus after he was born.

That was the proposal encased in a holy dream. How would Joseph respond to all he had been exposed to in the vision?

Turning back to our scriptures, we find that he, like Mary before, did not question God’s plan but rather submitted to it in full compliance, doing as the angel said and taking Mary home as his wife after he awoke from sleep. It was a choice that would not save Joseph and Mary from public question and possible ridicule and condemnation as she was pregnant before they were formally married but it was the only right decision to make, the decision that was aligned with God’s plan for their lives.

Through his actions, Joseph shows us how to be models of obedience in our own lives for when we are faced with seemingly difficult options, none of which appear easy, we can always be assured that God has a plan that is perfect and relieves us from the stress and anxieties of having to choose the way ourselves. All we need to do is to seek the Lord’s will in whatever our circumstances are and then we ready to submit and surrender to that will.

If we do this, then we can be models of obedience ourselves, following in the footsteps of Mary, Joseph, and many other people in the Bible who did the same.

In the end translation, God would send us these messages through the stories of His obedient slaves:

“Don’t make life hard. Refuse to be afraid, trusting and following Me in complete faith, even when My ways are hard to understand.”

“Commit yourself fully to Me, seeking My purposes for your life, and I will never lead you wrong.”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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