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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
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”).
Matthew 1:20-23
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Joseph had made up his mind after pondering
what he should do in light of Mary’s sudden pregnancy, a conception that had
not involved him. He had weighed the options available and found there were
really only two.
Why only two?
Because the scriptures tell us that he was
a man who was faithful to the law. This meant he had a reputation for doing
what was right in the eyes of the Lord and conscientiously ensured his behavior
showed it. And so as he reviewed the law as it applied to marriage violations,
he knew he would either have to have Mary stoned to death by the men of the
town at the door of her father’s house (Deuteronomy 22:20-21) or he could just
simply give her a certificate of divorce and send her away, sparing her public
shame, humiliation, and death (Deuteronomy 24:1).
So which option did he choose?
We can go back to the scriptures for the
answer. There we find that Joseph did not wish to expose Mary to public
disgrace; such was his compassion and caring for her. And so he chose to
divorce her quietly which would allow him to remain loyal to the law of the
Lord while still remaining kind and empathetic to Mary. This is how he chose to
escape his quandary but as we see in today’s scripture, God had other plans. You
see, there was a third option that Joseph didn’t consider and that was the
option God would present Himself. Look again at these words:
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”). Matthew 1:20-23
The angel Gabriel was busy during the
sequence that began with Zechariah in the Holy of Holies within God’s temple
before proceeding to first Mary, and then Joseph. In our passage, we find
Gabriel coming to Joseph and bringing the plan God wished to put in place. It
was a divine proposition for Joseph to consider and we know it came to him in a
dream, a common vehicle used by God to communicate with His people.
Note that God’s plan involved Joseph not
taking any action at all. Rather, he was to act as if nothing was wrong because
it really wasn’t. The angel told Joseph that Mary’s conception had not come by
any natural means but supernaturally through the power of the Holy Spirit. The
pregnancy would end with the birth of a son who Joseph and Mary were to name
Jesus. And the angel even added one of the greatest reasons why this special
child of God had to be born: to save His people from their sins.
In other words, the baby in Mary’s womb would
be born to be the Savior of the world.
And so the proposition to lead Joseph from
a period of quandary to a point of resolution was made. He was to allow God’s
plan that was already in progress to run its course and usher mankind’s Savior
into the world. It was more than just a spur of the moment event. In fact, it
had been predicted many, many years before in the days of the prophet Isaiah
who wrote:
“The virgin
will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which
means “God with us”). Isaiah 7:14
Left to his own devices, Joseph was about
to mess up the plans of the Lord. That’s why God had to intervene to ensure
that everything would happen as He willed it to and had predicted it would
through the prophet of old.
So what are we to learn from this? What is
the Lord trying to teach us through this passage from the scriptures?
I believe the answer is simple. The Lord is
telling us to turn to Him and the plan He has in mind before we rely on our own
reasoning.
For as we go through life and face
different matters which entice us to devise what we should do, let us learn
from this scripture lesson today and never forget that the only right option we
should go for is the option that is sanctioned by the Lord Himself. God’s word
tells us that He knows the plans for all of us, plans for us to prosper
(Jeremiah 29:11). We only need to trust in His plan and not override it by some
ambition of our own. From this day forward, let us all commit ourselves to not
mess up God’s plan by relying on our own wisdom and understanding, as if we
know more about how things should happen than the Lord Himself.
Back to our story where we saw Joseph
remained obedient to God and the end result was a game changer, not just for
him and Mary but for the world as a whole. He’s ready to be a game changer for
us as well. All we need to do is maintain our complete faith in Him, ever
seeking His guidance and direction when we’re not sure what to do.
Tomorrow, we see the final resolution of
the matter for Joseph before we turn our attention to Mary.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
2 comments:
So we know Joseph's scriptural options. Either of these his community would understand. He could remain righteous in everyone's eyes even though Mary would not.
So with obedience to the angel's message he now faces ostracization for both he and Mary from family and community. They would be outcasts. In his hometown, Joseph was not given any hospitality.
So clearly Joseph and Mary were virtual outcasts. Gossip would be flying. Jesus would grow up with shame messages from his peers and disrespect toward his parents. Mary kept these things in her heart.
To this day we don't appreciate that 'no room in the inn' means no one would offer them expected hospitality.
Thanks for sharing. Tomorrow (12/19), I begin a four part series on Mary. Overall, God's master plan for facilitating the coming of the Messiah Savior was one of a kind, a plan that only He could have conceived and executed in His own special way, a plan that perfectly aligned with the prophecies He provided to His prophets of old.
Blessings to you George and praying your holiday season will be filled with the joy and love of Jesus.
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