Righteous and Wrong
Matthew 1:19 – Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. 20 – When he had contemplated 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 as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Joseph was contemplating divorcing Mary because there was no rational explanation for her pregnancy other than the fact that someone else had gotten her pregnant. He did not want to disgrace her so he was thinking about how to terminate their marriage arrangement in a way that would cause the least harm to her.
Mary had found a great guy in Joseph. He was a righteous man but he was wrong about her. She had done nothing which would merit a divorce but there was nothing she could say to change Joseph’s mind. She needed God to intervene. And so an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and basically told him that the other man was the Holy Spirit. Joseph was speechless. What is a righteous man to do when corrected? He does what he is told to do and that’s exactly what Joseph did. “When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.” – Matthew 1:24, 25.
Mary had not broken her covenant with Joseph. She had submitted herself to an eternally higher covenant with God. Joseph had the high calling of being husband to her and earthly father to her precious child who would be the Savior of all humanity.
Let us consider Joseph’s position in this unusual circumstance. There are times when a course of action may seem right but it will take God to convince us that it is wrong. Both Joseph and Mary had a most important thing in common – they both loved the Lord. As we take the time to contemplate tough decisions let’s stay close to Jesus and be ready to do whatever He asks.
Where two are gathered 