Advent Day 5

“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.” (Matthew1:20-21 ESV)

What made Joseph and Mary so special? Sinclair points out that they were the Greek word dikiaos, meaning righteous. The same word is used for Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, the mother and father of John the Baptist.

 Joseph, as a child, would have studied the Torah. Having received the news from the angel, he most likely would have remembered Deuteronomy 22:22-27:

“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

“But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

We know that, culturally, this was a horrible nightmare for the two. Joseph was thinking of all the bad things that would happen due to this. Divorce for adultery would have been a capital offense for Mary; she could be stoned to death. Joseph, however, decided he would try to do this as quietly as possible.

In thinking this, he was both righteous and loving, thus fulfilling Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” It was Joseph who, as Matthew wrote, considered all things; something must not have felt right about his decision. God delayed his decision-making long enough for Joseph to dream. In a dream, the angel of God revealed the truth of the immaculate conception to Joseph.

We know there is a list of commandments and God’s law for His people. Joseph was considering that law in his head. We know that God leads us through scripture. So, when we are faced with an issue and need to make a decision, if something does not feel quite right, we should act as Joseph did: let us sleep on it. Let us have patience and gather more information. We should not act rashly. Thankfully, this is what Joseph did, and God revealed his plan. God reveals his plan to us through the Spirit; to receive his guidance, we must be silent, look, and listen; God will lead us.

Grace and Peace

Sinclair Ferguson, The Dawn of Redeeming Grace”, The Goodbook Company, 2021