Lets
continue in our Matthew chapter 1 version of the Christmas story! We left off,
where Joseph, with tremendous character, spares Mary’s life and chooses to
divorce her quietly for her infidelity. Today we pick up again at verse 20.
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[b] (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Matthew 1:20-24)
This is a
very action-packed four verses. Matthew sure seems to be efficient in what he
says per sentence! I’ll brake it down by pieces. We start by learning that God
actually waits to talk to Joseph, until Joseph had decided to divorce Mary. I
sometimes wonder why this was... I guess the simple answer is perhaps God was
testing both Joseph’s character (see what he would do) and his faith (see if he
will change). I'd say if that was the case, Joseph passed both tests! We learn next, that Joseph
is a bit of a dreamer. This will not be his only conversation with God in a
dream. Isn’t it interesting that his name is Joseph, like his ancestor (the one
with the multicolor coat), who was also known for his dreams! Joseph in our story, has a
legitimate encounter with an Angel of God (just like Mary did) commanding him
to take Christ as his own son. This is where we see that Joseph was JUST as
chosen as Mary was. Joseph is even commanded what to NAME his son. This is what
really tips us off culturally to the fact that God was commanding him to father
this child. Joseph otherwise would have likely refused, and Mary would have
named Jesus in the temple. In reality, we ought to pay Joseph just as much
respect as we pay to Mary, since he was just as much Jesus’s parent. (I bold this, because it is SO over-looked in the church today)
Matthew
explains to us why this was happening in verse 22, quoting an old testament
prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 (remember, Matthew’s account doesn’t have Mary’s
encounter in it, so this is his way of covering that side of the story).
Matthew does this a few times. It would seem his version of the story was
written more to the Israelite population, since he references so many old
testament prophecies, as well as takes the male perspective of the story, generally.
This last
verse we are looking at today (vs 24) is the beautiful moral-filled part of
today’s devotional... What did Joseph do when he woke up? Go ahead and read it
again!...
...
No, seriously. Scroll up and read it.
...
Talk about
acting on your faith!! Wow! This may be a totally separate account of Christ’s
birth, but God’s message still powers through loud and clear! Joseph takes ALL
his carefully thought through wisdom and grace, and tosses it out the window
after a DREAM! Some of us might want to “test the spirit” in such a situation,
but instead Joseph has so much faith in the fact that God would not allow him to be steered
wrong in such a situation, that he totally changes his decisions on life
itself! Not only this, but Joseph’s decision to take Mary following this dream
shows something very pivotal to why Christ came at all... It shows that,
without ANY proof other than a dream, Joseph chose to believe that his son was
the Christ savior, even before the child was born! Before he even had it
confirmed that Mary was carrying a son at all, and not a daughter! This is the
kind of "actions based on faith" that God asks of us. This is the kind of faith I
can only aspire to at this point, because what life-changing faith Joseph had
to just.... DO IT!! God told him to change his whole decision on life, and Joseph
just DOES IT! Because Joseph believes in God, and has faith in him. We know he
had faith, because he ACTED on that faith, just as James commands us to do in
the new testament... Wow... And to think this man is usually lost within the
Christmas story. What a tradgity, because what a difference this made for Mary.
Joseph had all the power in the world to change history, and destroy both Mary
and the Christ before Christ was even born! But instead, he allowed Christ to
be born with dignity into a loving home with two nurturing God-filled (and God-chosen) parents to raise him for his world-changing task ahead... how
beautiful.
God, thank you for giving us such a perfect
example of the simple faith you require from us! Thank you for showing us we simply have to trust
you and act, when we hear from you, because you will not steer us in the wrong
direction! Thank you for Joseph and all that he did in raising your son here on
earth, and we pray that his example will not be lost on us this Christmas.
Please help us to learn and grow a faith like Josephs Lord....
In Jesus name,
Amen.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
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