The Jesus Pages: The Righteous Man

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

Read Matthew 1

When God looked around for the flesh-and-blood parents of His Son, He didn't just stop at Mary. We have left Joseph out of the picture, a far more important element in the equation over the long term than Mary. He would be the earthly father, a greater influence on Jesus growing up than Mary in that culture. So, I think, God had to also ensure that Joseph was a righteous man.

His first test he passed - he was presented with a great disappointment, a quandary that he could not figure out on his own: the girl chosen to be his wife was already pregnant and he knew he didn't do it! And he wasn't stupid; he knew how women got pregnant. He must have been so heartbroken and actually embarrassed - this was infidelity! But even in the face of such bad news that would affect his life, he decided he would do the honorable thing for her! That was the ONLY solution he could come up with in his own bag of resources.

At least he tried to do the best thing for Mary. He did not want to publicly humiliate her. That's when God intervened with an angel in a dream.

Lesson: When we try to fix a dilemma with our own resources, being honest and honorable, it leaves room for God to work. The angel came and gave Joseph confirmation that Mary was not unfaithful and that Joseph could indeed marry her. This was no ordinary pregnancy, no ordinary child and Jesus would need an extraordinary father to raise him. Mary was not going to be able to do it alone. Joseph was KEY and he needs more credit than he usually gets.