Christmas 2020 - 6. Mary's Betrothed - Joseph

Christmas 2020

6. Mary’s betrothed - Joseph

 

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 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. 21 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.’
22 All this took place to fulfil 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’ (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. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)

Mary was betrothed to a man we know as Joseph. We meet and learn about the man Joseph in both Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of the birth of Jesus. Joseph is the quiet man in the story. We do know that Joseph is a spiritual person who wished to live his life and make all his decisions in accordance with God’s will.

Jewish society at that time had an arrangement for approaching marriage called ‘betrothal’. It was a kind of engagement period, in which the prospective bride and groom lived under the same roof but did not consummate the relationship sexually. That was reserved for their wedding day. Mary was pledged in this way to be married to Joseph. It is likely that he was older than Mary, as there is no mention of him during Jesus’ adult ministry. It is something upon which, we can only speculate. The silence of Joseph is deafening.

Come on in and listen to the podcast to find out more about enigmatic Joseph and his role in the birth of Jesus Christ.

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