Advent Devotion - Dec. 12

Matthew 1:18-24 ;

18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. 20 As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:

23 Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son,
        And they will call him, Emmanuel.[a]

(Emmanuel means “God with us.”)

24 When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife.

To find good husbands these days it is rare.  There are those who love their wives and kids and are very active in their lives.  Then there are those who see their job as the sole income earner and concentrate only on that.  There are those husbands who abuse their wife and children and those who run off and have nothing to do with them.  Husbands run the gambit and we can find all kinds in the bible and in our pews. 

We don’t know much about much about Mary’s fiancé.  We know his name is Joseph and that he was a carpenter.  We know he respected and cared for Mary because he was willing “to call off the engagement quietly.”  That says a lot about his character and his compassion for this young women who was pregnant with God’s son.

Although we don’t know much about Joseph we can still glean some things from how he lived his life in the pieces of information we do have.  We can see that although it was probably socially damning to him, he followed God’s will and kept Mary as his bride-to-be.  He took care of his step-son Jesus and passed down his craft to him.  We can see that he was a loving man of God and who sought first to do what God asks of him in his life.  That is something all men, husbands, fathers, step-fathers can strive for in our own lives.