"Suddenly, I Could See...Beyond the Cliffs": The Birth of the Christ-Child...How did Joseph handle all "The Good Tidings of Great Joy"

Monday, December 10, 2012

The Birth of the Christ-Child...How did Joseph handle all "The Good Tidings of Great Joy"

Joseph...the husband of Mary. There is little that is really written of him, yet what is written of him...points to the fact this guy had the "stuff" his ancestor King David had...a man after God's own heart.

The Sacred Scriptures open up about Joseph with these words: A Gleaning from Matthew 1:18-19:

" This is how it really all got started...the birth of the Messiah...the One they would soon call "Jesus".
There was a young girl from the Middle East, of Jewish descent, and her name was Mary (Some Biblical historians think she might have been approximately 15 years old when this event began to unfold). Mary was engaged at the time and was pledged (as was the custom of the day) to be married to a fellow named Joseph. Joseph was also of Jewish lineage, in fact his ancestry went straight back to King David...the most famous of all kings in Israeli history.

Now here is where things get...let's say unusual. It was during this time frame Mary was found to be pregnant...yet it was not Joseph who had gotten her pregnant. Mary claimed she had become pregnant through...the Holy Spirit...in other words...God Himself had gotten her pregnant.

Meanwhile Joseph, Mary's fiance', was known as a good man... both to man and God. So, Joseph, whose heart toward God and particularly toward Mary was in "the right place", was perplexed (to say the least) as to what he should do upon hearing about Mary...not only being pregnant but pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph was thinking of some options to exercise in regards to the Mosaic Law which he was committed to...without exposing or showing dishonor to Mary in any way. He had no intention of wanting to embarrass or publicly disgrace Mary in anyway...he loved her too much. Joseph was at a point he simply concluded the best possible course of action was to simply dismiss the whole engagement with her and do so in a quiet matter. He simply would call off the wedding...and no one would really need to know why....."