Joseph’s Integrity

Tonight is Christmas Eve. The night we celebrate that God came to us in human form. There are many perspectives of Jesus’ birth that people reflect on: the wise men, the shepherds, the inn keeper, and Mary. But two years ago I looked at Jesus’ birth with a new perspective. I like to look at Jospeh, who is from the line of David. God chose Mary to bare His son, and he chose Joseph to raise Him like He was his own. 

Joseph respected Mary and feared the Lord. He respected Mary by not wanting to humiliate her, and he trusted God by taking her as his wife even though she was pregnant with a baby who was not his. 

Joseph loved Jesus as his own, even though he wasn’t. He taught him skills, how to be a man, and how to trust and love God, and to love people. That is a big responsibility for a man, and God still entrusted Joseph to raising His son because He knew that Joseph would trust that God would guide and sustain him. 

Joseph’s faith and character is admirable. Many girls today want a husband like Boaz, but I pray my husband and future sons are like Joseph; a man who trusts God in painful and scary situations, a man who listens for God to guide him, a man who loves and respect God, his wife, and children. Joseph is who I pray for my future husband to be; for all brothers in Christ to be. 

“and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1:16-25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."

and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2:13, 15, 19-23‬ ‭ESV‬‬