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. 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. (Matthew 1:20-21).
What faith Joseph had to accept this. His wife assured him that she had been faithful, but all of the evidence pointed another direction. By rights, he could accuse her and have her put to death at the most, exiled at the least.
But he loved her. He had loved her for a long time, since she was little and he a little older. After he had gotten old enough to marry, he knew he wanted to marry Mary. He didn’t have to wait all that long, he was only a few years older than she, but she was the one for him.
He had built a house for her, with real furniture that she could entertain on. A real bed with a mattress. He had laid the flooring himself. It would be better than dirt for his wife. There was no reason to be a good carpenter if you couldn’t do a lot of stuff for your wife. He was so excited to show it all to her when she returned.
Then she was pregnant. She had gone to see her cousin Elizabeth who, amazingly enough, was pregnant herself. She was old. At least 60. To a young man of 20 that was ancient. And besides, she was surely too old to have a child.
She was gone for six months. When she came back, her obvious pregnant state was a blow to Joseph. Wait a minute. I have been faithful to you. I loved you. And you betrayed me. That was what he thought.
He decided that he would just put her away quietly. No big thing, no publicity of the wounded betrothed. Just dissolve the arrangement. He still loved her and could not bear to see her hurt in any way.
He lay in bed for a long time. It was almost like a dream when the angel came to him and told him that he was to keep her, that it was the doing of the Holy Spirit, and even what to name the child.
That certainly put a different spin on things. She had never quite explained to him why she was pregnant. In fact, she hadn’t justified herself to anyone in the village. That almost made them madder than the fact that she had been so obviously unfaithful.
But if this were true. If this were not just a dream, and he didn’t think so, then he needed to take care of her.
He would. And he would love and raise the child as his own. He promised. Tomorrow he would go to Mary and tell her what had happened. They would get married in a quiet ceremony and then leave with the group for Bethlehem for the census.
He sure did hate for her to go on that long a trip in her condition. However, he figured that if she really was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, nothing would happen to her.
Besides, he loved her.
And he was asleep.
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