December 19, 2023

Matthew 1:18-24 (HCSB)
The Nativity of the Messiah
18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. 20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her 25 but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son. And he named Him Jesus.

Jason Ricciardi
I’ve tried to understand how Joseph must have felt. There’s not much in the biblical narrative about him. With the Bible largely silent about his life, we can only surmise. We do know that he had to be encouraged to go forward with a wedding that rocked his plans. What did he feel when people would question his marriage, his wife, his child, and himself? He was human –did he ever wonder if he imagined that heavenly dream? Did he ever doubt if the seemingly tenuous connections between what he was seeing in Jesus and what he read in the Old Testament about a Coming Messiah? What about when life got harder and they had to run for their lives because of the child he was given to protect? Did his life’s sudden change of direction sit well with him when he was most tired? What we do know is that God sustains. It’s not as if God expected that one encounter to be enough for Joseph. God would have been there for him each step of the way. Moments of doubt? Overwhelmed with His presence. Moments of difficulty? Overwhelmed by what eternity would hold for Joseph. Even more, that sustaining God is the one that you have IN you at all times! You might even say “Immanuel –God with us.”