We pop over to Matthew 1:18-25 to see what happens when Joseph, Mary’s fiance, enters the Christmas story. We know from other verses that he was a carpenter.
Once Mary returns home to Nazareth after the miraculous birth of John, it is now obvious that she is expecting, as she is 3-4 months pregnant. We are told that he learned of her pregnancy, not that Mary told him herself, so it’s likely the gossip train arrived before she did.
This would have been quite the shock to Joseph, whom scripture refers to as a morally upright and righteous man. He would have expected the same from his fiancee Mary.
While he was debating how to quietly remove himself from this mess, he fell asleep.
And an angel supernaturally appeared to him in his dream, and informed him that Holy Spirit had come upon Mary and she was carrying the Messiah.
Verses 24-25 are Joseph’s miraculous response, given how he had been feeling about the quandary he had been facing, because he really loved both Mary and God:
“When Joseph woke from his dream, he did all that the angel of the Lord instructed him to do. He took Mary to be his wife, but they refrained from having sex until she gave birth to her firstborn son, whom they named ‘Jesus.’ “
Pretty sure at some point Mary & Joseph would have talked about this face to face, but God kept that part of their stories private and out of the Bible. But it isn’t need to know for us on the flow of this ADVENTure, just that Mary & now Joseph were obedient to follow God in His plan to be Emmanuel, God with us!
Getting closer to the big day, friend!
#comeandsee #ADVENTure
KARLA LEES 