“Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 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’ ” (Matthew 1:19-20).
The words, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,” are very important. Apparently, Joseph had experienced fear about what was happening. And why not? Joseph didn’t know what was going on. No one had ever faced this kind of dilemma before. His fiancée was pregnant and had told him a story he found hard to believe. She had told him that she was pregnant, but was still a virgin. That was unprecedented. When the angel appeared to him and said, “Do not be afraid,” the angel touched his main problem. It’s our problem, too. We are afraid of the unfamiliar. The things we don’t understand make us nervous. When God is at work and we don’t know what He’s doing, we can feel a degree of alarm.
Joseph risked everything by marrying Mary. He was a “righteous” man. Righteousness at that time meant that Joseph was keeping the religious rules. He would be risking his reputation as a devout person by maintaining his relationship with Mary. “Righteous” in that culture meant that he would have made every effort to observe the law and an unexplained pregnancy certainly didn’t seem consistent with the law.
That was his problem. His fiancée was pregnant and he knew he wasn’t the baby’s father. He and Mary lived in the small town of Nazareth and would be, for the rest of their lives, the subject of suspicion and slander. Joseph was afraid because if he continued his relationship with Mary his reputation would be tarnished for the rest of his life. He was a good man and wanted to spare Mary as much as possible but his moral integrity was on the line.
The angel’s word to Joseph was, “Don’t be afraid. God is in this!” Knowing that God is up to something is an effective antidote to fear. Don’t ever overlook Joseph’s faith in what God said to him. Christmas is the story of a couple with great faith huddled in a stable in Bethlehem for the birth of the Savior of the world. Mary was there because she was willing to bear the child Jesus and Joseph was beside her, willing to be the earthly father of God’s Son. Both of them risked everything to obey what God asked them to do. Their faith is an essential part of the Christmas story.
