A man of compassion…
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just [man], and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
Luke 1:18-20 & 24-25 NKJV
Joseph is the unsung hero in Jesus’s story. Almost everything we know about Joseph comes from the birth story of Jesus and the few years afterward. After Jesus is around 12 years old, the gospels don’t mention Joseph anymore.
Yet God gave him an amazing role of weighty responsibility in the Lord’s great plan of salvation. Joseph’s job was to love, protect, nourish, house, train and teach a child who wasn’t his natural son.
We can see a glimpse of Joseph’s godly character in this passage above. See, Joseph had a fiancée named Mary and he found out she was pregnant. He knew the baby wasn’t his. In Israel, husbands had all the power and wives had none. A woman couldn’t divorce her husband for any reason, but a man could cast away his wife for a minor infraction like burning his dinner. A woman caught in adultery could be executed.
Even though Joseph believed he had been betrayed by his future wife, he decided not to take vengeance on her. Instead, he would quietly separate from Mary so she wouldn’t be publicly ridiculed.
This was a man of compassion—thoughtful, and slow to anger.
But before Joseph ended his engagement to Mary, an angel intervened and revealed God’s miracle: Mary had not betrayed Joseph—she was carrying the promised Messiah.
Joseph responded just as Mary did. He didn’t throw objections to his new role in history, or balk at the load he was asked to bear.
Like Mary, Joseph said yes to God.