“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately” (Matthew 1:19).
I have always admired Joseph. He lived in a day and age that held to the highest extent the commitment and covenant of marriage. I wish people today would give much deeper commitment and loyalty to the significance of marriage. The absolute worst thing that could have happened was for the bride to become pregnant before marriage. Yet there is a tender compassion about this man named Joseph. He knew he could not marry her. It would be wrong. He assumed she had a sexual relationship or many relationships with another man or men. But yet he loved her. He didn’t want to publicly embarrass Mary. Through his heartache and brokenness, he wanted to end the engagement (in those days engagements were so sacred that the fiancé was regarded as a wife or husband and could only be ended by divorce) in privacy for Mary’s sake. “She soon would bear the shame for her actions,” he must have thought. Yet he would divorce her privately. Oh Joseph. What a big time surprise is just around the corner for you!
For today: What a tender compassionate man was Joseph. May we be as compassionate as well.