Joseph 2

“…an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream….”                                                                Matthew 2:13              “…an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph….”                                                                        Matthew 2:19     “Having been warned in a dream, he….”                                                                                             Matthew 2:22      

I said in the previous devotion that if Mary was a remarkable woman, Joseph was a remarkable man. We saw that in his self-effacing goodness and in his acceptance of and belief in the amazing explanation given for Mary’s pregnancy. In that response of Joseph’s we see the pattern for a restored relationship with God that is laid out in Genesis: trust, belief and obedience.

But there are two other indications of the kind of man Joseph was: the first is his response to the dream that he had after the wise men had left (Matt 2:11-14). Here we see his instant obedience. The angel said to get up and go, so Joseph took Mary and Jesus and went! Surely it would have been tempting to wait until morning to “test the Spirits” and see if this was really from the Lord. There is a time for that sort of thing, for like internet spam, a tearing urgency is more often the work of the Enemy and not the Lord. But the dream must have been clear enough, and Joseph probably knew something of Herod’s terrible efficiency, that obedience was his immediate choice.

The return from Egypt involved two dreams (Matt 2:19-22). The first said to go back to Israel, and the second said to go to Galilee. What these two experiences show us is that Joseph did not have to have all the information before he obeyed. He could well have said that he was going to wait for further guidance before leaving what was almost certainly a settled life in Egypt. “Israel is a big place. Tell me where we are going to settle and we’ll get moving.” But God has said “Go,” and Joseph went. The cliché says that it is always easier to steer a car when it is moving. Once Joseph and his family were on the move, God could say, “Not Judah” (where perhaps Joseph and Mary had previously decided to live [to escape the shame of the premarital pregnancy?]. Instead, obeying the guidance, they returned to Galilee, and chose Nazareth, with all that might mean.

Joseph was well-chosen to be Jesus’ earthly father.