Today, we come across one of the most significant events in the Bible—the birth of Jesus. While this story is familiar to most, the character of Joseph stood out to me. He is engaged to Mary, but Mary is found to be with a child. As you can imagine, this was beyond awkward for them both. Mary has a far-fetched story about how this happened, and Joseph isn’t buying it. He hears her, but he decides to divorce her. Culturally, for Joseph and Mary, their engagement was as strong as marriage, and to break it off was considered divorce.
But Joseph is not a knee-jerk-reaction kind of person. He is not vengeful. He is not even so concerned about how he feels betrayed as much as humiliation and potential death for Mary. Keep in mind that adultery in their day was punished by stoning. Notice Joseph’s reaction. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. (Matthew 1:18–19, ESV)
As I considered Joseph’s character, two thoughts came to mind: not everything is as it seems, and discretion is a valuable virtue. We see this in the following two verses. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him. (Proverbs 18:13, KJV) Discretion shall preserve thee, Understanding shall keep thee: (Proverbs 2:11, KJV) Because Joseph had discretion, he had time to hear the whole matter. Sure, he heard Mary’s side of the story, but he hadn’t heard God’s side. How easy it is to go public with opinion and judgment! Yet, discretion was of great value in helping to preserve this situation. 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. (Matthew 1:20, NKJV)
Is this a good pattern to follow? Imagine what would not be on FaceBook and other social media platforms if we practiced this discretion. Imagine how many situations could be saved or preserved if we simply didn’t send that text. In our culture of instant everything, where it is easy to tell the whole world whatever comes to mind, discretion is needed now more than ever.
Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Matthew 1; Luke 2:1-38.