Marriage in Israel took place in stages. There was engagement, betrothal and then the marriage. The betrothal was the point when the engagement became legal. It took a divorce to break it. Mary and Joseph were at the betrothal stage. On discovering that Mary was pregnant two possible scenarios must have presented themselves to Joseph — neither of which would have been the possibility of a virginal conception! He must have thought that his beloved Mary must either have been seduced (which was bad enough and a real wound) or, worse, that she had been violated and raped. Matthew informs us that, as Joseph saw it, the only option available to him was to divorce her quietly (vv. 18-19). As a devout observer of the Torah (the Old Testament law) Joseph could not take Mary as his wife — the discovery of her pregnant state categorically prevented this and was against the law. The law was brutal and uncompromising regarding sexual infidelity and demanded the death penalty for both parties involved in the transgression.
We learn that Joseph, a devout Jew, was rooted and grounded in love for Mary and acted in compassion towards her. Matthew tells us, ‘her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.‘ Joseph protected Mary from the very beginning.
Although Mary and Jesus are rightly the focus of the Christmas story, today we reflect on Joseph’s mature wisdom and holiness and his embrace of God’s plan of salvation. In a few days’ time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but today we sing a hymn of praise and thanks to God for the gift of Joseph — the man of faith, the protector and servant of his beloved wife Mary and the child she bore in her womb.