GOD BECAME FLESH
SCRIPTURE READING: MATTHEW 1:18-25
Here we have one part of the familiar Christmas story. You’ve all heard it; how being engaged to marry was as binding in that culture as actual marriage, and breaking the engagement required an act of divorce. Mary was pregnant before their marriage, a shocking thing in their culture (as it used to be in ours!). Joseph could have accused her publicly of infidelity, which would have probably resulted in her being stoned to death, so he had decided to quietly divorce her. Apparently Mary hadn’t tried to explain to Joseph what had happened— it would have been hard to believe without proof! But God sent an angel to explain, and Joseph believed the message and obeyed God. What a special man Joseph must have been, that God called him “a righteous man” (v. 19) and chose him to be the stepfather of the Messiah!
