Joseph the Righteous One

Scripture tells the story of Joseph in brief. He appears for a bit of time in the birth story of Jesus and then disappears. So, what kind of a man would God choose to raise his son?

Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)
1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The phrase that tells me more about Joseph's character is in verse 19 - "Joseph her husband was a righteous man..."

Our day and time would honestly struggle, if not reject, the label "righteous" on an individual. It sounds so "high and mighty", so "piously above you", as if to relegate that kind of individual to religious snobbery. The word "righteous" in the NIV is the greek word, dikaios, which means a just person, a person of right-ness. Joseph is not a nose-stuck-in-the-air religious snob; he is a man who cares about honoring God with his life. He doesn't know that Mary's pregnancy is of God. He can only assume what any rational person would - that Mary had had relations with another man; and so, his choice is merely a matter of "what would Yahweh want me to do?" He decides to divorce her - because in Jewish law, the "betrothal", or as we would say engagement, was binding and took an act of divorce to break the betrothal. Yet, Joseph does not seek to shame Mary. His plan is to divorce her quietly. For Joseph, being righteous was not a matter of being above another, but rather being able to do God's will in humility.

We need more Joseph's today. Again, my heart goes out to Men. God has given us a great privilege in honoring us with spouses and children, or maybe friends and relatives. Whether single, engaged, or married, can we step up to be "righteous" as Joseph was righteous - a man that honors God with his life?