Obedience may not be the easiest road to take.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Pregnant! What do you mean? The wedding plans hadn't been completed yet, besides the wedding itself there was a big feast that lasted for six or seven days before Mary would go to live with Joseph, how could Mary be pregnant? He is in shock about it, after-all who would ever believe that Mary would have slept with a man before marriage, she wasn't that kind of girl.
Joseph had a decision to make, he could have kept this little family from ever happening if he decided to walk away, perhaps Jesus would have grown up in a single parent household, why should a righteous Godly man marry a girl that has been tainted? Joseph lived his whole life in accordance to the law, would he stick to the law and break off the marriage or even have Mary killed?
Joseph believed the angel and took Mary as his wife and raised baby Jesus as his own son. Joseph could have been concerned with his standing in the community, his reputation and his ego were hanging in the balance but despite the cost he chose to believe the angel and be obedient to God's will.
Joseph drops out of the story of Jesus life
We do not know much about Joseph, he was probably a quiet and humble man and would have echoed the words of John the Baptist:"He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less."Going against the norm is part of the lifestyle of a Christ follower, Joseph had rights that he chose to relinquish, our lifestyle should be one of obedience, love and mercy. We often look for the path of least resistance to determine our next step but sometimes God wants us to make the choice to get off of easy street and use our faith to follow him even when it doesn't seem to make sense.
Help me to follow your will Lord despite the consequences.
