Advent
Meditation
December 5th
13.
The Challenge of One Good Guy
Matt
1:18 -19
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. 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.
In
our world, in the West in particular, we have many problems in society,
but one of the worst it seems, is that of husbands abandoning their
wives and their children, to go and live with someone else. In one prophetic
place in the Bible, a prophet speaks for God saying, I hate divorce
(Mal 2:16).
The context was a spiritual one but the explanation is clear: God hates
covenant breaking, and a marriage is a covenant between two people to
live together for life. Jesus reiterates the Law of Moses when he said
that the only ground for divorce was marital unfaithfulness (Mt 19:9),
and that only when couples were so stubborn they could not receive counsel
and help (Mt 19:8).
Now
we come to something strange: our verses above say that Joseph was a
righteous man. Let's think about this. To have that description means
he was a good man who sought to obey God's laws and to please God. So,
here he is, engaged to Mary and she tells him she is pregnant and it's
God's fault. He now has a serious problem! Everything he knows about
God doesn't include God making young girls pregnant. This has got to
be a lie! The girl he is about to marry is carrying someone else's baby
it's certainly not mine! and to make it worse she's making up fairy
tales to cover her infidelity.
For
a righteous man, the only answer is to flee the sin. If she is unfaithful
before the marriage, she is likely to be unfaithful afterwards, so there
is no hope for this relationship, so the best thing is to end it quickly.
Moses' Law permits that, so that's what I'll do. We'll break the engagement
but I'll do it quietly; there's no need to expose her more than I have
to. There is in this last part, a distinct air of compassion and care
in this man. He is a good man it's just that he hasn't got the whole
picture yet! (He will soon you'll see that in tomorrow's meditation).
Consider
what we've said so far: Joseph is a good man, a righteous man who desires
to do what is right, and doing right means quietly breaking off the
engagement but he hasn't yet got the whole picture. When he does get
it, he may think differently.
Here
is one good guy, and he presents us with a challenge. Goodness isn't
enough. Knowing the whole counsel of God is what is needed and that
only comes from a close encounter with God. So many people say foolish
things about God because they have never bothered to think through the
issues or seek Him for answers. Are there things about God and your
life that you don't understand? That's not a cause to walk away and
ignore Him. Only you lose from that. The right response is to seek Him
for answers. We can be sure that we're right in our assessment of life,
but still be missing something before we become a Christian and after
we become a Christian. The danger is that our righteousness becomes
self-righteousness' and that is bad news! Becoming aware of my need
of God to bring me understanding is the first stage to really moving
into God's purpose for my life!
If
you wish to e-mail us any comment on this meditation please click here
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tony.thomas@rochfordcc.co.uk
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