Verses 1 through 17 recount the genealogy of Jesus - from Abraham to David to the Babylonian exile to Joseph. The ancestry shows a diverse group of people, some of whom are not what you might think of as being in the line of the Messiah.
It's amazing how God can use all sorts of people to work His plans.
Verses 18 to 25 tell how Joseph handled the news that Mary was pregnant while they were in the betrothal stage of becoming married. He had planned on calling it off until an angel told him that the baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was also told that the baby was the one prophesied as the Messiah.
What must Joseph have thought? Perhaps relieved that Mary had not been unfaithful after all. Maybe he was a little uncertain that this could all be true. In the end, he was faithful and went through with the marriage as planned. This is the kind of faithfulness God wants from each of us.
January 01, 2008
Matthew 1
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4 comments:
Joseph showed AMAZING faithfulness... can you even imagine what you are Steve would do if Megan or I became pregnant and then an angel came and said it was conceived by the holy spirit. You would really have to trust God... I can't even imagine!
oh yeah! this genealogy is the 7th-son-of-a-7th-son (ultimate blessing) list and note the three-time 'repeat', traditionally meaning the superlative (how does one say ultimate-est!?! [most ultimate just doesn't do it... i like the utlimate-ultimate-ultimate picture])
and your questions about Joseph brought to my mind questions like: how are we supposed to react when God RADICALLY changes our plans? and are we really allowing Him to control our lives if we don't occassionally face this kind of 'challenge' (a faith-challenge)to our status-quo?
This is probably one of my favorite stories in the Bible - reading how Joseph was going to leave Mary and finding out from an Angel that she wasn't unfaithful and deciding to stay by her.
It is just an amazing story of faith and love and believing, and even though I've not read it in years, in High School I would always go back to that and re-read it when I needed that rejuvenation or extra boost of faith.
Yeah, sometimes I think we can take for granted when we read in our Bible that an angel told so-and-so such-and-such. But think - what would you do if an angel appeared and spoke to you?
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