confirmation

2. Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph has always amazed me. He comes home one day and finds out that his fiance is pregnant. Most guys would go ballistic. Most of us would want to expose Mary to public disgrace. I mean he knew that he was not the father, but his girl was going to have a baby, someone's baby. Matthew 1:19 says that because Joseph was a righteous man he had in mind to divorce her quietly and did not want to expose her to public disgrace. We would take our case to Maury Povich or Jerry Springer. Not Joseph. He was righteous. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. The next verse says that God appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him Mary's side of the story; that the baby conceived in her was from God. Confirmation.

Do you think Joseph ever doubted? Do you think Joseph ever wondered if he just imagined that dream? How long did it take Joseph until he was really comfortable with the situation? Luke chapter 2 says that Caesar issued a decree that a census should be taken and everyone was to travel to the town where their family was from. Any Jewish person would know that prophecy had predicted the Messiah would be born in the town of David. Bethlehem. I wonder at what point Joseph made the connection that this baby would be born in the town where it was predicted that the Messiah would be born. Whenever the lightbulb went off. Confirmation.

Confirmation, one of the nuances of God's grace which brings peace.