A Significant Role
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.” Matthew 1:20
We don’t know when Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, but we know his reaction: he was afraid to marry her. Even if she had told him how it had happened to her, he didn’t believe it. He only knew this child wasn’t his. He was a strict observer of the law and couldn’t marry an unfaithful woman. He didn’t want her to be publicly disgraced, or worse, for the penalty of having a child out of wedlock was death (Deuteronomy 22:23, 24). He decided to divorce her quietly because they were legally married even though only betrothed.
God understood Joseph’s reluctance and sent an angel to reassure him. Note how specifically the angel addresses him: “Joseph son of David.” The angel not only knew Joseph’s name and ancestry, but he also knew he would have a significant role to play in God’s plan. A prophecy had been given to King David for a son who’d rule forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Jesus would be considered a descendant of David, because Joseph, who was Jesus’s legal father, was a descendant of David.
Joseph named the baby “Jesus,” as the angel had instructed (Matthew 1:21), and he fulfilled the Mosaic law’s requirement for the male child to be circumcised (Luke 2:21). He took the baby and Mary to Jerusalem for the purification rites, and he heard the blessing and prophecies of Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:22-38).
Joseph also took his family to Jerusalem to observe the annual festivals. When Jesus was twelve, he got separated from his parents on the return trip home from Jerusalem. When they found him in the temple, Jesus asked, “Why were you searching for me? … Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). But Jesus submitted to their authority and returned home with Mary and Joseph.
Then the record of Joseph disappears. He had played an important role in Mary’s and Jesus’s life, but after Jesus’s visit to the temple, it became clear that now his heavenly Father would have preeminence, not his earthly father. Joseph may have felt insignificant. However, he had fulfilled his role in Jesus’s life, a part which a child could not do for himself.
Do you feel insignificant? God knows you by name and has a significant, specific role for you to play, even if you don’t see it happening.
Trust God’s plan for your life.
Dig Deeper
Read Matthew 1:18-24. How might Joseph’s speedy action in taking Mary as his wife have saved her from disgrace?
According to Matthew 2:13-15, how did Joseph later protect the young mother and child after being warned of danger in another dream?
Read Matthew 1:1-17, 2 Samuel 7:12-13, Genesis 12:3, and Genesis 22:18. How does Matthew’s genealogy establish this baby as the Christ, the Messiah who would bless the world as the offspring of Abraham and rule forever as the Son of David?
Nancy J. Baker
This devotion is new, written for our most recently published devotional collection, Restore the Significance.