Awkward Christmas – Pregnant Fiancée
Matthew 1:18-19 “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”
There were three options that Joseph had to separate himself from the situation:
- Divorce her “Loudly” – Go to city gates or center square and loudly proclaim to all what happened and it is over
- Divorce her “quietly” – Go to priest and get written divorce with two witnesses
- Divorce her “Biblically” – Take her to Town gate and have her stoned to death
Deuteronomy 22:23-24 “If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you”
Nazareth has a population of about 400-600 people.
Joseph would not be allowed to:
- Speak in the synagogue
- Be part of town elders or leaders
- People would not invite them over for dinner
Matthew 13:54-57 “Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.”
Four ways families handle messy subject matter (Like Joseph and Mary):
- Pretend
- Explode
- Bury
- Avoid
