Matthew 1:18-25
The Threat of Christmas
James Sledge December
22, 2019
Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and
unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. “A righteous
man.” Outside of the Bible, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone actually
described that way. Have you? I can’t think of a single example. For that
matter, I almost never hear the word righteous at all, other than to speak disparagingly
of someone who is “self-righteous.”
Some
Bible translations try something else: a just man, a man of honor, a noble man,
a good man. Unlike righteous, I’ve heard people described as good, noble, honorable,
or just, and meant in a complimentary way. Righteous, however, just isn’t part
of our everyday vocabulary. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that any of those other
words quite capture what the gospel writer is trying to say.
To
say that Joseph is a righteous man is to say that he is faithful in keeping
God’s law. He is more than simply good. He lives his life by God’s
commandments. He is guided by the principles laid out in the Torah, and Torah
says he should divorce Mary.
Divorce
is required because Mary’s engagement to Joseph is something very different from
engagement in our day. When two people get engaged in our culture, they have
declared their intent to marry, but there’s no legal change of status. They are
still single and, should they call off the engagement, the only issues to
navigate depend on how far along things are. It could be a simple as letting
friends and family know that the wedding is off. Or it could involve unbooking
reception venues and dealing with angry members of the wedding party who’ve
already bought bridesmaid dresses or non-refundable airline tickets. But
regardless of how easy or complicated, calling the wedding off doesn’t require
any legal action to undo the engagement.
Not
the case for Joseph and Mary. Their engagement is as legally binding as
marriage is for us. It cannot be called off. It can only end with a divorce.
I
can only imagine what goes through Joseph’s mind when he learns that Mary is
pregnant. He might feel betrayed, although if this is an arranged marriage,
perhaps not. In the eyes of the Law, however, Joseph has been wronged. He has
made Mary his wife, even if the final formalities are yet to come, but now that
Joseph has learned of her presumed adultery, he must divorce her, regardless of
what he does or doesn’t feel for her.