While He Thought About These Things

But while he thought about these things,

behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

"Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid

to take to you Mary your wife,

for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

Matthew 1:20, NKJV

Depressed. Bitter. Dejected. Betrayed. What would your feelings be if you found out the love of your life was pregnant, and you knew the child was not yours? Young Joseph--and unlike those who want to portray Joseph as some eighty-year-old widower with six grown children, I do see him as a young man--was a typical Jewish man, educated in the Law of Moses, specially trained as a carpenter, and now on the verge of marrying his beloved Mary.

He had specifically chosen her from among all the other local girls to be his bride, and she had consented. Everything had been done in proper order. The bridal contract had been drawn up, the bride price had been paid. In the interval, he had put his carpentry skills to work preparing that very special place for their first night together, that place where they would begin the rest of their lives together.

I'm pretty sure his mind stayed occupied with memories and visions of Mary, imagining their coming happiness together. Maybe he blushed at the mention of her name. Maybe his heart beat a little harder, maybe his breathing came a bit faster when he saw her in the community. Maybe his dreams were filled with her face, her form, their future. Maybe his daytime thoughts as well. And in one moment, all of that comes crashing down around him. Nothing will ever be the same! Nothing will ever be like he planned it! And in the days when he should have been building for their future, he was now faced with the decisions that could lead to her mortal demise. What was he to do? Who could counsel him correctly?

And then one night, as the troubled young man tossed and turned in his bed, a messenger from heaven stepped into his dreams. An angel of the Lord addressed him in his sleep and said, "Don't be afraid!"

Gabriel appeared to Zacharias while he burned incense in the temple, and he appeared to Mary perhaps while she pondered the candles of Hanukkah. I wonder why Joseph's visitation happened while he was asleep? Both times Joseph is visited by an angel, here and again in Matthew Chapter Two, he is sound asleep and the angel comes to him by way of a night vision. Why not just pop into the carpentry shop and say, "Surprise!" While the Bible doesn't explain the reason for the difference, I think what it does show is just as important--God deals with different people in different ways. And He doesn't have to do the same things the same ways every time. One time the angel shows up during worship service, another time he appears in a dream.

One thing that is constant with these angelic appearances in Matthew and Luke is the angel's declaration to whoever he is visiting: "Do not be afraid!" I've written much already about the light-hearted attitude so many seem to have with modern day appearances; I think we should take note of the fact that when Bible people saw angels, they always had to be reminded not to fear. When a heavenly messenger shows up at the foot of your bed with a telegram on the end of a flaming sword, maybe you shouldn't treat it like the most natural occurrence in the world.

"Do not be afraid," the angel says, only this time, he addresses Joseph's other fears as well. "You're afraid to bring Mary into your home, into your embrace, into your life as your wife. You're trying to decide what to do about this girl and the uncomfortable situation you have been plunged into. I'm hear to tell you, don't be afraid. Fulfill your commitment to Mary."

And finally the most beautiful message of all: Mary is not the loose, immoral, lying, blasphemous girl you are thinking she is. She hasn't cheated on you, Joseph. She hasn't been sneaking around with other guys in the neighborhood. She didn't give in to the seductions of a stranger when you weren't looking. She isn't making up her story about the angel and the Holy Spirit and the baby conceived in her womb through an act of God. It's all true.

So don't be afraid. Sometimes we need to sleep on our situation and let God show us what is really going on, because we can be wrong, even when everything we see and hear tells us we are right. We need to rely on God, no matter what!