Daily Reading: Matthew 1
Matthew 1:21 & 25 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (25) And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.”
These verses are directed to and about Joseph. I wonder how hard it was for Joseph to give over all his rights of husband and father the way he did. His wife was pregnant when he married her and then he was told what to name “his” first born son and did not sleep with his new wife until after she had given birth the first time. Granted she was still a virgin but a body gets a little messed up after giving birth and Joseph didn’t get to enjoy his new bride in her youth. The interesting thing is that he still had all the responsibility of being a husband and father. I’m sure that there were few people who knew or believed that Joseph had not been the one to impregnate Mary. He had to bear that responsibility and shame with her and then I wonder how long it was from the time they were actually married until the time she gave birth. The entire time he was waiting on this pregnant woman who he must have loved dearly, supporting her and helping her and probably questioning everything the whole time. Everyone is different but I know that most men want to name their sons. They want a junior or they want to give him a name they can be proud of. I’m sure Joseph didn’t dislike the name Jesus, but maybe he had something else in mind. Granted it wasn’t his biological son, but he was going to be the one teaching him and feeding him and taking care of him. If it were me I would want something to attach myself to this boy. Something to give me some ownership and to make my responsibility toward him seem more worthwhile. I don’t know if Joseph felt that way or not but God gave Joseph nothing that would make him feel more like the child’s father. He just obeyed. God must have had a lot of trust in Joseph…what if he had decided to disobey…”I’m going to raise this kid, I’ll name him what I want to name him. His name shall be called, Bob.” What if he had completely hijacked the plan? Kidnapped God’s son and instead of carpentry, taught him the trade of accounting? Obviously that didn’t happen and Joseph was obedient. I guess what I wonder most about Joseph is, did he know what a powerful name he was handing to the rest of the world when he did what God had told him to do and stepped up to his responsibility by naming Mary’s son…Jesus? It was a common name back then but it has become the prefix and suffix of powerful prayer. Jesus is the name that will cause knees that have never bent to bow in humility and tongues that have done nothing but curse, to proclaim that He is Lord. He called his name Jesus…one simple act of humble obedience has given me a name for my Savior.