A Just Man

I can't imagine the heartache.  He really thought she was the one...and now, there she stands, tear stained face, obviously pregnant, trying to convince him that it was some 'miracle' and that she has been faithful to him.  He knows better.  Young girls don't just miraculously end up pregnant...but they are sometimes unfaithful.  I really can't imagine the bitter taste Joseph must've had right then.  The rage of betrayal, the humiliation he will now suffer...it surely whirled in his mind like a cyclone.  What to do now?  He could marry her anyway...everyone would think it was his child...but he would never be able to trust her...and he would end up raising the other guys child.  No, he just can't do that.  what to do...He could have her stoned...many righteous men would...but that seems so callous and brutal...what to do...what to do...What would you do?  Here is what Joseph did:

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

Yes, that was the best answer...Joseph would secretly 'divorce' [put away] the woman who was to spend her life as his wife.  He would do it in secret, as quietly and quickly as possible, and then she would probably go back to cousin Elizabeth's to have the child.  That way he will not have a lifetime of heartache from an unfaithful spouse, and she can go be with him, whoever him is.

Is that what you would do?  Obviously, we know the rest of the story:  it really was a miracle, she had been faithful to Him, and the child was the Almighty God.  But put yourself in Joseph's place for just a moment.  You don't know any of this, you haven't seen the movie Trailer.  All you know is that a few months ago you packed her off to her cousin's house while you continued to make ready for your life together.  Now she's back, months later, expecting a child, with a wild, unbelievable story, expecting [or at least asking] you to be a complete fool and believe the unbelievable.  If you were really Joseph, what would you do?  I don't see me buying the Angel story, how about you?

But Joseph wasn't like most of us.  Even before the Angel appears to Joseph, his response is not one of vengeance, it is one of justice and compassion.  Joseph was a just man and evidence of that justice was his decision/intent to privately deal with what appeared to him to be Mary's infidelity.  He had no desire to 'shame' her, no vengeful spirit of putting her through public humiliation.  Was he hurt?  Yes!  Angry?  Probably.  Heartbroken?  No Doubt!  Devastated?  Of Course!  Vengeful?  Not in the least.  Why?  Because he was a just man.  What does that mean...that he was a 'just' man?  I believe it means that his way of thinking, feeling, and acting was wholly conformed to the will of God.  He acted like God Himself would act were he in this situation.  Consider the parable of the Good Father [usually called "The Prodigal Son"] from Luke 15.

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his heck and kissed him.

He runs to his son, filled with compassion [love and pity] embraces him and kisses him.  What a tender scene of joyful reunion.  It is quite obvious how much this father loves his son, how he has missed him, agonizing nights of wondering if the boy is okay.  Praying for God to protect him and bring him home. Do you detect a judgmental spirit in this father?

Look at you!  Peeeyewwww, you STINK!  Where have you been...a pig pen?!?  Do you think you can just go live like a heathen, and then waltz right back in here like you never left, like you own the place?  Now listen boy, if you're going to come home, I better not hear any of this 'far country' talk!  Do you have ANY of the money left?  NONE OF IT?  If you want to come back here, I better see you on the front pew at church Sunday morning...Do you know what shame and humiliation you have brought on this family?...  

No, that wasn't the heart of this father [actually, that was the heart of the older brother, but that's another story].  Listen to what the father did:

But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.'

The first thing he does is send a servant home [remember that they are "a great way off"] to get a robe and a ring.  Why would he do that?  Why not drag the boy through town in his stinky, pig-pen wardrobe so the depth of his humiliation would be indelibly impressed upon him.  He should be ashamed of what he has done shouldn't he?  But the father puts the best robe, a ring, and sandals on him first thing.  If he does this, no one will know what a loser this boy has been.  No one but he and the father will know...but wasn't that the point?  Like Joseph, he was a just man, not wanting to make a public example of the boy.  That's why I believe being just is being like God.  Here is a description Jesus gives us of His Father:

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who cures you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love whose who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as you Father in heaven is perfect.

The father isn't interested in publicly humiliating those who have failed, and/or betrayed Him.  He isn't interested in you writing books about your dirty past, and he isn't certainly isn't interested in his children being vengeful and seeking to expose the failures of his other children to public scrutiny. God doesn't just love those who love Him.

Do the names Josef & Madga Goebbels mean anything to you?  They were friends of Adolph Hitler.  Think about that for a moment...even the poster boy for wickedness had friends...people he loved who loved him back.  Anyone can do that.  But not anyone can love those who hate them.  You see, that is, as the preacher said yesterday, the acid test of Christianity.  How do we treat those who mistreat us?

God doesn't want everyone to "get theirs", He wants everyone to come to repentance and be forgiven.  To be sure, if you refuse to repent of your sin, you are not like the prodigal, and a day of great humiliation awaits you.  But if you penitently come to the Father, he has a robe and a ring for you.  Joseph didn't want Mary to Taste the bitter anguish of her sin, he didn't want public vindication, he wanted to be like God.

So, what about you?  Are you just?  Are you minded to privately deal with the sins of others when those sins hurt you?  Or are you unjust, loving only those who love you, and seeking or expressing scorn and defamation to the reputation of those who wrong you?