Joseph
I thought I'd take a break from cockroaches and embarrassing swimsuit stories to tell you a little bit about our life here. When we're not working or studying, Blair and I have fun hanging out with the youth of the church. Blair serves with the young men helping to plan activities for them. I teach seminary to the youth once a week and I teach institute to the adults once a week as well. As with all other callings or responsibilities in our church, none of us are paid to do this. But the spiritual rewards greatly outweigh any material payment we could possibly receive.
We're studying the New Testament this year in institute and I thought I'd share a small insight I had this last week about the character of Mary's husband, Joseph. In the first couple of verses in the New Testament we read of Mary and Joseph's engagement to be married. At this time in Jewish history, a marriage engagement was a serious contract almost as legally binding as the actual marriage agreement. For all intents and purposes, Mary was basically Joseph's wife. When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant (remember that the angel Gabriel had not appeared to him yet to tell him of the nature of this conception), he had two ways under the Law of Moses to deal with the issue. First, he could subject Mary to a public trial where her reputation would have been tarnished and she could potentially have been killed for her supposed crime. Second, he could annul the engagement privately to save her from embarrassment and potential death. Prior to the angel appearing to him, Joseph decided he would quietly and privately call off the engagement.
We all know the rest of the story - that an angel told Joseph that Mary was carrying the Son of God and he should continue with their decision to marry. But it's a great testament to the character of Joseph that he was planning on handling the situation so mercifully and quietly. I thought of the various situations we all encounter on a daily basis. Maybe it's a co-worker that bothers us, a spouse that embarrassed us, or someone who was rumored to have done something bad. Do we mercifully handle situations privately? Or do we gossip, fight, or publicly tarnish someones fragile reputation?
I'm not perfect at this, so I'm grateful for Joseph's example and what it taught me last week.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
We're studying the New Testament this year in institute and I thought I'd share a small insight I had this last week about the character of Mary's husband, Joseph. In the first couple of verses in the New Testament we read of Mary and Joseph's engagement to be married. At this time in Jewish history, a marriage engagement was a serious contract almost as legally binding as the actual marriage agreement. For all intents and purposes, Mary was basically Joseph's wife. When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant (remember that the angel Gabriel had not appeared to him yet to tell him of the nature of this conception), he had two ways under the Law of Moses to deal with the issue. First, he could subject Mary to a public trial where her reputation would have been tarnished and she could potentially have been killed for her supposed crime. Second, he could annul the engagement privately to save her from embarrassment and potential death. Prior to the angel appearing to him, Joseph decided he would quietly and privately call off the engagement.
We all know the rest of the story - that an angel told Joseph that Mary was carrying the Son of God and he should continue with their decision to marry. But it's a great testament to the character of Joseph that he was planning on handling the situation so mercifully and quietly. I thought of the various situations we all encounter on a daily basis. Maybe it's a co-worker that bothers us, a spouse that embarrassed us, or someone who was rumored to have done something bad. Do we mercifully handle situations privately? Or do we gossip, fight, or publicly tarnish someones fragile reputation?
I'm not perfect at this, so I'm grateful for Joseph's example and what it taught me last week.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Comments