Leadership

Leadership.  I have occasionally given pause to Joseph and his role, but with little written about him, I could not say I have really studied about him.  However, this morning, in our reading, I noticed the leadership role that he played.  Of course, we know that an angel came to Mary to tell her she would be with child.  And, we probably remember that an angel came to Joseph in a dream to confirm this (Matthew 1:20-21).  We also know that it is written about Joseph that he was a “righteous man” because when he initially found out that Mary, whom he was considered to be his wife, although the marriage had not been consummated, was pregnant, he chose to divorce her in secret instead of disgracing her publicly (Matthew 1:19).  It was after the birth of Jesus, that God sends an angel to Joseph in to instruct him in the leadership and safety of his wife and child.  The angel appears to Joseph in a dream to take “the child and his mother” to Egypt because Herod was seeking to kill the child, Jesus (Matthew 2:13).  Again, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream in Egypt, to tell him to take “the child and his mother” to Israel because Herod had died (v.19).  God could just have easily continued to send the angel to Mary for all of these messages, but God is consistent throughout Scripture.  Since the beginning, God has given the husband the role and responsibility of leadership in the home.  This is confirmed in the account of the birth of Jesus and those early years of Jesus’s life.