Reading: Matthew 1:18-25
Like Mary, Joseph also responds to God's invitation, though Matthew records none of his words. We are told that he is initially fearful of the angel's promise, but when told that "it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her" and that the child "will save God’s people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21), Joseph immediately does as the angel asks. His faithful response is not an isolated event, but his way of life; it is the first of four times recorded by Matthew that Joseph acts unquestioningly on God's instructions. Though he must have been familiar with Isaiah's prophecy that "the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14), he could not possibly have understood what awaited him. But he, like Abraham and Mary, acted anyway; he responded to God not by thinking or analyzing, but by doing.
- Michaela Bruzzese
What in your life turned out to be an invitation from God? Did you recognize it at first? How has that experienced taught you?
Like Mary, Joseph also responds to God's invitation, though Matthew records none of his words. We are told that he is initially fearful of the angel's promise, but when told that "it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her" and that the child "will save God’s people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21), Joseph immediately does as the angel asks. His faithful response is not an isolated event, but his way of life; it is the first of four times recorded by Matthew that Joseph acts unquestioningly on God's instructions. Though he must have been familiar with Isaiah's prophecy that "the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14), he could not possibly have understood what awaited him. But he, like Abraham and Mary, acted anyway; he responded to God not by thinking or analyzing, but by doing.
- Michaela Bruzzese
What in your life turned out to be an invitation from God? Did you recognize it at first? How has that experienced taught you?
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