humiliate

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, And they will call him, Emmanuel. (Emmanuel means “God with us.”) When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he didn’t have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. Joseph called him Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25, CEB)

I think we overlook the part in this verse where it says, “Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly.” Joseph should have brought her before the high council and had Mary stoned to death. But because he was a righteous man and he didn’t want her humiliated, or killed, he was going to figure a way out of the engagement and let her live. Now we can’t really say what kind of life it would have been, but he didn’t want her death on his hands or conscious. And then he has a dream or a vision. And he finds out the child is from God. So Joseph marries Mary and calls the son, Jesus.

How many times do we push people to their doom because we know some secret that isn’t ours to share?

We are sharing things freely we have no place to share.

We should love and be of a righteous heart like Joseph.

Love Out Loud.

Loving People. Loving God.