“My bride-to-be is pregnant, and I’m not the father.”

What would you do in this situation? In today’s lesson we learn how one man struggled with the decision, the advice he received, and the solution that he chose.

Matthew 1:18-25

• That Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph ever had sex together is the major point of this conflict (v. 18).
• We know, further, that her pregnancy was not because she’d had sex with another man (v. 18), but rather because God had miraculously placed life within her (v. 18).
• Joseph and Mary were engaged at the time; and Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant (v. 18-19).  How he learned and when he learned are unknown to us. If you had been Mary, would you have told Joseph. Would you have told him before or after you went to visit your cousin Elizabeth for 3 months?
• Joseph’s option of choice was to break off the engagement quietly so as not to make Mary a public example (v. 19). It’s possible that she had not spoken to him herself, or that he did not believe her story. Or why this confusion?
• An angel advised Joseph to continue the relationship and to finalize the marriage (v. 20).
• Like the announcement to Zacharias, the sex of the child is declared, the name of the child is declared, and the future renown of the child is declared (v. 21).
• Did the Angel quote Isaiah 7:14 (v.23), or is this Matthew’s comment?
• Joseph obeyed and married Mary (v. 24).
• Did Joseph ever enjoy the pleasures of a husband (v. 25), or was Mary a virgin until the day she died?

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