The concept of a Messiah and his relationship- was uppermost in the minds of Jesus’ hearers.
NT Wright states:
“One well-worn but unsustainable position is that the “Jewish background is a mass of legalism and formalism, and that Jesus can teach a different religion, namely an interior spiritual sort. This is clearly no good. If it were true, Jesus would have been simply incomprehensible, a teacher of abstract and interior truths to a people hungry for God to act within history. The people were asking for bread and freedom, not thin air.”[1]
The Annunciation to Joseph (1:18-25)
Divorce shows Joseph & Mary legally married, not engaged
Joseph is righteous (Obey Jewish law) and is a dreamer (who will save humanity like the Joseph in Genesis)
My opinion, The Reverence Theory, following TA, Bernard, Basil and Ephraim, Mary told Joseph and out of awe and unworthiness to be Jesus’ father.
Joseph is a just man.
Joseph’s Duties
- Take Mary into your home, do not dismiss her
- Name Jesus, Greek form of Joshua (Joshua, Yahweh saves) David’s lineage, save his people from their sins, an enemy more dangerous than Rome or Egypt
- Protection, Flee from Herod
- Obedient, first person in the Gospel to do as commanded
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
Until neither confirms nor contradicts Catholic doctrine on Mary’s perpetual virginity CCC #499-510 Lateran Synod 649 AD doctrinal confirmed
Wish you peace until I come. Not that one wishes not peace after coming. Limitations of language.
Matthew is concerned with HS generating Christ not from Joseph
All people knew Mary & Joseph knew they had no other children. Never attribute children not her own.
[1] N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Fortress Press: Minneapolis 1996) 92
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