A Truly Righteous Man

There are some key characters in the nativity story and, I feel, one in particular is sometimes overlooked: Joseph. We are clearly told that he is not the biological father of Jesus. Of course, Joseph himself knows that all too well; but it’s not what most people in the community would be thinking. Imagine the finger pointing and the shame and the blame and the gossip and the speculation. Joseph would have carried a lot in those days, and the thing I love about him is that he is described as a ‘righteous man’ (Matthew 1:19).

Righteous men don’t often surface in the bible. In fact, in Noah’s day, God could only find one, and that was Noah himself (Genesis 6:6-9). By trusting God even with such a bizarre commission and doing everything just as God commanded him, we see what a ‘righteous man’ might look like (Genesis 6:22). It is from his obedience that one family was saved from the dreadful judgement that came upon the earth in his day. And, down the many, many generations since then, it’s from that one family that we each have received life.

Fast forward many years and we read of Joseph (Genesis 37-50), who likewise is asked to overcome potential ridicule and mockery in a life lived in consistent obedience to God.

Then, once more, at the hinge of history when the world changes forever, we read of this other righteous man, Joseph, who did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife (Matthew 1:24). Once again, the costly obedience of a righteous man was extraordinary and, in this case, facilitated the greatest saving act that history had known. We don’t know much else about him, but we do know that even righteous Noah had his weaknesses (Genesis 9:21). The bible makes it very clear that even its greatest heroes are all flawed to some degree or other; with the exception of just one.

When we come to Christmas, despite our world’s desire to try and airbrush Jesus out of the very event that bears His name, we come to the celebration of the truly Righteous One, the one born of a virgin, whom we know to be Immanuel – which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

This righteous man was also obedient to God, even being willing to set aside His righteousness and exchange it for our unrighteousness.

As Isaiah says of Him, many centuries before His birth, the one whose coming we celebrate at Christmas: “Surely, he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

No wonder we can say: Happy Christmas!