Daily Devotional For Friday, September 25, 2026

Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional reading for today comes from Matthew 1:18-25. When you read this passage, several questions arise that add tension to this text that we have to resolve first before we look at it. 

1. The text says that Joseph and Mary were engaged, but in Matthew 1:19, Joseph is called Mary’s husband. Since they are not married, how can Scripture be correct here? When we study first century Jewish wedding and marriage cultural rules, we learn that when children were born, parents got together and did what we call a “prearranged” marriage. All their lives, Joseph and Mary knew they were to marry. This was called the engagement. In the Jewish culture, the boy or man was usually much older than the girl. 
2. At some point later, if both the young man and young girl still agreed, because either one could back out of the engagement at any time, they would enter into what was called the betrothal. Once this was legalized, it was binding and could only be broken in court through a divorce proceeding. Betrothal was the next thing to marriage. The couple did not live together, nor did they have sexual relations, but they were considered legally committed to marriage until the final legal pronouncement was made by a priest. But during the betroyal period, they were called "husband and wife.” This is why Joseph in Matthew 1:19 is called Mary’s husband. 
3. Once Joseph learned Mary was pregnant, the only way he could divorce her during the betrothal period is if it was learned she was no longer a virgin or was pregnant. Yet the text tells us that Matthew was a “righteous” man and did not want to disgrace Mary publicly, which would be having her stoned in the city square until she and her baby had died. “Righteous” meant that Joseph was one who is law-abiding, upright in character, and generally obedient and faithful to God’s commandments.

Joseph found himself in a cultural, religious and relational pickle and it would require an intervention by God Himself to help Joseph see the real picture here. Put yourself in their sandals. Mary had to tell Joseph and then promise him she had not had sex with any man and that God was the Father of her child. We can almost hear Joseph go, “Yeah right Mary. God is the Father? Do you really want me to believe that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to you? What have you been snorting? Do you think I was born yesterday? Stop lying to me.” 

And when God intervened in a dream, Joseph’s righteousness was seen in his life to walk by faith, trust God, live with the fall out, and protect his wife and  the Son God had given them to raise. Joseph and Mary are left free not to even have stress in naming this child. God told Joseph to name the child “Jesus.” This is the Greek name for His Aramaic name, Yeshua, which comes from the Hebrew Joshua – God who saves. In a dream, God revealed to Joseph that a prophecy given by the prophet Isaiah some 700 years earlier was not being fulfilled (Isa. 7:14). The child would be legally Joseph’s and also legally the son of David. 

Matthew in these verses has several points, but three of the main ones are his emphasis first on the name of  Immanuel, “God with us.” Matthew has two bookends here. One is Matthew 1:23 – God’s presence here in chapter 1 and the reminder of God’s presence in the last chapter in Matthew 28:18-20. The second is seen in the word “brith.” This is not the typical Greek New Testament word for birth. The Greek word used here is [γένεσις; genesis]. Yes, Genesis – sound familiar to you? Do you see what Matthew is doing here?

It literally should be translated as, “The origin of Jesus Christ was like this” rather than “the birth of Jesus Christ was like this.” The Old Testament begins with Genesis and God and Matthew, a Jew who knew the Old Testament, begins his Gospel with Genesis and God. And third, Matthew’s emphasis on the Virgin Birth or Immaculate Conception. I have told you before that history is “HIs–story” and we see God’s story in creation in Genesis culminating in Matthew’s Gospel and climaxing in Revelation. 

Reflection Assignment: Put yourself first in Mary’s sandals. If you are a woman and you hear Gabriel’s announcement to you, how would you feel and react? If you are a man reading this, and your fiancée told you she was pregnant but had never had sex or IVF, how would you respond? If God spoke to you in a dream to help you believe your fiancée, what do you think the challenges would be for you to move forward? And as a couple, what challenges do you think they have to face, overcome and rise above to raise Jesus?

Scripture To Meditate On: Jeremiah 23:5-6, “For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. (6) And this will be His name:  ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I hear and read Your Word weekly. Help to step out in faith with Your Word with no fear, hesitation, resistance or disobedience. You do not want me to just admire people of faith in Your Word; You want me to be one myself. Help my unbelief Lord. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly