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 The Bible pays
Joseph the highest compliment: he was a "just" man. The quality meant a lot
more than faithfulness in paying debts.
When the Bible speaks of God "justifying" someone, it means that God, the
all-holy or "righteous" One, so transforms a person that the individual
shares somehow in Gods own holiness, and hence it is really "right" for God
to love him or her. In other words, God is not playing games, acting as if
we were lovable when we are not.
By saying Joseph was "just," the Bible means that he was one who was
completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. He became holy by
opening himself totally to God.
The rest we can easily surmise. Think of the kind of love with which he
wooed and won Mary, and the depth of the love they shared during their
marriage.
It is no contradiction of Josephs manly holiness that he decided to divorce
Mary when she was found to be with child. The important words of the Bible
are that he planned to do this "quietly" because he was "a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame" (Matthew 1:19).
The just man was simply, joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to Godin
marrying Mary, in naming Jesus, in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt,
in bringing them to Nazareth, in the undetermined number of years of quiet
faith and courage.
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