By Lynna Clark
What could he do? It came down to a couple different options. He could break their engagement and tell everybody she’d been unfaithful. Or he could handle things quietly in order to protect her. Being a nice guy he chose option ‘B.’ He would cancel the wedding plans and somehow move on without her.
Suddenly an option was presented to him that he’d never considered.
He could marry her and raise the baby as his own. It would include taking a hit to his reputation and trusting a woman with a very questionable story but…
Matthew 1:19 tells us that Joseph was a good man. Even a good man would struggle with option ‘C.’
Isn’t it remarkable that the King of the universe chose to come to earth as a man so that God’s beautiful plan to buy us back to Himself could be realized? To me it’s interesting that He started and ended with a couple of regular Joes.
The first was just a hardworking, tax paying guy looking forward to having sons of his own and building the family carpenter business. He found himself being the adopted dad of a little boy Who would be revealed as the Son of God. But Joseph willingly gave up reputation and whatever it took to protect this child. When it meant believing a far-fetched story about his fiancée, he was willing. When it meant taking off to a foreign country with his brand new family in tow, he was God’s man.
Good, faithful, hard-working, steady Joe; not much by social standards, but chosen by God.
Fast forward to the end of Jesus’ life.
Another Joe steps up. This time it’s a rich man with great social status. But he refused to accept the verdict of his fellow religious leaders who had wrongly convicted Jesus. With wisdom he stepped out from the Jewish high counsel and made a decision. He would personally take the body of Christ and bury it in his own tomb… the one he just paid good money to have carved out for himself. This rich man with great social standing did not ask servants to do the difficult task. He made his request to Pilate, then took the body of Jesus and carefully wrapped it in fine linen, placing it in his own tomb. What courage! He could’ve lost everything by associating himself with Jesus.
Instead, he is forever chronicled in Scripture as Joseph from Arimathea, a good and righteous man.
Two Joes: One poor, without clout; the other rich, with high social standing. Each faithful, steady and strong in character, just doing life as the Lord guided.
In my life, the people who have influenced and encouraged me most have not been dynamic, flashy, or extremely talented. They have been beautiful though, because faithfulness is a beautiful thing.
Don’t you love how God uses us regular Joes for His most important tasks?
PS: You can read more about Joseph the step-dad in Luke 2:1-24 & Matthew 1:18-2:23; and Joseph of Arimathea in Luke 23:50-56 & Matthew 27:57-61.
Sometimes Beautiful Joes are named Dennis, David, Randy and Tom
