I am a Jesus pusher!!! Joseph was a “just man” (Matthew 1:19). This indicates he lived according to the acceptable requirements of his present religious age. Within the structure of this righteous observance, Joseph is struggling with how to respond to the coming of Jesus in Mary’s womb. According to proper Jewish law, she should be stoned to death. To the other extreme, he could marry her; however, Jewish righteousness would never allow such a thing. Joseph would be admitting to everyone that he is the one who committed sin with her. There was no way his righteousness would allow him to embrace her in marriage.
But there is a new righteousness that comes with Jesus. His arrival marked a fulfillment of the law. This fulfillment is “love!” What argument is there against Paul’s great statement: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’” (Galatians 5:14). Has not Jesus come to take us beyond the righteousness of the Old Covenant and bring us into the love rightness of the New Covenant? Laws would not accomplish this; love cannot be legislated. It must come from a changed heart. Is this why Jesus came? Can He change my nature from a legalistic and judgmental individual to one who embraces the total will of God, love! I am a Jesus pusher!!!