Lesson 4 - Involved

Scripture Passage - Matthew 2

When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.

Learning Point

There is something different about this exchange between Joseph and the angel. We have the same visitation we have seen a couple of other times. The issue of fear comes up again as it did in the first visitation. This time, however, Joseph is seemingly allowed some degree of latitude in responding to the instructions he received. He took his family back to Israel as he was asked but he was allowed to admit fear and to allow the fear to influence the decision of where the Holy family settled. Because of his fear they did not return to Bethlehem but instead went to Nazareth.

Of course it was already foretold Jesus would be raised in Nazareth but how the prophecy came to be fulfilled was in response to very human reaction to a very dangerous situation. In this passage we best see the humanness of Joseph because he was intimately and decisively involved in protecting the infant Jesus.