The Birth of Jesus Luke 2:1-20

The Birth of Jesus Luke 2:1-20 Tim White CORRECTION sent to the church on Monday morning:As always, I enjoyed a great meeting with the elders this morning [ I can’t emphasize enough what a gift from the Lord these guys are! ]. A portion of our discussion centered on a particular a statement I made in yesterday’s sermon — something like “This tells us that Joseph and Mary weren’t even married yet.”I said that because Luke 2:5 says Joseph went to Bethlehem “to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.” I emphasized the point that Joseph and Mary were “betrothed” not married. One of guys asked how that fits with Matthew 1:24-25 “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.”Wow, great question! After an excellent discussion, here is what we know for sure from these two texts:Joseph took Mary as “his wife” at some point after the angel told him she was pregnant and before they went to Bethlehem.Joseph and Mary did not consummate their marriage with physical intimacy until “she had given birth to a son.”That means Joseph and Mary were married when they were in Bethlehem, but their marriage had not yet been fully consummated.So Luke calls her “his betrothed” because they still had not engaged in physical intimacy which consummates the marriage (and likely to emphasize that fact).All of that to say: I was wrong.If I had a mulligan, I’d say: “Joseph and Mary were ‘married’ but its important to remember that their marriage hadn’t been consummated yet.”I was enlightened by the conversation and wanted you to be as well. Thanks, brothers! T4G!T