who do you want to be like?

While reading the birth stories of Jesus in Matthew these days I've been struck by one of Matthew's main characters - Joseph. He chooses to focus on Joseph rather then Mary while writing about Jesus' origins.

Here's my thought: If God had to choose a man to father his Son on earth, who would it be, and how would God choose? In hindsight, we know he chose Joseph.
I'm a father. If I had to choose someone to be the primary influence on my son's life, that would be tough. Joseph, in God's mysterious plans, gets the role.

I see 2 main characteristics in Joseph I hope to emulate: character and risk

Joseph had a solid character. He was righteous (in Hebrew culture he was a Tsadiq - one who read, followed, and lived the Torah.) Check out his decisions. Because of his character he...
Chose to divorce Mary
- what else could he do at 1st; Mary (supposedly) cheats on him and gets pregnant; in their culture, if Joseph would have married Mary he would have brought extreme shame to himself, to her, and his future family
He divorces her quietly
- he's not a jerk; he knows this could hurt Mary, but he chooses to make it as unnoticeable as possible; he doesn't use the situation for his advantage or to boost up is image; he doesn't use her supposed actions to justify his reactions... so he wants to let her go with no show.
After he commits, he chooses not to have sex with her until they are married

Joseph risks.
He believes the angel that tells him this whole situation is from God, so don't worry about going ahead with the marriage. He actually does it. He marries her.
By marrying her he risks his reputation and his future.

His character mixed with 1. his trust in God, 2. his belief the supernatural (Mary's conception), 3. his openness to surprises... leads him to risk.

I don't want to just be a risk taker for the sake of it. I want to be a person of character who trusts God, believes he can do anything, is open to surprises from him,... and takes the leaps when he asks me to.

What a life of meaning and purpose: character and risk fused together.

Matthew was giving his readers a hint of what following Jesus would be like. If they can start here... wait until they start hearing the challenges of Jesus' teachings...and follow - it'll be a wild ride.