The Answerer

Thank you for a good question – I had not thought of it before. First, I guess that God knew that they were ‘Good for the job’, the right people and He knew that they would not mess it up. Think about it: God must have thought: “Who can I trust with this job? I need a couple with integrity above normal people.”

Because God, somehow, knows our every thought, He knew Mary, even though only a teenager, would do the right thing as the Archangel Gabriel unfolded the future to her. Gabriel came to Mary, while she was engaged to Joseph and told her: “Congratulations favoured lady! The Lord is with you...God has decided to wonderfully bless you... You will become pregnant.” (All in Luke Chapter 1 verses 26 to 38) There is much more in there too. Most men in those days would have had Mary publicly stoned to death for such an affair...‘an angel visited you- rubbish! You can’t get pregnant without having sex’. Joseph had not yet had sex with Mary. But Joseph was a man of integrity too. (Integrity means without serious faults or weaknesses.)

Matthew tells of Joseph’s character. “Then Joseph, her fiancé (husband to be), being a man of stern principle (a just man) decided to break the engagement but to do it quietly, as he didn’t want to publicly disgrace her.” There is a gentleman who cares for another person’s feelings!

An angel came to him in a dream and told him the whole story about him (Joseph), being from the line of David and to fulfill Biblical prophecy that tells about a virgin having a Son. Joseph accepted the angel’s message and had no sexual relations with Mary until after the birth of Jesus. (That’s in Matthew Chapter 1: verses 18 to 25)

So God chose a ‘Son of David’ (Joseph) and Mary to raise Jesus to manhood because He knew they were the best couple for the task.