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Detecting Christmas December 11 Devotional

by David Joynt on December 11, 2023


MATTHEW 1:19 | 19 Her husband Joesph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

 

Human justice, within all its varied systems, is always to a degree imperfect and sometimes miscarries. The execution of the innocent Mary would have been such an instance. Fortunately Joesph decides to shoulder some public disapproval. He decides to privately end the engagement and save her life. This merciful decision will leave the situation ambiguous, with responsibility for the divorce and the pregnancy never publicly established. The term “righteous man” is not a vague compliment, but a technical phrase for a recognized religious person who functions as an “elder at the gate,” determining village disputes. Joseph risked his own reputation to be merciful to Mary.

 

When have you taken a risk or paid a cost to be merciful?

 

 

Gracious God,

We ask for your guidance for all who seek justice and those who make judgements. Please give us the capacity for mercy. Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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