In this passage, Joseph is told in a dream to take Mary as his wife because she is to bear the Messiah who will be named Jesus. This is Matthew’s version of the birth narrative, and it is notable for its focus on Joseph and for being so short in comparison to Luke’s version of the story. In this version, we don’t get a journey to Bethlehem, but rather it is implied that Joseph already lives there. There are no shepherds in this story. We don’t hear about Mary’s own visitation from the angel, nor her visit to Elizabeth. It’s nice to have multiple gospels because we get these extra stories and details by reading different accounts of the same events.

Joseph never speaks in this story, but I do feel that we learn something important about him in these short verses. When he discovers that Mary is pregnant outside of marriage, he decides to dismiss her quietly. Matthew tells us that Joseph decides on this course of action because he’s “a righteous man” who is “unwilling to expose her to public disgrace.” By tradition, Joseph was within his rights to expose Mary’s pregnancy which might have resulted in her being killed. That might have even been considered the “righteous” choice at the time! 

Instead, I believe that Joseph is indeed “righteous” in that he has very strong opinions about what passes for tradition in his day. Joseph might have some “righteous” anger that women in his society are killed for mistakes instead of being given the chance to repent and be forgiven. It’s one thing for him to believe that in theory, it’s another for Joseph to put that into practice when he believes that he’s been cheated on by Mary. But Joseph's values are his values, and he will stand by them. And by his values we see why he’s such a good choice to be Jesus’ father.

Joseph is someone with principles. He lives by his values, and when he’s told by God to do something, he does it because he is obedient to God. Jesus will also live by his principles and do what God asks of him, even to the point of death.Joseph sets the stage for the kind of person Jesus will be, and as such, he’s not such a bad role model for us. We should be "righteous" in our love of justice and mercy, like Joseph is. We should seek to avoid publicly shaming others who make mistakes. And we should answer God’s call whenever and wherever it comes.