Why Did Joseph Plan on Divorcing Mary? 

Joseph was a RIGHTEOUS MAN says it all for me personally. Righteous means loyalty kindness gentleness generosity faith purity all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He had it all. No cruelty in Joseph. A man after the Heart of God.

Another approach i heard is that Joseph was told by Mary and he wanted to withdraw quietly, considering that she was not for him anymore (so To speak, sorry, my English has limits). This is hinted by the Angel's message to him : "do not be afraid to take Mary" : why should he be afraid ? Because he thought she was God's, as the Ark of the new covenant.

One theory is that He thought of Himself as unworthy to be the husband of the Mother of the Messiah. He considered her status to be to great for him to take her as his wife he simply didn't understand that God had a role for him to play as the father of Jesus and husband of Mary.

If you were engaged to a girl and had not had any physical relationships with her, then found that she was expecting a child. Do you not think that you would put her away quietly yourself? He had not been informed by the angel of the circumstances at that time either.

How would you feel if as a Man if your Betrothed Wife to be goes on a trip, that you never had relations with, and a few months letter comes back pregnant and all filled with the Holy Spirit (an excited euphoria) telling you the baby is the Som of God? From a man's perspective, Knowing that Mary is a good Jewish Woman that wouldn't commit adultery but comes off as somewhat nutty (you got to either be extremely loony or extremely Truthful to claim you got impregnated by the Holy Spirit). But seriously, from a Man's perspective, I have heard stories of women getting pregnant by other men and telling their boyfriends it "just happened." Right.... This is one of the reasons why the Pharisees hated Jesus. They claimed His Mother a Harlot (please forgive them Mother Mary) and was teaching with such authority that was not befitting of a "bastard child" (in their eyes). They are called the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, not the 15 things to know for a reason folks.

How can we make the innocence theory (Joseph doesn't really believe Mary has commited adultery) be consistent with the angel's reason not to fear: _for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit_ ? Because, assuming the angel is telling Joseph something *new* (it's a miracle), then Joseph's previous thought must have been something else: adultery. Maybe we need to understand the angel's reason as "do not fear *simply because* that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" ?

‘Being a righteous man’, it could be said that he did not consummate the marriage ahead of schedule and that also did not want to expose her to shame, for he did care for her as hurt as he must have been.

Why do we feel we have to solve every mystery in life? I know that is impossible when it comes to my wife. And I have been married 44 years.

Maybe he thought Mary was seduced or taken by force so maybe he had pity on her. Or maybe she told him she was with child by the Holy Spirit and he thought she was deluded. Or maybe he just couldn’t bring himself to have her judged harshly because he was a man after Jesus’ heart

Thank you

what about Joseph thinking that he himself would also be looked at wrongly or negatively as having defiled Mary before a wedding ceremony ? discuss

What happened when Jesus was 12? My thoughts has always been that after 3 and half years in Egypt, Mary returned to Nazareth with a child she said was 9 months younger then the child she left with. To keep him as safe as she could. On that trip at 12, I'm thinking he was told about it, and when he rebelled and said he must be about his father's business, he also found out he was not the son of Joseph the Carpenter. It all makes sense to me, including why the people of Nazareth wanted to run him out of town after quoting ISA:61. Jesus is always the lion in a story, which is why I think his real father was Joseph the Tin Man. Teacher/Preacher from England who had a home in the Jordan River Catchment Area, and tin mines and a home in England.

Joseph and Mary conceived a child before the ceremony, that’s socially a problem with no token of virginity. So he was going to send her away secretly, but the angel told him to embrace his wife, that the child has been a blessing from God. It’s not difficult until you go with a no seed from man idea, a DemiGod creation.

Never mind, I guess you are discussing Joseph’s PLANS to divorce Mary when he discovers Mary is with Child. Then the angel appears to Joseph and tells him everything I’d OK. You are not saying Joseph actually divorced a Mary, right?

I'd say it was because she was pregnant.

Why tf you think, shorty was out here HOT

If Mary, and her family including Joseph, knew that Mary was immaculately conceived for the purpose of having the promised Messiah, then why did it come as such a shock to both Mary & Joseph that she was pregnant? Wouldn't her immaculate conception give them a clue to as "why" she was immaculately conceived?

Wow! A 800 page book on St. Joseph. The evangelists could muster up just a few sentences in the Gospels.

Mary whilst a Virgin conceived by being overshadowed, by the Holy Spirit. A human cannot have sex with God, who is the third person of the Trinity. She whom God the Son chose to be his mother, to come and be born through her. God created His mother, so that He would be born into the world a human being. He who is God created her sinless... How would you create your mother if you could? She who carried the Saviour of creation... do you really think she would have sex after giving birth to God her Son Jesus Christ... Her immaculate womb carried God, Jesus Christ who is perfection, who raised the dead, who is Truth and Love. He is Love and Truth itself... not that he just has these virtues.... He is Love. There were no sexual relations between Mary and Joseph at all. Her womb is the Tabernacle that brought the Saviour into the world, She who is spotless. The mother of God who is all pure, do you think she had sexual relations for the sake of "pleasure ", having given birth to God? Think about it people... we are talking about a God who is Divine...

St. Joseph felt he was unworthy to be the husband of Mary, the Mother of GOD, i.e., JESUS.

Because she cheated on him and came up with an unbelievable cover story. .......which nobody believed

There's a mistake in the description: it is written as "Jospeh" and not "Joseph"

Thanks Dr. Pitre, interesting - never thought about it but I guess a 'righteous' man would be bound to have his wife stoned, and obviously never read the book you mentioned.

If Joseph was an older man (like the Protoevangelium of James claims), who was simply "marrying" Mary to care for her (because he was - allegedly - married before & already had a family), then there would be no reason to divorce her, since they weren't planning on having a family & their relationship would have not been like a "regular" marriage.

Dr pitre is the best Speaks so clearly that even I can understand. Thank you Doc

where did brandt petre even come up with this idea in the first place? all it is, is speculation to try to prop up the false 4 doctrines of mariology, which emanated from pagan religion, at the behest of the roman empire.

Maybe he thought Mary was seduced or taken by force so maybe he had pity on her. Or maybe she told him she was with child by the Holy Spirit and he thought she was deluded. Or maybe he just couldn’t bring himself to judge her harshly because he was a man after Jesus’ heart

who did you just Call Father

I am confused. Today’s reading (December 30, 2019) celebrating the Holy Family was about Mary and Joseph making their annual trek to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and mistakenly leaving Jesus behind when Jesus was 12 (see Luke 2:41-52). They found Him in the Temple discussing Scripture. Mary says to Jesus in verse 48 - When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Mary is referring to Jesus’s father and I assume that is Joseph and not our Heavenly Father. When did this alleged divorce actually happen or was there a different man with Mary?

I have a problem with this idea as presented: 1) Mary was pregnant, 2) Joseph had not slept with Mary (and, thus could not possibly have been the father), and 3) Joseph did not believe Mary had committed adultery. As a person of faith myself, in the same situation, what would I think?Parthenogenesis? Alien abduction? As these ideas would have been unfamiliar to Joseph, I don’t see how he would have tried to divorce someone he thought had become pregnant by miracle, especially when no one else would have known.

To be a righteous man is not to follow the law of Moses, as one would Stone and adulterer, otherwise those who wanted to stoned the adulterous woman in the Gospel of John, would be considered righteous to do so, in this, righteousness is not coming by the law, it is coming by his love from Mary, that is, he wanted no harm or shame upon her for whatever reason, it is clear he simply thought that Mary committed adultery why would you think anything else if she was pregnant, and furthermore, if she was truly a virgin and was carrying a child in her womb, would they not have inspected her to see if she was or not, and if they found that she was a virgin, then they all would have been amazed, what is interesting is this, that the gospels do not say that Mary did not have sexual relations with another man, and if the virgin conception is such a integral part of the Christian faith, then why is it only mentioned in two of the gospels, flesh gives birth to flesh, spirit gives birth to Spirit, you could easily argue that Mary did have sexual relations with another man, because the Flesh counts for nothing, flesh and blood is Flesh and Blood all men are Flesh and Blood, but Christ is not his flesh and blood, Christ is the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the heart and light of God, within the Flesh and Blood, fully Flesh and Blood and fully God,

Maybe because his wife got pregnant and she told him it was by immaculate conception..and Joseph says..what total bs..

OMG woman

1:53 into this, he's telling you what your problem is. I have one of these books he reads from. It speaks of a talking snake. & the same of the donkey. It speaks of unicorns. & a man living in a whale, where fossils nor bones of whales have yet been found. Best way to remain religious is to not read it's scriptures on your own. But I have read this book.

I must say I have never ever ever heard this nonsense before as a concern of anybody. Who cares? My understanding has always been that Mary revealed to Joseph during the courtship and that prompted him to want to "annul" the engagement, not any marriage that had not even happened yet. The embarrassment was that Mary was with child that could not possibly be his since they had never slept together. She is a virgin. It is not as if the marriage was unconsummated and "God" got there first like some prima nocta thing. God does not expect us to sit around in the mud like this. Marriage is marriage; divorce is divorce. You know the rules. Stop looking for loopholes.