When Joseph heard that Mary was pregnant he assumed she had been unfaithful which led him to feel hurt and angry. All of us, when we feel betrayed or let down “make stuff up” in order to make sense of things, but, more often than not, what we come up with is based on fear.  

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Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

 

The Suspicions of Joseph – by Rainer Maria Rilke

And the Angel spoke, not without carefully hearing

This man who stood there with his fists tightened.

“But isn’t it clear from the very fold of her dress

That she is as cool as the morning mist?”

The man however looked at him with suspicion

And said, “I want to know how this happened.”

The Angel spoke louder:  “You woodworker,

Don’t you see any mark of God at all in this?

“Just because you know how to make planks

Out of tree trunks, are you unable to imagine

One who can bring forth leaves

And pregnant buds out of the same wood?”

He got it. And the instant he lifted

His deeply shocked eyes to the Angel,

The Angel was gone.  He took hold of his cap

And pulled it off slowly.  And what he sang was a hymn.