When we last saw Joseph he was confronted by an angel saying, "Behold."Behold! I have good news. Behold! Take the pregnant Mary to be your wife. Behold! Do not be afraid.
Do not be afraid to have your value system turned upside down, to put aside the rules by which you had governed your life, to be told up is down and down is up.
Joseph went along with the request. Perhaps it was the news that the child of Mary's was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was to have a special name and all that convinced Joseph to go ahead with the wedding.
But I would guess that the decision to act counter to all the societal norms by which he had been formed was the greater challenge for Joseph. In a culture where men prayed prayers of thanksgiving that they were not born a woman, Joseph was being asked to take a back seat, give up his male perogatives and take into his house, include in his lineage, a child who was not his.
I think that Joseph had to overcome a bit of ingrained pride. He did it; he acted as the angel requested. There is no indication that the decision haunted him in the night.
I'm not so sure it would have been the same for me. We often say 'Pride goes before the fall'. In Joseph's case, however, pride must go before the fulfillment. Would I have been as willing?
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