“Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:”
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife. The simplicity of Joseph's obedience is the simplicity of faith. He received a command that redefined everything he thought he understood about his situation, and he acted on it immediately upon waking. There is no recorded prayer, no negotiation, no request for further signs. Genesis 12:4 records Abraham's equally simple obedience when God called him to leave his homeland: so Abram went. The great figures of faith in Matthew's genealogy are characterized by this responsiveness — they hear the divine word and they move. Joseph's obedience is the final step that brings Jesus legally into the royal line: by taking Mary as his wife and naming the child, Joseph adopts Jesus into the house of David.
Church Fathers on Matthew 1:24
Life returned by the same entrance through which death had entered in. By Adam’s disobedience we were ruined, by Joseph’s obedience we all begin to be recalled to our former condition; for in these words is commended to us the great virtue of obedience, when it is said, 'And Joseph rising from sleep, did as the Angel of the Lord had commanded him.'
He not only did what the Angel commanded, but as he commanded it. Let each one who is warned of God, in like manner, break off all delays, rise from sleep, and do that which is commanded him.
'Took unto him' not took home to him; for he had not sent her away; he had put her away in thought only, and now took her again in thought.
Read all 14 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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