This is not just another copy of the Christmas Story. Read to the end. As I have been thinking about the meaning of Christmas and the surrounding celebrations, I wanted to share a thought about Joseph.
First, this is the story from Matthew 1:18-25
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
I believe that the things that Joseph must have gone through are often overlooked. Here is a man who found that his bride to be is pregnant. In his culture, this places a HUGE stigma on not just him, but also on Mary. Instead of making a big deal of it, he wanted to just quietly break it off, so as not to further embarass Mary. This is when God spoke comfort into his heart. Instead of arguing or worrying about the social pressures and his own pride, Joseph simply obeyed God.
This is where the lesson for us comes in. It is often true that we are called to do something that will result in those surrounding us to question the intelligence of what we are doing. I can imagine that Joseph had quite a few friends who suggested, both to his face and behind his back, that either he or Mary or them together had engaged in premarital sex. I recognize that this is not a huge deal in today's world, but this was a big deal back then. Truth is, it is today as well, but the social pressure is different now than it was then. But, I digress. So the point of this whole post is to encourage you to do what God has called you to do. If you are a young person, continue to stand up for the truth in your school. For those of us in the work force, speak the truth and live out your Christianity, even if it means giving up a promotion or other benefit. Teach a Sunday School class, even if it means you have to study and prepare for it during the week (you should be studying God's word anyway). Participate in the things your church does in the community, even if it means "giving up" your Saturday. Obedience to God's calling will bring blessing to you as well as others around you. The end result of Joseph's obedience was that he played a part in bringing salvation into the world, as he was instrumental in sharing the scriptures with Jesus as a child. What will be the result of YOUR obedience? Or mine? God doesn't NEED me to do anything, as he is fully capable of accomplishing whatever he wants without my assistance. HOWEVER, if I choose to be disobedient to his call, there is a HUGE blessing that I will be missing out on.
It is my earnest prayer that each of you who may read this short post will have a very blessed Christmas. For many of us, we think about Jesus only during times and seasons like Christmas and Eastter. So many of us think of this time as a "family occasion" and it never goes beyond that. For others, it is a "time for giving to others". Some of us look forward to giving and receiving gifts. For others, it is the Christmas meal that is the center of our focus. For some, it is the sense of lossThe reality is that Christmas is not about us at all. Christmas is about celebrating a world-changing event. But is isn't JUST how Jesus changed the world…it is MUCH more personal than that. Christmas is about celebrating how Jesus changed MY world. All the other things are good and fun, but only Jesus is worthy of such a celebration. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and pray that your celebrations include Jesus as the focal point AND that your relationship with him drives you to obedience, as it did Joseph, so that you will not miss out of your greatest blessing!