As is traditional for us all I suppose, this time of year we find ourselves
focusing in on the story surrounding the birth of Jesus. I can't help but
picture Linus standing in the spotlight with blanket in hand telling
Charlie Brown the meaning of Christmas as he recites the passages from the
Gospel of Luke. And ending his recital with "That's what Christmas is all
about Charlie Brown". We'd be hard pressed to find a modern cartoon
proclaiming such these days. Of course the whole story is the target of
the beginning of our redemption to sin, the birth of our redeemer, our
savior, a pivotal moment in the history of man in which not only all will
look back on as a point of salvation but also a story which was foretold
hundreds of years prior to which so many prophesies were fulfilled it is
utterly impossible for Jesus not to have been our messiah, our savior.
However, a songwriting friend of mine and I were swapping a couple
Christmas songs back and forth we were penning or had penned and he, not an
outward believer, if a believer at all, and probably neutral to the gospel
at this point, nonetheless very moral and all that, did remind me of
another point in the story which I've thought of before but perhaps not
with as much revelation. He had penned a song from the perspective of
Joseph. To tell the truth I can't recall the lines of the song but the
perspective is one that is an interesting one nonetheless. My comments, or
ramblings, are obviously skewed by the contemporary life we lead today and
minus the traditions and cultural views shared by the people around the
time of Christ's birth. With that disclaimer, you can read knowing I
probably am somewhat off base with how he, being Joseph, may have thought,
and yet he is a human being emotionally driven and protective of the one he
loves. Nonetheless there are good points to be garnered from looking back
in the eyes of our modern ways. If any of you men are married, or if not
married perhaps dating someone, or if you have dated in the past, you might
imagine the thoughts that might run through your mind when your girlfriend
or fiance announces to you she is pregnant. What would be our natural human
reaction? Maybe something like, "What! Who is he? I'll kill him!" Right
away we might assume unfaithfulness. How would we react to her? Anger?
Livid? Heartbroken? Stomp and toss things in an immature fit? Sit quiet
over a cup of coffee cooled by a few tears rolling off the face into the
cup unsure of what this all means? All sort of questions as to who looked
at her with admiration in the last months and her being a little to nice in
return? Where could this have happened, When could it have happened? With
who? What now? Why? Why, why why? As men, or perhaps certain types of
personalities, I think we try to find the fixes to things immediately upon
hearing them, and this was a hard fix. I mean women are impregnated only
one way right? Well until once in history that is and that once in history
hadn't happened yet in Joseph's life and would never again happen after, so
to base any reason on such would not be probable or even possible because
who would have even thought it. We have prophecies of such, but who of us
would think that the hundreds of years of prophecy would fall upon you and
your girl? Imagine the faith and trust it took for him to come to grips
with it and in fact he probably didn't come to grips with it very well at
the time because scripture says…
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been
betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with
child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and
not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he
had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."
She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save
His people from their sins." Now all this took place to fulfill what was
spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH
CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which
translated means, "GOD WITH US." And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as
the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife.
Imagine how Joseph's life must have changed? One day he was likely a
tradesman apprentice engaged to a wonderful girl and planning a nice life
together, maybe a modest little home, nice job doing what he enjoyed, start
a little family and live quietly among his people, and the next day his
girl tells him she's pregnant. Even with that bombshell of an announcement,
he still had her, and no doubt his own neck in mind when he planned to
stash her away someplace to have this child which he knew wasn't his to
begin with. How many today would say… "OK girl. I'm out of here. You did
the deed, now you raise the seed!" And yet he did in fact think of her yet
disturbed about it all to a point an angel came to him and straighten him
out. Imagine that? When's the last time God sent an arc angel to you for a
personal message from the creator of the world? God implements a plan for
him to go to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy of Christ's birthplace and
plants the seed of a registration of people and word spread for folks to
return to their household place to register in a census. Remember now this
was word of mouth too. There weren't no internet, newspaper deliveries,
phones, pagers, or walkie talkies. Once they were there and Jesus was born
there, God tells him to flee to Egypt because some king is after the boy to
kill him. Once there Joseph is again told to head to Nazareth because the
folks who wanted the boy dead are dead themselves and again to fulfill
prophecy they are to return to Nazareth. Imagine the field trip Joseph was
on, the level of faith in knowing that what he dreamed was of God, and not
the ill affects of a bad lentil in the soup the night before. Imagine the
mission Joseph was appointed to. Hauling his family across the country at
the direction of angels and dreams and then take on the task of raising up
the messiah of the world. I wonder if I were engaged to Mary then if I'd
have had the integrity and faith to carry out the mission set before me?
And then again maybe that too took part in why it took so many years for
prophecy to occur? To find a faithful and godly woman, a man who would not
disgrace or abandon her or leave her, as well all the other items which
fell into place at that time, if would have been set in place any other
time, would not have fulfilled what was foretold. It is humbling when we
look at the timelines and the fulfillment of all that occurred and then
look at where are we in the scheme of the big plan? What are we called to
do? Be a super evangelist, or live quiet Christian lives serving as
integretous examples to others as best we can and yet serve as examples of
sinners justified daily. Wouldn't it be nice if we could be so directed by
angels and dreams to point us in the way we ought go?
Or can we?
Brad
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