What About Joseph? - The "not so Merry" part of the Christmas Story

 "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered 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 home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

 -Matthew 1:18-21

 After deciding to read the Christmas story in my devotional time this morning, God absolutely gave me a new and timely perspective on this passage that definitely speaks to situations in my life and I'm sure that it will hit home with many others and their current situation in life as well.

 As we all know, the mother Mary has been heralded and raised up to a place of prominence over the centuries, and in some instances, falling just short of practically being deity. No doubt, Mary deserves to be admired and revered for her faith and obedience not to mention the strength it took to watch her own son be brutally tortured and murdered. Mary, while not deserving of the place of prominence that some evangelicals have given her, definitely should be considered a great example of what we should strive for as Christians.

After reading the above passage this morning however, I was left with one resounding question - What about Joseph? Have we really put aside our joyful Christmas spirit and looked past the sheer awe and wonder that the Christmas Story brings to look at it through the lens of real life? We need to remember that the real world, with all of its real issues and problems and yes -people, with all of their real people-problems and attitudes and mindsets is where this miraculous story took place.

And if there is anything that God has taught me over the last year it would be this - That when God gets ready to do something miraculous it usually follows a format, and the format is this - a period of extreme messiness will always precede God's miraculous. It doesn't really make sense but I know it with everything within me to be true and the Bible backs it up. For instance - God parted the Red Sea. Miraculous, right? Yes. But why? Because instead of the Egyptians just walking out of Egypt and that being that, God decided he would cause it to get "messy". Exodus tells us that God deliberately hardened Pharaoh's heart one last time so he would chase the Israelites down and kill them. Of course, we know that God showed up and did the miraculous by parting the Red Sea. You see, God always allows things to get messy before he intervenes with the miraculous because in this way - His name receives so much more glory!

The Christmas story, particularly this part of it, is no different. 

I love how the scripture says "This is how the birth of Jesus came about". In other words, it's basically telling us that God could have chosen to do this any way He wanted but He chose to do it in this specific way. This is meaningful seeing as the way in which God chose to do it is certainly anything but normal or convenient.

All of this takes place while Joseph and Mary are still engaged and in that culture, people getting pregnant before they were married was a definite end to any engagement and almost a certain death sentence. That's right, I said death.

Really God? I mean you couldn't have waited a few more months until you heard the Wedding Bells?? I mean think about it - Mary and Joseph get married, go on the Honey Moon and come back with faces aglow, waiting to tell everybody that they're pregnant with Child!! Sounds perfect, right? God doesn't do this, though. God does what He has always done and carries out His will and plans in a way that the prideful of heart and those who cling to common sense will never be able to grasp. He moves in such a way to where if you don't have faith - you don't get to see His glory and His miracles.

We all know that it took faith from Mary to accept what God was showing her would happen but the person I want to point out is Joseph.

While Mary has received a visitation from an Angel, Joseph gets left with a visit from Mary telling him that she's pregnant, get this - by the Holy spirit. While Mary is inwardly rejoicing at being chosen for such a miracle, Joseph is wondering where he went wrong for his future wife to want to cheat on him. Mary is right in the middle of a great move of God, Joseph is seemingly in the middle of the greatest hurt and shame he has ever felt. Joseph at this moment, was as clueless to what God was doing as a perfect stranger would've been. 

God chose Mary for a miracle but He entrusted Joseph with pain and hurt. He knew not everyone could handle the pain and hurt like He would need Joseph to.You see, Joseph was chosen by God too. The passage tells us that because Joseph was a good and faithful man, he sought for a way to split ways with Mary quietly, not so much because he didn't want to be shamed because of her being pregnant but because he didn't want her to be stoned to death. Joseph loved Mary with all of his heart...but Joseph didn't believe Mary. He didn't believe what Mary had told him about the Angel appearing and how she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and not another man. If he had believed her, then he would not want to leave her.

The truth is Joseph got caught right in the middle of a move of God that he never asked for and is now being asked to believe in something that he seemingly has no part in. 

I think many times those who are in our lives, those who are closest to us and care a great deal about us seemingly get caught right in the middle of what God is doing in our lives. Not by accident, but because God intended for them to be a part of it. The only problem is that often times while you know and can sense exactly what God is doing- they are often hurt and confused, not having a clue as to what is happening. This was Joseph. He didn't have a clue that he had been chosen to be part of something that was much bigger than what it seemed to be at the moment. Yet, Joseph still loved Mary and still wanted what was best for her in spite of his hurt and pain.

God eventually sent an Angel to Joseph and opened His eyes to what was really going on and that Mary had indeed told him the truth. He told Joseph to not be afraid. The truth is, this was real life, with consequences (good or bad) to every choice they made. Joseph indeed must have been afraid and not sure of what to do.

Many times, those around us are afraid because the move of God in our lives is majorly effecting and changing their life. They are often afraid, worried and upset because they don't see what God has shown us and they feel like we have said and done the things we have without reason or rhyme.

Like I said before- God always allows situations to get messy before He makes the miraculous happen. He does this, as I said to bring even more glory to His name but also to build faith in those who are seemingly caught in the crossfire of God's plans for you. he wants them to see that they are not just "casualties of war" but that He intended for them to be part of His plan in your life all along.

I think we owe it to ourselves as believers to take a closer look at the Christmas story each time we read it and marvel at Joseph's loyalty and love for his fiance as much as we marvel at the faith and obedience of Mary.