I’ll Tell You What…

The Christmas Story, as recorded in the first two chapters of the book of Matthew, is rich with drama that unfolds in a straightforward way. There exists great joy (Matt 1:20, 21 and Matt 2:10) and sadness (Matt 2:16-18) in the telling of this miraculous event. This event changed the very way we track time and yet we still continue to live our lives as if it never happened…

Matthew tells us the story from Joseph’s point of view. The first mention of Mary’s pregnancy is of the form “His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” (Matt 1:18) The appearance of Gabriel to Mary in Luke 1:26-38 is left out. It’s as if the integrity of Joseph is revealed through his responses to his circumstances. His is referred to as “a righteous man” (Matt 1:19a) who respected Mary so much that he wanted “to divorce her quietly.” (Matt 1:19b). Not divorcing Mary could have exposed Joseph to public ridicule but his mind was on Mary’s public disgrace. But, in the middle of Joseph difficult decision, God intervened and directed Joseph in the decision he should make. Joseph was a man who sensitive to God’s guidance and willing to do God’s will no matter what the consequence.

When Jesus was approximately two, “wise men” visited Jesus and offered to Him gifts worthy of a king. That night an angel again appeared to Joseph in a dream directing him to take his family to Egypt because Herod was going to try to kill Him. This second dream directed Joseph how to protect Jesus and assured Joseph that God would direct him when the time was right. A footnote in Life Application Bible for Matt 2:13 states “Although Jesus was not Jesus’ natural father, he was Jesus’ legal father and was responsible for His safety and well being. Divine guidance comes only to prepared hearts. Joseph remained receptive to God’s guidance.”

Some time after Herod died in 4 B.C., an angel again appeared to Joseph in a dream. (Matt 2:19, 20) This time Joseph was instructed to return home because “those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” Joseph wasted no time. Verse 21 says, “So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” Joseph was still very receptive to God’s direction as demonstrated by Joseph’s immediacy of action. How many times do we say to ourselves, “Does God really want to me to do ” only to find out that the window of opportunity has passed while we debated with ourselves? That happens too often in my life, I’m embarrassed to say.

Why the focus on Joseph during this Christmas season? Joseph was a man of integrity, a descendent of King David, Jesus’ legal and earthly father, and a person who was sensitive to God’s guidance. The notes in my Life Application Bible say that from Joseph we can learn that “God honors integrity, social position is of little importance when God chooses to use us, being obedient to the guidance we have from God leads to more guidance from Him, and feelings are not accurate measures of the rightness or wrongness of an action.”