Devotion: Christmas According to Joseph
Christmas According to Joseph
Please take a moment to read Matthew 1:18-25.
When you look at a nativity, either at home or at church, you are looking at the blending of Luke’s and Matthew’s Christmas stories. Luke’s Christmas story focuses on Mary, the shepherds, and the heavenly hosts of angels. Matthew’s Christmas story focuses on Joseph and the wise men. Of the two Christmas stories, I would say I’m more familiar with Luke’s version.
But last Sunday when I preached, I wanted to take a closer look at Matthew’s Christmas story. I most appreciated the ways Joseph grew in faith and learned to trust God in new ways through the birth of Jesus.
Matthew’s Christmas story begins at Matthew 1:18 and explains the special relationship between Joseph and Mary. They are engaged but this means something quite different than what being engaged means today. In Bible times, Joseph and Mary’s father would be the first to interact and make the marriage arrangements. Joseph would be required to pay a bride price to Mary’s father as well as sign some legal documents. At this point, Mary and Joseph are “engaged” as Matthew 1:18 reports and this is a legally binding relationship and the only way to end this engagement is through divorce or death.
Joseph and Mary are not married yet, however. Jewish law requires them to wait about a year until they are fully married. In this year-long engagement, they get to know each other better, but they do not have a sexual relationship.
It is during this period of abstinence that Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus, but Joseph is not the father. So, imagine what Mary’s pregnancy felt like for Joseph. I’m sure he was devastated. How did this pregnancy happen? Was Mary sexually assaulted or was Mary unfaithful with another man? In either case, this is emotionally devastating for Joseph.
Matthew’s gospel describes Joseph as a righteous man because he didn’t want Mary to be punished as the Jewish law prescribes. So, Joseph comes up with a plan. He decides to put the blame on himself, claim that he acted unlawfully with Mary, violated the sexual boundary and will give Mary a certificate of divorce so that she and her baby can have a fresh start to life and be freed from Joseph’s shame. How surprising it is for Joseph to use divorce as a way to express sacrificial love for Mary.
But Joseph is never able to execute this plan because God’s angel intervenes and tells Joseph to marry this pregnant girl and take care of this baby as his very own child. And Joseph said, YES. There are two ways that I hope this Christmas story of Joseph also inspires us to say YES.
One, the birth of Jesus inspires us to say YES to adopting someone who needs our love and care right now. Loving our flesh and blood family is a blessing and as Christians we also are called and blessed to adopt anyone, a friend, a neighbor, someone at church, a child we coach, by lovingly caring for them as if they are our own family. Who is God calling you to adopt with love and care?
Two, the birth of Jesus inspires us to say YES to God’s third way. Matthew’s Christmas story teaches us that God has not created a binary world of only two options: left or right, black or white, either/or, my way or the highway. When the world reduces life down to these binary options, we feel like we’re between a rock and a hard place. So God breaks into our binary world with a third way that frees us to love and grow in new ways. Whenever you feel trapped between two binary choices, keep your heart and mind open to the third way God is offering to you.
This Christmas season, God has said YES to you by sending his Son to be born of human flesh. God adopts you and claims you as God’s very own child. God has sent us Jesus to show us new ways to love and live joyfully and abundantly. Now it is our turn to be like Joseph and say YES to God, YES to the newborn Jesus, YES to adopting others with love and care, and YES to God’s third way.
God of Christmas, we thank you for Joseph’s role in the birth of Jesus and the Christmas story in the Gospel of Matthew. Help us to join with Mary and Joseph as we now say YES to life, love, and salvation through Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem. Amen
Written by Pastor Eric Bostrom
Pastor Eric has served the Sheridan family since July 2012 and works in the areas of pastoral care and adult education. After service in the Marine Corps and Naval Reserve, he graduated from Midland University in Fremont, NE and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH. Before coming to Sheridan, he served a three-point parish in and around Ceresco, NE with his wife, Pastor Rhonda, followed by calls to campus ministry at UNL’s Lutheran Center and redevelopment ministry at Faith Lutheran in Seward, NE. Pastor Eric completed Seeking the Spirit Within, a program of the Nebraska Synod for spiritual direction formation and is a Certified Spiritual Director. Pastor Eric loves reading the Bible, baseball, running, music, and the latest technological gadgets. He and Rhonda have two children, Annika and Soren.