The story of the birth of
Jesus is a love story. It is not the usual mushy, sentimental romantic kind of
love story we think of when we think of a man and woman in love. It is a divine
love story that describes a kind of love that is harder, more challenging and
requires serious risk and commitment. God is reaching out to Joseph and Mary in
love. God is going to love them enough to trust them with Himself in human
form. This challenges Joseph and Mary to respond to Gods' love reaching out to
them in faith. It challenges all of us to also respond in faith to the love of
God we see in the birth of Jesus.
1. Love called Joseph to have faith
Joseph was in a very
difficult situation. He was legally engaged to marry Mary. They were in that
special time before marriage when families used to check each other out and the
couple decides if this is really the right thing to do. I saw an example of
this in 2007 when serving the Dinka Anglican Fellowship in Calgary. The two Dinka
weddings we celebrated were the outcome of years of checking out families back
in the Southern Sudan.
- Hebrew families would
watch the couple very closely to ensure they had no opportunities to have
a sexual relationship.
- Pregnancy outside of
marriage was considered a big disgrace. In fact the penalty was death by
stoning. So Joseph was thinking about sending Mary away somewhere safe
where she could have the baby.
- The visit of the angel upsets this plan
and challenges Joseph to have faith that this was part of a divine plan.
Joseph was challenged to place the future of his family completely in the
hands of God. Nobody would believe he was not the father.
Most people in our time do not
believe that the Holy Spirit, not Joseph was the father of Jesus. At Christmas
we share in the faith of Joseph that God could trust humans with the birth of
His son.
The Apostle Paul experienced the love of God in Jesus reaching out to him
personally with forgiveness.
- Jesus did not
confront Paul with reason, authority, or power to gain his obedience.
Jesus confronted Paul with
something far more powerful. Jesus confronted Paul with forgiving love. Paul could not resist the love
of God reaching out to him personally. He could only respond by believing in
Jesus as his Lord and master with a faith that went beyond affirming a truth to obedience.
3. The birth of Jesus calls
us all to this depth of faith
It would have been much safer and
easier to have Jesus born into the family of a king or a priest. The child would
have been protected while he grew up and have some earthly status. But there
would be less love in that. God would not be taking such a huge risk. We might
not have learned how great the love of God is.
- The good news of
Christmas is that God did show us His great love by reaching out and
trusting this particular family with His child. Bethlehem and Nazareth are
both obscure places. Joseph was a poor and obscure carpenter. There was no
status, wealth or power in this family.
- God chose to make
Himself and the baby Jesus completely dependent on the love and the
obedient faith of Joseph and Mary. Their faith was tested against the
fears and doubts of their families. They went through rejection and
danger.
4.
Behind the cute story of the donkey there is another story.
It is the story of the love of a
man and woman for God and for each other. Mary did not have to go with Joseph
to Bethlehem. She was a woman. Men did all the business at that time. Why was
she there? Nobody who is nine months pregnant would ride a donkey for 90 miles
unless they had a life threatening reason. Mary had a life threatening reason. She was there because there was a good chance
that I she stayed behind she could be killed by the relatives. They would have
been very upset and felt disgraced by her situation. Mary and Joseph had the
depth of faith to put their lives completely in the hands of God. This is why
God chose her to bear her son.
At
the first Christmas the love of God reached out to all people.
·
Those who saw
this love responded.
·
We are also
called to respond to the love of Jesus reaching out to us this Christmas.
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