Verse: Matthew 1:18-21
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Devotional Thoughts:
I think one of the major questions that we should ask when studying the Christmas story is this – how does Jesus’ coming change things?
That’s a big question we ought to ask for every aspect of the Christmas story. What does Jesus’ coming mean for Joseph and Mary? Better yet, how does it change things for Joseph and Mary?
-It’s going to affect where Joseph and Mary live. King Herod ends up hearing about the King of the Jews, and Joseph and Mary have to flee to Egypt.
-It’s going to affect Joseph and Mary’s work and livelihood. Joseph was a carpenter. Carpenters were needed everywhere, but you can imagine the difficulty that constant relocation – Nazareth, Bethlehem, Egypt, back to Nazareth – might have on one’s vocation.
-It’s going to threaten Joseph and Mary’s very lives. They have to flee to Egypt, because their King wants to have Jesus killed, likely along with them.
We’ve heard the Christmas story so many times that we’re accustomed to it. But imagine if that happened to you. Think about your career and vocation here. Now, imagine that you had to move to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. And you had to do it immediately because someone here was trying to assassinate you. You had to move there, and quickly find housing and work. Then, after a couple of years, you could move back to Crockett County.
How would you deal with that? That would be a huge undertaking right? But that’s what Jesus coming into the life of Joseph and Mary does for them. It drastically modifies the outlook of their life.
Points to Ponder:
The reality is that the same is true of us. If you want Jesus in your life, then you need to have an understanding that you surrender the right to determine the course of your life.
Think about this from Joseph’s perspective:
I’ll have a baby that isn’t mine and I didn’t ask for. The king will try to kill me and my family. We’ll live as refugees in Egypt for a spell. I’ll finally make my way back to Nazareth.
I doubt that’s what Joseph was hoping for in life. But that’s just it. You can’t come to Jesus with conditions. You can’t come to Jesus with your “I’ll follow Jesus as long as He doesn’t lead me…”
Jesus is either your Lord and Savior, completely over and in charge of your life, completely worth following regardless of where He leads you, completely worth following even if it means dying for Him – Jesus either means that for your life, or Jesus isn’t part of your life at all.
When we hear the Christmas story, we’re hearing the story of a God who came to earth and gave His life for us. He came to give His life, not just in the sense that He died for us (yet He certainly did that), but He spent His life – literally the days of His life – for people, for us. We’re called to do the same – to spend our lives – for Him.
