I was at a Christmas tea at church when the speaker shared who her favorite characters were in the Christmas story. I hadn't thought about it much until now. I still need to read Luke again, but for now, I think my favorite character is Joseph.
Joseph worked hard every morning from the time the sun was shining its first rays on the land to the moment the orb slipped below the valley. He hadn't met Mary until a year or so ago, but he was charmed by her willing, giving heart and natural beauty. He had picked up carpentry skills recently, and he did every carpentry job the village had to offer in order to pay the dowry price and prepare a house for him and his betrothed to live in. He hadn't grown wealthy, but he had saved enough money to be comfortable. His character earned the respect of the whole village. Mary was blessed to be married to such a man.
Then he found out Mary was pregnant.
What kind of fool was he to believe that Mary hadn't been with another man, that she had been touched by...by the Holy Spirit! Who had heard of such a blatant, blasphemous lie? Yet Mary had never lied to him about anything. He could see the fear in her eyes as she told him about her pregnancy, but mingled with the fear was slight excitement and joy. Her eyes never wavered from his when she told him.
The easy thing to do would be to leave town and find another, more honorable girl, but to such a man of character, he could not in good conscience leave her defenseless. She needed someone to support her, to believe her. It would be a huge leap of faith to believe her, or maybe love was making him crazy, but he believed her, just as Noah believed he needed to build the ark. With this truth, Joseph also embraced the ridicule that came with it. On the one hand, he could just shut her away. He could say he would forgive her indiscretion, keep her hidden in the house and provide for her until she gave birth, and then turn her out with some money that would last her a few months until she found work. That was more than anyone else would do.
But he wasn't anyone else, and he did care for Mary. He could claim the baby was his, tarnish both their names, and be married as planned. But how could he face the villagers? They would be shunned! That was not how he had planned his life would go. He didn't want to raise a baby that wasn't his, Mary's son that they had not created.
That's when God made it clear to him, through a dream, to not be afraid but marry her. The dream was so vivid that Joseph would have to deny his own faith in God if he ignored it. He would follow through with his original plans. He would marry Mary and tell people the truth. Her baby was not his, or any other man's. It was the Son of God.
God rewarded Joseph for his acceptance of plans that deviated from his own, his devotion, courage, and faith by having the Roman census occur. Through this, the couple was forced to leave the judgmental stares of their neighbors and have Jesus in privacy. Eventually, they were able to raise Him without any assumptions or condemnations, and outsiders saw the trio as a happy family, no scandal seen. After all, who would believe the Messiah would come from an unwed woman?
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