COME TO THE MANGER: SEE MARY AND JOSEPH by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

Since the first Christmas, more than 2000 years ago, people have reacted to the story of Jesus’ birth in a variety of ways. Some with joy, some with skepticism, disbelief, awe, thanksgiving, fear and hope. Today we are going to look at the two central characters in this story, his earthly parents: Joseph and Mary. I wonder if you can relate to either of them. As approach Christmas Day, Do we find ourselves a little more like Joseph or Mary? 

Let’s start with Joseph (if you are reading along on the net Matthew 1:18-25 from the Message). We might call Joseph the first official step-parent. It’s hard to be a step parent.  As an angel came to him and told him that God would miraculously be the father of his fiancé Mary’s child. The angel, ever so politely, and in the way that only an angel of God asks, (and really allows no way for a person to say “no,”) said to Joseph:”God wants you to be the child’s father on earth.” 

You see, Joseph had heard that his fiancé was pregnant. He knew that he had not had relations with Mary. So he was. . . how did our scripture reading put it? Chagrined! I had to look that word up as it is not in my day to day vocabulary. The word means: upset, bothered, and embarrassed. That puts it mildly!  If your fiancé, got pregnant, not by you, you would be a bit of all of that. 

Scripture does not report a single word spoken by Joseph.We have woefully little information about him. We can only surmise what kind of man he was. 

But the scripture says that he was not only chagrined, (upset), but he was noble.  That tells us something doesn’t it?   He wanted to do the right thing. So when he found out his fiancé was pregnant, he was determined to take care of things quietly so she would not be disgraced.    That tells us a lot, doesn’t it?  God chose the right man.  

When and angel came to him with this extraordinary message, that he and Mary were chosen to bring God’s child into the world, he listened intently, I hope we would too. Then, this is the most amazing part of the story to me. It says: “Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary and he named the baby Jesus.”

            Not a single word spoken by Joseph is recorded in scripture. But we know one thing about Joseph, he was obedient to God. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded him to do. 

Obedience is not something we talk about much in our church. It’s not really a feel good word. We like to talk about freedom and grace.  Obedience is not a feel good word, is it?  We like to talk about forgiveness and the choice to make mistakes and how God loves us anyway. But I think there is an important message for us today from Joseph. 

Sometimes is very clear what God wants us to do. Not always. Sometimes it is a little cloudy and we have some difficulty discerning. But there are times in our life, when God is crystal clear. We KNOW what God wants us to do, and we have only to choose whether we are going to be obedient or not. 

Joseph chose to be obedient. And the world was never the same.  Joseph was willing to listen to God’s message through that angel. He was willing to see Mary’s pregnancy from another perspective. He was willing to take another look. He was willing to see this was God’s work, not that of another man. That was huge.

He was also willing to humble himself. We can only imagine what it was like for him to marry a girl who everyone knew was already pregnant. That kind of secret is never kept a secret. Of course, he was the object of ridicule. But Joseph was noble & obedient.  So he endured the ridicule. Because he held onto the vision he got from the angel.

This is the lesson we get from Joseph. When we are following God’s desire for our lives, are we willing to suffer ridicule from the world? Are we willing to be obedient to God, no matter what others may say? This is the question, can we center ourselves in our relationship with God, and remain steady, like Joseph? Do you feel like you are that kind of Christian? And if not,  do you feel this is the time to grow and deepen your faith so that you could be obedient and be able to be steady and strong like Joseph? 

Let those questions just linger for a few minutes, and let’s turn to Mary (switch over to Luke 1:46-55  from The Message). Mary is unique, but she is another example for us of someone who responds to the miracle of the birth of Jesus. Mary gets much more attention than Joseph in the story.  You hear a lot more messages about Mary.   We hear many words from Mary. If Joseph is the silent partner, Mary is the one who sings songs and writes poetry and talks ‘til she’s blue in the face as a way to process how she feels. 

Mary, after she is visited by an angel who tells her that she is to be the mother of God’s child, goes to visit her wise and much older cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth is also pregnant, so it makes sense that Mary might want to go spend some time with a cousin who is pregnant.

When Mary enters Elizabeth’s house, Elizabeth says that the baby in her own womb leaps at the sight of Mary. It is as if there is a connect between the babies, and there is as this is John the Baptist meeting Jesus.  Elizabeth sings a song celebrating the baby, and the visit.

And then we get to the passage that I read for you today. Mary starts singing about her joy.  It’s one of our two scriptures for today:

”I’m bursting with God-news;
    I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!”

She is exuberant! 

She starts talking about a vision of what the world will be like once the Savior has already come.   A vision of our world transformed:

God knocked tyrants off their high horses,
    pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
    the callous rich were left out in the cold

For Mary, God’s plans have already been fulfilled.

The baby is not even born, and for her, she can already see the world as perfect. When I read this, I love Mary.  She is so full of hope.

Some cynics might read this, and say she is naïve. But she is the mother of God. She is bringing God right into the mess and muck of our world – and she has so much hope, she believes with all her heart that he can change everything.

And why not? The angel told her that God can take our impossible dreams and make them possible.  Remember, we wrote out impossible dreams and put them here in our manager.  God has made her pregnant in a miraculous way! Why not be filled with hope?

Mary is why we love Christmas. Mary is why we are generous at Christmas time. An attitude like Mary’s is why we open up our wallets and give to the poor at Christmas time. A friend of mine told me she was standing in line at the store this week. A woman told the cashier she was buying gifts for teachers but did not have money to buy gifts for her own children. My friend opened up her wallet and gave the woman money to buy something for her kids.

Of course she did. I read about a man from North Carolina who drove to Newtown, CT with rose bushes to bring hope and beauty to a town that is suffering. We want to be generous . We want to bring hope to this world in pain and chaos.

When Mary sings her song about tyrants being knocked off their high horses and the poor sitting down to a banquet, she is telling us, this is why Jesus is coming: to use us to make these things happen.  That is why Jodi and her family gave to our offering, so we can bring this to children in Africa and here in Ohio.

Mary is full of hope. When we join her at the manger, we are wonderfully naïve in our hope. And why not? Hope, generosity and love can change the world.

Mary and Joseph are two different people. They are both good people. I wonder, do you identify more with one or the other. Do you feel like God is calling you to be Joseph? To be obedient to God’s leading in your life? Is God asking you to follow God more closely in the choices you make?  To humble yourself, and to put God’s ways ahead of your own pride? Or this Christmas, do you feel more like Mary? Do you want to give into the hope? Do you need to just give in to the miracle? Do you need to let God use you to bring joy and hope to the downtrodden and love to the lonely? Do you need to trust that God is working for good and that God’s love will prevail?

I want to invite us into a time of silent prayer. I want to ask you to focus on either Joseph or Mary, and ask God to use one of their stories to work in you.  Ask to prepare your heart from Christmas.  Invite God to prepare your heart for Christmas.