Significance
Tuesday December 15, 2021
Matthew 1:19-21
Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Dear Friends,
In the Christmas story, Joseph often seems like a background actor showing up in the shadows, waiting for his turn to speak or to be known for some contribution to the storyline. Historically, men are the storyline, written into every narrative as the hero, provider, protector. But in the Christmas story, it is told from the voice of the vulnerable where our heroes are a pregnant teenager and her helpless infant. Even in our Nativity scenes tucked onto our mantles we see Mary, gently kneeling beside Jesus. We place her lovingly close to his sleeping self. But Joseph gets nudged to the sideline like a footnote, standing stoically, absently nearby.
Joseph was no afterthought, though. These few lines we have about Joseph invites a backstory of meaning and a future full of significance. At the time of Christ’s birth, the term “son of god” was reserved for Roman emperors who achieved such goals through adoption—the primary being Caesar Augustus’s adopted son Julius Caesar. According to Biblical prophesy, the Messiah would arrive through the line of David, the very line Jesus would be adopted into through Joseph’s faithfulness. The angel to told Joseph that he would be the one to name Mary’s son “Jesus," thereby allowing Joseph to claim sonship of Jesus through publicly naming him.
Jesus fit the Messianic role through the faithful and brave obedience of his adopted father. Maybe Joseph’s willingness to mercifully bend the law and side with grace towards Mary was the opening needed for an angelic appearance.
Even though Joseph was told the truth about Mary and her pregnancy, his family and friends did not know this truth. He had the choice to step into a future he never wanted nor dreamed of. For Joseph to say yes to marrying this woman meant his own future would become unstable and uncertain. But if he said yes, he would guarantee the certainty and stability of his adopted son. Joseph held fast to mercy and grace, confident in God’s nearness enough to say yes. He had no idea how significant his yes would be to the storyline of Jesus Christ and he had no idea how the significance of his son would be to his own storyline.
Today, December 15th, marks twelve years since we brought our fourteen month old daughter home. She was a stranger to us and we were strangers to her. It took time to trust each other and learn to love each other. Oh, I loved her from the very moment I first saw her, but loving someone while learning to love them are not incompatible truths. The significance of my daily yes to my daughter and her daily yes to me is not limited to confines of adoption. This is the truth every parent and child forge through. Of course there’s ebbs and flows with gentle or chaotic times, but this yes is significant because it’s grounded in trust in God. Maybe there wasn’t an angel, but there was a nudge and a promise that God would be near.
We never know the significance of our choices and the things we say yes to. Our yes will often upend our futures and pave uncertain paths, but when our yes falls in line with grace and truth, with mercy and love, the significance writes a new storyline. It might not be a convenient or easy storyline and it might not be the one you would have written for yourself, but God is near the entire time and the future is wide open. May we choose mercy and grace today.
With (love),
Bethany