It’s Christmas season, my favorite time of the year. Needless to say, it’s easy to forget the reason for the season especially since Christmas has been so commercialized. Now, don’t get me wrong- I participate in this commercialism, but we can’t lose sight of this beautiful moment in history.
The story of Jesus’ birth leaves me in wonder and amazement. Not just by how he came into the earth but the people he came through. Jesus was birthed by Mary and reared by his earthly father, Joseph. Last year, I was listening to a sermon from Elevation Church with Pastor Steven Furtick and he asked a question I had never really considered concerning the birth of Jesus: who had it worse, Mary of Joseph?
There may be an assumption that most would say Mary because she’s a woman and gave birth (without anesthesia) to our Lord and Savior. But I don’t think we can ignore the role Joseph played. Both were heavily impacted by the expectations of the time and both were required to stand in faith. But as you and I both know, there are levels to this faith walk.
Let’s start from the beginning. Imagine minding your own business as a young girl engaged to be wed and an angel shows up. You’ve never been in the presence of such holiness in your life and the angel says, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” He then proceeds to tell you that your virgin body will hold the son of God.
The Bible only says that Mary asked one question about how this could happen with her virgin body before she responded in immense faith and said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”
God had the right one when he chose Mary because I would have had ALL the questions: how are you getting this baby inside of me? Since it’s from God, will the birth be painless? Will it still take the same amount of time? What about my husband-to-be? You know I could get stoned, right? What am I supposed to tell my family? Will this be the only child I have? Am I going to raise our Messiah?
I wonder if there was a flutter in her stomach or if a sense of calm passed over her. Was there any trepidation or doubt in the back of her mind? When we look at examples of great faith, Mary is high on the list.
As if being visited by an angel wasn’t miraculous enough, she also received confirmation from her cousin, Elizabeth. When Mary saw Elizabeth, the baby Elizabeth was carrying, John the Baptist, lept in her womb and Elizabeth received the Holy Spirit. God was showing out.
In the meantime, we have Joseph who had a very different encounter.
Think about Joseph’s mindset. This man was about to get married when his fiancé tells him she’s pregnant with God’s child. (Had this not been Biblical times, I could picture him giving her two lips to the side as if to say, yeah right.) It’s almost comical. I’m sure he was ready to be done with her and her family (I’ve dumped someone for way less.)
But before Joseph could secretly dismiss Mary and send her on her merry, pregnant way, an angel of the Lord visited him in a dream telling him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife because that baby really was from God. He received the baby’s name and news that He would redeem the world from its sins.
The Bible doesn’t say that Joseph woke up and took some heartburn medicine. It doesn’t even say he prayed about the experience or questioned God. He woke up from his slumber and did as the angel instructed.
Ya’ll . . . the obedience!
It’s hard to really compare Joseph and Mary’s situations because both show us what true faith, trust, and obedience look like amidst less-than-ideal circumstances.
Mary had physical proof with the growth inside of her. She knew it was a miracle and her faith was in the One that created new life in her virgin body. I have no doubt that there was shock and scandal throughout the land but she was standing on faith. If God could impregnate her virgin body, He could surely silence some gossips and murmurers.
Joseph had to trust the word from the Lord that came through a dream. He couldn’t shake it off as the pizza he had the night before. I’m sure he was advised to not marry Mary. People probably called him stupid or naïve for staying with a woman who suddenly showed up pregnant. (If “Momma’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe” was a person- it would be Joseph.)
Let’s also not forget that he didn’t have sex with Mary until after she gave birth to Jesus. So, he took this woman as his wife, had to stand in faith based on a dream from the Lord, and couldn’t even become one with her until after she healed from giving birth to a baby who came from the Holy Spirit. I wonder if he ever looked at Jesus and tried to see if he had a nose like anyone else he knew? I wonder if when he and Mary argued, was he ever tempted to side-eye her and Jesus? Either way, he honored God and took Him at his word. Listening to that one dream also helped him listen for future dreams that saved the life of his family. He died standing on faith. He never got to witness Jesus’ adult ministry or His resurrection.
I mean . . . the integrity!
Obeying God on this level takes true faith and humility. Joseph never got to witness Jesus’ adult ministry or His resurrection. He died standing on faith.
I have to say, I’m Team Joseph.
He has gone down in history as the best baby daddy EVER.
If Joseph and Mary can face uncertainty with trust and belief in the Messiah, then we can too. We may not have the physical evidence of growth inside of our bodies or the vivid dream from an Angel of the Lord when we are asked to trust God, but we have the Holy Spirit. We have the living breathing word of God. We have the blood of Jesus Christ.
We have all we need. Won’t you trust Him today?
