Good Christmas Friday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
All around the world today I imagine THIS may be one of the busiest days of this year, as people make final preparations for Christmas weekend ’22. What will that mean for you, my friend?
Join me today as we consider what those final days just before the first Christmas were like for those whose lives would change forever through the events, we will celebrate this weekend. For Zechariah and Elizabeth, they’d lived a quiet life all their married life. While they’d longed for children, their hopes and prayers had gone unanswered for decades. For old priest Zechariah, his twice annual trips to Jerusalem for a week filled with life and ministry at the Temple were, I’m sure, the highlight weeks of his year. But his trip last year changed everything. We looked at that experience yesterday. He was privileged to be chosen to enter the Holy Place of the Temple and pray on behalf of all Israel at the altar of incense, while sprinkling that special incense on those hot coals. Yet as great an honor as that prayer time in the Temple was, his unexpected encounter with Gabriel, the angel of the LORD, changed that prayer experience into a life transforming experience for Zechariah. (Luke 1:8-20)
First Zechariah was struck mute, unable to speak and explain to his wife Elizabeth, or anyone else, exactly what had happened to him in that Holy Place. Then secondly, he spent the next several weeks slowly trying to explain to his dear Elizabeth, through hand signals and some writing on a tablet, both what Gabriel’s message was and what Zechariah understood from the Scriptures that it all meant. And then, of course, third, Zechariah and Elizabeth shared their love for each other and sure enough, miraculously, old Elizabeth, many years well past childbearing age, became pregnant!
Six months later young Mary came from Nazareth to visit Zechariah and Elizabeth and she shared the shocking news that she too had been visited by Gabriel the angel, and she too was miraculously pregnant, but not by Joseph or any man, rather by the Holy Spirit of God. (Luke 1:39ff) Those three months when Mary stayed with Zechariah and Elizabeth must have been something none of us can really imagine. All they could talk and think about was the two babies miraculously growing inside Mary and Elizabeth. Oh, how Zechariah would have given anything to regain his voice so he could open the scrolls and explain all the Old Testament prophecies that pointed forward to what they were experiencing. But more than that, all three of them needed help from God understanding what the future would be for them and their sons, John and Jesus!!!
Baby John was born to Elizabeth. Zechariah regained his speech and immediately praised God and began explaining to all who would listen, what he understood to be the life mission of his son John. (Luke 1:57-80) Mary returned home to Nazareth and had a heart-breaking conversation with Joseph.
No matter how hard Joseph tried to make sense of Mary’s story, he simply couldn’t reason it through. Obviously, she had been unfaithful. Joseph had two choices… divorce her, leaving her to live as a single mother raising her illegitimate child, or bring her before the Jewish courts where she’d be found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death. These were agonizing days for Joseph. He loved Mary and they had done everything right according to the laws of the Jews. But there was now no denying her pregnancy, it was obvious, she couldn’t hide it.
Then Joseph. like Zechariah and Mary, received a visitation from an angel of God which changed his life. Matthew records it this way: “…an angel of the LORD appeared to Joseph 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 of God. 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.” (Matt. 1:20,21)
Now friends, from our vantage point of Christmas 2022 and having heard the Christmas story so many, many times, those words don’t even stir in us anymore, do they? But put yourself in Joseph’s skin, in his situation. What would those words mean to you if you were there without the benefit of everything you know about Christmas? I presume Joseph had never before had an encounter with an angel, just like you probably haven’t. I presume Joseph was a hard-working carpenter doing all he could to prepare for a wedding and taking responsibility for a wife. He was not a Bible scholar, not a priest or a prophet or a Pharisee. A simple man who’d tried hard to live an honorable life. I presume he thought, if he did go ahead and take Mary as his wife, his business would collapse. Who would want anything made by carpenter Joseph in their house? His friends and family would reject and abandon him. No one would want to be seen with Joseph the husband of unfaithful Mary.
He would probably be told never to set foot in the Synagogue and don’t bother going to Jerusalem for the Jewish festivals. Over and over Joseph would have been told by almost everyone that he could expect the judgment of God to fall upon him and his family. But an angel? A real, God sent angel? And God’s instructions through that angel were very clear! Joseph was stuck. Obeying the angel would seem to be insanity. But as Joseph reflected on all the great stories of his ancestors, over and over again God’s mighty work came down to one thing… trusting God and being obedient to God even if it made no logical sense. I wonder how often Joseph retold himself the story of the favorite son of Jacob after whom he was probably named. Rejected by his family, 13 years a slave in Egypt and then suddenly elevated to be Prime Minister overseeing famine relief! (Genesis 37-50)
Matthew records what Joseph did with these words: “Joseph took Mary home to be his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until after she gave birth to a son.” (Matt. 1:24,25) So in the weeks and months before that first Christmas we can assume life was miserable for Joseph and Mary trying to start their life together without the blessing of their parents, their friends, the people of their town. No fancy wedding, no pile of wedding gifts. No best wishes.
And then came unexpected, terrible news from the Ceasar. A census for taxation, really?! (Luke 2:1) Everyone needed to go immediately to the town of their ancestral family. For Joseph and Mary that would be Bethlehem, the hometown of David their ancestor. But Bethlehem was nearly 100 miles away, depending on the route they would take and Mary was very pregnant. They knew no one in Bethlehem and there would be no way to send word ahead and reserve a room for Mary, besides, they didn’t have enough money to rent a room anyway!
For Joseph and Mary, the glorious visitations of angels had only turned their hopes and dreams of a happy wedding and start of their married life to a nightmare of disgrace, disappointment, disfavor in the eyes of everyone, and even disgust from some.
So, on this Christmas Eve Eve day, with busyness all around us and great anticipation for a wonderful Christmas weekend ahead, no matter where you live… can you even begin to imagine what a terrible day this was for Joseph and Mary as they began the long, weary walk to Bethlehem? (Luke 2:3) What words of the angels do you think they repeated to themselves? What prophecies from centuries past did they hold tightly to? Did they pray as they walked? Did they cry out for God to give them some sign that HE was sovereign over all the terrible things that were happening?
As Joseph and Mary trudged along the dusty road toward Bethlehem, an Innkeeper there was frantic trying to accommodate an overcrowded Bethlehem like he’d never seen. (Luke 2:7) Shepherds were moving slowly with their flocks in the fields east and south of Bethlehem, seeking both water and grass for their sheep. (Luke 2:8) Magi in a far eastern country were watching some star movements carefully as they were beginning to sense something historic may soon happen. (Matt. 2:1) King Herod was enjoying his pompous, arrogant lifestyle totally oblivious to all that was happening around him. (Matt. 2:3) Zechariah and Elizabeth likely took their infant son John with them as they went to their ancestral town to register for the census, although we don’t know which town that was.
And in heaven God watched, the angels watched as God the Son was leaving His glory in heaven, about to be born as a human baby in a stable in Bethlehem! And from their dark vantage point Satan and all his demons watched, stunned to see the extreme to which God was willing to go to offer the human race deliverance from bondage to sin and Satan!
So, let’s pause on this Friday… look closely at how things are converging on Bethlehem for the miracle of Christmas. And look around at your part of the world, today. What things are converging for Christmas where you live? How will Jesus be honored and celebrated this weekend? How will Jesus be ignored or even mocked this weekend? And what’s happening in your heart right now my friends, as we walk together toward Christmas? Here’s a song to help us put things into proper perspective…
Today’s Scripture is Matthew 1.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.