Category Archives: Birth of Jesus

Matthew 2:13-15
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”  14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

My mind always goes to the sweet Baby, the wonder of angels singing and shepherds and wise men kneeling in worship but there’s a horrible component to the original story, that Matthew relates, about the depravity of man. There was least one angel that didn’t sing Gloria but came with a warning to Joseph…“take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”   That long ago story is a terrible reality of a jealous and spiteful king’s solution.

God had a different solution – an Intervention – the Word made Flesh so we would see with our own eyes.  That was a new idea for me from a sermon by Pastor Carl Franzon.  The premise was that God may have come to the end of His patience waiting for His creation to respond and recognize Him and took action.  That certainly is the reality of a powerful and sovereign truth.

I think it’s “how” God chose to insert himself into our world that tells the rest of the story of this Intervention.  A baby: the least intimidating human form.  A baby to bridge the gap between a terrible reality and the sovereign truth.  A baby that centuries later still causes us to feel something personal about this Intervention that happened so long ago.   That’s Advent.

Matthew 1:19 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.  20 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. 21 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.”  22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Joseph’s preparation and concerns for the journey may have begun with the much the same list as Mary’s but his reality must have been heavily slanted toward the actual physical effort of the journey itself: caring needed for a pregnant wife and the animal that would be their transportation from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  Joseph was obviously a deeply caring man.  Some of his concerns for the journey must have been:

Coming up with the taxes required
The cost of the journey itself
A long foot and donkey trip – 80 miles
Hilly terrain, high/Low temps – 58/44º F
Nightly shelter and warmth for them all
Protecting his family

Scripture gives us this one fact that explains a lot.  Joseph “was faithful…”  It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to understand the problem Mary’s pregnancy created for him and yet his faithful response was caring, not to disgrace her.  He came up with a Plan B, [no wonder I like him].  But God had a plan that was even better.

Joseph already understood “God with us” in the same way his forefathers had: a powerful and majestic Deity, but a baby?  He became one of the very first people to understand the “new reality of Immanuel.”   Joseph’s Part this Advent is that God chose him to be our example  of “adopting” Immanuel in-the-flesh as our own.

Matthew 3:1-2  In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing, 2 “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!”  CEB

Matthew records John’s challenge, “Change your hearts and lives!”  Our society seems to get that.  We support a world-wide self-help industry.  We’re not stupid…we know we can be better…we want to be better…we strive to be better but…how?   Matthew records John’s challenge to decide is it really self-help we want OR to be complete and have changed lives?

There are good self-help books available with “ten easy steps to a better you.”  John’s solution is a simple one-step plan to a complete you: Jesus. “Here comes the kingdom of heaven!”  It’s Who…Not How.