As I sit and ponder what Christmas means to me, I am often filled with twisted emotions. For there is nothing more precious than excitement in a child, closeness of family and smiles accross faces. Yet I sit and think about the precious gift that God gave to us that we celebrate this day for. To think that God came in human form to save all of us from our sins through our failth and belief in Him. So lowly a birth, so quite and tucked away, unrecognized by most. I can't help but to think about how a savior came into this world in the most unpleasant conditions. Can't help to wonder what Joseph thought. The faith that was in Joseph was the most compelling of all. A man, so young, with a woman who carried a child that was not his. The ridicule that he bore, due to his choice to believe that God had his hand on his life. Even in today's world, when so many children have no father, there are very few men that would indeed take upon him the responsibility to take care of someone else's child. To have faith like Joseph's, to take a woman that he never had been with,yet; she was pregnant, go through all the ridicule, and choose to stay with Mary, must have been the greatest challenge to his faith that he faced. And to travel the journey to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus had put into law a taxation would to be done. During this time, when taxes were due, every man had to go back to his hometown. And Joseph was from the city of David which which was Bethlehem. He made that journey with the woman who was very pregnant. And, because of the taxation and the journey of many men to their hometowns, there was no room at the inn for them to be. So, with faith, he cleaned out a corner of a manger in a "barn" lining it with hay so that ,when Mary brought forth the Son of God, she would have somewhere to lie him. They had no family present. There was no one to help them through labor as often times families do. Mary laid in labor on the hay and I'm sure that Joseph attempted to comfort his wife the best that he knew how. It must have been only with amazing faith that he could endure such a event alone, not really knowing only believing. Listening to God and obeying his direction, even when it must have seemed crazy to him. For me this seems to be the biggest and the most amazing display of faith in the Bible. For, during this time, to have a woman pregnant, out of wedlock, brought great shame to a man. It also brought a casting out with it. Mary and Joseph were alone. Their faith in God was all they had. Joseph could have ran and said, " no I will not take Mary as my wife, I will not wait until a child is born before I take Mary for myself, I will not raise a male child that is not my own flesh and blood, nor will I will change the course of my life for a promise that I cannot fathom. For who is this voice that tells me Mary will bring into the world a savior?" Joseph, however; changed the course of his life, took Mary as his wife, was not with her until the child was born, comforted and eased the pain and emotional turmoil as his wife went through labor and raised a child that was not his. He chose to obey God with faith despite what it meant to his own life, his own emotions, and his status among the people. This is why I believe Joseph was a great man of faith and perhaps demonstrated, to the people, that when we listen to God and not our feelings, not our emotions, not our status, not our families, but truly listen to the direction God gives us, we will be rewarded beyond our imagination. This Christmas I pray you all the Faith of Joseph. God made you, He knows you, and most of all He loves you. There is no hole so deep that the hand of God can not reach. He knows you are not perfect for all have sinned. Jesus's own earthly family was muddled with many shady characters. God used the most unlikely people to do his work, even a dead man. You are precious in his sight. And yes He can even use you.
Merry Christmas,
The Wangler Family
