Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.”

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25 (NRSV)

We are just over one week away from Christmas. This coming Sunday, December 18, we will celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It seems like just last week was the first Sunday in July. Time certainly does fly!

I wonder if time was flying by for Joseph. We focus so much on Mary during Advent and Christmas that we often forget to think much about Joseph. After Joseph had learned of Mary’s pregnancy and agonized over what to do about it, he had decided to divorce her quietly in order to spare her and her family the shame that would come upon her house if he publicly exposed Mary as having committed adultery. But then an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about Mary and the child she carried. The angel told Joseph to name him Jesus because he would save God’s people from their sins.

So, Joseph had a big decision to make. Should he proceed with his original plan to end his marriage to Mary in a way that would keep the blame off of her, or should he listen to this messenger from God, stay with Mary, name her child Jesus and raise him as Joseph’s own?

In the end, Joseph decided to follow the instructions of the angel. They named the child Jesus. They had to go through a lot, and Joseph was there every step of the way. He put aside his own feelings and impulses and chose to follow God in a way that must not have made much sense to Joseph at the time. Joseph’s deep relationship with God was stronger than any doubts Joseph may have had.

Because Joseph chose to follow God instead of his own ideas, we still today choose to follow God as disciples of that Holy Child who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, and on the third day rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Creator Almighty.

Let us give thanks this Advent and Christmas for God’s calling on the lives of so many, especially Joseph and Mary, and for their child, who spent his first night on earth sleeping in a farm animal’s feeding trough, and who we now are blessed to call Christ our Lord.