This week’s reading: Matthew 1:18- 2:12
Hi Friends,
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about the Joyous Service of Joseph, Mary and God, Himself, concerning this glorious birth of Jesus, our Lord. You can read or hear the audio to that post here. Today I want to take us through the whole story of the birth of Christ as written in both the Gospel of Mathew and Luke, so we can see the different viewpoints of those involved in this miraculous event. While I hope you will read from both Gospels, technically our reading for this week will be Matthew chapter 1 beginning with verse 18 all the way through to chapter 2 verse 12. Listen to God’s Word:
“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” Mt 1:18 NIV
Mary’s viewpoint. Gospel of Luke 1:25-38, The Annunciation. Imagine being a young girl, going about your daily tasks, when all of a sudden, an angelic being appears before you! While we do not know exactly, Mary could have been anywhere from 13 to possibly 15 years old when this amazing encounter took place. Not only did Gabriel appear to her, but then he told her she would be with Child, and that this Child would sit on the throne of David and His Kingdom would have no end. Like any good Jewish girl at that time, this proclamation would have brought to mind the Messiah, yet we do not know how much Mary understood about this great mission God was calling her to fulfill. What we do know is that she humbly accepted God’s high favor, even if she questioned how it would happen. She was not doubting God, she was simply curious how a virgin would become pregnant, to which Gabriel responds, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” That’s not much of an explanation, but Mary chose to trust God at His Word and Jesus, the Immaculate Conception, came into being. Like many of us, we do not always know what God is doing in and through our lives. It is ok to ask questions of God, so long as we do not doubt, or worse, ignore any truth He may bring to our hearts. Like Mary, we must trust that God both, knows what He is doing, and is more than capable to bring it about. I love and often meditate on v35 which simply says, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” May we take Mary’s viewpoint of Faith about whatever is going on in our lives today as well.
Joseph’s viewpoint. Gospel of Matthew 1:18-25, The Conception. Here is another hard pill to swallow: that young virgin girl you are engaged to is pregnant with the Son of God. Once again imagine what you would think. It is good to put ourselves in the place of these great saints and individuals from the Bible, because they were just as human as we are. Sometimes it is tempting to place them on some kind of pedestal and raise them above their humanity, but I am sure Joseph thought, this pregnancy was the end of their betrothal. And apparently not because he was mad. Joseph was trying to figure out how to quietly end the marriage because he didn’t want to get Mary into any kind of trouble. In those days, any engagement was as good as being married. Apart from any infidelity, the promise was as binding as any vows could be. So Joseph probably was not very happy with this pregnancy, to say the least. That is until an angel of the Lord comes to him in a dream. He is told to take Mary as his wife because the Baby within her is from the Holy Spirit. Like Mary, I am sure he had no idea how this could be, but again like Mary, he simply agrees to be obedient to God. Throughput his life, Joseph would receive four messages in total from an angel of the Lord through dreams, so we also have to wonder if Joseph knew that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Also understand that all these visions of Angels came after what is known as “the 400 years of silence,” where no prophet heard a word from God. Talk about a confusing situation! Like many of us, we have found ourselves in circumstances that make no human sense. We have wondered how things could possibly work out for our good. Perhaps we may have even had strange dreams that make us wonder about God’s Plan for us. Just because we do not know or understand every detail of what can be, should not stop us from doing what we know we should do, trusting God to lead us each step along this journey of life. Being obedient does not require we know the details. It does insist that we have Faith in the God Who knows. May we take Joseph’s viewpoint of obedience about whatever is going on in our lives today as well.
The shepherd’s viewpoint. Lk 2:1-20, The Birth of Jesus. Have you ever felt like an outcast? That you were the lowly of the lows? That is how shepherds were viewed back in those days. They were considered dirty and called sinners, signifying that they were a class of despised people. How amazing then that God would choose these men to witness, and bear witness to, the birth of the Messiah! God knows every heart. No one is useless or worthless to Him, and this story should bring us such Hope. As these men are doing their thankless job, an angel of the Lord appears to them and starts giving them the Good News. And if that was not incredible enough, then “a great company of heavenly hosts” appears praising God and proclaiming peace to those whom God favors on earth. After they leave, these stunned shepherds who probably did not exactly know what had just happened, they obediently go look for this Babe in a Manger in Bethlehem. Once they find Mary, Joseph and Jesus, they went around and told others about all that had happened. People who heard them were amazed at what these lowly shepherds had to say. Like many of us, we may not hold a high position in this world. We may not be people who others will flock to, so they can listen to our life experiences and the wisdom God has taught us through it all. We may be considered a nobody just like these shepherds, but like them we must share what God has put in our hearts. Boldly we must tell others what God has done in our lives. It is never our responsibility to make others listen, but it IS our responsibility to tell them. May we take the shepherds viewpoint of witnessing about whatever is going on in our lives today as well.
The Magi’s viewpoint. Mt 2:1-12, The Crowning of our King. The wise men of the days of Jesus’ birth are nothing like any people this world now view as wise. These were men, potentially priests, who spent their lives studying Scriptures, seeking the Savior of this world. It is thought that they were from Persia where they would have been familiar with the writings of Daniel, who prophesied concerning the timeline of the coming of the Messiah. They travel a very long distance to Jerusalem, where they seek the king and his wise men, probably thinking that these people, for sure, would be as interested in finding the King of kings as they were, right? Sadly, this was not so. Instead of being excited, King Herod and “all of Jerusalem with him,” become disturbed at these inquiries. After asking for guidance though, these Magi are told to go to Bethlehem. King Herod secretly tells them to let him know when they find this Blessed Child, so he can worship Him too…of course, we know that this was the last thing King Herod wanted to do. While they did not have an angel of the Lord appear to them, it would seem a supernatural event did capture these wise men’s attention in the form of what we call the Star of Bethlehem. They follow this heavenly object to where the Holy Family were staying at that time, where they bow down to worship Jesus. The three gifts they offer are symbolic for Who Jesus is: gold because He is our most precious King reigning over our lives, frankincense because He is our High Priest interceding for us, and myrrh because He would be anointed our Suffering Servant Who gives up His life for the world. I am sure these Magi had no idea what these gifts would mean, yet they brought their best to this King and left joyfully fulfilled. Like many of us, we bring our gifts to Jesus and have no idea what He will do with them. Whether these gifts are helping a friend in need, sending an offering to a missionary, or raising our children to the best of our ability, only God knows what these gifts will mean. It is our privilege to simply give God our best, then trust Him to use our lives as a sweet song of worship to our King. May we take the Magi’s viewpoint of generosity about whatever is going on in our lives today as well.
Our viewpoint. This is the story of fill in the blank with your name here, The Journey of Faith. I pray each of us has our own story of how we first heard about the birth of Jesus. How we first began seeking this God Man, Who we heard could change our lives. I pray we can point to a place where we encountered Him, bowed down to Him, then were so excited, we began telling others about Him. If you have, then you understand the hearts of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the Magi. If you have not, it is never too late. As the saying goes, “Wise men still seek Him.” If you still have breath in your lungs, you can gain a viewpoint about our Lord that will lead to a truly fulfilling life, for you and those around you. Sit this week with the glorious story of our Messiah’s birth. Spend some time thanking God for loving us so much. Then go out and tell someone else about it. Lord knows every time I share my love of God with others, I sense Heaven on earth. Want that? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
