The Christmas Story Through The Eyes Of Joseph Series

Christmas Eve Candlelight service

Saturday, December 24, 2016

The following narrative is based on scriptures from Matthew 1 and Luke 1 & 2 and from On this Holy Night by Max Lucado.

I did this as a first person monologue and my daughter helped me out by playing Mary. Please feel free to use it as is or add to it. No copyright issues with me.

My name is Joseph and I want to tell you my story tonight. I am a carpenter in the village of Nazareth. My father was a carpenter as was his father before him. I guess it runs in our family. If you go back far enough in our family tree I have ties to the great King David. I would have liked to live in that time. Prosperity! Overall, life here in Nazareth is good. I am betrothed to Mary. Our families have known each other for generations. Mary is so beautiful. I think our fathers have had this in mind since we were little. I approached Mary’s father and told him I would like her to be my wife. He gladly agreed, I paid him the bride price and things were all set.

Mary was now my betrothed. I have prepared a place for us. I can’t wait for the marriage day and then for us to begin our lives together. I think she will be a great mother. A son, yes, that will be great. I will teach him how to be a carpenter. I will teach him about God. God has been so faithful. While I may not be rich I have plenty. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for my life, everything is perfect.

Enter Mary

Ah here is my Mary. I will let her tell you about herself. I will be right back

Mary’s story read Luke 1:26-38

Yes, my name is Mary. I am betrothed to Joseph. He is so excited for us to be married. I have some news for him though and I’m not quite sure how he will react to it. Both of us worship the great God, Jehoveh. Joseph studied in the temple and I have heard the stories about how God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We have heard about all the prophets and the kings. We have not always been a faithful people but God always has been.

And so God has been silent for so long now, over 400 years. Women like me over the years have prayed that they would be chosen to be the mother of the promised Messiah. My prayer was answered, the prayers of a nation have been answered. I have been chosen. I will be the mother of the Messiah. An angel appeared to me and told me. I am pregnant.

Except that Joseph is not the father and we are not yet married. The angel told me that I would be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph is a great and devoted man but this just might be too much for him to take.

Sing – Mary Did You Know

Joseph Matthew 1:18-25

Well, my story has taken a turn that I did not expect. As I guess Mary told you she had some pretty big news to tell me. I was not ready for that. I was so excited for our wedding and lives together. I really was expecting any day to get the nod from my father to go get Mary and bring her home to be my bride. I wasn’t sure what was so important that Mary needed to talk to me. She knows that I really can’t tell her when the wedding is because I’m not even sure. I thought maybe she had gotten into a fight with one of her bridesmaids or something.

Well it turned out to be much bigger than that. Mary was pregnant. Talk about a punch to the gut. What! How in the world could she do that?!? I thought that she was excited to be with me. This was something that had been planned. This was no surprise to her. I thought she was looking forward to starting a life and family with me and then she hits me that she was pregnant.

She didn’t say anything else at first. She let it soak in because I guess she knew that I would not be expecting to hear that. After the initial shock wore off I was furious. “Who did this to you?” Did someone force themselves on you? Tell me who it is and I will go take care of business. She didn’t respond right away. “What do you mean, was this something that you sought out? How could you do this to me?”

What are people going to think? I was so mad. I saw the tears start to leak from Mary’s eyes. Oh man as upset as I was, I was hurting her and making her cry. Well, maybe she deserved it. I calmed down a bit and asked her again in a controlled tone, “Who’s baby is it?”