How we interpret our feelings about a particular event or circumstance is not always the same as someone else. When others take great risks in life, you might tend to label them foolhardy. When you take chances, you are adventurous. If someone else suggests a correction, are they nit-picky or faultfinding? When you do the same, it's constructive criticism. When someone else speaks kindly of others, then he’s a flatterer or worse yet, a brown-noser. Yet if you said the same words, you see yourself as being thoughtful and considerate. When the other guy or gal seems set in their ways, they’re obstinate. When you are set in your ways, it is firmness. When you don't care for your friend's friend you're an astute judge of human nature. If your friend's friend doesn't care for you, then she’s prejudicial or judgmental.
Different points of view, different perceptions often open tremendous chasms between friends and neighbors. Misunderstandings of what is seen and heard often become the groundless basis for nasty rumors or permanent divisions between friends. Think about how that could have happened, but didn't, as we visit the real reason for the season – the first Christmas Story.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:30-33 ESV)
Even though God had sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to tell Mary she was highly favored, Mary was greatly troubled by his words. “How will this be,” Mary asked, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon 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. Even Elizabeth your relative is with child.
Mary replied, “I am the Lord’s servant, May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. So now, let's break from the traditional overview of the Christmas story and try to see those events from the eyes, minds, and hearts of Joseph and Mary by looking at how Mary and Joseph might have perceived the news of the Christmas Story.
When Mary was Visited by the Angel
Before the angel came, my heart was bursting with joy as my mind played over the way my beloved Joseph had proposed and my parent had sanctioned our future marriage. Oh, I was so excited. Yet even as a teenager, serious because I knew it was time that I became a wife. “God is so good!” In my excitement, I began skipping down the path merrily singing praises and thanks to my God. Joseph, I am going to marry you!
Then an angel came before me. I saw the Angel Gabriel and all of a sudden his voice stopped me in my tracks. My eyes beheld a man who was most incredible. He spoke again and I knew that this person was no ordinary man.
The angel interrupted my thoughts as I looked at him wide-eyed and apprehensive. He told me not to be afraid, that I had found favor with God. How could that be? I protested! I was but an ordinary woman living in a small village.
But then the angel said something that absolutely astounded me. I was to have a child! Oh, how my heart fluttered as I heard words pass his lips. He went on to say that this would not be an ordinary child. In fact, it was clear that this child would be the King, the Messiah. “I don't understand. I am so young. I just became betrothed, I have never…” well the emotions going through me were intense. How could I have a child if no man had shared my bed? Let alone such an important child? I looked at the angel and whispered, “I am a virgin, how can this happen?” Sure, I may be descended from the line of King David but until the Messiah comes, all the favor that I have is only from my family and my betrothed. As for if the Lord is with me? Yes, He most definitely is, for how else could I have been given my Joseph!”
The angel looked into my eyes and smiled as he told me that this child would be a miracle of God and that the child would be God’s Son! I was so amazed by his words, I almost fainted! How could a woman be a mother to God’s Son? But the angel went on to say that my older cousin Elizabeth was pregnant with a child. Could that be true, since she's at such an advanced age? Truly, nothing is impossible with God. I believed the angel, I believed God, and even though I was afraid, and had so many questions, so many doubts, and so many fears, I believed.
When the angel left it was so sudden and so quick. I couldn’t contain my joy but I couldn’t tell Joseph, he would not understand? How could he? How could he believe me? Yet I needed to tell someone. So I decided to make the journey to Elizabeth's village, surely she would understand and know what I should do about Joseph. In the meantime, I can help her with her coming child!
What did Mary feel when she received this unusual message from the angel Gabriel? What would you ladies have felt? Think back to when you were in your early teens, about being told that you were going to be pregnant with a child, a child who would be the Son of God?
Matthew 1:18-23 (ESV) tells us the story from a different point of view. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man, was unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.”
But what about this event from Joseph's point of view?
When I first saw the letter I had received from Mary my mind was in turmoil. It was bad enough that she had disappeared. I had heard she had gone to her cousin Elizabeth’s but still, for her to not even say good-bye or tell me she was going…What is it with women? At first, I thought, maybe she’s having second thoughts about our marriage. I mean, perhaps she was thinking it might be better to be married to someone other than me a mere carpenter. But no, she would have told me. Then I thought maybe it’s a family emergency, something that just couldn’t wait and that’s why she couldn’t tell me. What reason would there have been not to tell me? I could have gone with her and protected her on the journey. I had just settled on the thought that Mary was planning a surprise for me that she didn’t want me to know anything about, then I got the letter… Oh, that was a surprise all right! But not very pleasant. The words burned themselves into my mind, “Joseph, I am pregnant…” She went on to tell me about the angel and the message she got from God but I had so much trouble getting around those first words. I was more than angry, I was in agony. My heart sank as I realized what this meant.
The next couple of days were torturous. Mary said in the letter that the only other person who knew was Elizabeth. She had written me first because she didn’t know how I would take it and in the hopes that God would reveal to me what He had revealed to her... about the child. At first, I didn’t know what to believe. I knew Mary would never have cheated. She was too pure, she was too much in love with God for that to happen, Yet, how else could she be pregnant? The story she told about the angel and all? I didn’t know what to believe. It just isn’t possible and even if it is true, where does that leave me? I wasn’t the father. The woman I loved is carrying someone else’s child. I couldn’t marry Mary. We would be deemed unclean. I wouldn’t be allowed in the synagogue. Sure, if we married soon enough no one would know but I would. So I'll divorce Mary quietly. I could write her a letter to receive as I had received hers.
Even as I began writing, the tears of sadness and remorse trickled down my face. All my joy, my hope for a family was being extinguished by each stroke of the pen. While writing the letter I fell asleep and I had a dream. In this dream, an angel of God appeared and confirmed everything Mary had said about the child she was carrying. Then, joy of joys, I was told to take Mary as my wife and name the child Jesus! This wasn’t any ordinary dream. No, it was so vivid and the words of the angel so powerful that when I woke up everything was clear. Oh the joy, that filled my soul as I raised my eyes and arms to heaven and praised the Lord for His goodness and His blessings. Could it really be? Could this child that my…my wife was carrying be the promised Messiah? The One who would save His people from their sins? I'll rip up the letter and start packing for the journey to comfort and marry Mary!
Now imagine, if you will, the rumors running rampant between the villages of Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary. Picture the looks they received going about their everyday tasks. But I'm sure they held their heads up high, knowing they were living their lives as the one true God would have them live.
For Joseph, the Christmas Story began with disillusions and disappointment. No doubt the news of a pregnant fiancé would have been hard to accept. But his disappointment would have been quickly replaced with relief as he realized that this child Mary was carrying was in God’s will and for God’s purpose. This was to be no ordinary child.
For both Mary and Joseph, their point of view of the birth of Jesus was an intimate one as it began with the angelic message that they were the earthly parents chosen to raise God’s Son. Mary the virgin mother and Joseph, her betrothed were privileged to be key participants in the Christmas message. This same message rings out to you and I this morning as we looked at this story from their possible points of view. Mary and Joseph accepted the angel's message from God as truth and received it in faith when they heard, “To you a child will be born and His name is Jesus, and He will save His people from their sins.”
As we approach the Christmas season, each one of us has different points of view on what Christmas is all about. However to a large extent, year after year, our point of view risks being tainted more and more by the commercialization and 'political correctness' surrounding our Christmas season. The true Christmas Story is often too easily replaced by Christmas sales and the hawking of discounts throughout the newspaper. A Christmas saturated with 'products' has led to a more worldly point of view rather than relishing its roots; the Word of God and the Love of God.
But how do we keep a 'right' point of view about Jesus and the Christmas Story in the face of so much that influences us otherwise? The answer is DO NOT let your perspective of Christmas be swayed or diminished by the modern-day crassness and brashness. When you hear “Happy Holidays” reply more appropriately with “Merry Christmas!”
If you look at the message through the eyes of Mary and Joseph you will see it as truth and receive it in faith yourself. Feel the wonder, know the joy of the promise of God through the birth of His Son. The Christmas Story announcements were the first steppingstones towards our salvation! Believe the Christmas Story with all your heart and soul, have faith in God the Father and Jesus the Christ and you can be one-hundred percent assured of your salvation!
