The Christmas Family Series

B. Regardless of what she may have to go through, Mary was WILLING to do it.

1. She tells the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant. …May it be as you have said”- v. 38.

a. This tells us a lot about this young teenage girl.

b. We see why the angel said, “You have found favor with God,” because she is FAITHFUL and OBEDIENT to her Lord despite any potentially negative CONSEQUENCE.

2. We see in Mary an UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER to the UNKNOWN FUTURE that God

had OUTLINED for her.

a. As I said in a previous sermon, she could have REFUSED—God would never FORCE anyone

to BEAR His Son.

b. But Mary was WILLING to do whatever God had PLANNED for her.

C. I am sure TRAVELING 80 miles to Bethlehem wasn’t easy on Mary, especially in her NINTH

MONTH of PREGNANCY.

1. No doubt a BARN was the LAST PLACE where she wanted to give BIRTH, but she had no other

choice—the BABY was COMING.

a. I’m sure that Joseph made her as COMFORTABLE as possible.

b. Now the LONG, TEDIOUS, and PAINFUL process of giving BIRTH made both Mary and Joseph EXHAUSTED even more. Yet, the EXCITEMENT of the moment kept them ALERT.

2. Imagine what it must have been like give BIRTH to the Messiah—the Son of God.

a. Mary looks into the FACE of her BABY. Her SON. Her LORD. Her SAVIOR.

b. She carefully WRAPS her newborn SON in cloths to keep Him warm and places Him in what was available to her—the MANGER—a feeding TROUGH streaked with animal SALIVA.

3. Although Mary didn’t really know what was in STORE for her BOY, she knew that He was SPECIAL—the Son of the Living God who would become the GREATEST GIFT to the WORLD.

II. JOSEPH, THE EARTHLY FATHER OF JESUS

A. Many churches throughout the country will often tell the story of Jesus’ birth through DRAMAS

and children’s PLAYS, reenacting those fateful events.

1. All the characters in the Christmas story will be assigned their specific SPEAKING PARTS as

recorded in Scripture except one—JOSEPH.

a. The ANGELS, SHEPHERDS, MARY, the MAGI, even the INN KEEPER; all have

memorable LINES that we can RECITE.

b. However, while reading through the GOSPELS we DISCOVER that they do not contain even a

SINGLE WORD uttered from the mouth of JOSEPH—Jesus’ EARTHY FATHER.

2. Yet Joseph is IRREPLACEABLE in the story of Jesus’ birth- Matthew 1:18-25 (READ)

B. We are introduced to Joseph in the middle of a PERSONAL CRISIS.

1. Having become BETROTHED to a beautiful young girl, he has worked hard as a CARPENTER to

Establish an INCOME to support his new BRIDE and begin a family.

a. He is in LOVE. He is COMMITTED to Mary.

b. He believed she loved him, until the NEWS that his precious BRIDE is PREGNANT.

2. Again, being BETROTHED in the first century is far different from being ENGAGED today.

COMMENT:

Today ENGAGEMENTS are made and called off, and it’s no big deal. But under the Mosaical Law, when you were PLEDGED to be MARRIED it was the same as being MARRIED, except for the physical CONSUMMATION of the MARRIAGE. That’s why Matthew refers to “Joseph as Mary’s husband” in v. 19. A written DECREE of DIVORCE was the only way that the MARRIAGE PLEDGE between a man and woman could be TERMINATED.