Jesus, Mary, and Joseph ~In His Word 12-23-2024
Jesus is born.
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a
census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census
taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to
register for this census. And because
Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea,
David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in
Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom
he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for
her baby to be born. She gave birth to
her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a
manger, because there was no lodging available for them. Luke 2:1-6
Okay, now I am not the only one who has wondered this, I am
sure, but did Mary maybe look around and think, “ What? I am supposed to birth
the Messiah in a barn?”
I mean, I only gave birth to humans, but I am blessed and
know that I am blessed to have given birth to them in hospitals where I could
not only be taken care of and fed, but my child could be cared for if I so
chose. I wonder who cut the cord? How did they clean him up? Yes he would have
needed cleaning up before they swaddled Him. Even the baby Jesus would need
cleaning.
Meanwhile there were angels at work sharing what great a thing
was going on!
Why shepherds? Great example for us? The working class man
was out there working, and the angels came to tell them about the exciting
birth. Jesus is our shepherd, that may be the connection, but I see it as
simple as working people are told about Jesus.
That night there were
shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly,
an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory
surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be
afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all
people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the
Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will
recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of
cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel
was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and
saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom
God is pleased.”
When the angels had
returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem!
Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Luke
2:8-16
And suddenly a bunch of Shepherds and probably other tagalongs
who were told about Him, converged upon the little family in their precious
moments.
I have mentioned this before, but our God works in “suddenly”
a lot in the Word. 71 times in the New King James and 25 in the NLT. It varies per version, but
the meaning is the same in the words they used to replace it. So do some
research, you check out the different versions even the Greek and Hebrew. It’s
a lot of times to do something fast.
Our lives feel like something happened suddenly at times, it’s
not always good, but it is fast. And
just like Mary Joseph and the rest of the entourage, we deal with the things as
they come but we have the Holy Spirit as our guide.
They hurried to the
village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
After seeing him, the shepherds told
everyone what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the
shepherds’ story were astonished, but
Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The
shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they
had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. Luke 2 16-20
Mary, the mother of Jesus kept these things that the
shepherds shared, and what the angel had said about Him, in her heart. The shepherds
went back to the fields to work sharing and praising God for all they had seen
and learned and just were in awe.
In 8 days, Jesus will be presented to the priests and follow
the traditions of Jewish law. That’s where Simeon will prophecy over Him and
feel so blessed that he was able to see
the Messiah in his lifetime.
For the moment Mary Joseph and Jesus will hang in the manger
a bit but then they get word that trouble is coming. The leaders of the land
wanted to kill the ‘Newborn King’ and so they would be hurrying off to a place
to live, as well as being visited by 3 or more magi who brought him gifts.
I am sure they were eager to get to a place to live, some
say they sold the gold to pay rent, and that is possible, but at any rate they
had to get a real place to live with their little one.
Mary Joseph and the Baby Jesus lived a life, and we hear of
him from Galilee to Jerusalem where he is found preaching in the Temple. Everything
she noticed she hid in her heart to remember as He grew to be the Messiah, the Savior,
the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, and more.
This week while reading through Luke 2, and the other
Gospels about the life of Jesus, think for a moment about Mary and Joseph. In
today’s world they’d have been put all over the media. It would have been a horrible
scene, but God would have risen up and still brought about our Lord Jesus. Our
Savior of the world.
Mary and Joseph and Jesus may have had a rough beginning,
but God brought them through so much to bring peace to us today. Just that!