The Christmas season is well
“upon us”. We are all getting Christmas
cards, and Hallmark is smiling along with Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, VISA, and
Mastercard.
We carry a lot of Hallmark
moments around in our heads, don’t we?
·
Snapshots of snowy Christmas days.
·
Scenes of embraces and tender quiet moments with family.
·
Opening presents under the tree.
·
Hallmark reprints a thousand different ways to say it for lovers.
The problem with Hallmark
moments, however, is that they end! And
that with which you are left is real life!
And that means there will be stress.
This was the puzzling situation for Mary and Joseph. They had been faithful to each other, waiting
for marriage, and they both get a visit from the Christmas angel with the news
that Mary is expecting. This was stress
of the highest order.
Mary said to the
angel, “How can this be… Luke 1.34a (NASB)
This whole stress mania is
out of hand. Norman Vincent Peale once
said that people are so stressed out today, they can’t even fall asleep in
church.[1]
Every year I struggle with
that…no, not falling asleep in church, but sensing that the stress of holiday
survival is someday going to do me in!
I sense that you also have
that – too much going on and too little time.
Hurrying, busy, stressed!
Every year Elizabeth and I
vow we are not going to get caught up again; every year I wind up eating my
words along with too much turkey and Christmas junk food.
This year added some new
wrinkles to the repertoire:
· Covid-19, the gift that keeps on taking
· Pastors learning how to be a movie producer to provide worship
· and four hundred thousand other stress-builders.
With all the stress in our
current day society, it’s a wonder the airports can operate. While checking on some bags at the airport, a
man became very indignant with the employee who was handling his luggage. For several minutes he belittled the young
man and criticized his every move.
Surprisingly, the curbside porter didn't seem troubled by this man's
verbal abuse.
After the angry man entered
the airport, another man approached the luggage handler and asked, how do you put up with such injustice? The young man said, Oh, it's no big deal. That guy's going to New York, but his bags
are headed for Brazil.[2]
The question I want to ask
out loud, right here in the church, of all places, begs to be addressed:
Is Christmas the Problem?
I know people, even
committed, Bible-believing Christians who say they hate Christmas. HATE! Now, I know they don’t mean the coming of
Christ; I know they are talking about the media Christmas-glitz, meaningless hurry, and
debt-creating overspending in which we all get trapped.
However, the fact that the
question must be asked at all raises the possibility that Christmas is the
problem – not God’s incredible priceless gift of a Savior; it’s the way we go
about celebrating Christmas.
John Grisham wrote a book (that
was also made into a movie) entitled Skipping Christmas about a husband and wife
who decide that they won’t participate this year. They bought $6,000 worth of gifts last year,
and this year with the daughter off to college they’re not going to do it
again; not even a tree to decorate! So
they spend $3,000 on a cruise instead.
Stress is a motivator!
This morning I want to offer
this as a thesis for us to chew on for these last days of Advent:
Part
1 – Yes, Virginia, Christmas IS the Problem of our Stress.
Part
2 – Yes, Virginia, Christmas is ALSO the Solution for our Stress!
How can something be the
problem and the solution?
That’s like my doctor saying, Brownworth,
you’re 40 pounds overweight…better stock-up on Snickers!
Well, that thinking won’t
work, so let’s look at Joseph.
We usually focus on Mary
with this text, but the first Christmas also brought Joseph all sorts of
problems…Joseph could be the poster boy for stress.
Joseph was Heartbroken
Joseph was preparing for
marriage and a life with the love of his life. Mary was beautiful and Joseph was working
hard at building a career. Betrothal in
those days was marriage (legally), only the bride and groom didn’t live
together. (Quite different from today
when many couples live together without thought of marriage).
Mary became pregnant. This shattered Joseph’s hopes and dreams for
a respectable life. It had to have
crushed his heart. Christmas stress,
indeed; Joseph came to the first Christmas without tinsel, twinkling lights or
fruitcake. He only had heartbreak.
Joseph was Humiliated
The Bible tells us Joseph
hatched a plan to divorce Mary privately.
It was likely Joseph did not want her to go through the kind of public
humiliation he knew was coming. Joseph
anticipated snide remarks and social snubbing because of Mary’s condition. The worst-case scenario was stoning to death
if Mary was convicted.
It would seem a strange thing
these days that a couple should be expected to get to know one another first,
engage after a serious time of counsel and deepening of the relationship and,
only after marrying, enter the world of being one physically. However antiquated that notion might seem to
people, that practice alone would cut the divorce rate by 75%. Joseph understood God’s way is one man, one
woman for one lifetime. His humiliation
for himself and Mary was in God’s eyes as well as everyone who knew them.
I know something of
this. Elizabeth and I married in
1967. I had been inducted into the Army
five months prior. We had made the
decision to get married if I got orders for overseas, but we didn’t share that
with anyone but our parents. When the
orders came, I called and told
Joseph was Hunted
Sticking with Mary brought
danger into Joseph’s equation. Mary had
several liabilities. As a convicted
adulteress she could have been stoned under Jewish law. She also claimed to be pregnant by God…the Pharisees
would’ve had a field day with that one.
They hung Jesus on a cross for that kind of claim. Mary could have gotten the death penalty for
blasphemy.
Adultery, blasphemy, and
then, later Joseph had to take his little family to Egypt to escape Herod’s
holocaust against children; the king had all children Jesus’ age killed to try
to prevent a new king from taking his throne.[3] Sticking-by his vows was a costly experience
for Joseph.
The first Christmas was
stressful for Joseph. He was
heartbroken, humiliated and hunted. It
was a financial, emotional, and spiritual drain. He was picturing a wife-kids-dog and white
picket fence kind of life. What he got
was over-taxed, shamed, confused, and run out of town.
Is this first Christmas not
the most stressful life you’ve heard about?
It is easy to second-guess
God at this point. Wouldn’t it have been
so much easier to bring along the Messiah after Mary and Joseph
were married? Didn’t that make more
sense? I’m certain Joseph had that very
thought many times over the years. On
this side of history we can point to the prophecies of a virgin giving birth[4], and the
flight to
What was God up to? Where was this all going?
Several years ago I heard the
illustration[6] of how
that would seem today. A speaker posed
this situation to his audience. Suppose
on September 10, 2001 President Bush had closed all the airports, forbidding
anyone to fly for the next week. It is a
certainty that the ACLU, People for the American Way, Constitutionalists,
Congressmen, Senators, et al, would have been clamoring for impeachment. Why? They didn’t know the future. They didn’t understand that a day later 5,000
people would die at the hands of terrorists who had gotten control over four
airplanes. If they had known what the
president knew, they would have put him up for sainthood.
In the same way, Joseph
didn’t know what was in God’s heart at that first Christmas.
In the same way, you don’t
know what’s in God’s heart concerning YOU in this Christmas. It caused stress for Joseph, and we are no
different than he.
Following Christ causes
stress. The world did not understand
then, and they little understand now.
Christmas is a source for our stress…but, more importantly…
Christmas is the Only Solution
for Our Stress.
So, how can Christmas be the
solution when Christmas is the problem?
Consider Joseph again:
Joseph’s Mercy Brought Insight
Joseph had already settled
on his plan to privately divorce Mary before the angel arrived. I believe it was this act of mercy which
included Joseph in God’s plan. Joseph was
attempting to spare Mary the adultery charge, and I believe that is why the
angel appeared to him and explained God’s heart in the matter. I also believe we would see a lot more
insight, a lot more of the move of God’s Spirit in our lives if we were as
inclined to mercy as Joseph.
Sometimes we all have little
clue of the purpose of God in our lives.
And so we fight the stress of the situation; we become our own
worst enemy.
Insight, understanding what
is really going on, understanding God’s purpose for our trials and joys, is the
key to having peace over what is happening.
Bad stuff annoys or worries
us; good stuff, if it is not connected to some real higher purpose simply makes
us too busy and crowds our lives.
Understanding God’s purposes is the light that dispels the darkness. And mercy, personal mercy towards those
around us is the key that unlocks that door.
Joseph’s mercy brought insight.
Joseph’s Obedience Brought Blessing
God’s Word says that Joseph
did stick with Mary. He took all the
humiliation and being hunted; he took all the risks and hung-in with her all
the way. He raised Jesus as his own and
taught him the carpenter trade. He named
him Jesus, Joshua (God saves), and protected him.
Joseph braved the first
Christmas, with all its stress – and in his life it meant raising the Savior of
the entire human race, right in his own home.
·
It meant seeing the salvation of the world standing there in the temple a
dozen years later, teaching the teachers.
·
It meant being right up close to the sinless perfection of Emmanuel.
· It meant a Godly household in the deepest, truest sense of the word.
Can we call that a blessing?
Can we count that all joy?
Can we call that
the solution for stress?
Epilogue to the Story:
In this life Joseph never
saw Jesus’ earthly ministry. Evidently,
he died early in life. We do not hear of
Joseph past when Jesus was about twelve.
Some folks would evaluate that as being short-changed. Joseph went through all the stress of the
first Christmas, put up with public humiliation, heartbreak and being hunted, and
all he got out of it was an early grave.
That might play out if
you’re into judging on what you can see.
But that is the opposite of faith.
By faith Joseph trusted God, was merciful to Mary and obeyed God’s
leading. He never saw the blessing worked
out in his life. Some would say that is
not fair. But it depends; would it have
been blessing for Joseph to see Jesus hanging on the cross?
Either way, we cannot
second-guess God over why Joseph died young.
But we can see parallels in our own lives.
I saw first-hand one of
those 18 years ago. The church I was
serving had done a marvelous job presenting the Gospel to the community.
It was a “free-theater” kind
of thing. We called it Walk
Through Bethlehem. We built a city of Bethlehem
and invited everyone to walk through and meet the citizens, who were our church
members, dressed in first century costume, ready to connect the dots for
visitors about the miracle of Jesus’ birth.
Why did our event
get cut short? I honestly don’t know. Perhaps we gave birth to the idea so others could
pick it up and honor our Lord.
Our church had given our
best, and, for me, that removes the stress from Christmas, and answers the
question, How Can It BE?
It does that when I answer
the question with, it can BE what He desires it to be!
Here’s a bit of a challenge
for you:
In this year’s activities,
as curtailed as they might be by social distancing, try to give God glory for
every sweet part, and give God room to work in you and your loved ones, and
your enemies. There will be a time to
figure it out later…time to know how this can be.
Our Prayer
Father,
our hearts are gladdened always by the approach of the Savior. Help us to dial back the stress with an extra
measure of joy this year; help us to focus on the reality that this isn’t about
the gifts, parties, and managing stress.
This is about the love of God entering our life and making all things
eternally right.
Let
it be so in each of our lives…Amen!
Title Image:
By Leonardo
da Vinci via Wikimedia Commons
W Unless
noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation
[1]
[2] INJOY LIFE CLUB,
John Maxwell, March 1993
[3] Matthew 2.1-16 Herod’s search for the Messiah, killing
all children under age 2. It is still
called the slaughter of the innocents.
[4] Isaiah 7.14
[5] Hosea 11.1
[6] Dr.
Kenneth Hemphill, UPClose, Baptist State Convention of North Carolina,
Dec 2002 tape.
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