Tuesday, December 22, 2020

How Can This Be?

 

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 Elizabeth I had nine days leave.  We met with the minister, bought the stuff, and had a wedding three days later.  I’m certain some of our friends and relatives were doing math for the next several months.  (Jennifer, our first child, was born 4 years and 3 months after the wedding in 1971; so there!).  Joseph was heartbroken, humiliated, and…

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 Egypt[5], but with Joseph this all happened so quickly. 

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. 

One of the visitors was Amanda Remole who is a member of Victorious Life Church in High Point.  She was moved by the Holy Spirit to propose the event to her pastor.  And that church took what we did with “Bethlehem” to new heights.  They went all out.  It was a tremendous success in drawing in the community and leading people to Christ.  That was the sweet part; the sour was that our church had to cancel our 2nd year for a variety of reasons. 

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.

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father. 

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 

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[1] Bell Peals for Thee, Weekly Livestock Reporter, 9 February 1989, 5a

[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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