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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A Christmas Application

I know people, right now, who are having marital difficulties. Some are wondering "Is my spouse cheating on me?" Imagine, then, how that worked for Joseph. He hasn't married the woman and he knows he hasn't done ... anything else he shouldn't ... and she ... comes up pregnant. Can he have any doubt as to whether or not she was cheating? Of course not. So we read:
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 and 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 knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus (Matt 1:18-25).
Now, 1 Cor 13 says that love "believes all things." I read somewhere that C.S. Lewis said that love believes the best of the person even against the evidence -- nay, against much evidence. Joseph had much evidence against his betrothed, and the only proof of her innocence was a visit from an angel.

Joseph, of course, did the right thing. He believed in Mary's innocence. He believed the angel over the evidence. He took God at His word. He loved Mary and married her. And Joseph's right choices led us all to Christmas.

"It was easy," you might say. "He had an angel tell him what was right." Funny thing. We all have the plain Word of God telling us what is right. Still, too often we don't take God at His word. Maybe, starting this Christmas, we can start to be a little more like Joseph ... even against the evidence.

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