December 11, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, December 11.
Welcome to Day Three of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” - our journey through Christmas scriptures, culture, traditions, and songs. This morning we take a look at a central character in the nativity story... who never said a word.
Is it Zacharias? Good guess, but no. Zacharias was the temple priest, the husband of Elisabeth, the father of John the Baptist, who was struck dumb by the angel Gabriel until his son was born. But, after that, we heard the words of Zacharias (Luke 1). Our featured character today was given no words in the Christmas story, he has no recorded voice. His name was Joseph.
Under Jewish law in the 1st Century, when Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, and that the baby wasn’t his, he could have seen to it that she was punished. Although execution for adultery was very rare by that time, there were other punishments - separation, shunning, shame. But Joseph, BEFORE he learned of God’s miracle, of Mary’s blessing - while he was still perhaps dealing with dark feelings of disappointment and betrayal - made the choice to show Mary kindness, mercy, forgiveness.
Matthew 1:19 - “Then Joseph, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example of shame, chose to divorce her secretly.”
We can read that verse and see how Joseph’s actions, his choices, his love for Mary are a foretaste of the kindness, mercy, and forgiveness that Jesus would show to you and to me “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8). And so, Silent Joseph speaks clearly to us today, speaks the message of Christ, the message of Christmas.
Matthew 1:21 - “And the angel said unto Joseph... she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.”
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
