December 31 – Obedience, round two

When the due date of our first baby dre near, we had everything ready, and then had to wait. And wait. And wait. It’s kind of a weird thing – for eight and a half months we hoped the baby wouldn’t come too early, and as we approached the due date we realized we had no idea when the baby would actually come. One of the big questions that we and most first-time parents had was, “when is the right time to go to the hospital?” We knew we could call the advice line any time, and our birthing teacher gave us some hints, too. She actually encouraged us to stay home during the first part of labor, until either the water broke or the contractions become stronger, longer, and closer together.  To new parents all that advice was still somewhat unclear, but we felt like Katie could make the call whenever she felt far enough along to head to the hospital.

And isn’t that how it is with following God. We often don’t know how He will lead us. We wait on His timing, we listen for leading, yet there are no certain ways that He will speak. But somehow, when the time is right, He communicates to us, whether during prayer, through a friend, through some “normal” or not-so-normal event, or in a myriad of other ways. Our job is to be listening and open to whenever and however He leads. The magi and Joseph & Mary were great examples of following God’s lead.

“And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they (the magi) returned to their country by another route.” When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” (Matthew 2:12-21, NIV).

The magi had a dream and decided to go a different route. Joseph & Mary surely took note of this, and were curious what impact the magi’s warning would have on them. They may have even prayed, “God, what does this mean for us?” Whether they prayed about it or not, God spoke to them through a dream, and they responded. Notice how quickly. Joseph didn’t wait until morning. Joseph didn’t sit with Mary take time to figure out how literally to take the dream. It didn’t matter that God was sending them to a place they had never been, in the opposite direction of their home. God spoke through an angel, Joseph recognized the leading of God, and he responded immediately. As it turns out, their immediate obedience and exit from Bethlehem was the difference between life and death for Jesus! Such a close call, yet because Joseph and Mary were consistently obedient to God’s workings, no matter how surprising they might be, it worked out just fine.

Imagine the shock and relief they experienced some time later when the news reached their location in Egypt. They must have realized that if they hadn’t heeded the angel’s warning, they could have lost their Son as well. Even as they wondered why God would let Herod do such a thing as kill the infant boys of Bethlehem, they must have also rested in a deep sense of relief at God’s mercy in leading them down to Egypt. Surely this bolstered their faith in God’s provision, and further encouraged their obedience to God. So when the dream came telling them that it was safe to return to Israel, they were able to move back without a second thought. Think about it, they were moving back to a place where days or weeks earlier a whole generation of infants had been slaughtered! Yet we see no doubts, no questions, no complaints from Joseph and Mary. Just obedience.

I know I wrote on obedience a week ago, but the consistency of Joseph and Mary’s obedience to God merits a second look. I think obedience is a bigger deal than we make it out to be. In an effort to emphasize that it is God’s grace, not our works, that save us from sin, and in an effort to not fall into legalism or Phariseeism, I think the importance of obedience is overlooked. Barring supernatural intervention, Jesus would have died if Joseph and Mary hadn’t immediately obeyed God’s direction. Nowadays we want to be fully rational, to carefully weigh things out. That kind of thinking would have led to Jesus’ death. Our problem is we forget we are operating from our own understanding of the situation, not God’s. If we were looking from His perspective, the most rational and logical thing to do would be what He was telling us to do. But for some reason we think we are smarter than God, and we resist the Holy Spirit’s direct leading. It sounds kind of cold to put it that way, but I think that is what our actions say.

So how can we put obedience back in its rightful place in our lives? How can we get to a place where we let God truly be God, and respond to His leading immediately, no matter how strange the direction? I think it’s as simple as following Joseph and Mary’s example. The original Christ-bearers made a habit of obeying God immediately, regardless of the timing or magnitude of God’s leading. Their obedience kept Jesus alive, and gave them a rich walk with Him. Obedience is still the code of conduct of the Christ-bearer. So as we approach a new year, instead of making big, detailed goals about what we want to do for God in 2014, let’s agree to something different. Let’s take our role as Christ-bearers seriously and agree to obey God. To be disobedient is to risk killing Jesus inside of us. But if we will take this call to obedience seriously, Jesus will be alive in us, and we will have a rich (and adventurous) walk with Him.

December 30 – The Real Good News

When we were about to have our first child, I wasn’t really sure what would happen after our baby was born. I knew I’d be happy and exhausted, and so would my wife. I knew our parents and sisters would come to ooh and ah. I knew I’d say a few hundred prayers of thankfulness, and I’d hold my little child in my arms. But beyond that and a few normal medical procedures, I was not sure what would occur. Nor was I sure what to say when I called family and friends, except to tell them the child’s name, weight, and length, and some defining features. It’s not like we had any idea what our child would be like, or what they would accomplish in life. All we could tell people was that our child was alive, which is good news.

How different it was for Joseph and Mary. God had been making known a lot more about their Child than His name. So what was God trying to communicate to Joseph & Mary, to the shepherds in Bethlehem, to the people of Jerusalem? What kind of statement was He making at the very beginning? What was He saying to the world? I’m sure that Joseph and Mary thought a lot about this – Luke tells us that Mary “treasured” or “pondered” the things she heard and saw in her heart. They had a lot of time to talk about who their Son was, about His significance and even His mission. But was God speaking out against other things in the world? Was He setting the record straight? Was He challenging popular thinking? Scot McKnight of North Park University gives us some great insights into this in his article “The Mary We Never Knew.” Check out his understanding of the history of Jesus day and what God was countering:

“”And it came to pass in those days,” the King James Version of Luke 2:1 reads, “that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” There is a reason why Luke tells us that Jesus’ birth occurred during the reign of Caesar Augustus. Luke is contrasting the gospel of Rome with the gospel of Jesus.

Rome’s gospel told of the significance of Caesar Augustus for the world. Rome’s history took a new turn with Augustus, the adopted son of the dictator Julius Caesar. After his death, Julius Caesar was officially declared to be a god. When Augustus seized power, he was deemed a savior because he ended bitter civil wars and created the peace of Rome (pax Romana). The gospel of Rome was that Augustus, a “son of [a] god,” saved Rome by bringing peace to the world.

Luke’s Christmas story, told largely through the eyes of Mary, sets the birth of Christ in the context of the gospel of Rome. Luke counters and upstages each element in Rome’s gospel—Good News, peace, the Son of God, and the Savior. The gospel that angels announced to Mary and the shepherds was the Good News that Jesus, the Son of God, was the Savior who would bring true peace to the world.

Gabriel tells Mary that the “holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Nine months later, angels tell the shepherds outside Bethlehem, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). Jesus, the Son of God, is the Good News for his people. Furthermore, the angel says, “Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). And then we hear a chorus of angels: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

Caesar Augustus supposedly was a savior, a son of a god who brought good news of peace to the world. Luke tells his readers that Jesus is the real Son of God, the Savior, who brings Good News of peace to the world. Not only do we have a tale of two Marys; we have a tale of two kings. Who, we are led to ask, will be the king? As with the Magnificat, so with Luke’s story: Augustus dethroned, Jesus enthroned!” (Christianity Today, December 2006, pp29-30; for the full article see http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/december/8.26.html).

This article really opened my eyes to how clearly God was countering the popular thought of Joseph & Mary’s day. In no uncertain terms, even at the birth of Jesus, God was making the true gospel message clear. No imposters, no worldly counterfeits, could stand against what the true God was saying. God had come, giving Himself to the world to save it from it’s sins. While we don’t live in the first century, some things never change. God’s message is still the same, and there are still counterfeits clogging popular thought. What are the counterfeits of our day? While I could make a long list – such as religious pluralism (there are many ways to God, everyone can find their own path), religious relativism (what’s true for me may not be true for you), the health & wealth gospel (give your life to Jesus, and He will make all your problems go away), to name a few – there is simpler way. Anything that counters the true gospel message is what we need to challenge. Not so much by saying what is bad about these counterfeits, but instead by making known the true message of God. Today the world is in just as much of a need as ever to hear that Jesus is the real Son of God, the real Savior, the real Good News who will bring real peace to the world through His shed blood and forgiveness of our sins. That is the message that Joseph and Mary let people know about. That is the message that captivated the apostles and turned the world upside down. That is the message that Luke and Matthew, along with others, wrote down. As Christ-bearers we need to stand and proclaim the true message of God, the message the world still needs to hear, just as Joseph and Mary and the gospel writers did in their day.

December 29 – Why Magi?

Throughout the duration of our first pregnancy, I was surprised by how excited people were about our baby and how many people wanted to visit when the baby came. Of course we were excited, but a number of people who we didn’t even know very well couldn’t wait to meet our little one. As the birth drew near, I wondered who would actually come and visit once our child was born? Makes me wonder what Joseph and Mary were expecting during their time in Bethlehem. They sure weren’t expecting shepherds to show up the night Jesus was born, though I’m sure they cherished the visit. Since the shepherds spread the news to anyone who would listen, I’m guessing they had a few more visitors over the next several days.

We don’t know how long Joseph, Mary, and Jesus stayed in Bethlehem, but after Jesus’ birth Joseph found a house for them. Many modern scholars think they were there for a year or two, with the magi visiting at the end of that time. However, if Matthew and Luke are accurate in their depictions of what happened, a long timeline isn’t possible. Matthew tells us that after the magi came, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt, and from there went to Nazareth. Luke tells us that at the proper time (40 days) Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem for the purifications ceremony, then went to Nazareth. While Matthew and Luke don’t cover all the same details, their accounts could weave together, rejoining with the return move to Nazareth, and therefore the whole Egypt and Jerusalem portion of the Christmas story had to happen in the first 40 days after Jesus’ birth. But let’s get back to Joseph and Mary. Whatever they were expecting, I’m sure they were surprised when the magi showed up.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” (Matthew 2:1-11, NIV).

So I’m wondering, why magi? I mean, it’s cool that they came, but it’s not as if Joseph and Mary needed any more proof that their Child was God incarnate, the long-expected Messiah, the One who will save His people from their sins. They had believed the angel’s reports nine months ago, and had been further encouraged by Elizabeth, Zechariah, and now the shepherds. Why would God also send magi? Here are a few possible reasons: 1) Because all creation declares His glory – God even used the stars to make known what He was up to. It is cool to think that men of another religion figured out that God was up to something in Israel = God was really working to get the gospel out. 2) God was calling people to Himself – His heart is for all the nations, and these astrologers from the east became some of the first Christians. 3) The birth of Jesus is a big deal – even though it wasn’t necessary to have magi, God the Father is pulling out all the stops to give His Son a grand entrance. This would definitely have further cemented Jesus’ identity to them, and further guarded them against doubts. 4) The gifts served a prophetic role of Jesus’ coming suffering (myrrh), His intercession (frankincense), and His reign (gold). This is the idea that gets talked about most, and definitely seems to fit. 5) God was financing the surprise trip to Egypt – after all, Joseph and Mary had only planned to go to Bethlehem and back. How would they have been able to afford the extra journeys? God provides with these generous gifts.

While all of these ideas are quite possible, and each could merit it’s own journal probing, I’m wondering if there was another reason for the magi’s coming that had less to do with Joseph and Mary and more to do with the people of Israel. Along with God’s heart for the nations, God has a special heart for the people of Israel. What better way to call them to Himself but to get the word out that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem. Matthew tells us that the magi’s question caused quite a stir in Jerusalem – people would have heard the news. So why didn’t they come? Where were the mobs of anxious people longing for the Messiah? And if not mobs, there must have been a few people who wondered if what they heard was true! Yet Scripture records no such following, not even out of curiosity! Only a few out of town, Gentile astrologers and a few lowly Jewish shepherds actually walked to Bethlehem to see the Messiah. What a tragedy! To have Jesus – the very Son of God, God in the flesh, the promised Prophet, Priest, and King – just a few miles away and yet no one came to seem Him!!! God’s heart must have broke for the people of Israel. What more could He do to draw their hearts to Him? He made things so clear, yet they still chose to forget about His announcement.

How much of this is the same for people around us? How many people do we know who know all about Jesus, who grew up going to church a little or a lot, who have even been witnessed to by family or friends, and yet want nothing to do with Jesus. They go about their lives, without giving Jesus even a curious glance. Yet all along they have been longing for truth and meaning and real life. All that and more is within reach, and yet they don’t come. Oh how our hearts should break for them. What a tragedy that people who have heard of Jesus do not draw near to Him! How we need to be like the magi. As Christ-bearers in this world, we can go into places and ask “do you know about Jesus?”, listening and sharing the good news with all we meet. Maybe some will listen. Maybe some will get it this time. Maybe some will make the short journey from being self-absorbed to being surrendered to Christ. Let’s pray for their hearts, and let’s get the word out. Maybe we can be more successful than the magi at peaking people’s interest. It’s definitely worth a try.

December 26 – Acting Like Shepherds

For the first 5+ years of our marriage, our parents and grandparents were waiting. Waiting for a child. Waiting for a grandchild (or great-grandchild) to come from Katie and I. They had the hope that someday it would come, but up until May of 2006 all they could do was wait and wonder “when?”. I can still remember my mom’s shriek for joy, my dad’s quiet smile, Katie’s mom’s joyous surprise, Katie’s dad’s exuberance, and the joy in the voices of all our grandparents when we told them we were pregnant. The long hoped for grandchild was finally on its way! And then they waited again as our child grew inside Katie, wondering when our child would come into the world.  They were all waiting for the phone call to say Katie was in labor, to say that the child was born.

How different it must have been for the shepherds. They were out doing their job, watching over flocks in the hilly terrain near Bethlehem. They too were waiting. Waiting for a child…the Messiah! They didn’t know when He would come. They had no idea even who the parents would be. But they were waiting, and maybe wondering how on earth the news would be communicated once the Messiah had come.

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:8-20, NIV).

What a shock! Sure the shepherds had been hoping for the Messiah to come, but I’m sure they didn’t expect Him to come today! (Well, maybe one did, and if so he got to brag for years). Yet there they were, first hearing from one angel, then a whole army of angels. What a sight! What a message! In full stereo, better than HD, a bigger-than-life spectacle and light show which rocked their dreary little worlds!!! What would you do in their situation? How would you respond? I am amazed at how readily they accepted the angels’ message, how quickly they hit the road and hoofed it to Bethlehem. Yet these shepherds appeared full of hope and full of faith. Can you imagine their joy when they found the Christ, just as they had been told!?! The long-awaited Messiah, now here!! They were face-to-face with Him!!! What a moment! What a privilege!

Now what? Once they experienced this amazing thing, what were they to do? What were they to do with their experience of Jesus? Notice that the Bible doesn’t say they quietly left, or that they gave each other high fives for having such a great experience, or that they felt really good about themselves and went back to their boring lives. No. It says they couldn’t keep their mouths shut! They had to talk. They had to tell Mary and Joseph and everyone else (apparently some other people were there, or at least near) all about their Christ experience. And when they left they were praising God for all the things they had seen! Their lives were changed. And they were letting people know!!!

So what are you doing with your experience of Jesus? Once in your life you met Jesus, met Him in a way that rocked your world and turned you into one of His followers. You called yourself a Christian; you became a Christ-bearer. So now what are you doing with that experience? Does the story end for the year now that we have celebrated Christmas? Do you pack Him up in a little box with Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wisemen, not to let Him out again until next December (or maybe Easter)? Is His impact on you limited to Christmastime each year? Is He your personal Jesus, kept in your pocket like a pet, hidden from the world but alive to you? Do you avoid conversations about Him with others for fear that they won’t be interested or won’t understand? Or are you like one of the shepherds? Can you not keep your mouth shut about what God has told you, what God has shown you? Are you actively praising God and letting people know that the Messiah has come?

Too often I am not like the shepherds. I think I usually fall into the middle category, where Jesus is alive but in my pocket. I decide who would be interested in hearing about Him and who wouldn’t, and guard my conversations that way. Yet when my children came, I wasn’t so discriminatory. I told everyone within earshot – “I am a dad! This is my child!’ – and I expected people to be interested. And that is what the shepherds were like. They weren’t so “complicated” or “civilized” to worry about how their words would be received, or who would want to hear them. They were raw and real. They saw, they went in faith, and then they spoke about it, becoming the first human witnesses of Christ’s coming. The shepherds let their encounter with Jesus transform their lives and their conversations. We who have had an encounter with Jesus would be wise to do the same. It’s time for us to act like shepherds.

December 24 – Soaking in the Moment

(my apologies for the delay in posting December 22 and 23.  Life with work and family is busy)

As Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, I wonder if they knew how necessary it was for them to be in Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth. They are devout people, so they may have remembered Micah’s prophecy seven hundred years earlier: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth to her son. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then he will be highly honored all around the world. And he will be the source of our peace” (Micah 4:2-5a, NLT). Imagine Mary saying to Joseph, “do you think that prophecy is about me?” with a mixture of amazement and humility. What incredibly joy they would have experienced to know that they were a part of the fulfillment of God’s word!

Whether they remembered Micah’s prophecy at that time or not (they surely remembered it when the magi would come and tell their story), the day had come. The baby came right on time. It may not have been in the place that Mary and Joseph had hoped for, but according to God’s schedule everything had worked out perfectly. Luke tells us, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:6-7, NIV). I can only imagine Joseph delivering a baby on his own. Overwhelmed, exhausted, shaking, but so happy to see his child alive and breathing. Since his Child was the Son of God, you would expect fireworks and an amazing light show, angels trumpeting throughout Bethlehem and much pomp and circumstance. After all, this is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, (Isaiah 9:6). In the town of Bethlehem, the “house of bread,” the true Bread, the Bread of Life (cf John 6) had come. But while many amazing things were to come, none happened immediately at the manger. The gospel tells us only that the child came, and Mary wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and tucked Him in a manger.

Such a quiet beginning. Joseph and Mary beheld their Child in the best place they could find, a manger. Did they talk much, or did they just stare in wonder at the Christ-child, now with them? While much could be said about His coming, it would do us well to take some time to be quiet and “stare” at the Christ-child this Christmas eve. The timing may seem rushed, you may not be “ready” for Christmas yet, but neither were Joseph and Mary in that sense. Yet, God deemed them ready, and they were able to pause and soak in the miracle of the Promised Son. Beyond the trees and stockings and presents and hoopla of Christmas with family and friends, beyond legends and traditions of time, lies a devout family, bearing Christ into the world, quietly nestled in a stable with a manger. Let’s rest with them in the amazing reality that Christ has come!!!

December 23 – Walking To Bethlehem

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” (Luke 2:1-5, NIV).

Talk about bad timing. Of all the times for the emperor of the Roman world to call for a census, this was the worst time possible for Joseph and Mary. Or was it? On one hand we have a very pregnant woman having to make the long trip to Bethlehem, the town of Joseph’s ancestry. I cannot imagine going on that long of a hike when my wife was 8+ months pregnant; not fun! Regardless of whether Mary walked or rode a donkey (the Bible says nothing about a donkey, by the way), that would have been a very difficult trek. But on the other hand, I’m sure that Nazareth wasn’t the most pleasant place for Joseph and Mary to live. I’m sure they had had their fill of snickers and mistreatment for the shady circumstances of their child. Maybe getting out of town for a while was a welcome relief. Finally they could be just the two of them.

Whatever the situation, Joseph and Mary headed for Bethlehem. The fact that they went together tells us a few things. First, this further illustrates Joseph’s complete faith in what God was up to. Matthew told us that Joseph “took Mary home as his wife” and Luke shows us the same kind of relationship. It wasn’t momentary obedience to God’s word; Joseph is fully committed to God and to Mary. A second thing to note is that Mary went with Joseph. Based on her stage of pregnancy and the fact that they weren’t fully married yet, I’m sure Mary could have found a way to stay home in Nazareth. If there had been tensions or dissatisfaction with Joseph, I suspect she would have welcomed the opportunity for separation. After all, he had wanted to divorce her! But Mary’s willingness to go with Joseph shows that much has changed in their relationship. She definitely sees him as her husband, and is willing to go wherever he goes. A third thing to note is their compliance with the Roman law. We have no record of complaining or resistance to the decree, they did as the law demanded. So this brief depiction of their journey to Bethlehem gives us some good insights into the character of Joseph and Mary – they are devout people, fully committed to God and each other, and compliant with the laws of the land.

But they still had to make the journey. The trip to Bethlehem was somewhere between 80-120 miles. While most of the roads would be major travel routes, the latter parts of the journey would have been rather hilly. They didn’t have rest stops or fast food restaurants along the way, so Joseph and Mary would have needed to pack their food and water, and then find lodging as best they could. Most highways weren’t the safest places to be, especially at night, so that would have added to the difficulty of their journey. And when you consider that Mary is very pregnant, it all adds up to a rather grueling endeavor.

Is that what you would expect from God? Here we have two devout people, committed to Him and to each other, willing to do whatever He asks. Wouldn’t we expect that He would fill their life with blessings and make everything easy because they were being obedient and following His will? Isn’t that what we teach our kids in Sunday School? Isn’t that what we teach our adults – to come to Jesus and He will make your life better? Yet for Joseph and Mary, bearing Jesus had made their lives far more difficult. After enduring months of misunderstanding and probably mistreatment at home, now they had to endure a difficult journey. Is this consistent with God? The answer is – yes! Nowhere in Scripture does God promise that following Him will be easy. If we take a quick survey of Biblical characters, Abraham was called to leave everything he knew, Moses was called to lead a stubborn people bound for disobedience, many of the prophets were killed or shunned for speaking God’s word, James was killed for being a Christ-follower, Paul suffered all kinds of circumstances for the sake of Christ, and the list goes on. And Jesus Himself didn’t have the easiest of lives, unless you call crucifixion easy. God promises to be with us on the journey, and that the journey will be worth it, but He never promises that the journey will be easy. In fact, in every case it appears to be more difficult.

While we might be prone to complain about the difficulties of following God, or how we are “suffering for our Lord,” we see none of that in Joseph and Mary. They just went. That is an important lesson for us to learn, to not “over-spiritualize” our acts of obedience, but to naturally go where God leads, accepting whatever happened, without any big to-do. What sustained Joseph and Mary on their journey? Surely they had time to reflect on the words God had spoken to them through the angel Gabriel, wondering out loud what their Child would be like and how exactly He would save Israel. There must have been excitement and many questions as they continued to process this exciting truth. The same thing can be what sustains us. As we journey to Bethlehem this Christmas eve and reflect on all the Christ’s coming meant, and as we journey wherever God leads us this coming year, we can follow the example of Joseph and Mary. To be Christ-bearers is to be devoted to God, be committed to each other, and to follow His lead, no matter what kind of journey He leads us on. And along the way we can marvel and ponder the wonder and significance of His Son and what He is up to in our lives. This journey for us isn’t decreed by an earthly ruler, but the King of Kings. So let’s go.