Christmas Present
by Gary Johnson
Last week, I mentioned my favorite Christmas movie is the 1984 George C Scott rendition of Christmas Carol. In the movie, Scrooge was escorted through various scenes of the impending Christmas morning by the spirit of Christmas Present, seeing how the regular, ordinary rhythm of the holiday played out in various households – for his employee, his nephew, and finally with a homeless family who saw and felt no hope, in part because of Ebenezer’s own greed. In A Christmas Carol, one person after another struggled in the midst of Christmas then, and the same could be said of Mary and Joseph long ago. And their story was not mere fiction. It was real.
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. … When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. (Matt 1:18-19, 24-25, NLT)
In real time – in the present -- Joseph and Mary were living quite ordinary, run-of-the-mill lives. Following the custom of the day, it is likely that their parents made an agreement about the marriage of their children, pledging them to eventually marry. Their engagement was a legally binding agreement, signed and sealed by the paying of a dowry. The wedding ceremony itself would join the couple in marriage, after which, they would physically consummate their marriage, moving into the home Joseph had been preparing during their engagement.
Though Joseph and Mary were living what appeared to be ordinary lives, the out-of-the-ordinary happened. Mary became pregnant and there was no way Joseph was the baby’s father! What appeared to be bad became much worse. At best, this was a social nightmare and an extreme embarrassment. At worst, it was Mary’s death sentence. Such a situation was exactly why dowries were paid. There was every expectation that Mary would have to go back to her father’s house and live out her days as a single mother, ostracized and ignored by her neighbors. If they wanted to follow the letter of the law, she could be stoned for adultery.
Moreover, all of this was happening in an era of oppression. The Roman army had occupied their homeland. Roman centurions or legionnaires inflicted their petty will on random people. Luke tells us a census was imposed on Joseph and Mary, and despite being near her due date, Mary had to travel with Joseph some 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the mandated census. In a town far from home, in a stable not their own, Mary delivered her son and laid the newborn infant in a feeding trough for livestock. Friends and family were not there to help with, nor celebrate, the child’s arrival.
From ordinary lives under oppression to overwhelming circumstance, both Joseph and Mary then did the most extraordinary thing. Ignoring cultural expectations, Joseph “took Mary as his wife” (Matt 1:24). Likewise, Mary told Gabriel “‘I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true’” (Luke 1:38). Joseph and Mary both did the most extraordinary thing – they surrendered to what God had in store for their lives in the present.
For you, Christmas present may be like that of Joseph and Mary, routine, run-of-the-mill, ordinary. Yet, in real time, something unexpected is coming out of left field. Christmas present is going to be far from normal. Like it or not, you cannot “have it your way” like Burger King offers. The King of kings has a different plan for Christmas this year. And whatever His plan is, let’s do the extraordinary – and surrender to our King this Christmas.
