I have been asking this question a lot lately. I always believed God is a just God. He smiles on those who obey Him. It certainly seemed God was smiling on me. People respected me and my carpentry. My business was good. I had good friends. Above all God had given me Mary. She had the most beautiful smile. She had eyes that danced with life. She had a heart of gold. Most of all, she loved me.

I thanked God every night for giving me such a wonderful woman to be my wife. Oh, God was so good.

It suddenly changed. Mary came to me and told me she was pregnant.

I asked her, "Mary, how could it be?" .

She pleaded with me to believe her, that an angel told her that God’s Spirit had conceived a child in her, that this child was to be called the Son of God.

"Mary," I asked, "How could this be? How could you be carrying God’s Son?"

What would you think, if someone gave you an explanation like this?

Mary begged me to believe her. I wanted too, more than anything in the world I wanted to believe her. But I knew I couldn’t base my decision on emotions or dreams or stories of angels? Mary pregnant, with God’s Son. How could it be?

I knew I had two choices. I could take Mary to court, expose her as an adulteress and watch her be stoned.

How could I do that? I loved this woman. I had wanted to spend my entire life with her. Oh, God, How could this all be happening to me?

My other choice was to give her papers of divorce. I would have to do this in front of two people, two people who I trusted not to say a word to anyone, to keep quiet so no one would find out that Mary was pregnant.

While I tried to decide who would make the best witnesses, I had this strange dream. It was as though someone was standing in front a very bright light.

The person spoke to me, "Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son. You are to give Him the name Jesus, which means, ‘the Lord saves’ because he will save His people from their sins."

Do I dare believe what I dreamt?

Was it really God speaking to me?

Was it wishful thinking?

I remembered, the prophet Isaiah said, "The Lord will give us a sign. A virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and he will be called Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us’."

Could God be with me?

Dare I believe in a sign no one else could see?

How could it be?

I decided not to go ahead with my plans to divorce Mary. Of course when word got around that Mary was pregnant, everyone assumed I had gotten her pregnant. My reputation as an honest, law abiding man was erased. My business dropped off.

I tried explaining my dream to my closets friends, but they would not believe me. I went to the Rabbi, he told me, "Joseph, I have never known anyone in our time to receive a message from God in this way. I know you are an honest man. If this is of God, He will show you that He is with you." The Rabbi’s words seemed wise and true, that is until I learned I had to travel with Mary to Bethlehem for a census.

We made the long hard trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. By the time we arrived Mary was ready to deliver her child. Mary was bone weary. The donkey stubborn and ornery. The night winds were blowing through our garments. I desperately searched Bethlehem for a bed, where Mary could deliver our homeless baby. I wondered, ‘How could this be the will of God?’

What had become of my dream, that this child was conceived by God’s Spirit and was God’s Son? How could I hold onto a promise, a hope, a faith when everything you saw, everything your mind told you flew in the face of it. How could it be?

Mary delivered our baby, God’s baby. I looked over at her eyes that once danced with life were flowing with tears.

How could two law abiding people have their lives and dreams shattered. Why? Was God mocking us or had God just gone away?

Just then I heard footsteps and voices outside. My heart was racing. A shepherd’s face appeared in the fire light. He appeared rough and weather beaten. "Is there a baby in here?" The baby’s crying gave him his answer.

He shouted to the other shepherds, "Here he is!"

"Here who is?", I asked.

"Our Messiah! An angel told us we would find him in a manger in Bethlehem. Not only one angel, but bunch of angels. They were singing Glory to God in the highest."

They asked to see Him.

They spilled into the manger like an excited bunch of young boys. They knelt down in front of that tiny baby of ours and thanked God. They prayed like they were in a holy place. As I watched the shepherds, the Rabbi’s words back to me, "If this is God, He will show you that He is with you."

I sat down beside Mary and grasped her trembling hand.

Could this helpless baby, born into a dark and cold stable so far from home, born to a couple whose faith had been shaken to the core, born to a people who lived under the power of a pagan Rome, could this tiny baby be God’s own Son, the Messiah, the Savior?

I can’t answer this question for you. It’s a question you will have to answer yourself.

God showed me. God came to me in this baby, Jesus. God can come to you, to be with you, to be your light in the darkness, to be your hope in suffering, to show you the way, to bring you peace and goodwill.

Your choice is no different than the shepherds, no different than Mary’s or mine, to believe or not to, that this baby, Jesus, is the Son of God, your Messiah.

AMEN

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