This is definitely the time of year in which football reaches a new level of intensity and fandom-hood shifts. Some fans lose interest as their team leaves the field of play until next year and other fans rise with their team’s success with hopes of finishing on top!
While I have never been able to lose my mind in a game (unless I was playing) I absolutely appreciate the elevated level of play. The show that the great ones put on as they claw and fight to earn that prize is absolutely remarkable. Of course there are busts, however, that is just part of the flow.
What’s football have to do with the nativity scene? I’m glad you asked.
A part of the Christmas story that gets pretty much no discussion is a relatively significant aspect as far as marriage is concerned. Joseph, a well-respected man of integrity had in mind to divorce Mary quietly when he found out she was pregnant, and not by him, because he didn’t want to expose her to public disgrace (or even death potentially, as stoning was the punishment for adultery).
Joseph and Mary were not officially married, but betrothed, or engaged. In biblical context, this was as good as married from a legal standpoint. The only things that were left were the ceremony and the consummation!!! Bow-chica-bow-wow!
So, Joseph decided to “take Mary home as his wife” and make it official but he did not sleep with her until after the child was born! (Matthew 1:24-25) Talk about a man of impeccable discipline!
In my mind, this is a major catastrophe. This act is an absolutely critical part of any healthy marriage. The bible teaches that the marriage bed should be honored by all and kept pure (Hebrews 13:4). This means before marriage AND after marriage. Ashly and I have work with over 20 couples in premarital counseling as well as discussed marital woes with many others and it occurs to us that couples who decide to wait until they are married enjoy a more fulfilling intimate life in marriage. And those that don’t wait, well, struggle in this area, in many ways.
This aspect, if withheld from the relationship after the vows, can be detrimental and damaging. Think about for a guy like Joseph, likely in his 20s (in his PRIME if you know what I mean) who has never engaged in intercourse, gets married but doesn’t get to enjoy the fruit of this love.
Here’s the football reference: It is like playing in a Super Bowl and knowing that you CANNOT score a touchdown. You’ve made it and waited your whole life for this, you’re in the game, you have the ball, you see the endzone, but you can’t TOUCH IT! Life’s biggest stage, in this context, and you just get to run up and down the field, taking a beating, but are taken out of the game anytime you’re too hot, get up ahead of the defense, or get close to the Red Zone. WOW! Talk about a Blue Christmas!!!
But Mary had to be a virgin so there was positively NO QUESTION that this child was anything but the Son of God. Joseph didn’t let this temporary setback keep him from walking in faith, trusting God, and fulfilling his role. He had peace. In enduring it, embracing it, he actually got to experience an even more unbelievable reality of getting to raise this divine child as his own. And, I guarantee there was PLENTY of time for BOOM BOOM in the years that followed!
Our world of immediate satisfaction and instant gratification, we may have a hard time in dealing with something like this and even more so, having peace in the midst of it.
So, hang in there, sometimes not getting what you want, what you’ve waited for, what you’ve hoped for, temporarily being denied something you feel you deserve, is a setup for something so much greater! Let the peace of Christ dwell in you through that.
#BlueChristmas
#CatastropheToTheNativity
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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