Joseph’s Message
First Congregational Church of Evanston
December 24, 2007 (Christmas Eve)
Matthew 1:18-25; Romans s1:1-7
I am Joseph. I wonder if you remember me?
Whenever you see the Creche or maybe you call it the manger scene, I am the man who stands there beside Mary and the baby Jesus. Do you remember me? You may not know that much about me, and so I want to tell you a little bit about me and about what I remember.
I am a carpenter. I’m not sure what carpenters do in your town, maybe they make houses. But I never made any houses. All the carpenters I know make furniture and things like that. People like me to make wooden tables and benches for their homes. And beds – that sort of thing – that’s what I do. And it isn’t always easy to make a good living.
When I make a table, I always make it very good. So it lasts a lifetime. Sometimes the kind of tables I make last more than a lifetime: People will hand down tables to their grandchildren or great-grandchildren when they die. We like it that our tables are good. Carpenters, like to do a good job. But we never become rich. The people who buy things from us don’t have much money either. So we all work hard and we get along.
But maybe you wanted me to tell you a little about the time when the baby Jesus was born. Mary and I were very much surprised that she was going to have a baby. I was so surprised that I didn’t know what to do, at first.
Then one night while I was sleeping, I had a dream. And in my dream an angel said to me, “Joseph,” the angel in my dream knew my name. The angel said, “Joseph, it is all right. This is a special baby. You will name him Jesus. The Holy Spirit that has sent this baby to you. Take special care of him in the best way you can.”
And when I woke up from my sleep, I went to tell Mary about the Angel, and she said that she had seen an angel, too. And the angel had told her about the baby, too. So, Mary and I started to get ready for this new and very special baby to be born.
But about the time we were expecting the baby to be born, the Roman governor said that we would have travel from our home in the small town of Nazareth, and we would have to go to another small town named Bethlehem. This is because my family way back was from Bethlehem, and the government said we had to go there and get counted and pay a tax.
Now Nazareth and Bethlehem were towns were about 80 miles apart – that’s about like the distance from Evanston, IL to Milwaukee, WI. Now, I know that might not seem too far for you. But remember. We didn’t have cars, and no airplanes or trains, either. Some people had donkeys or horses to ride on. But not poor carpenters like me.
And so Mary and I had to walk that whole 80 miles. It took many days to do it, and it was a dangerous trip. Sometimes robbers would wait beside the road and take anything you had. But no one robbed us. God was protecting us.
It was a very long walk for Mary. But she was brave and strong, and we walked until we got to Bethlehem. We were so glad to be there. But then we were disappointed. When we tried to find a place to stay, it was no use. There were so many travelers, and the inns – a little like a motel in your time– were all full. The only place we could find was where the animals stayed.
And so there in that barn that was where the baby Jesus was born. No one we knew were there. There was no doctor or nurse there. I helped as much as I could. But this was all new to me. I had never been there when a baby was born. And no one had given me any instructions. But I did what I could. It was very important to me that nothing would happen to Mary or to that little baby. It was really scary. I was afraid something would go wrong.
But then, there he was, that little boy. He started to cry. Mary and I wrapped him up. Mary nursed him. And we remembered to call him Jesus, just like the Angel had said. God was with us that night. And now there were three of us!
We had to stay in Bethlehem for awhile. So I went out and found a place we could rent, and I made some furniture for people of that town. They liked the things I made, and they were happy to pay us the usual price.
While we were still staying in Bethlehem, some men from far, far away who spent their time studying the stars came to visit us. They said that they had seen a star and that the star told them that a special baby was born. When they got to our house, they said that our baby Jesus was a king. And they brought gifts – very expensive gifts – very expensive for poor people like us, anyway. They brought gold, and incense, and spices.
We didn’t know what to think. But no sooner had these strange and interesting men left us, than I had another dream. An angel was in my dream again. And the angel told me to take Mary and the baby far out of our country into the land of Egypt, because the ruler wanted to kill the baby Jesus.
We couldn’t understand why that would be. But there wasn’t really time to be thinking about it. We didn’t want to take any risks like that. So we got ready in the middle of the night and went to Egypt.
We still had no transportation, and Egypt was even farther than our trip from Galilee. And besides, now we were three, and either Mary or I had to carry the baby. But we did make our escape into Egypt. And when we got there, I had to find people who wanted me to make furniture for them. And that’s the way we lived.
I know that it is almost Christmas for you. We never celebrated Christmas. It is hard to imagine that after all these years, you are celebrating the birthday of baby Jesus, and that you are interested in what we did. But I am happy I have had an opportunity to tell you a little of our story. I hope it makes a difference in your life.
We were always thankful to God for God’s blessings. And I hope that you are too. So God bless you all. And thank you for listening to my story.
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 6, 2008