It has been said, “With any invitation from the Lord there is a cooperative dimension, and we must set our hearts toward obedience.”
Father, speak through Joseph and Mary and give us open hearts to receive. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Let’s consider Joseph and Mary.
In Luke 2:1, scripture says, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered…And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”
Just months prior to our text today, Joseph and Mary’s plans were upended by the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. This bright young couple, favored of God, now had a stigma attached to them, great upheaval and radical reordering of their lives ensued. Decisions had to be made, heart choices tested as they responded to this divine invitation. Additionally, when it was close to time for Mary to deliver, Caesar Augustus further complicates their lives by issuing a decree to all the known world – Register! This had not been done before. And proved a major inconvenience. It was over sixty-five miles between Nazareth and Bethlehem. This wasn’t an easy request Caesar made of the people.
Now I don’t know about you, but I can see myself not reacting well to this news. “What? Why on earth does this matter? And why now?” Can you imagine the noise around something like this in our culture today?
What did Mary and Joseph do? They went to register. Yes, she was with child and they weren’t fully married and everyone knew it. Yes, she was not far from delivering and likely she would have preferred her mother and the Jewish midwives her family knew in Nazareth to assist her. She was young, this was her first baby. Joseph was still likely getting his bearings to this not so picture perfect way to begin married life. Regardless of the circumstances, the timing, their stage of processing, what did they do? They went. The beauty of simple, humble obedience to the law of the land radiates from this passage to me. It testifies to a deeper trust in a higher power than Caesar, resonating a willingness to trust that God is at work through and in spite of those He sets in places of power. It testifies to the humility of simple obedience.
In Luke 2:22 “And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, (‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’”
As I sat with this passage, I noticed three times in as many verses, “the Law of the Lord.” It stood out as something to pay attention to. Joseph and Mary were guided well by the law of God in the midst of unknown waters and uncertain territory. And they humbly obeyed. They simply did what they were instructed to do.
Joseph and Mary seemed to live Romans 13:1-7 which exhorts us: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good…Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”
In our individualistic, post-Christian society with skepticism of authority rampant, how easy it has become to rail against the powers that be, to assert our own way. I want to challenge us with the example of Mary and Joseph. Beloved, we trust in God who appoints and disposes Kings, rulers, Presidents, Prime Ministers, when we honor the office, regardless of the personality or the positions and obey the laws of the land. Let’s remind ourselves that God is not limited by what might seem to limit us. God is not inconvenienced by what seems inconvenient to me. God is not restricted by what might feel restrictive. God will meet you in the seeming confines of His way, the laws of the land, or the construct of our particular expression of faith in Christ. This is a place and time to say, dear friends, let’s practice the humility of simply following the law whether it be in the land, God’s laws or in the Church guidelines. This may really rub some of us. I’m not saying we don’t discern and I’m not speaking of abusive authority. I’m simply saying there is something stunning about the humble willingness to simply do what is required, without complaint and without resistance. It’s a sign of deep trust in God Who is above, behind and through all things. Joseph and Mary remind us to recognize the presence of mystery in following God. God is able to work His will and bring about His blessing, His revelation even when the Caesar Augustus’s of the world make us register, even when we are majorly inconvenienced, even in less than ideal circumstances, God is able. I hear this message ringing from the picture of Mary and Joseph we see here and it’s beautiful.
There were certain shepherds, God wanted to come see the babe Jesus. There was a certain city where Jesus was to be born. There was His perfect judgement on Herod that was at play, so much more than Mary and Joseph could have possibly understood. Now, I understand we are talking about our Saviors birth, but I’m convinced when Christ is birthed in me or you, God is at work in our lives just as much with the same level of activity on His part present and I am unable to understand what all He is doing in and through the laws, the circumstances, the inconveniences, the even potential spiritual attacks just like Joseph and Mary. I have a choice to make like they did. I can rant and rail against, or I can trust, as manifest in simple obedience. To have a humble, trusting spirit willing to simply follow and obey like Mary and Joseph is a lesson for us.
In Luke 2: 27b “And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, Simeon took Him up in his arms and blessed God…And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.” Certainly presenting Jesus at eight days to be circumcised and named and then presenting Him in the temple after the forty days of purification had cultural energy behind them, in addition to being the law of God they lived under at the time, but they still made the choice to obey. And in the obeying, they were blessed and protected. They were given insight and understanding of this child, that amazed them. They marveled. They were also prepared by the prophetic word to Mary, “a sword will pierce through your own soul also.” Even though the word Simeon spoke was a hard word, it was merciful. She didn’t understand what “a sword will pierce your soul too” would mean really, or how it would come about, but it was a necessary word for her and she received it. Again, we note the humility in Mary to simply take it in, trusting the God behind the man, behind the word given. Often the prophetic is unclear to us initially. We carry a word in our hearts receiving it by faith, and when the thing happens, the word once blurry comes into focus. “This is that,” we say, realizing how blessed we were to have been told before, so we would recognize now.
I don’t want to belabor this, but I wonder if some of us might need to pause and ask Holy Spirit if there are areas in our heart needing to receive more of the love of God, so that we might trust Him in the midst of a crazy governmental environment, to obey His word, to accept in humility to hard words, things we don’t understand trusting that He is behind and can use all things for our good and His glory. Mary and Joseph manifest beautiful simple humility in their obedience to the laws of the land, to the laws of God, and their willingness to receive hard words. How they set their hearts to obey God invitation by invitation is stunning. Let their life speak to us. Amen.