Read: Matthew 1:18-25,
Have you ever thought that a situation was going to go one direction and it ended up going in a completely different direction?
For example when I was 15 all I wanted was a new video game called Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Wii. But because of basketball and some other situations I didn’t have the money to buy it when it came out. I thought I would have to wait until I saved enough to get the game. Now my mom has never liked video games and always thought they were a waste of time. And also my mom has never bought me any video games even for my birthday and Christmas. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home the day the game came out and my mom handed me Super Smash Bros Brawl. I was more surprised than almost any time in my life!
Well much like my mom giving me Super Smash Bros Brawl, in this story Joseph receives a big surprise! He is engaged to Mary and suddenly he finds out that she is pregnant. This itself is a big bummer for Joseph who had probably been preparing and working towards getting married his whole life. Then an angel shows up and tells Joseph to go ahead and marry Mary because she is pregnant with the Son of God! 1st Joseph thinks he’s going to have to call off his engagement and then he finds out that he is going to be the earthly father of Jesus Christ, God’s Son! That is a crazy change of plans! But Joseph didn’t question God’s plan even though it was very different from Joseph’s plan. Rather he obeyed God and accepted his role and responsibility joyfully.
In our lives this Advent season everything will not go as planned. Maybe we won’t be able to see our relatives like we hoping. Perhaps money is tight and we can’t afford to have the Christmas we want. Maybe the Christmas cookies are burned because something else grabbed our attention while they were in the oven. Maybe we didn’t get that really cool toy or gift we were hoping to get.
Whatever it is, the Christmas season and Christmas day rarely are as wonderful and perfect as all the Christmas movies and ads portray them. But that’s okay a perfect Christmas isn’t the point and it isn’t what matters.
What matters is that a baby boy named Jesus was born in a manger and one day he would die on a cross and rise again from the dead so that we can have a relationship with God. This advent season don’t stress when things don’t go as planned and we once again miss out on the perfect Christmas. Instead remember the old and somewhat cheesy line, “Jesus is the reason for the season!”
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