Scripture: Luke 1:45-55, 2:1-7
(Series: Meet me at the Manger # 2)
(Chatham Citadel, December 10th, 2000)
(Wallaceburg Corps, December 17th, 2000)
A professor at Harvard once said to Rebecca Pippert (author and speaker on evangelism), "I admire the fact that you are devout, but in the end it doesn't make any difference whether you believe in God or not. Life is essentially the same for everyone. Don't Christians get cancer, get divorced, long for their children to do well? Don't Christians fail, morally?"
She answered yes, they do.
"You're proving my point," the man said. "God DOESN'T make a difference."
She explained to him that one of the difficulties is; Christians try to pin the difference in the wrong place. Sometimes we try to make it seem as if, when we follow Jesus, we are no longer human. So, what is the difference God makes?
It begins to show, Rebecca told him, in how we handle problems and personal failings - not in freedom from them. She understood there is nothing we do that does not contain some corruption, that does not have some self-serving motive. God shows us the problem of human nature and He gives us a diagnosis for our condition: SIN.
The professor interrupted at this point, "If I was that hard on myself, I'd be depressed! But you seem so joyful."
Then she told him the rest of the story: "That's because I've also been given a solution. It's the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to help me overcome."
"Has the cure worked?" the professor asked.
"I'm not a finished product, if that's what you mean. But I'm learning to live in recovery from sin and I'm growing in amazing grace, and that would make anyone joyful!"[1]
Our journey does not end when we meet Jesus, it only puts us on the right road.
That was Mary and Joseph's experience. One would think that meeting an angel would prove to be a life changing experience, and it was, but the young couple did not find their lives enriched and filled with ease when the angel left them. Rather, they found themselves thrown into hardships beyond belief. But they pressed on, because they trusted God. They trusted that he would ultimately bring redemption to the world, through that same Jesus who would be their son.
They knew God could work miracles, and they trusted that he was using them to fulfill his plan.
STIGMA
The first difficulty Mary and Joseph faced on the journey to the manger was the stinging judgment of their friends and relatives.
Even in the 21st century, being pregnant out of wedlock still holds some stigma, but not anything like in those first century days. Mary could well have been stoned to death for what appeared to everyone to be indiscretion.
Joseph was not immune either. By separating himself from his bride to be, Joseph would have been considered blameless, but he chose to stand by Mary's side, and so took on himself the same stigma. The illegitimate pregnancy would likely have been blamed on him by people who considered themselves wise. They would have raised their eyebrows and whispered knowingly to their cohorts, "aaah, so he is the father…"
But Mary and Joseph pressed on, because they trusted God. They trusted in the message he had given them and they trusted in God's ultimate providence, no matter what the hardships were along the way.
F.B. Meyer tells a story, of visiting a beekeeper who told him how young bees are nurtured. The queen lays her eggs in six-sided cells filled with pollen and honey - enough to feed them until they reach maturity. The top of the cell is sealed with a cap of wax. When the young bee has exhausted their supply, it is time to leave the cell, but to do so, they must fight their way through the wax seal. The opening is narrow, and the struggle is agony for the young bee. In the midst of the struggle, the bee rubs off a membrane that encases its wings, so that when the bee finally emerges, it is able to fly. But that is not the end of the story…
The beekeeper explained that once a moth got into the hive and ate all of the wax capsules. The young bees were able to crawl out without any effort at all. But they could not fly. They were unproductive, and eventually the mature bees instinctively stung them to death.[2]
Hardship is part of our existence in this world, but God in his wisdom has used even these hardships to benefit us. Romans 8:28 reads, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." That is why Joseph (that is, the Joseph with the coat of many colors), could say to his brothers after he had been through so many trials, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20). And why Paul could say to the Corinthians, after all he had endured, "I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:23)
They pressed on, because they trusted God.
JOURNEY
The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem is approximately 140 km long - around the distance along the 401 between Chatham and Woodstock. Not a long way by car, but can you imagine the trip walking, or on the back of a donkey - let alone being nine months pregnant at the time? It is a miracle that Mary made it to Bethlehem at all. Under normal conditions, the journey would have taken the better part of a week, but with Mary expecting at any moment, it may have taken much longer.
What is more, Mary was probably not even required to make the journey at all. As the head of the household, her husband, Joseph, could have gone alone to register, saving his pregnant wife the hardships of travel. So why did she go?
She may have went because she wanted Joseph at her side when the baby was born, but more likely she went because she could not continue to face the difficult questions, the ridicule and the scoffing of the people in Nazareth - not without Joseph with her.
That scoffing did not end. Almost thirty years later, at the commencement of Jesus' ministry, after reading from the scripture and prophesying, Jesus was almost thrown off a cliff by these same people.
The road was hard, the ridicule was difficult, but they pressed on, because they trusted God. They trusted that his promise was true - that they would be the earthly parents of the coming Messiah. They trusted that God would take care of things, no matter how terrible they looked at that moment.
INN
Even on reaching Bethlehem, the hardships did not end.
Some have conjectured that Joseph probably arranged a place for them to stay ahead of time, but the place where they were supposed to be that night was given to someone else before they got there - possibly because they were delayed on the journey.
We have no record of what the stable was like, we only know that Jesus was lain in a manger. The manger could have been in an open courtyard with the animals, or in a wooden shed as tradition has made it. Or it might have been in a cave, carved out of the stone, as was often the case in those days. Whatever the facts, however, it was not the most pleasant place to give birth, or to spend your first hours on earth.
Yet, Mary and Joseph endured it. They pressed on, because they trusted God. They trusted that even in these humble surroundings, God was working a miracle. They were focused on what God had in mind, and did not worry about the situation surrounding them.
In the early morning hours of July 4th, 1952, a swimmer named Florence Chadwick made an attempt to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast, a 21 mile swim through shark-infested waters. The water became foggy that morning, and less than half a mile from shore, Chadwick had to be pulled from the water. It was not fatigue that defeated her. It was limited vision. "If I could have seen land, I might have made it." She said later.
After two months, she made another attempt. This time she kept a picture of the coast in her mind, overcame the despair, and reached her goal. (Wikipedia)
How many times over those nine months, and even in the months following Jesus' birth, must Mary and Joseph have despaired? But they pressed on, because they trusted God.
How many times do we despair at the difficulties life brings us - death, corruption, deceit, disappointment - they blind our vision of the goal.
What is the solution? Focus on Jesus - see your goal and press on. Trust in God.
PROMISE
There are difficulties in life, whether we have faith in God, or whether we do not. The difference is in how we approach those difficulties when we have accepted God's providence. Mary & Joseph faced ridicule, rejection, a difficult journey, and lowly accommodations at the end of that Journey. But they pressed on, because they trusted God.
Our hope is not in earthly things, but in heavenly. Our goal is not ease on earth, but joy in heaven. How else can we understand the words of Paul to the Philippians when he says:
"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained." (Phil 3:10-16 NIV)
Let me close with this simple story: A father, who climbed the ladder of success by determination and hard work, told the dean of a college where he hoped to send his son to school, that he wanted to spare his son from the same hardship he had endured. He intended to give his son all the money he wanted.
The dean, after listening to the man's good intentions, suggested he send his son to another college. He told the good man, "Our College already has enough students on that road to perdition."
Are you facing struggles today? Are you not sure sometimes, if you can make it to the next day, past the next bill, through this difficult trial? Trusting God will not make those things go away, but it will change your heart. What others intend for harm, God will use for good. Press on, and trust in God.
[1] When You Don't Have It All Together, Rebecca Pippert, Discipleship Journal #57, May 1990, page 17.
[2] Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator Supplements
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