A Disastrous Christmas

Have you ever considered that the first Christmas was NOT necessarily perfect - even though we seem to think of it that way??   

Put yourself in Mary's shoes as you read this and remember, never in the Bible does it say she complained.  She accepted everything that happened to her with grace and even thanksgiving.  I sure can't say that about me!  

First, Mary and Joseph are betrothed or engaged.  {In Bible times this betrothal was far more than an engagement of our day.  They were as good as married.  The wedding had not taken place, and the couple would not come together as man and wife until after it did, but they were promised to each other.  It was a done deal.  There would be no backing out without a bill of divorcement.}  Mary is working around the house one day and an angel appears.  Try explaining that to people!  "No, seriously, there really was an angel.  No one else was there to see it, but I promise there was an angel!  I'm NOT crazy!"

But it gets worse - The angel tells her that she's going to have a baby.  She's confused.  She asks the angel how this can be since she's a virgin.  He explains that her baby is God's Son.  {This story is getting more and more unbelievable!  This will be fun to explain to people...!!}  

{Have you ever wondered if Mary went to visit Elizabeth to get away for a while?  To get away from the talking that was going around or the looks that were flashed her way.} 

Joseph is preparing to marry Mary.  There's plans to make and a house to build. So much to think about..and then he gets some strange story from Mary about being pregnant.  He knows the baby is not his.  There's no way it could be.  He's shocked and hurt.  Confused.  And then she tries to explain it all away by saying the baby is God's Son!?!  That's a hard story to take!  And even if it were true, what are people going to be saying about them??  

Joseph spends some time thinking about it all.  The only idea that makes any since is to put Mary away secretly.  He doesn't want to embarrass her by making it a big public affair.  He can move on with his life and be done with it all.  

But while he's thinking, an angel appears.  {The first clue that maybe Mary's angel story was true.}  The angel tells him that it's OK.  He should go on ahead and take Mary as his wife.  The baby she's carrying really is God's Son.   That's a relief...kinda, sorta.  At least now he knows that Mary was faithful to him and not making up crazy stories!  But...what will people think??  She's still pregnant before the wedding...!?!  

Joseph takes Mary as his wife as the angel said to do.  Mary travels to see her cousin Elizabeth before she get's to big to travel.  It's a good visit.  Very encouraging.  Just what she needed.  Elizabeth believes her story and Joseph believes her story.  Mary knows God is good and God will work it all out.  But it's still hard to know what people think and hear the talk.  So many people don't understand or believe the story.  

Then Caesar Augustus decided to tax everyone.  They will need to return to the city they are from - another unexpected twist in Mary's life.  One more thing she wasn't planning on!  She's huge now. "Great with child." It's not easy to move around let alone make the 70 mile journey to Bethlehem.  Chances are they can make the journey and be back at home with her family before the baby comes.  Mary probably figures it'll all be ok.  It has to be.  There's no other options.  Still, the thought of having the baby alone without her mom or sisters or mid wives must have been scary....

The journey is long.  The donkey is slow and uncomfortable to say the least.  He jerks from side to side making every joint in Mary's body hurt...like being "great with child" isn't already uncomfortable.  The Bible doesn't tell us that either Mary or Joseph ever complained, but I can imagine she must have been miserable!  

They finally arrive in Bethlehem.  There are no available rooms anywhere.  Mary's tired and in pain from so may days on the road.  She just wants to sleep.  Joseph finds her a room in a barn.  It's not the best, but it's better than nothing.  At least they aren't outside in the street.  

{We don't know if it was just Mary and Joseph traveling together or not.  The Bible doesn't say.  They may have had other family with them since they were both descendants of David.  But the Bible doesn't say...}

Then it happens...the baby's coming!  {Is anyone shocked??  I'd think any woman who was "great with child" would go into labor after riding a donkey for 70 miles!}  Yet another unplanned event.  Nothing was going the way Mary had planned! 

Shepherds from the near by fields come to see the baby.  They already know that a Saviour is born in Bethlehem. {You have to wonder if Mary and Joseph completely understood all of this. The Bibles says, "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart".  Allot to ponder....}

A few weeks later Joseph is warned to flee to Egypt for the sake of the Baby Jesus.  King Herod has heard from the Wise Men that there's a New Born King and now he's planning to kill all the boy babies under 2 years old.  King Herod doesn't want to take any chances that this new King might try to take over his thrown. 

Finally after hiding out in Egypt for a while Joseph is told it's safe to return to Nazareth.  Another long journey.......but at least they're going home!  

SO many plans and dreams that didn't work out for Mary and Joseph.  So many days and nights when they had to wonder about it all.  What's going to happen next?  When will this all be over?  What do people think of us??  What do they think of Jesus?  How can we raise the Son of God?? 

So the next time my Christmas plans - or any plans at all - don't work out the way I planned, I'm going to try to remember this story and be thankful that just like God was in control of every event in Mary and Joseph's life, so He's in control of ours as well.  We can leave all of those plans in His hands and trust Him to do what's best for all of us.  If Mary could so graciously accept and be grateful for the changes and challenges that God brought to her, I think that we, too, could stand to be a little more flexible and complain just a bit less - even when our Christmas plans don't go exactly the way we had hoped. 

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