Now what?
Put yourself in Joseph's sandals. You've accepted that your wife to be is pregnant, and yet a virgin, based on her word and the word of an angel in a dream. That is a great testimony of faith. But now you have to face the world, and let's be real, who else is going to believe a story like that?
Joseph's next step in getting ready for Christmas is to be obedient to what he believes. You see, it's one thing to say you believe something, it's something else all together to act like it. Especially when times get tough, and you can bet that times got tough for Joseph.
People in his day weren't stupid. They knew how long a baby took to come along, and even if Joseph moved the wedding up, which no doubt caused some raised eyebrows, the timing still wasn't going to work out. They lived in a small community where everybody knew everything. They knew something was up, and I doubt they graciously accepted a story about the Holy Spirit and an angel. Nothing like that had ever happened, and it was just too convenient. People are people, and they will assume the worst, and act accordingly.
Joseph had a couple of options. He could have had Mary stoned, or sent her away, but he didn't. He could have moved away and made a living somewhere else, but he didn't. He could have done a lot of things, but what he decided to do was the right thing. He was obedient to what he believed, even if it was hard.
That meant obeying a decree of the Romans to go register in his ancestral home, Bethlehem. God's word says it is right and good to obey man's laws, even if you don't agree with them. I'm sure Joseph didn't want to take his very pregnant wife on a multi-day journey. I'm sure that wasn't the easiest choice he could have made, but it was the right one, and Joseph was a righteous man.
Since everyone had to make a similar journey, you can be the rumor train went ahead of and right along with Joseph and Mary. You know how it works--if there's a rumor about you, no matter where you go, it's going to beat you there. He was headed to his ancestral home, where his relatives lived. You can bet they knew he was coming, and his "predicament."
Besides the pressure of caring for his due-any-day wife, the gossip, the whispers behind the back, Joseph had the pressure of watching over the yet to be born Son of God. Since he believed, he accepted the responsibility. I doubt he fully understand the ramifications of being the stand-in dad for the Messiah, but I bet he understood he was a part of something much bigger than his simple life as a carpenter. That's a lot of pressure for a simple man. One like you and me.
What matters, though, is that he did it. When times got tough, Joseph did what he was supposed to do. He didn't take the easy path or the easy way out. He clung to his faith, squared his shoulders, gritted his teeth, and faced life. Joseph made the hard choice of being obedient, and doing the right thing. Come what may, Joseph decided to act on his faith.
We associate Christmas with faith, hope, joy, and love. But obedience? Perseverance? Those two are just as much a part of getting ready for Christmas as the former. Sometimes it's little things, like saying "Merry Christmas" instead of happy holidays, or speaking up when a school district changes the Christmas program to the Winter program. Making Christmas about Christ and not about presents. It's not easy when no one else is doing it, but that's not what matters. What matters is what is right.
What do you believe? If you believe Christmas is about Christ, then part of getting ready for Christmas is acting like it.
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