Joseph, The Righteous Man

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly.
-Matthew 1:18-19

Joseph was engaged to be married to Mary, when she told him that she was pregnant.  She told him something that didn\’t make sense.  She told him that she had not had another man in her life, but that she was visited by an angel, who told her that God would cause her to be pregnant, in a miraculous way. 

We do not know how Joseph judged Mary\’s account of how she became pregnant.  What we do know is how he responded to this crisis.  He responded with mercy and honor in a righteous way.

Joseph\’s betrothal to Mary was a more serious  matter than engagements of couples today.  In today\’s language, Joseph was already Mary\’s husband, while Mary remained at her father\’s household. 

It would be hard enough to find out that your fiance, today, was pregnant with someone else\’s baby; but Joseph\’s responsibilities were heavier in his day, because he was legally bound to Mary and had to decide what to do.  In this kind of situation, a man could have his betrothed branded as an adulteress.  But that is not what Joseph had in mind to do.

Joseph was righteous, kind, and merciful with Mary.  He was going to annul the marriage quietly and let Mary have her baby.  We do not know whether he believed Mary or not.  What we do know is that he treated her with dignity and respect.  Joseph acted with benevolence, charitability and kindness.

Adultery was punishable by stoning under the law, although there is no evidence that it was practiced during Jesus lifetime(1).  Joseph reminds us of how Jesus treated the woman brought to him who was caught in adultery (John 8:3-11).  The men who brought her were asking Jesus to endorse the stoning of her.  They brought her to Jesus, saying that the law demands that she be punished by death.  Jesus, the embodiment of God\’s righteousness, did something else.

Joseph, who was living out an authentic, righteous life; had to decide what to do in response to Mary\’s news that she was pregnant.  Joseph\’s righteousness was tempered with kindness, honor, and mercy; just like Jesus.  Joseph did not want to punish Mary.  He also did not want to go ahead and marry her, because that would be unrighteous as well, in his mind.  The righteous thing to do was to not humiliate her and quietly divorce her.

Joseph shows us what righteousness is.  He desired to live within God\’s laws, but also to have God\’s heart.  God\’s heart says, \”I desire mercy and not sacrifice\”(Hosea 6:6, Matt. 9:13). 

Joseph seems insignificant compared to Mary.  After Jesus\’ childhood, we don\’t see him.  But Joseph is very significant.  How he treated Mary is very important.  God inspired Matthew to tell us in a matter of fact way that Joseph was a righteous man and illustrates this.  Joseph was interested in following God\’s heart.  He was kind, merciful, and benevolent.

This is the man who got to hold baby Jesus.  This is the man who got to raise him.  This is the man who taught Jesus a trade.  He taught him how to live.  He taught him how to treat a woman.

If you are a man and specifically a father or will be a father, you need to understand that this is your second most important function, role, or assignment in your life.  Your most important thing is being God\’s child.

Joseph and Mary\’s lives were not a charade.  They were real people trying to live out normal, godly lives.  God selected Mary to do a one time thing that people have not stopped talking about.  Joseph has something in common with God, in that he saw something in Mary and selected her also.

While Joseph was making his selection of Mary, God was also selecting Joseph to be Jesus father.  Joseph would be the man that Almighty God would trust with raising Jesus.  Joseph watched over Jesus and protected him and gave him a home to grow up in.  Joseph provided one of the greatest services in history.  This man is the servant of God, literally.

All of this might not get our attention as important, in our culture that bashes fatherhood.

When the Bible introduces us to Joseph, it shows us the kind of man, the kind of husband, and the kind of father that we men want to be.  These traits apply to ladies as well.

True righteousness covers the faults of others.  True righteousness is honorable, humane, and benevolent.  The truly righteous person is merciful.  They see sin and weep over it.  They want to connect sinners with God\’s forgiveness.  They want to see redemption.  Sin is not ok with them, but they know it\’s destructiveness and want to lead people out from and away from it, through God\’s forgiveness.

The truly righteous one sees themself as a sinner saved by God or a beggar leading other beggars to the bread of life.  The truly righteous one is not self-righteous, but humble.  Humble means that your God is big and you are small, but you know that God is your all in all.

Joseph shows us that the righteous person is concerned with doing right before God in justice, with humility before God and man; while living out the kindness of God\’s character in mercifulness and benevolence.
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Footnote
1. Hagner, Matthew 1-13, p. 18

Deck The Halls With Boughs of Holly

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Don we now our gay apparel,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la.
Troll the ancient Yule tide carol,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

See the blazing Yule before us,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Follow me in merry measure,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
While I tell of Yule tide treasure,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Fast away the old year passes,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Sing we joyous, all together,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Heedless of the wind and weather,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

“Deck The Halls“, originally called, “Deck The Hall”, is a Christmas Carol, that is for New Year’s Eve.  The idea that Christmas hails the new year, is brought to light in this song.  It was originally a Welsh poem, translated into English by Thomas Oliphant and published in 1862.

The words above are the rendition that I am most familiar with.  My understanding is that these words were not the original, but changes were made in the fifteen years following 1862.  The original has lines in it about drinking:

“Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel”, and, “See the flowing bowl before us”, 

As well as, 

“While I sing of beauty’s treasure”, and, “Laughing, quaffing all together”.

See the wikipedia article, if you are interested in reading about the variations.

I was wondering what this song was all about.  I get it about, ’tis the season to be jolly’.  And that is true right now.  We are in a season of joy.  And the world is trying to convince you otherwise.

Holly symbolizes masculinity.  And ivy symbolizes femininity.  There is another Christmas Carol called, “The Holy and The Ivy”.  But this song is about putting up holly throughout your house.

The word ‘holly’ is not connected to ‘holy’, but ‘prickly’.  Holly has leaves with sharp, prickly ends on it.  The vibrant, red berries on holly are also associated with masculinity and the blood of Jesus.

In ancient times, holly leaves were used as a tea, to treat arthritis, kidney stones and bronchitis.  

Some people believe that the crown of thorns that the Roman soldiers put on Jesus’ head was holly.  This may be a myth, but the symbol of the holly and it’s similarity to the thorny vine used as the crown of thorns put upon Jesus’ head remains.

David Beaulieu, wrote:

“There are hundreds of species of holly plants (Ilex), and the plants come in all sizes, ranging from spreading dwarf holly shrubs 6 inches in height to holly trees 70 feet tall. Their shapes vary from rounded to pyramidal to columnar. Landscaping enthusiasts use this versatile plant in a number of different ways, including as foundation plantings.”

Here is an excerpt from Andy Byfield’s article on Holly, in the Guardian’s Gardening Blog:

“As well as playing a key role in a woodland’s winter ecology, holly has a strong cultural resonance amongst humans. Festive holly imagery on Christmas cards may be a Victorian invention, but the tree’s association with Christmas goes back to pagan times, when it was customary to bring holly boughs in to deck out the house. Holly was seen as a powerful fertility symbol, and was believed to be an effective charm to ward off witches and ill-fortune: for this reason it was often planted close to homes and outbuildings. Conveniently, its thorny foliage and blood-red berries lent themselves to Christian tradition, and the early customs surrounding the species were fully adopted by Christianity. With its intense red berries, the holly was also seen as a very masculine plant – after all, “the holly wears the crown” – though the fact that hollies with berries are always female seems to have been conveniently forgotten by some in society.”

According to Catholic tradition:

“the holly is held by tradition to be of the same plant as the wood of the Cross was said to come from. During Advent and Christmas Christians acknowledge the need for a Savior and holly reminds them of this: the holly bough is one of St. John the Baptist’s symbols; the Saint heralded our Lord’s coming as Isaiah did in the Old Testament.”

Joy To The World!

Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders, of his love.

-Isaac Watts, Psalms of David Imitated (1719) under the heading “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom.”

This magnificent hymn, which is popularly sung at Christmas time, is about King Jesus and the kingdom of God.

The echo is of Psalm 98: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!”

The gospel is the gospel of the kingdom.   The great joy in the gospel is that the Lord has come.

It is a great misconception that the kingdom of God is all future, all ‘not yet’.  The kingdom is ‘already and not yet’.  The kingdom is neither finished coming nor postponed in coming.

The kingdom of God has been coming.  Isaac Watts’ song is describing the world: past, present and future-

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come.  Let earth receive her King!  Let every heart prepare him room.”

“Joy to the earth the savior reigns.”

A hallmark of the kingdom of God is joy.  It is the realm of the Holy Spirit, filled with righteousness, peace and joy (Rom 14:17).

Father’s great joy is to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:3).

The news of the kingdom is news of great joy (Luke 2:10).

Right now, the kingdom is breaking in and breaking out on the earth and a marker of it is the joy.

Despite what the world would tell you, there is more joy right now and joy is increasing in your life.  Joy is flowing out from God to you, if you will see it.

Look for, recognize and live in the new level of joy that God has provided.  Cultivate it and share it.

Experience the joy that God is opening up to you, pouring out upon you and reinvigorating you with

The message is: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.  Let earth receive her king!”  That was the message when baby Jesus was born, when Jesus lived, when he died, when he rose, when he ascended and today.

We do not live in a ‘grim time’ of no joy.  Today is a day of joy.  God is pouring out joy on his people today.

Joy is coming from heaven to earth today.  Joy from God is here.  Christians are meant to be the joy filled people and God is making sure of this by giving us more joy right now.

Discover it, pick it up and put it on.  See it in your heart and let it out.  Thank God for it.

Praise God.  Worship the Lord.  Turn to God always.

Simply enjoy your life with God and welcome those you meet to join in and be adopted by papa in Jesus.

Silent Night, Holy Night

Be angry and do not sin; on your bed, reflect in your heart and be still.
Selah

-Psalm 4:4

The Psalms are the Bible’s book of prayers.  The Psalms teach us that God listens and we need to learn listening.  And the Psalms ask us to be brutally honest with God.

These are three things I have learned recently about the Psalms, the Psalms of David particularly.

Blessed rest and sweet sleep are connected to not sinning in our anger, open-hearted hurt process, living ‘honest to God’, and being in union with God, no matter what.

Psalm 4 has some advice about silence and anger.  When we are angry, we want to vent it out and a common way of venting is with words.

First of all, anger is not taboo.  We are allowed to be angry.  But be angry and do not sin.

Things like being abusive or destructive, being vengeful or vituperative, and just punishing others because you are angry, is wrong.  Anger is a secondary emotion.  We get angry when we suffer a loss.

Beneath the anger is hurt and sadness that needs expression and processing: grief.  The ungrieved losses that give rise to anger become bitterness.  The anger at your loss is understandable, but you must take the time to feel the pain and suffer your loss, feeling it and grieving it; in order to heal and not add sin to your loss.

The person who does not do this instead takes on the role of being forever angry.  That becomes their identity.  Instead of being for something, whether it is that they want to make something better, in a role or a job, they instead are the angry person, that is against something.  

We constantly have reason to be and opportunities to become angry, because we constantly face losses and infractions upon our will or plans.  But, we must learn how to have healthy angry, to be angry but not to sin.

For nice, Christian people, this might be hard.  The nice, Christian person’s ‘anger problem’ is not yelling or rage, but sadness and passivity.  The hurts of life that give rise to anger are suppressed into an inner sadness.

Silence is really what I want to share about.  It is a discipline of your self, to remain silent.  God is listening, but am I listening?

Go ahead and be angry, but also reflect on your loss and let it go.  In the silence, let the hurt that is beneath the anger, come up and out.

What I see is a discipline of taking your hurt self, your self who has suffered a loss or injustice, to God.  And the deepest and most profound and mature thing you can do is to take your self to the cross.  Bring yourself to Christ to be crucified with him (Galatians 2:20).

That thing you lost or you do not have that you want.  What was taken from you or that you think is yours that you do not yet possess.  You hurt about that and want God to give it to you.

You want breakthrough or breakout.  But, what God wants to give you right now is break-in.  God wants you and Him to be together right now in whatever space or place you are in.  That thing or situation you desire and hurt over so much that you’ve got all this anger about not having it.  And some of it even gets directed at God.

But you know God is good and God loves you and is a good Father.  So, you feel confused and you go back and forth, blaming yourself and consider blaming others who have blocked you or held you back.  And this whole thing you are in has affected your sleep.

Your worries and thoughts are keeping you up at night.  You sleep, but you don’t sleep well and you don’t wake up refreshed.

God wants to be with you where you are at right now.  Jesus wants to have table fellowship with you and communion (Revelation 3:20).

I have learned recently that the Psalms of David teach us that God listens and we need to listen better.  I have also learned that the one thing God wants, that God requires of me, it to be honest with Him, brutally honest.

And that is what Psalm 4:4 is about: being honest to God.  Sit on your bed or couch and be silent.  Let God speak and let the words of your heart well up, in silence and find their way into communion with God.

Go for the highest aim, the highest road; which is union with God.  And then let everything else in your life fall into place.  God is listening, so speak honestly; from a cultivation of your own listening to the inner regions of your heart.

Have no thing, no thought, no obstacle of resentment, disappointment, fear, judgement or hopelessness that would block your union with God, your papa.  Come as you are and sit in his lap.  Laugh, cry, snug and hug; be loved and let your destiny as his child be formed in you.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

We Need A Little Christmas

Celebrate always, pray constantly, and give thanks to God no matter what circumstances you find yourself in.  (This is God’s will for all of you in Jesus the Anointed.)

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (The Voice)

Someone lost her adult son this week.  Someone else has a son with stage four cancer.  Someone else I closely know had the anniversary of losing his young son this week.  I also know someone else who’s husband left her and their kids.  I know someone who’s romantic relationship has broken up after a hopeful year.  And I know several women who lost their husbands in the past 15 months, who are grieving.  We also said goodbye to my neighbors of over twenty years, yesterday, who are moving away, to be closer to their family.

The gospel of Jesus, the good news of the kingdom, is that God has come and rescued us for time and eternity.  Jesus is emmanuel, God with us.  Jesus saves and Jesus is with us.

He promised he would always be with us and would send the Holy Spirit, who is the comforter.  This is what he told the disciples at the last supper, when he was saying goodbye to them and we get the same benefit.  Being a Christian is not just about going to heaven when you die, but having Christ in you when you live.

That is the good news.  I have this thought that we need to celebrate Christ coming often.  Christmas is not once a year, but part of our whole lives.

When someone receives Christ and believes the gospel for the first time, that day is their Christmas.  Christ is birthed in their heart or rather, they are birthed into the kingdom of God.  Then throughout our lives, we continually celebrate Christmas: Christ coming as a gift and the gift of being born into Christ’s kingdom.

We all are celebrants is the mass of Christ.  We take Christ into our lives daily in celebration.

Baby Jesus was born into a dangerous and violent time.  Jesus comes as God’s gift to save the world and redeem it.  He changes everything.

Jesus does not hand out tickets to heaven, but changes lives and teaches us to ask God to bring heaven to earth.  Jesus brings redemption to chaos and suffering in humanity.  Jesus also heals us and delivers us.

Jesus life that we share is also a life of suffering, where we are with and in him, utterly depending upon Father, and living by faith in God as our papa.

Today, right now, we need a little Christmas.  We need to come back to remembering what life is all about and what is important and what we celebrate.  The good news about Jesus is good everyday, especially when we are digesting bad news in our lives.

The good news is so good that it almost makes us forget the bad things we are experiencing.  The good news is not a distraction but the transformative event that changes everything.  We celebrate Jesus coming because he is the gift from God that redeems.

Jesus is the redeemer.  He takes us and pays for us.  And more.

Jesus does not just make the pain or sorrow go away.  His redemption is that he comes into it and is with us in it.  The good news is that we are not alone or left alone.

Jesus coming does not just cheer us up.  He comes to change everything and redeem us.  When we celebrate Christmas, with all of it’s accoutrements, like holly, trees, lights and gifts, santa, reindeer, decorations and fun foods; they all point to the gift and the joy and the celebration of Jesus coming.

I heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Photo –Brian Webster, Clifton Campville Church Bells, CC SA 2.0

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
-Luke 2:11-14 (KJV)

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Christmas is normally and by default, a very happy day.  I remember the first Christmas after my grandpa died.  My grandma was so different.  This Christmas, was filled with the most sadness, of any for her.  Christmas is different when you are grieving.  (1)

The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was grieved on Christmas, in 1863; and wrote the poem, Christmas Bells.  He had lost his second wife, Frances, in an accidental fire, two years previous; and he just received word that his oldest son, Charles, had been wounded in battle.

There are at least two versions, in my memory, of “I heard The Bells on Christmas Day“.  I am not even certain if the happy sounding one is based on Longfellow’s poem.  The tune for the Longfellow-based song is somewhat melancholy, yet hopeful.

A hard aspect, or difficult part or the Christmas story, is the story of all the infants (boys under the age of two) who were murdered, told in Matthew, chapter 2.  Recently, when a young boy died in a tragic accident; I read comments in that town’s local newspaper’s on-line version, where people opined that God caused this untimely and tragic death.  “No!”, is what I said, when I added my voice to the comments thread.  God does not kill little boys on purpose in accidents.  But accidents happen.  God allows it.  We live in a fallen world that is being redeemed, and the job is not done.

This coming Christmas will be very different for that family.  But, God gave us the gift of grieving our losses, to be healed.  Every adult has scars in their lives that are healed wounds.  Broken hearts can and are healed, but we still bear the scars and sadness from our losses of our loved ones.  Those who loose a child may very well live out the rest of their lives with a hole in their hearts where something is missing, until heaven.

The bells are ringing because good tidings are being announced.  Jesus came to redeem the world.  This place has sadness, but God has come to give us joy.  A spiritual battle is being fought for the souls of all.

Christmastime is also a time of redemption.  It cost God to redeem us.  The enemy is going to fight it.  Life will be difficult, but there will be joy.  We will get knocked down, but never defeated.  Death can not even defeat us.

There is great sadness and joy in the Christian life.  Our feelings are alive, so we feel both and we don’t need to numb them, like non-believers try to do so often.  We don’t have to be stoic or in denial.  We don’t have to be rugged individuals.  No.  We will weep.  Jesus wept and so will we.

Sorrow is better than laughter (Ecc. 7:3) and many people, oftentimes rich or well-off people (most of us in America), need to learn grieving.  Instead of seeking to consume more and be entertained more, we need to mourn (James 4:9).

God’s working to redeem the world is wild and sweet.  God works within the frame of humans who have free will to choose, with a seemingly infinite capacity deceive our selves.  But the biggest deception is that God is not God.  That he is not loving, or just, good, powerful, truthful, merciful, or a hundred other unique attributes of God.

Fallen human beings have hearts geared to their desires (1 Jn 2:16).  God changes the Christian’s heart and the Christians begin to live in Christ.  The Christian living in Christ lives in love; God’s love through Christ and now that love is their rule of life towards others.  The life and command of Christ is to love other Christians (1 Jn. 2).

Christmastime (which is all the time) is a time to give and receive gifts, but it is also a time to reflect of on the redemption that the gift of Christ brings.  He redeems the ugly to be beautiful.  Because he came and paid for sin and rose from the dead, I have joy after my mourning.  I have hope that the world does not have (1 Thess. 4:13).

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

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1. This post is from a series:
Gifts From God: Christmastime all The Time
Feliz Navidad!
What Child is This?

Feliz Navidad!

Photo By srqpix (CC BY 2.0)

But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.

-Luke 2:10-11

Feliz Navidad!  The voice is heard, that says, “Feliz Navidad!”  “Feliz” means blessed, fortunate, lucky, magnificent or grand; splendid, satisfied or content; opportune or timely. (1)

Here are some examples of this word in the Bible.  I looked feliz up in Spanish translations.  Here are the verses, in English, with the word in italics that was feliz in the Spanish translation:

Happy are the people with such blessings.

Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.
-Psalm 144:15

Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding, for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold

Anyone who listens to me is happy, watching at my doors every day, waiting by the posts of my doorway.  

Be wise, my son, and bring my heart joy, so that I can answer anyone who taunts me.
-Proverbs 3:13-14, 8:34, 27:11

He also said to the one who had invited Him,“When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid.  On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
-Luke 14:12-14

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:  “I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa.
-Acts 26:1c-2a

A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants—only in the Lord.  But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion.  And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
-1 Corinthians 7:39-40

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.
-Ephesians 6:2-3

For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
-Titus 2:11-13

Feliz is more than “happy”.  It means “good fortune has come”, or “you are fortunate”.  Remember “Felix The Cat”?  He is more than a happy cat.  He is blessed.

Don’t misunderstand.  It does not mean “famous”, but “fortunately blessed”.  It means “lucky”, in the sense also of a person who has received blessings.  When we sign a letter, “blessings”, we are saying, “may you be receive good fortune”.

Navidad is Spanish for Christmas or “birth of Christ” or “Christmastime”. Navidad is from the Latin word nativitas, meaning “birth”.  So, “Felice Navidad” means “Blessed Birth”, but since is has referred to The Blessed Birth, it also means “Happy Christmas”.

This is a continuation of the message I posted from last week, Christmastime All the Time.  Some of us are now coming into a special season of receive gifts.  So, here is what you can do: believe, receive, give thanks, and keep being generous.

Christmas in August?  Christmas is harvest time.  In fact, Jesus was likely born in the fall, around the time of The Feast of The Tabernacles.  As they say, “look it up!”

My next post, What Child Is This?, will carry on this theme.  Feliz Navidad!

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1. Websters Spanish Dictionary

Gifts From God: Christmastime All The Time

“Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.

-Matthew 7:7-12 (HCSB)

God is the supreme giver of gifts.  The ultimate gift from God is Christ (John 3:16).  What are the gifts that you are asking God for?  Giving and receiving gifts was invented by God.

Christmastime is all the time with God.  The word “Christmas” evokes thoughts of gifts and giving gifts.  We have the greatest gift and we give gifts to one another in celebration of that gift.  

Christmas also might mean Christ + Mass.  Catholic Christians call their church meeting “Mass”.  “Mass” is thought of to mean “Eucharistic service”, (the Catholic church service is usually a two-part affair consisting of communion and a Biblical exposition) from the Latin “messe”; but “mass” also comes from the late Latin, “missa”, as in “dismissal” (“to let go, send”), calling to mind mission, as in the great commission.  The idea being, “Having taken Christ into your being (or being reminded of such), and with prayers being sent to God; now go out, as his agents, into the world, spreading the good news.  You are dismissed.”  That’s what “Mass” means.

A reminder that although people say Eucharist means holy communion, the definition of the word is “thanksgiving”.  Saying “grace” before a meal is eucharisteo, “To give thanks”, or literally, “Thankful for God’s good grace”.  In the gospels, Jesus gave thanks before meals.  What I understand is that Catholics say, “The Eucharist”, for communion, meaning, “The Thanksgiving”.

The Eucharist is a Thanksgiving Dinner.  (1)

Christmas is when we celebrate God’s gift.  God is always celebrating Christmas and we get to join in.  The Christian life is filled with a reception of God’s gifts.  

God’s ethos is that he is a giver and God’s children become and learn the ethos of being givers.  Remember that as Christians, we are under or in and live through grace.  I don’t break the ten commandments (we keep the Sabbath differently under the law of Christ), because I am in God’s grace, not because I am under the law.  I have the living desire to be a generous giver, because I am in God’s grace.

I am convinced that God always has more gifts and wants to give us more.  We are the ones who decide how much we will get.  We get gifts from God by pursuing God.  

Every day is Christmas with God.  The Christian life is one of receiving gifts and being generous.  It really is that simple.  God gave, God gives; I receive and am thankful (a Eucharistic life); and then in turn, I am generous.

When Jesus teaches us about His Father’s generosity and benevolent goodness towards his children, he ends with this statement, saying, “In the light of what I have just taught you about my father’s care for you – to keep asking, seeking, and knocking for what you desire; because God is a father who gives gifts to his children, surpassing what the best human fathers do – in light of that truth, whatever you want done for you, do that for others.”

Jesus teaches us to, in a sense, “Give what we want to get”.  If you want a promotion, then promote others.  If you want to find a wife or husband, help others to find their future wife or husband.  If you need more money, give money to those in need.  If you need _____, then give ____ to others that need it.

The ethos of the kingdom is generosity.  God starts it and we get to play, and God keeps it going, as we go with it.  Christ-mass-time is all the time and Christmas is a time of receiving and giving.

Children eventually learn to receive and give at Christmas.  We also learn that we don’t give to get, but give from generosity birthed in our lives in God (John 3:16).  We get, then give to get to give.

Jesus addresses earthly fathers in Matthew 7, saying that, “As you give gifts to your children, Father gives gifts to you”, and “Keep asking for what you desire, keep believing your heavenly Father for those gifts.”

Jesus implies that there is often a time between the times, of waiting for something you desire – that thing you want.  He says, “You want something”, “Keep asking for it”, “God will give you the desire of your heart, as He is a father who gives his children gifts”; “And while you are asking with faith, but have not received it yet, give what you want to another person who needs it.”

Jesus also tags that last statement with stating that this is what the whole Law and the Prophets are saying.  This is the golden rule of, “Give unto others what you would have them give unto you”.  We are not under law, but we are in the kingdom that is themed with generosity.  The King is generous and we his subjects are generous.

The kingdom is about generous living.  

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Footnote:
1. The Eucharist is a Thanksgiving Dinner. You would never know that from the way that many churches “do it”.  Even in 1 Corinthians, we quote Paul, and skip the fact that the Corinthians celebrated the Eucharist or Communion in a meal.  The person with the microphone parachutes in to the verse that says, “On the night he was betrayed, Jesus…..”  But, in reality, the Christians hearing those words, had plates of food in from of them, and perhaps some flies buzzing around the room, and crumbs and spilled wine on the floor.

What does this all have to do with gifts from God?  What is has to do with God’s gifts is that feasting is a gift from God.  Jesus Christ is a feast and not a snack.  He is a full meal.  He is a long drink.  He is also someone we continually feed upon, 24/7.

A tiny package does not honestly and justly show the gift of God.  It actually sends the wrong message.  The gospel is wild and overflowing.  It can not be contained.

When God gave the gift of manna in the desert, it was very plentiful.  They filled bags with it.  That’s a contrast to the communion cracker.

Joseph, The Righteous Man

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly.
-Matthew 1:18-19

Joseph was engaged to be married to Mary, when she told him that she was pregnant.  She told him something that didn’t make sense.  She told him that she had not had another man in her life, but that she was visited by an angel, who told her that God would cause her to be pregnant, in a miraculous way. 

We do not know how Joseph judged Mary’s account of how she became pregnant.  What we do know is how he responded to this crisis.  He responded with mercy and honor in a righteous way.

Joseph’s betrothal to Mary was a more serious  matter than engagements of couples today.  In today’s language, Joseph was already Mary’s husband, while Mary remained at her father’s household. 

It would be hard enough to find out that your fiance, today, was pregnant with someone else’s baby; but Joseph’s responsibilities were heavier in his day, because he was legally bound to Mary and had to decide what to do.  In this kind of situation, a man could have his betrothed branded as an adulteress.  But that is not what Joseph had in mind to do.

Joseph was righteous, kind, and merciful with Mary.  He was going to annul the marriage quietly and let Mary have her baby.  We do not know whether he believed Mary or not.  What we do know is that he treated her with dignity and respect.  Joseph acted with benevolence, charitability and kindness.

Adultery was punishable by stoning under the law, although there is no evidence that it was practiced during Jesus lifetime(1).  Joseph reminds us of how Jesus treated the woman brought to him who was caught in adultery (John 8:3-11).  The men who brought her were asking Jesus to endorse the stoning of her.  They brought her to Jesus, saying that the law demands that she be punished by death.  Jesus, the embodiment of God’s righteousness, did something else.

Joseph, who was living out an authentic, righteous life; had to decide what to do in response to Mary’s news that she was pregnant.  Joseph’s righteousness was tempered with kindness, honor, and mercy; just like Jesus.  Joseph did not want to punish Mary.  He also did not want to go ahead and marry her, because that would be unrighteous as well, in his mind.  The righteous thing to do was to not humiliate her and quietly divorce her.

Joseph shows us what righteousness is.  He desired to live within God’s laws, but also to have God’s heart.  God’s heart says, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”(Hosea 6:6, Matt. 9:13). 

Joseph seems insignificant compared to Mary.  After Jesus’ childhood, we don’t see him.  But Joseph is very significant.  How he treated Mary is very important.  God inspired Matthew to tell us in a matter of fact way that Joseph was a righteous man and illustrates this.  Joseph was interested in following God’s heart.  He was kind, merciful, and benevolent.

This is the man who got to hold baby Jesus.  This is the man who got to raise him.  This is the man who taught Jesus a trade.  He taught him how to live.  He taught him how to treat a woman.

If you are a man and specifically a father or will be a father, you need to understand that this is your second most important function, role, or assignment in your life.  Your most important thing is being God’s child.

Joseph and Mary’s lives were not a charade.  They were real people trying to live out normal, godly lives.  God selected Mary to do a one time thing that people have not stopped talking about.  Joseph has something in common with God, in that he saw something in Mary and selected her also.

While Joseph was making his selection of Mary, God was also selecting Joseph to be Jesus father.  Joseph would be the man that Almighty God would trust with raising Jesus.  Joseph watched over Jesus and protected him and gave him a home to grow up in.  Joseph provided one of the greatest services in history.  This man is the servant of God, literally.

All of this might not get our attention as important, in our culture that bashes fatherhood.

When the Bible introduces us to Joseph, it shows us the kind of man, the kind of husband, and the kind of father that we men want to be.  These traits apply to ladies as well.

True righteousness covers the faults of others.  True righteousness is honorable, humane, and benevolent.  The truly righteous person is merciful.  They see sin and weep over it.  They want to connect sinners with God’s forgiveness.  They want to see redemption.  Sin is not ok with them, but they know it’s destructiveness and want to lead people out from and away from it, through God’s forgiveness.

The truly righteous one sees themself as a sinner saved by God or a beggar leading other beggars to the bread of life.  The truly righteous one is not self-righteous, but humble.  Humble means that your God is big and you are small, but you know that God is your all in all.

Joseph shows us that the righteous person is concerned with doing right before God in justice, with humility before God and man; while living out the kindness of God’s character in mercifulness and benevolence.
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Footnote
1. Hagner, Matthew 1-13, p. 18