Pastor Dan Eddy
Matthew 1:18-25
and Luke 2:1-7
Three Josephs’
views of Christmas
12-24-10
01
– Joseph the Son of Jacob. (Played by Pastor Bob Schipul)
Hi, my name is Joseph. I am Joseph, the son of Jacob. This is all that
is left of the many colored coat my father gave me. By the time it came back to
me years later this was all that was left…shredded. It reminded my of the
promise my great grandfather Abraham was given by the Lord.
This evening, the Lord wanted me to come talk to you about Christmas past.
No, this isn’t a Charles Dickens novel. Rather, the idea of the Hope of
Christmas. It was around long before Christ was born incarnate as Jesus.
Many people have tried to portray me, including Donny Osmond. But what
do they know about the hope I was given. The hope I lived in my life. The hope I had to cling to in the bottom of
the pit I was thrown into…or in the land where I was sold to…
The idea of Christmas began long before I was born. It started with Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They disobeyed God. The Lord could have chosen
to wipe them out, but the one Lord God was forgiving, compassionate and
promised to send the Messiah, because He knew they would not be the world’s
only sinners. It would spread like a disease as the world’s population
grew…passed down from parents to children.
So to remind humankind He hadn’t forgotten them the Lord reminded them
through my grandfather, Abraham. He told them through this bloodline this
Messiah would come. He would have more descendants than stars in the sky or
grains in the sand, the Lord promised.
The people of the world would be blessed through them.
So I understood that Christmas would be the birth of this future
Messiah. And my life in many small ways mirrored my great, great, great, great…well
you get the idea…great grandson.
There were differences between my future grandson and me. Jesus was
perfect. I was not.
But, I was rejected by my family like Jesus was. My half-brothers were
jealous of me…and thought I was crazy, just like Jesus’ half-brothers. They
sold me into slavery to
I earned the respect of my fellow countrymen…like Jesus did. Granted His
was Jewish and mine was Egyptian.
And I was falsely accused of doing bad things…just like Jesus. I was
accused salacious behavior with Potiphar’s wife. Jesus was falsely accused of
much worse…He was charged with blaspheming God.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, I forgave my brothers years later
for the horrible things they had done to me. Oh I had the power to kill them,
being second only to the King of Egypt. But I didn’t. What my brothers intended
for evil God used for good…to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of
many lives.
What Jesus did was much greater…He could have killed all of us. But
instead He forgave you and me. Instead He had compassion. What you and I
intended for evil….what the Devil intended for evil…God used for good, through His Son’s suffering and dying…to
accomplish what is now being done…the saving of many lives for eternity. That’s
the real Christmas!!
02- Joseph – Foster Father
to Jesus (Played by Pastor Dan Eddy)
Good evening. I
am Joseph…the caregiver, the foster father to Jesus. I know I look and sound a
lot like your Pastor Dan…call it God’s practical joke.
Anyway, the Lord
sent me here this evening to talk to you about Christmas presents. Yeah you
heard me right presents…as in the things you have under the tree.
Now I don’t know
if you’ve ever had this happen…but have you ever been given a gift that you
didn’t like at first? You actually detested it. But then it became your
favorite gift.
That’s the way I
looked at Jesus. Here I chose Mary to be my wife, and we were married in every
single respect BUT we hadn’t consummated our marriage yet. In our tradition you
got married, made your vows before God then months later we would have a
celebration at groom’s house and then the honeymoon would begin.
Everything was
going along swimmingly in our marriage until I found out my wife was
pregnant…and I was not the father. I was furious. My family and hers were
embarrassed. Gossip spread throughout our little village. I was
mortified…humiliated. I could have had her stoned to death. But I couldn’t live
with myself knowing that I would be responsible for the death of two lives. A
divorce seemed more reasonable.
But then in a
dream…an Angel of the Lord reminded me of a couple of things: One, I was a
descendant of David…where my grandfather from several generations back…was
promised that his throne would last forever. I was the remnant of that
throne…even though I was nothing more than a peasant carpenter. Second, the
angel reminded me of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 ESV: “Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Then it hit me
like a couple of two by fours. My wife was a virgin and the Angel was telling
me the time had come for the Messiah to be born. There was no biological human
father…the Holy Spirit was. And as a result my son would be “God with us.”
I woke up in a
cold sweat, knowing that I could have made the biggest mistake of my life. But
I didn’t.
Now I’ll have to
admit to you Christmas for me was joyful, confusing and overwhelming. Mary and
I may have been royalty but we didn’t live like it. We faced a tough journey
from northern
And the gift I
detested because of my lack of faith and ignorance…over time became my favorite
gift of life. What I was clueless about before…I grew to know more and
more…even if I didn’t completely understand everything. And although I didn’t
get a chance to see my foster son do all the miracles, speak all the parables,
or even see Him on that first Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead…I am the
proud beneficiary of His work, and so are you.
Jesus is all my
favorite Christmas presents wrapped up into one Savior.
03 - Joseph – Former CEO Christian
(Played by John Herth at the 5pm service and Henry Bertolon at 7:30pm service)
Hello I am
Joseph. I am not related to the previous two Josephs. I am what is called a
C.E.O. Christian…Christmas and Easter Only.
I don’t have time
for Church…job, family, sports activities, recreation, obligations. Now I’m not
a scrooge. I am kind and mostly descent. I am generous to my family. And I’ll
prove it. I’ll show you my credit card bill. And for many years I was a
faithful church attender on Christmas and Easter only, and maybe an occasional
baptism or other Sunday.
Well it was that
way until one year I couldn’t even bring myself to go to church on Christmas
Eve. I told my wife and family that I didn’t believe in all that incarnation
stuff which the churches promote at this time of the year. It just didn't make
sense to me, and I was going to stop pretending. God coming to Earth as a man,
please. I was tired of being a hypocrite.
So
disappointed…the family went off to church without me. I stayed home with my
brandy, a good book, and a nice fire in the fireplace. It was perfect. The snow
began to fall in that beautiful
Well minutes later I heard this awful thumping sound. At first I thought it was
those Severson boys throwing snowballs at my house. So I flung open the front
door to yell…only to find some birds huddled shivering in the snow.
They'd been
caught up in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly
through my picture window.
Well, I couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze. I thought I have
this barn out back that would be nice and warm for them. So I put on my shoes
and coat. I walked through the fast
accumulating snow and opened up the barn. But the birds didn’t come in.
I laid out bird
seed on the snow to get them closer to the barn…nothing. I turned on the
light…perhaps if they saw the light…then they would come and get out of the
cold, and keep from freezing to death. But no dice.
I tried catching
them but they only flew away. I waved my arms to get them to go toward the
barn…nothing.
I tripped over a
snow covered rock, landed face first in the snow and in my frustration I
thought “Why won’t these birds listen to
reason? Why won’t they take my help? Why can’t they see I care for them? Why
can’t they trust me?”
If I could only
be like them…if I could be a bird. Then I could hang around with them, speak
their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. That I love them and
care for them, and I want to save them. But I thought “I would have to be one of them so they could see, hear, and understand
me."
Just then I heard
the church bells in the distant ringing, and I knelt down in the snow and asked
God to forgive me for being a CEO Christian. It finally made sense. Jesus came
to earth to speak to me…to save me a sinner. He is one of us. He gave me faith
at my baptism. He feeds me to strengthen my faith at Holy Communion. He
increases my faith through worship and Bible study.
He loves me,
saves me, and through His Church protects me better than a barn can for birds.
He is my light of salvation to protect me from the storms of life.
My life changed
after that night. Christmas and Easter I now celebrated every week. The myriad
of questions I had about sin, the Bible, Heaven, Hell, Jesus, death,
forgiveness, eternal life, prayer, love, and life. I have received many good
answers over the years.
I am no longer a
CEO Christian. No, now I am an ABC Christian….Always Being in Church….Always
Being in Christ. My family praised God for me joining them every week. That was
several years ago.
Since then, the
Lord has helped us through some tough Christmases…the year I lost my job. The
Christmas my son was diagnosed with cancer. The year my wife passed away.
Just like with
the previous two Josephs…life is filled with the sorrows. But, the God who
became one of us has given you and me joy that we get in bits and pieces of
today…as we look forward to the Day when every morning will be Christmas.
God bless you
this Holy Season to know, live, and trust in Jesus’ Christmas love everyday.
Amen.
(The core of the 3rd Joseph’s character
is based and adapted from Paul Harvey’s Christmas Story at http://www.tyny.com/christmasstory.html.)