Stand Up and Be Counted

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:1-7

The above Christmas Story passage is something many of us can recite from memory and is generally cited in most Christmas Eve services. It has become so ingrained in our Christmas traditions that we tend not examine the sheer mechanics involved with the story. We focus on the birth of Christ, which is the reason for the season, but there is a deeper untold story of faith and obedience by Mary and Joseph.

Mary’s obedience began when the angel of the Lord told her that she would have a child even though she had not known a man (Luke 1:26-35) The females of this family must have an inkling of what would have gone through Mary’s mind and what she would have to say to Joseph. We have many daughters in the family and I can assure you that I would have a hard time hearing what Mary said about an angel telling her that she would be giving birth to the Messiah. It is intriguing to me that there is little or no mention of Mary’s parents and extended family and their collective response to the news. By this omission, is God telling us that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with what others think and that only obedience to Him is what is the most important?

Joseph’s obedience begins when he responds to a dream commanding him to take Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:18-24) even though she was pregnant and he was not the father. He looked at the larger picture and sacrificed himself and his pride in order to obey the Lord. It was within his prerogative (during those times) to put Mary away and disgrace her but he chose to obey and marry her as the angel in his dream instructed. Up until recently I have taken that passage and the obedience of Joseph for granted. Think about what The Lord was asking Joseph to do. The men reading this posting must have an inkling of what ran through Joseph’s mind not to mention the pressure he had to feel from his family; and yet he obeyed! Again, throughout the story there is no mention of Joseph’s family’s response to the news either. Is there a pattern here?

With trust in the Lord complete between Mary and Joseph we must examine the mechanics of their 90 mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Travel in those days was difficult at best and people generally did not migrate very far from the place they were born. Recognizing this, the idea of travel for Mary and Joseph was compounded by the fact that she was 8-9 months pregnant. How many of us would consider a 90 mile hike or donkey back ride for ourselves or our extremely pregnant wives. The emotional and physical stress on Mary had to be beyond what we would be willing to endure. But they were obeying the law of Caesar so they could be counted in the census. But why? How would anyone know that they didn’t go? There were no computers to compare lists of non-compliance people. So why did Joseph take his pregnant wife on a grueling 90 mile ordeal just to be counted in a census? Again the answer lies with obedience.

The response of obedience comes from the fear of penalty for not obeying. However, Joseph obeyed the census edict because he wanted to be counted. He took Mary as his wife because he wanted to do what the Lord asked. Nowhere in the dreams or visits by angels was penalty or punishment mentioned for not obeying. So can there be obedience without the promise of punishment for non-compliance?

When we are within the will of God and, knowing that He wants nothing but good for us, seeking His direction and obedience to His guidance becomes second nature and our own selfish ambitions become less important. Obedience becomes easy.

With Christmas over and we begin a new year, I hope we can recognize the hand of God in our lives and embrace those tasks He asks us to perform. Some will be easy but I guarantee many will be out of our comfort zones and will require complete obedience without complete understanding. The more we step out, the more we will acknowledge the prompting of the Spirit.

The more we see the promptings bear fruit, the more we will be eager to Stand up and Be Counted as a great and faithful servant.

Peace to All and Happy New Year.