Don’t Lose The Child

Poor Joseph. Could anyone have been more uncomfortable at the manger scene than him? First of all, his wife is giving birth to a child in a stable. Now, we can argue about whether or not it was a wooden barn or a cave, but does it make any difference for our discussion? Neither is a great place to give birth to a child, much less the Son of God. What’s more, the child being born isn’t his, but he’s still responsible. The child being born for all practical purposes is still his. The poor guy was caught between the proverbial rock and hard place.

Not much has changed since that first Christmas night. We still don’t know what to do with Joseph. Watch anyone put their nativity scene together. For some reason, everyone seems to have agreed where all the actors in the Christmas story go. The wise men are off the manger on either the right or left shoulder of the stable, opposite the shepherds who are closer to the baby. Mary is kneeling next to the manger while the angel is looking down from the roof next to the star. The donkey is behind the manger and the sheep are scattered around the front. The cow is stuck in the back of the manger.

…and then, there is Joseph. What do we do with Joseph? First of all, we need Joseph in the scene. After all, it’s through his bloodline that Jesus is connected to David and all the messianic promises. Yet, we don’t want him too close to Mary. Jesus is, after all, virginally conceived. We wouldn’t want people to get the wrong impression by putting Joseph too close to Mary. If Joseph is uncomfortable in the scene, so are we.

Poor guy. He’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the Christmas story. He gets no respect. Having said all that, Joseph is still ultimately responsible for Jesus and Mary’s well being and safety. Herod makes his threats and Joseph takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt. When Herod dies, Joseph brings them back home, but not exactly home. He moves to Nazareth. As Nathanael tells us years later, nothing good is expected out of Nazareth. There was nothing in the Messianic prophecies that mentioned Nazareth. Joseph knew that. He would have known there were people looking to kill Jesus from the beginning had not given up. These enemies would have been reading the same passages in the Bible that he was. There was no mention of Nazareth which is why Joseph took Mary and Joseph there. Even then, Joseph was protecting Jesus by having Him grow up in Nazareth.

Most likely, Joseph would have taught Jesus all of the Bible verses Jesus later quoted from memory. That would have been Joseph’s role as a Jewish father. Joseph would have taught Jesus his trade. From what we can tell from the adult life of Jesus, Joseph was a good father.

But, there was this one moment that must have been embarrassing for both Joseph and Mary. They lost Jesus. Joseph had one job – just one job. Don’t lose the kid.

And he did.

You remember the story. Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple according to the requirements of the law and when they left, Jesus wasn’t with them. They walked for a whole day before they noticed Jesus wasn’t with them. They walked a whole day back and then had to look for Jesus on the last day. For three days, Mary and Joseph had been separated from Jesus. We don’t have that many infant or childhood stories about Jesus. I find it funny this is the one Luke chose to include. Sure, we know the story is here to highlight Jesus’ conversations with the religious leaders, but if you’re Joseph, how would you have felt?

After all, God gave you one job. Don’t lose the kid and yet, here you are. Jesus is twelve and you can’t find Him anywhere. Can you imagine standing in front of God trying to explain how you lost His Son?

This is why I think Joseph’s story is so important to us in our post-modern, post-Christian world. Most of our friends have long lost any connection to the story that brings us Christmas. Sadly, most Christians have as well. We’ll lose Christmas in the holiday hustle of parties, travel and shopping. We’ll spend more time hoping we get what we want for Christmas than we will thinking about the Baby who is the reason for the season.

Like Joseph, we will lose the Child.

And like Joseph, we only have one job this Christmas – and every Christmas – don’t lose the Child.

In all of your getting this Christmas, make sure you get Jesus.

You have one job.

Merry Christmas.

This essay was first posted in Scot McKnight’s newsletter.