If they had said 'No.'

Mary and Joseph and the Child

What if they had said, “No.”

Long before I was born, my parents said Yes to God’s call to serve him and to share the message of Christmas and everything else of God’s Story in the Bible. Their willingness to obey affected my life in numerous ways.

In my childhood home, we never had genuine Christmas traditions when I was little. Life was somewhat chaotic for many reasons. The Christmas story was very familiar to me in many ways. We traveled often, and like Mary and Joseph, sometimes we did not know where to sleep the next night.

When I felt Jesus whisper to follow him, I wanted to, but I didn’t like the life my parents had.

I finally did say Yes, but it was after a long struggle. Traveling became part of my life early. A borrowed laundry basket was a good place to sleep at one stop.

Many years ago, I was in a writer’s group in Finland. We were to write something about Christmas. As I began to write my Christmas reflections in 1990, they brought to my mind that both Mary and Joseph probably had questions and felt uncertain when they were asked to carry responsibility for a task seemingly far too big for anyone to face. Here, you can reflect on the kind of reality they faced. It might have been easier to say No.

Mary could have said No

You could have said No

when the angel came

and asked you to mother a baby

– a gift from God.

Who am I?

I’m too young and far too weak

To accept responsibility for life from God

The risk you faced was real

To be despised — rejected or even stoned

Who would believe that it was true

This child

has come from God?

You took the risk and said: Yes

Whatever it brings

Pain or distress

I’ll put my trust in God

***

With tears of joy

You see the Child

The King of Heaven in a manger

The Gift

Life

God

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke chapter 2

Joseph, you were about to say no

You could have said No

It was just a dream

There are no angels

Mary has become

A disgrace to her family

A shame for her bridegroom

A fatherless child

Is not your responsibility

Yet you believed that it was true

You responded you said Yes

To a marvel, you did not understand

The miracle was born

A baby

With ten fingers and ten toes

With no teeth and no hair

Then, all the choirs of heaven sang

The stars shone brighter than before

Shepherds left their flocks at night

Wise men traveled from afar

Joseph, You were a part of this

Just because you said Yes

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Matthew chapter 1

Child, you have many names.

Child in a Manger…

Refugee child …

Street child

You are outcast …

Unwanted

Exploited

Abandoned

Fatherless,

Motherless

Beloved,

Longed for

Child in the Manger Who are you?

You once said:

“Whoever receives one of these little ones

in Your Name

Receives You…”

You want to live in our homes

You want to open our eyes

You want to enlarge our hearts

You are no longer the Child in the Manger

You are a child without a home

You cry in hunger while scavenging

Garbage thrown from the rich man’s table

You are tortured, whipped

You are forced to satisfy adults’ lusts

And yet you are Love come from Heaven

You still give hope to the world

If we let you live in our homes

If we let you open our eyes

If we let you enlarge our hearts.