The
more you love people the more it hurts when they hurt you. That’s why the pain of family betrayal is so
nearly impossible to get over.
Now
think about what family did to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus .
When
Mary became pregnant with Jesus, she had done nothing wrong. She hadn’t violated the law or dishonored her
parents’ teachings. But they thought she
had. If Joseph hadn’t intervened the men
of the village, including Mary’s own father, would have publicly stoned
her. In fact, Mary’s father would have
been expected to cast the first stone in his daughter’s execution.
Imagine
how you would feel if you knew that your own father had been seriously
contemplated bashing your head in with rocks while you were pregnant. That’s the thought Mary carried with her to
Bethlehem.
After
Joseph agreed to take Mary as his wife, they were still ostracized. Mary couldn’t stay with the other women, so
she walked from Galilee to Bethlehem with her new husband.
In
Bethlehem their entire extended family turned on them. They were alone, in the dark, in the
cold. When Mary went into labor none of the women in Bethlehem came to her
aid. Not one auntie. Not one cousin. None of them.
They
went back to Nazareth but soon returned to Bethlehem, probably because no one
back home would hire Joseph.
Imagine
that. You’re a new husband. A new father/ stepfather. You’re an honorable man who has done nothing
but honor your vows to God and to your fiancé, but you can’t get a job. Not because of the economy or the market, but
because your own people, the folks you grew up with, won’t hire you.
After
all those years, all the things you’d done for so many people in your family
(cause a man who’d stick with Mary is a man whom everyone in the family would
call for help) this is how they treat you.
At
every turn, it was strangers---- shepherds, Eastern magi, and Egyptians---- who
had encouraged and supported them. Family
had given them nothing but pain. Years later,
when the family returned from Egypt, Joseph didn’t want to go home to
Nazareth. He wanted to return to Bethlehem.
But
when Joseph heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father
Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned
aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth (Matthew 2: 22-23)
Too
much wrong had been done by these folks in Nazareth. Too many so-called loved ones had turned
their backs in their moments of greatest need. After years--- YEARS--- the family was too
broken to heal.
But
with God, nothing is impossible.
In
Luke chapter 2, when Jesus was 12 years old, he, Mary and Joseph had
established a family tradition of traveling to Jerusalem for Passover.
His
parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. (Luke 2:41)
But
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus weren’t alone. They
made the yearly road trip in a caravan full of family and friends from Nazareth
and the surrounding area.
By
the time Jesus was 12, the extended family were all so close that Mary and
Joseph thought nothing of Jesus spending the entire day off playing with
friends and cousins.
Supposing
Him [Jesus] to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought
Him among their relatives and acquaintances. (Luke 2:44)
In
the few years since their return to Nazareth after the death of Herod something
impossible had happened.
A
broken family had been healed.
What
happened?
Jesus
happened.
In
Nazareth, “the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and
the grace of God was upon Him.” (Luke 2:40)
The
entire family loved Jesus, so they stopped looking sideways at Mary and
Joseph. No one really believed their
story about not having sex until after Jesus was born, but they loved Jesus so
much that they let it go. The Nazareth
family didn’t necessarily accept Joseph’s theology of the Messiah, but they
loved the boy anyway.
1
John 4 teaches that genuine love for God will manifest as genuine love for each
other.
If
someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who
does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not
seen?
And
this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love
his brother also. (1 John 4:20, 21)
We
might not agree on doctrine. We might
still think you were wrong for what happened back in the day. But if we can all just love Jesus, then He
will heal the hurt between us.
I
know. I know. After everything they did and everything you
did, reconciliation is impossible. That’s
O.K.
It
was impossible for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to reconcile with their family in
Nazareth.
But
it’s Christmas, and with God nothing is impossible.
Merry
CHRISTmas.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse
Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and
director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You
can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the
right-hand sidebar.
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O
Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
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