Christmas Interrupted My Life – Has It Interrupted Yours?

“An angel appeared to you?” Joseph may have asked, “Angels do that all the time, don’t they?” He would have been sarcastic about it, “Come on, Mary. You’ve driven a knife through my heart. Don’t add insult to injury by lying to me!”

Hindsight is 20/20

Hindsight is 20/20 they say and so you and I both know that Mary was telling the truth. Nevertheless, I can only imagine how bad Mary felt when her husband-to-be didn’t believe her and now didn’t trust her. But, I don’t want to focus on Mary , today the focus os on Joseph. I want to look at the Christmas story from Joseph’s point of view. Can you imagine how crushed he felt that Mary would betray him this way (At least he thought she did, what other logical explanation is there)?

If you put yourself in his shoes, this had to be a huge disappointment! Once Joseph thought Mary was unfaithful, it must have given him the unwelcome effect of leaving him feeling inadequate. This is what must have been going through his mind: “Wasn’t my love enough for her? I guess not, and what does that say about me”? He may also have lost the ability to trust not only Mary but anyone, at least for a time. He might have asked himself, How can I ever love again? How can I possibly risk another broken heart?

A Good Man!

Whatever Joseph was feeling – and we don’t know, do we? Because the text doesn’t tell us – but whatever it was, we know that he was a righteous man. Even though, in his mind, he had been dealt this dreadful blow, even though the foundations of his world had been shaken, even though he had been hurt and hurt deeply, he didn’t seek to retaliate. Mary had wounded him; he wouldn’t do the same to her.