A night like no other – What Joseph dreamed
The night that Jesus was born was a night like no other. This week, Salvos Online is running a series entitled ‘Key players tell their side of the Christmas story’. Our writers are playing the roles of Mary, Joseph, the angels, the shepherds, and the wise men, and imagining the Christmas story from their perspectives.
BY MAJOR MAL DAVIES
I’m a carpenter. Before I make something I sketch it, check measurements, check angles, select the most appropriate wood for the job, sharpen my tools and then start building. I work to a plan. Even as I’m working, I measure twice and cut once.
My life is the same. Or, at least, it was. I had a plan that included marrying Mary, building my business, having a family, taking on an apprentice or a partner, buying a bigger shed to work in, taking on more staff, retiring old, happy and rich. There it is: my plan.
Then Mary said she was pregnant, and my plan faded into smoke before my eyes and, just like that, it was gone. This was not my plan.
I remembered from my synagogue studies as a boy, a line from the book of Solomon’s proverbs that said: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s plans that prevail.” So, while I was sad that my big, bold, well-ordered plans had gone, I realised I had to trust in God. Who knows? Perhaps his plan would be better than mine.
GOD SPEAKS
I briefly considered whether I should hang in there with Mary. I didn’t want her to get into trouble, so I wasn’t going to make a song-and-dance of it publicly, just part ways quietly. But then I had the dream.
I dreamt that an angel appeared and told me that Mary had not slept with another bloke but was miraculously pregnant by God and the baby would be special. The angel said to call the child Jesus and that he would save people.
To be entirely honest, I didn’t know what that meant. But – again – my synagogue studies told me that God had spoken to people through dreams before, people like Jacob and Joseph and Solomon and Daniel. These were important people, so I figured if God gave important messages in dreams, I needed to listen.
NOT ALONE
So, I obeyed God. Simple as that. Sure, I had doubts, I’m only human. I was especially worried about how I’d go being the father of some sort of saviour, some sort of hero, some sort of champion. But then I also figured that if God had chosen me (and, of course, Mary) then he’d also help me. I didn’t have to do this alone.
More so, just when I’d decided that I wasn’t good enough to raise a child of God, I remembered that Moses didn’t want to lead the Israelites out of captivity, Abraham was too old to lead, Jacob told lies, Samson slept around, King David committed adultery, Jonah ran away from God and so on.
In our own strength, we’re weak and have doubts and get it wrong, but with God, well, we can do more than we can imagine. God had turned some pretty average people into world changers. I was confident I could get this right. I had this.
Caesar called for a census across the whole Roman empire and so I travelled, with Mary, from my home in Nazareth to Bethlehem, the home of my fathers. While we were there, Mary had the baby. He was a boy. We called him Jesus. And he was beautiful. With his first breath, I loved him.
I’d done my part. Mary had done her part, magnificently. Now it was up to Jesus to do his part.
I wondered how he would grow. Would he know he was different? Would other boys pick on him? Would I have to protect him, or would he protect me?
So many questions. But now I had a plan; I’d tried it and tested it, and it worked, so I’d stick with my new plan. My plan was this: trust God.
