Family Pictures

They first caught my eye this year. I’m not sure why this is the first year I noticed them. They have been there year after year. Every Christmas you see them in the most famous family portrait. Mary is kneeling by the manger and Joseph is standing over her, together they are witnessing a miracle.

Mary was young. Joseph was older. I imagine neither of them ever thought they would be chosen to be the parents of Jesus.   Their dreams were probably simple dreams. They wanted a warm house. They wanted a prosperous life. They wanted to live a comfortable life.  They thought they had everything in place to have that comfortable, normal life. Then the angel came.

The angel just dropped in on Mary one day and told her the world was about to be changed.  Mary must have been such a faithful woman. She said “ok, let it be as you have said”. She didn’t put out a fleece. She didn’t argue. She just said ok. Then, she went and lived out the “ok”.

I can imagine Joseph’s face as Mary tells him what happened. I don’t know what kind of relationship they had prior to that conversation. Maybe they knew each other. Maybe they were in love and had those long rambling conversations of new love. Maybe they just had a passing relationship, the type where conversations were kept to the point.  I don’t know. I can see this conversation going down though.

Joseph is trying to process what Mary has said. I imagine sleep came hard for him that night. Then the angel came. The angel came and explained that Mary wasn’t crazy. So they entered together into a new type of relationship. A relationship built on faith that what God said would be.

It is easy sometimes to be faithful for a minute. To grab hold of faith and stand firm knowing that in a day or two the crisis will pass. This faith journey they were on was a lifetime journey.   As Mary’s belly grew, so did the whispers. Did they run to each other or did they drift apart, Joseph blaming Mary for this problem and Mary feeling so alone? I like to think that there were days of each, days of running to each other and days of running away from each other.  There were days when the faith jar was empty. Days when Mary’s body hurt and the girls she had grown up with were rude. There were days when Joseph’s buddy said one too many “funny” comments.

Then there was the journey to Bethlehem. Mary was ready to deliver. Joseph was worried about money and the baby and Mary.  What kind of father couldn't find a decent place for this baby to be born? What kind of a husband made his wife walk 70 miles at the end of her term? What kind of a God would send an angel to mess up a life plan like this?

The night passed and the baby came.  Mary, still weak but in awe, looks at the baby and then at Joseph.  Joseph looks down at Mary. Their faith has been made flesh. It still doesn't make any sense but they feel something different in the air. God is there. God is with them. Despite their doubts, even though they had such weak faith, God chose them and God was there wrapped in swaddling clothes.

After the family picture was made, the one where they are posed in silhouette-Mary kneeling, Jesus in the manger, Joseph looking down on them- did Joseph gather the weary Mary in his arms and hold her? Did Mary cry all the tears she had held back so long? As all the fears of new parents washed over them, did they become one flesh joined forever in the miracle of this birth?

The light of the baby Jesus, the light of love wrapped them in joy. There must have been some special delight in caring for Jesus something sweeter even than the routine sweetness of a beloved child.   One day, maybe I will ask them. I will ask Mary what her day to day life was like. I will ask Joseph if he ever fully trusted Mary and the angels.

For now, I will look at the family picture and imagine the conversations between the virgin and the carpenter as they prepared for our Emmanuel.