Shepherds, Birth and Taxes

Dear Jessica Brennan,

We hear a lot about joy and peace and love this time of year, and this puts everyone in a really good mood.

We talk about Mary and the Christ child and all the precious moments that surround the birth of Jesus.

What we rarely talk about is Joseph. I wonder what he was feeling that first Christmas. Anxiety, I expect.

Not only was he being taxed, Joseph had just taken a wife who was pregnant, and the child was not his. The social implications of that at this point in history were huge, and the stigma that would be attached to a child born under those circumstances, heartbreaking.

He was having a rough day as they pulled into Bethlehem. Nowhere to stay. Mary was in labour. I always imagine them as a couple of scared kids travelling to register their marriage prior to the birth of Jesus.

I think Joseph must have been a special kind of guy to take all this on.

While the angels were singing and the cattle were lowing, I wonder what Joseph was doing? Pacing, I imagine. Maybe wishing the cattle would stop lowing.

I’m sure he was glad to have the full endorsement of the Magi. Any help to keep the tongues from wagging at the corner betting shop was no doubt gratefully accepted.

There was not a multitude of the heavenly host showing up for him. The shepherds filed past him like he was invisible I’m sure. They were there to see the baby.

It was cold. They were in a barn with a newborn baby. He was now responsible for the son of God. The representation of hope and love for the whole earth. Mary seemed distant. What would life be like for them?

On that midnight clear, as Mary was pondering things in her heart, I’m sure Joseph was as well, in his own way. He would need to reaffirm his commitment to this whole experience daily in order to stay grounded.  In some ways it must have felt like madness.  For all of history, Joseph would always get second billing. No one would ever say, Joseph and Mary.

We don’t hear a lot about Joseph at Christmas, but he demonstrated perhaps the greatest example of humble, selfless, human love in the entire story.

Love Mum

xo