CRISIS AT CHRISTMAS

Mary came close to being a single mother that first Christmas. Her pregnancy, outside of a consummated marriage would have been the scandal of the village. In that culture, a pledge to be married could only be broken by divorce. If the angel had not enlightened Joseph, Mary would have quietly born the child of an unknown father.

This highlights a growing tragedy. As we have discussed earlier, many consider children a by-product of sex and of less importance than the desires of the parents. This lie has fostered another: a child’s biological parents have no meaning in a child’s life. It is even embedded in current legislation that rearranges family groupings with complete disregard for biological succession, with no mechanism for the need to trace it.

As we all know, a child’s identity is embedded from the DNA of the biological parents, not just in physical features, but in personality, talents, dispositions, and potential transmitted diseases. The majority of adopted children, as well as those born without knowledge of one or both parents will seek their birth parents at some point in their life—for many it is an intense life-long quest.

They continually ask: “Who am I? Why do I do what I do?” For an unknown father, that is often accompanied by a nagging sense of deficiency: “He is half of who I am.” Adoptive parents, of course, cannot replace the biological transmission from birth parents, but as the child grows, they increasingly deposit a legacy from their own personality and resources that demonstrate true fatherhood.

Joseph, as a legal adoptive parent, had a distinctive and necessary role to play, pointing out the importance of adoptive parents. Even our sonship with God is often expressed as adoption in the New Testament, with the full heritage adoption provides. In the case of Joseph, his heritage was critical to Jesus.

Jesus’ lineage listed traced from David in Matt 1:16 shows Joseph, married to Mary, as the legal father of Jesus. This traces the legal claim of Jesus to David’s throne. But Luke chapter three gives us a separate lineage, also traced from David, showing Joseph the son of Heli, not Jacob as in Matthew. The lineage was always though the firstborn sons; but in this case, Joseph was the son-in-law of Heli. This lineage, traced through Mary, proved Jesus’ claim by bloodline to David’s throne.

So this Christmas, as always, we are celebrating the birth of a King who will return to this planet soon to reclaim David’s throne, and provide the “peace on earth” the angels first predicted.

As I and my family celebrate the birth of Christ this year, I will take a break from posting further blogs to this site until about mid-January. We will meet again then. In the meantime, we wish you a renewed joy of this Christmas season.