Week 4 Day 3

December 22, 2021

Mary and Joseph Take Jesus to Nazareth

Scripture: Matthew 2:19-22 (NIV)

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,

Devotional

This is the third and fourth time God spoke to Joseph in a dream. In the first, he was told that his pregnant fiancée was carrying the Son of God. In the second, he was warned to take his little family as refugees to Egypt, because Herod was going to look for Jesus to kill him.

Here, in the third dream, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph while they were living in Egypt. The encounter was brief and to the point: “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead” (v. 20). By now, the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem had certainly traveled to the Jewish community living in Egypt. It took great faith and bold obedience for Joseph to gather up his family and head back to the place that was so dangerous. But he did.

Enter the fourth dream. When Herod died, he was replaced in Judea by his son Archelaus, who was as bad or even worse than his father. This news struck fear into the heart of Joseph, until an angel warned him in a dream to bypass Judea in southern Israel and head for Galilee in northern Israel, which was ruled by a relatively safer son of Herod. There they settled in their original hometown of Nazareth. They had come full circle.

Joseph is an unsung hero in the story of Jesus. By next week’s readings, he will disappear from the narrative, most likely due to his death, when Jesus was in His teens or twenties. Yet Joseph’s keen ability to hear the voice of God in dreams and his courageous willingness to follow wherever God was leading allowed Jesus to fulfill so many prophetic statements made about Him throughout the Old Testament. Ah, the power of a dream from God!

Poem

Joseph Script

There is a place of working
Away from limelight beams
A place so very quiet---shh!
Far from applauding screams
Where I've been called to labor
Unseen, unheard, forgotten
Except by my Director, who
The Play has been begotten.
I hear the Voice directing
Through whispers in my ear:
"Lights up!" "Sound on!" "Props carry!"
"Now serve the actors here!"
I'm there before the others show
Preparing for the cast.
I stay after they've all gone home
After the masses passed.
There's work to do behind the scenes:
To clean, to put away.
I sweep the stage, turn out the lights,
Keep watch against foul play.
My goal is not the clapping storm
Or crowds' adoring eyes;
My focus--my Director's call
And my faithful reply.
It's not that I am shy, you see,
The glory is not mine.
I serve Director, that's my goal,
And make His glory shine!