I recently stumbled across something I wrote back 10 years ago. I’m reposting it today (also a note at the end that I wrote today)
If you can't be Jesus, then be Joseph
Recently, I was talking to a woman in great distress. She thought she was a bad Christian and was not worthy of being baptized. When I asked her why, she stated that she hadn’t become a perfect Christian yet. This statement made me ponder. Have we done such a poor job in explaining Christianity that some people think they can’t find salvation?
What people need to realize is that:
1) Christianity isn’t a religion that requires specific actions such as penance, saying specific prayers or whatever in order to correct wrong-doings that had been done, Christianity is a relationship with Christ and with God
2) Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven. You see, Christ taught us that we are capable of miraculous actions but that we also miss the mark and stray from perfection. What God has already said is that whenever we stray that we are forgiven.
3) Sometimes we don’t need to be Jesus – sometimes Joseph is just fine.
You see, some years back there was a huge movement. It was “WWJD” or “What Would Jesus Do?”. The thought being that when you faced a decision, you asked yourself “What would Jesus do?” and follow that answer. Here’s the problem. Some people can never imagine themselves being as perfect as Jesus. So what if you were only Joseph?
Think about this. 2,000 years ago loose sexuality was STRICTLY taboo and forbidden. Even if you were divorced you were HIGHLY looked down upon. So think about Joseph. Here he is on love with Mary and engaged to be married and she tells him that she is 3 months pregnant. But her story is that she is pregnant with God’s baby.
Do you realize how EASY it would be for Joseph to walk away from Mary and even tarnish her reputation? He could make her a scorned woman and everyone would have been on Joseph’s side. Joseph didn’t make that choice. He chose to trust her against all odds. He chose to waive his rights to walk away from her and make her a scorned woman. He chose to stretch his definition of love so that he could love the child that was not his.
Joseph wasn’t perfect and he wasn’t the son of God. However he WAS a man that went out of his way to love and forgive. Maybe you could do that too. Perhaps you can’t be Jesus, but you can be Joseph.
************ Note from December, 2020: The ironic part to this post is this: A few years after I wrote this, a local church called me. They had heard that I sing, dance and act. So they asked me to star in their Christmas musical as the lead character – Joseph.
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