¹⁶ Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷ All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

¹⁸ This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

²⁰ As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
    She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
    which means ‘God is with us.’”

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Matthew 1:16-24

Dear God, I saw this statue this past week while I was on vacation in Port Aransas, and I really liked it. I love the idea of Joseph completely covering and protecting this family you gave to him. A wife who must have been scared of what was going on. A helpless baby who was you incarnate. The responsibility you gave him was immense, and yet he seems to have lived up to what you needed from him.

Regarding this statue, I like how small Jesus is represented. He looks more the size of a newborn. What really strikes me is how small Mary looks. It’s another reminder that she was tasked with something unbelievably immense as well.

I’ll confess that I lost some sleep last night as I get ready to go back to work today after almost a week and a half off. I was/am stressed because I have a lot of work to do. I know of about 10 different things that need done and addressed to keep our nonprofit moving forward. And they are all important and have a sense of urgency regarding timing. It’s almost like if I can get through this week then I can get through a lot of it. I mention all of this because I feel overwhelmed right now, but it is nothing compared with what Joseph and Mary were facing in raising Jesus. Relocating from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Running from Herod to Egypt. Coming back and figuring out where to settle down (back in Nazareth). Not to mention raising this wholly unique child into a man.

Father, first, I thank you for people like Mary and Joseph from the Bible. They were good people. Joseph is my favorite Bible character with Jonathan and Nicodemus running a close second and third. Good people, indeed. Help me to learn from them. Help me to worship you well today in my work. Help me to lead today. Help me to offer everything I have to you for the work you have for me to do. And let that start with loving my wife and giving her what she needs from me. What you need her to have from me. And then help me to go one step at a time from there.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen