Joseph's Lullaby

"Go to sleep, my Son;

This manger for Your bed.

You have a long road before You.

Rest Your little head.

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?

Do You understand the price?

Or does the Father guard Your heart for now

So You can sleep tonight?"

Hey everybody. I think it was last year that I heard this wonderful song by MercyMe for the first time. During Advent, I love thinking about how the Christmas story would look through a given person's eyes. Just imagine what sort of thoughts and questions were racing around in Joseph's head on that night. Here he was, a newly married man to a young lady who had just had her first baby. The events of his courtship and marriage were filled with angels, miracles, and dreams from Heaven. Could either Mary or Joseph even begin to fathom the meaning of where God's plan would take Jesus? As Jews, this couple had heard from the time they were little of the promised Messiah who would be their Savior. What did that mean? When would that be? Who would that be? These questions probably were about as clear to them as all the details of Jesus's second coming is to us; we've heard and studied and thought and talked about it, but still, there is still a certain air of mystery about the whole thing. This Jewish couple were just your average, everyday, kind of people, who loved God and served Him with their lives. Who could have ever imagined that Gabriel -who Mary had grown up hearing about from back in the story of the prophet Daniel- would visit this young girl to give her the message that she would be the mother of God's Son, the Messiah. This would be mind-blowing! Then think about it from Joseph's side of things. Even after he's assured that he should still go ahead and take Mary for his wife, there were still so many unanswered questions. How in the world could you parent God's Son?! Not only that, but the One who created you?! Was the Messiah sent to drive out the Romans, or was it alot more than that? If Joseph was well versed in Old Testament Prophecy, he may have known more of what kind of Savior the Messiah would be. If so, would he have ever thought that visiting shepherds and wise men would one day be traded for crowds that screamed, "Let Him be crucified!", that those same tiny hands would one day be pierced by nails, that the wood of the manger would one day be replaced by a criminal's cross, that the baby cries would one day be exchanged for, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?", that a borrowed stable would be traded for a borrowed tomb, but then, even if Joseph could have imagined a glimpse of those things, could he have have ever dreamed of the glorious outcome of this mission? When three days later Jesus Christ would walk out of that tomb as the Savior of the world who had conquered the Enemy, and Death, and made a way for our
Forgiveness, and Hope, and Peace, and Safety, and Rest? Amen.

Alot had happened since Bethlehem.

"Go to sleep, my Son;

Baby, close Your eyes.

Soon enough You'll

Save the day,

But for now, dear Child of mine,

Oh, my Jesus,

Sleep tight."