Conversation in Bethlehem

Conversation in Bethlehem

Imagine what Mary and Joseph talked about as they looked at their newborn Son Jesus. Scripture doesn't tell us, so maybe their conversation went like this:

Mary: "Joseph, isn't he beautiful?! Just think, Jesus, OUR son, will be the Messiah!"

Joseph: "Well He looks like an ordinary baby to me. Look, he's got ten fingers and ten toes just like all babies. Are you SURE that angel said he would be the savior of the world?"

Mary: "Of course I'm sure. It's not every day that an angel appears to someone. I remember it like it is burned on my brain. What did you THINK he would look like?"

Joseph: "I don't know what I was thinking. I know Isaiah said there would no stately bearing to make us look at him, but I just didn't think he would look so ORDINARY!"

Mary: "When Moses spoke to God, God appeared in a burning bush. Did you think Jesus was going to be a burning bush?"

Joseph: "Well, no, but I thought when I looked at him, it would be obvious that He is God."

Mary: "The Israelites were led by God under the appearance of a pillar of fire. Did you think he would look like that?"

Joseph: "Well, I guess I shouldn't think this, but I imagined he would glow a little bit at least. How are people ever going to believe He is really God if he looks so ordinary? If you see a burning bush or a pillar of fire, you know those things don't normally happen, so you know it must be God that makes them happen. I'm afraid people will reject him because they won't realize Jesus is God."

Mary: "We will just have to trust that God will do something to make it easy for people to know Jesus is God even though he looks like one of us. Maybe there will be miracles like when God opened the Red Sea or like that time that Nahum got healed of leprosy."

Joseph: "I bet you're right. The prophet Isaiah says, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.' Maybe Jesus will heal a blind man or something and then everybody will believe."

Mary: "Yes, SURELY if Jesus heals a blind man THAT will be enough to convince them."

Joseph: "I sure hope so. But you know how stubborn people are. Moses freed us from slavery and still some people continued worshiping false gods. Maybe he will be a powerful leader or famous like Moses. Some people say the Messiah will be a king that frees us from the Romans. But he wasn't born into Israel's royal family. He isn't related to Herod at all. He's just a descendant of David."

Mary: "Well, the prophets say there will be a king from the line of David, but kings aren’t usually so poor that they are born in a stable. We'll just have to trust that God knows what He's doing. God sure is MYSTERIOUS sometimes."

Joseph: "You can say THAT again!"