Going About Our Business (Luke 2.4)

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

Every detail of Jesus’ conception, birth and early life seems fraught with hassle; disapproval, gossip, strain on the relationship, the arduous 90-mile journey to Bethlehem and Herod’s jealousy…

Anyone looking at Mary and Joseph as they headed to Bethlehem would think they were just going about their business. Someone in Rome had ordered that all territories must comply with a census to ensure everyone was paying their taxes. And you had to go to your town of origin.

That’s so inconvenient when you have to take time out from work unpaid and your baby is due anytime. Humanly speaking, it was ill-timed and even dangerous - yet every aspect of it was planned by God from before the world began.

The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem to fulfil Old Testament prophecy. But Joseph and Mary live in Nazareth. God has to get this family from here to there. What might seem, from our perspective, as frustrating and difficult can be, from God's perspective, key for the working out his plans and purposes in our lives.

As we ‘just go about our business’ in this run up to Christmas let’s try and look for what God might be doing in our everyday lives – even in the darkness and disruption of this global pandemic.

Short Advent Thought, King's Church Darlington, 15 December 2020