Christmas Supplement

The Christmas story as Joseph might have written about it

By John F. Fink

Every now and then, archaeologists discover something from the time that Jesus lived.

Let’s suppose that the following letter was discovered below the ancient church in the Arab village of El-Qoubeibeh (pronounced “L-Co-baby”) seven miles from Jerusalem.

The village is believed to be the Emmaus to which two  disciples were walking when Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection (Lk 24:13-35). One of the disciples was Cleopas, and the church is built over what is believed to be his home.

Some scholars believe that Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, Mary’s husband. It was probably his wife—whom John’s Gospel calls “Mary the wife of Clopas”—who stood with Mary at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified (Jn 19:25).

Dear Cleopas,

Yes, after all this time it is I, Joseph. I am sorry it has been so long since you last heard from me, and I am sure you are surprised to be getting a letter from Egypt.

So much has happened since my Mary and I last saw you and your wife, Mary, at our wedding in Nazareth. I thought it was about time that I wrote to you with news.

The best news is that our baby, whom we named Jesus, was born. I apologize for being so late in telling you about that. I am writing now, though belatedly, to explain just how marvelous God has been to us.

I did not tell anyone during our wedding ceremony, but Mary was already more than three months pregnant at the time. And no, I am not the father of her child. Obviously, there would have been no sin if I was because our betrothal, the real wedding, had taken place earlier, but the fact is that I am not Jesus’ biological father. Few people know that.

Shortly after our betrothal, Mary told me that she had to visit her aunt, Elizabeth, because Elizabeth, despite her age, was pregnant. Mary was gone for three months and, after she returned, I learned that she also was with child.

Needless to say, I was shocked. Mary is the holiest person I have ever known, and it was hard for me to imagine that she would be unfaithful to me. We had, in fact, agreed that we would not have sexual relations during our marriage and that she would remain a virgin. But now, since she was with child, she apparently had had sexual relations with a man.

Mary explained that an angel appeared to her. I know this will be hard for you to believe, but this is what Mary said. The angel, whose name was Gabriel, told her that, of all the women in the world and throughout all the centuries, she had been chosen to be the mother of a man who would be known as the Son of the Most High and who would reign over the house of Jacob forever.

Mary told me that she asked the angel how that could happen since, as I said, she and I had agreed that she would remain a virgin. Gabriel said that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the child would be called the Son of God.

That is also when the angel told her that Elizabeth was six months pregnant. I had wondered how she knew about that, but had assumed that she received a letter from Elizabeth.

Mary then agreed to do what the angel asked. She replied, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me as you have said” (Lk 1:38).

The angel left her, and she immediately made plans to go to Judea to help Elizabeth.

When she got back and told me that she was with child, I did not know what to do. If I accused her of adultery, she could have been stoned to death in accordance with Scripture (Dt 22:21-23). I certainly did not want that to happen. Finally, I decided that the best thing to do was to divorce her quietly.

That is what I planned to do when an angel appeared to me, too, in a dream. You have to believe me, Cleopas, since this would not be the last time this angel appeared to me.

He told me that I should not be afraid to take Mary into my home because it was indeed as Mary had said—the child was conceived through the Holy Spirit.

I was greatly relieved. It is not that I doubted Mary’s story as that I was simply perplexed at how it could be. I had never heard of a virgin conceiving a child, and I suppose it took a visit from an angel to convince me that it was true.

The angel, by the way, told me to call the child Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:19-21). The angel had earlier told Mary the same thing (Lk 1:31).

As you know, Cleopas, we went ahead with the second stage of our wedding—the celebration during which I brought Mary into my home. We were glad that you and your Mary were able to be present to help us celebrate our marriage.

Shortly before it was time for Mary to deliver Jesus, Caesar Augustus ordered that census. That meant that I had to go to Bethlehem, the home of our ancestors, to be enrolled. We thought that you might be there at the same time, but apparently you had already been there, registered and returned to Emmaus. Of course, you did not have as far to travel as we did.

Mary insisted on going along because she knew that Jesus was meant to be born in Bethlehem. While she was visiting Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah, they had access to the Scriptures and they discovered a passage that said, “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel” (Mt 2:6).

Mary believed that the census was God’s way of providing the reason for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem.

I walked the four-day trip to Bethlehem, and Mary rode on our donkey. Once we got to Bethlehem, I had a difficult time finding a place where Mary could have her privacy since so many of our cousins were there for the census. We eventually found a dry cave that was used as a stable. We were able to have our donkey put up in the stable, and there was also an ox there.

And that is where Jesus was born. Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.

Not long after his birth, we had some visitors. Shepherds had been tending their flocks at night when, they said, an angel appeared to them—probably Gabriel again—and told them that “a Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:11). He told them how to find us in the cave. Then, they said, a whole multitude of angels appeared and were singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Lk 2:12-14).

Naturally, we had Jesus circumcised when he was eight days old. By that time, I had been able to find a house for us since most of those who had come to Bethlehem to register had returned to their homes.

We decided to remain in Bethlehem until it was time for Mary’s purification 40 days after Jesus’ birth, as prescribed by Scripture (Lv 12:2-8). I managed to find some work as a carpenter.

Since we were living only five miles from Jerusalem, we went to the Temple for the purification. After Mary purified herself, we went into the Temple and offered two pigeons. Since Jesus was our first-born son, we consecrated him to the law as Scripture requires us to do (Ex 13:2-12).

While we were there, an elderly man named Simeon recognized Jesus as the Messiah and said a prayer in which he told God that he could now take him because his eyes had seen God’s salvation.

Also, an 84-year-old prophetess named Anna praised Jesus to all who were around. One sorrowful thing happened, though. Simeon told Mary that a sword will pierce her soul.

The shepherds were not the only visitors we had while we were living in Bethlehem. Some men from the East arrived at the house. They told Mary that they were magi, or astrologers, who were searching for the newborn king of the Jews because they had seen his star at its rising (Mt 2:1-2, 9-12).

They had been to Jerusalem, where they met with King Herod. He asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah was to be born, and they found the same passage that Mary had found in Scripture so Herod sent the magi to Bethlehem. I was surprised that they left valuable gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

That night, I had another dream. This time, the angel told me to get up immediately and flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus because Herod was about to search for Jesus and kill him! (Mt 2:13-14).

It was a nightmare journey, taking a week, through deserts where it was difficult to find water, and I worried that Herod’s men might be chasing us.

They were not, of course, as we have just learned. I am sure you know more about what happened than we do, but word has just come that Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem to massacre all of the boys who were 2 years old or younger. The soldiers were not chasing us because they thought they had already killed Jesus (Mt 2:16).

So now we are in Egypt. We intend to stay here until Herod dies. When we return, I think we will go back to Nazareth. After the massacre of the babies in Bethlehem, we would not want to return there. Besides, it is too close to Jerusalem in case Archelaus succeeds his father, Herod. I think it would be best for us to go to Galilee.

We hope to see you soon. We will keep you in our prayers.

Your brother, Joseph

(John F. Fink is editor emeritus of The Criterion.) †