Joseph

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Intro

This is a monologue by Joseph (as in the father of Jesus, husband of Mary). It can be read / adapted as you like. However, it is very Biblical with most of the quotes taken directly from the Biblical text in mainly Matthew and Luke.

Christmas Monologue by Joseph

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman called Mary and Joseph. I’m Joseph by the way. I’d like to tell you my story, pretty amazing stuff and almost unbelievable, so hold tight..

One day an angel suddenly appeared to Mary who was just busy doing household chores at her mum’s place. All these people talk about angels with pretty faces and wings but this was a powerful angelic being who said he’d come from God. He shone with such a brightness that Mary could hardly look at him for fear of her eyes burning up. He said to Mary, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you. Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Not something that happens to you everyday. But Mary was pretty laid back and full of faith as she always is – gets it from her mother. She just said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

That was far less surprising than when she came and told me the news. I’d heard rumours that Mary was pregnant, but wanted to hear from her what had happened. As you can imagine, at first I was baffled, angry, confused. That was until she explained anyway. See, we were going to be married, but when your fiancé comes up to you and says ‘sit down, I’ve got something to tell you’, you don’t expect her to say what she did.. I was expecting her to say she was seeing someone else and the wedding was off. But nothing prepared me for the moment she said, “Joseph, an angel appeared to me and told me I’m going to have a baby from the Holy Spirit!!”

Like Mary, I asked, “How will this be since you’re a virgin?” Mar replied that when she had said this, the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Now I was well freaked out. But one night, an angel appeared to me, would you believe it. He was just as Mary had described.. He said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Crazy thing is that we knew this fulfilled what Isaiah had said, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.”  Surely this didn’t relate to us. But it did.

To make matters worse, the glorious Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. We all had to go to our own town to register. That meant a trip to Bethlehem on a donkey. Not exactly what you need when you’re Mary and pregnant with your first child..

So we went all the way from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David. You may not know this but if I look back to my ancestors, I’m part of the house and line of King David of Israel. You may call it irony, but we believed it was all in God’s plan.

Still it wasn’t in our plan that when we got to Bethlehem, the place was full of people. There was absolutely nowhere to stay. Then it happened, the baby started to kick and we knew that the baby was due any minute. We were desperate for any accommodation we could get. Finally, an innkeeper who had no room in the main part of the house offered us the stable area where all the animals were kept. Not exactly hygienic, but hey.. When you’re about to give birth, a manger is just fine!!

Then it happened. Mary braved the labour pains, I braved her fingers digging into my arms, but it was amazing.. she gave birth to our firstborn, a beautiful son. We wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger. Just as the angel told us, we named him Jesus. Our beautiful baby, yet he was God’s Son. We felt such a sense of awe, such a sense of wanting to protect baby Jesus, yet we knew God had him covered, and us..

It wasn’t just us who knew about the birth of Jesus, or the significance of the Son of God being born on earth. There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and myself. They saw the baby Jesus lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Later some magi came from the east. They had seen a star in the east that went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where Jesus was. They were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. What a story, and just wait til you hear more about the life of Jesus..

Point

You can’t escape Jesus this Christmas. We know that Father Christmas brings us presents. But Jesus was God’s very best present to this world. For other people, Christmas is about giving – but Jesus gave us the ultimate gift when he came and lived and then died so that we could be made right with God. For other people, Christmas is about receiving, but Jesus is asking you today whether you will receive his life and good news. No matter who you are, Jesus is reaching out his loving hand to you today, this Christmas.