Love Story

 

I was thinking about the plot of a basic love story: girl meets boy, relationship ensues, huge obstacle gets in the way of love, until finally, love triumphs in the end. 

The love story that is told in scripture about Jesus’ birth is not simply about a boy and a girl. It is a love story for every person, and every generation.  It is not just for a beautiful girl and a misguided man-it is for every girl and every boy-for the beautiful, and the not so beautiful. It is for those who are wayward, and those who are filled with integrity. It has made the cover of magazines, topped the best seller list and has been read at bedtime for countless generations. It never becomes dated or out of style. Why would this story live on in the hearts of mankind?

We have seen countless movies with the same story line, and we see it in the book of Matthew. Mary (nice girl) meets Joseph (man with integrity), and a betrothal is arranged.  Enter the huge obstacle:  Mary is pregnant, by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, while deciding what in the world to do, is greeted by an angel.  When writing down these events, Matthew gives very few details. However, he is big into labels as a way of identifying the major players in the story: An angel visits Joseph, but it isn’t just any angel, it is an “angel of the Lord”. There is no doubt that this meeting was God ordained. Joseph is addressed as “son of David”. There is no question of Joseph’s lineage. Mary is labeled as a virgin. There is no question of her sexual purity.  As readers of the story, we take these facts for granted.  As players in the story, these facts add up to fulfilled prophesy. Joseph and Mary would have known the story as it was passed down. They would have known that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin and come from the line of David.  They became part of the greatest love story of all time.

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us.” Isaiah 7:14

The story lives on because God’s promises and plan never fail.  This love story is now a part of each of us who believe. It lives on because our very own Savior, Jesus Christ, lives on. Immanuel, God with us, is still with us today. It is a telling of God’s love for us. His love story for humanity is what we celebrate this Christmas.