FILO: Advent for the Church Technical ArtistSýnishorn

Today we are looking at a passage from Matthew, chapter 1, verses 18-25.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and 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.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

As we approach Christmas Day, Advent becomes about experiencing a sense of expectation. Naturally, we are expecting Jesus to be born into a manager. The Son of God is coming to earth.

When I first saw the word “expectation,” I put an “s” on the end and immediately went into production mode. Expectations. How often do I expect something to happen, and something completely different happens? I spend a lot of time expectantly waiting for my expectations to be dashed.

As technical artists, we can plan and plan and plan, but there is a certain amount of uncertainty at play. And when our expectations aren’t met, how do we react? What is our first response? I can be pretty grumpy when I’ve worked hard on something, only to have things changed.

In this part of the Christmas story, I wondered how I would have responded when Joseph had his expectations wholly turned upside down. Here is a guy getting ready to marry his sweetheart, only to find out she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. This is a multi-level expectation disappointment for Joseph. First off, Mary’s pregnant. Second, somehow he’s supposed to believe the Holy Spirit is involved. I imagine he had plans for his marriage with Mary, only to see them disappointed by what happened. Yet, after all the dashed expectations, he decides to believe in God, marry Mary, and adopt Jesus.

He traded in his expectations (for security, family life, and plans) for what he could expect from God, which was salvation through the son that God and Joseph shared, Jesus.

How often am I caught up in what I expect from life? From my co-workers? From my plans? This time of year is the perfect time to redirect my expectations toward God’s plan, which he made available to you and me with the arrival of His son Jesus at Christmastime.

- Todd Elliott