The Christmas Carols: Past, Present, & Future HopeSample

Day 10

Strange Way to Save the World

Read: Matthew 1:18-25

For good reasons, Mary the mother of Jesus gets much attention in the Christmas story. After all, the Gospel of Luke gives a number of details (throughout Luke 1-2) about Mary’s experiences while Jesus was in the womb and at His birth. Further, it seems as though Joseph had died by the time Jesus’ public ministry took off, while Mary lived on. Yet, it is important for us to think through Joseph’s experience in the story, for it is a remarkable testament to faith and faithfulness.

Matthew 1:18-25 relays Joseph’s experience during the time Jesus was inside Mary’s womb. Joseph and Mary were betrothed, but not yet married. This meant that they had made the commitment to spend the rest of their lives together, but they had not yet begun to live together and sleep together. Two days ago, we looked at Mary’s experience from Luke 1 as God announced through an angel that Mary would be pregnant, even though she was a virgin, and would have a Son who would be the Messiah. This was HUGE news, and certainly difficult to believe for anyone who was not speaking with angels! And at first, Joseph was NOT talking to angels. God first brought the news to Mary before sharing it with Joseph. So, with Mary pregnant, and Joseph looking only to natural explanations for this situation, Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly - probably so she could then marry whoever was the child’s father.

But it was not God’s will for Joseph to leave Mary. Therefore, an Angel intervened and informed Joseph that Mary’s child was indeed supernatural, and that Mary was telling the truth that the Baby was the Messiah.

In “Strange Way to Save the World,” we get to be a fly on the wall of Joseph’s room as he prays aloud, processing the news of Mary’s pregnancy and the Angel’s visit. This fictional conversation is probably not far from what Joseph must have been thinking that night after the Angel came.

As we listen to this song, may we ponder the things about God that don’t make sense to us. Things we might wish to “dismiss quietly” instead of receiving as true. Let this song remind us that though God’s ways are sometimes “strange” to us, there is salvation and blessing in God’s plans in this world.

Strange Way to Save the World

I'm sure he must have been surprised,
At where this road had taken him.
Cause never in a million lives,
Would he have dreamed of Bethlehem.

And standing at the manger
He saw with his own eyes,
The message from the angel come to life.
And Joseph said,

Why me? I'm just a simple man of trade.
Why Him with all the rulers in the world?
Why here inside this stable filled with hay?
Why her? She's just an ordinary girl.
Now I'm not one to second guess,
What angels have to say.
But this is such a strange way to save the world.

To think of how it could have been,
If Jesus had come as He deserved.
There would have been no Bethlehem,
No lowly shepherds at His birth.

But Joseph knew the reason,
Love had to reach so far.
And as he held the Savior in his arms,
He must have thought,

Why me? I'm just a simple man of trade.
Why Him with all the rulers in the world?
Why here inside this stable filled with hay?
Why her? She's just an ordinary girl.
Now I'm not one to second guess,
What angels have to say.
But this is such a strange way to save the world.

Now, I'm not one to second guess,
What angels have to say.
But this is such a strange way to save the world.
Such a strange way to save the world.