This year will be my sixty-second Christmas celebration.  I learned a long time ago that Christmas has
nothing to do with a bearded man in a sleigh, or with elves, or with trees, or
even with gifts being exchanged. 
Christmas has everything to do with God sending His Son to be the Savior
of the world.  Christmas was and is about
Jesus Christ making His entrance into the world to redeem us from our sin.  There was not a great deal of fanfare in that
manger, but there certainly was on the hillside in Bethlehem.  There certainly was in the celestial skies as
the stars revealed the location of Jesus to the wise men.  There in Bethlehem there was not a great deal
who noticed … except for one man. 

Would you consider for a few moments today that first Christmas morning
through the eyes of Joseph.  Consider
Joseph … just a simple carpenter from Nazareth. 
Look at Joseph today, the man that is almost forgotten in most
explanations of the birth of Jesus.  As I
was thinking about this narrative of the birth of Christ again this morning for
more than the 50^th time, my heart was drawn to this simple young
carpenter.  Matthew mentions his name
only seven times in his Gospel.  Mark
makes no reference to Joseph in his Gospel. 
Luke mentions his name only ten times in his Gospel.  John only mentions him twice in passing in
his Gospel.  In all of the New Testament,
Joseph’s name only occurs nineteen times, and the normal occurrence is
something like, “And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from
heaven” (John 6:42)?

The thought that touched my heart today was that Joseph may have been
the very first person on the earth to trust Jesus as his personal Savior after
Jesus’ birth.  Think about the ride
Joseph was on … he was told by an angel that his pregnant fiancé had not been
unfaithful to him, but that the child within her womb was from the Holy Spirit
of God.  He did not divorce Mary, or
publically ridicule her, but entered into that humiliation with her by taking
her as his wife.  He then witnessed the
birth of Jesus.  He met the shepherds who
came from the hills of Bethlehem following the angelic announcement.  He met the wise men who had come from the East
led by a star.  Here was a humble man,
with a humble job, a humble wife, and a child who was the Son of God.  Even though he may have had some initial
doubts, He now knew that this baby was sent to be the Savior of the world!  What a great Christmas that first one must
have been.  What a great earthly father
God had chosen to be our Saviors adopted father!