Just When

“Just when . . .” If the story of the coming of Christ is looked at with the sense of wonderment it deserves, one has to admit that among the lessons learned is that God apparently is free to interrupt our lives. We like it when the interruption suits our own sense of timing, and when it doesn’t, then that’s another story all together.

Right in the middle of Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus the Messiah, we find that intriguing reminder – “just when.” In this particular case, it has to do with Joseph, already described by Matthew as about to have Mary quietly put away, is dealing with a difficult moment in his life. Obviously unhappy with the things have worked out and no doubt not all that sure Mary’s story is true, he never-the-less wants to be a gentleman about it all. “Just when . . .”

In his case, an angel of the Lord appeared and told him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20,21, NRSV)

Joseph has it all figured out. He has evaluated life and all of the circumstances that have come crashing down upon him and has a plan. He will be able to sleep at night knowing that he at least treated Mary decently – even though she had not treated him quite so well. Life will be a little different than he had planned, but at least he had a plan and he can now see how things would work out. “Just when . . .”

It would be pretty difficult to think of a more challenging “just when . . .” than the one Joseph is facing. The interruption brought to his life by the birth of the Son of God certainly qualifies as major change in life. Neither Mary nor Joseph could possibly realize just how big the interruption will eventually become.

But the real story in Matthew 1:18-25 is not simply “just when . . .” Joseph, you see, still has a choice. Among the more courageous words of the Matthew story are those words that tell us that Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” He models a kind of responsive faith that God desires always follows the huge “just when . . .” moments we all face.

Our interruptions in life aren’t likely to be quite as dramatic as were Joseph’s, but we all know that there have been times when, “just when we had life planned out perfectly” God somehow interrupted life with opportunities we never dreamed about, much less included in our plans.

The issue really isn’t the “just whens” of life – but the response to those moments when we determine, as did Joseph, “to do as the Lord commands us.”