# 2 -- Was it in the Dead of Winter ? ~ ADVENT MEDITATION #2

Was it in the DEAD OF WINTER . . .

that

Joseph, Mariam, and the Royal Babe placed in her womb, walked to Bethlehem ?

OR . . .

Was it at the end of the harvest season, when the people would have  received the most fruits of their labor and have money available for the Roman tax collectors ?

 

We do not know for certain.  It is reasonable to assume that Rome was expedient. Rome wanted the revenue of the oppressed people. Rome likely collected taxes as the fruits of the harvests came in and were sold.

 

FRUIT . . .  that is what we labor to have.

 

In our  modern culture --- which is so far removed from eking out a basic living from the earth --- the “fruits” of our daily labor come to us in the form of a paycheck, not a basket of figs or a new calf.

 

But in Joseph and Mariam’s time, gathering or growing or working with the FRUIT of the earth in some form or other meant the difference between feeding the family and starving.

 

Joseph himself was a carpenter. We would likely call him a lumber-jack as well. It is not likely that he earned a living by carving wooden spoons and bowls . . . although he may have done some of that too.

 

Manually laboring, Joseph and probably all of his sons more likely worked as lumber-jacks in Galilee, cutting down trees, hauling the timber to their work area, stripping the bark, and then sawing the strong, raw wood of the trunk to prepare it for use in building.

 

As a youth, The LORD JESUS would have been subject to His+ legal father Joseph, His+ GOD-appointed Guardian, and would have learned Joseph’s trade as the supposed first-born son.

 

What could The LORD JESUS have thought of, as HE+ worked on felling and planing that rough timber ?

 

Did HE+ flinch as HE+ worked with the rough , raw wood ?

 

Did HE+ wince at the long, sharp splinters HE+ encountered as HE+ worked with it ? 

 

Did HE+ , nonetheless, have a strange “drawing” towards it, like it was calling to HIM+ ?

 

We do not know.

 

We can only surmise how WE might feel in that situation.

 

For it is CERTAIN that The LORD JESUS was well-aware of His+ Heavenly FATHER’S business from the time of His+ early youth.

 

As HIS First-Born, Only-Begotten SON+, The LORD JESUS would soon learn His+ Heavenly FATHER’S work, as well.

 

Luke 2:41-52

Now His+ parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.  And when HE+ was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the Feast.

 

And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the Child JESUS tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His+ mother knew not of it . But they, supposing HIM+ to have been in the  company, went a day’s journey; and they sought HIM+ among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

 

And when they [ Joseph and Mariam ] found HIM+ not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking HIM+.

 

And it came to pass, that after three days they found HIM+ in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

 

And all that heard HIM+ were astonished at His+ understanding and answers.

 

And when they saw HIM+, they were amazed: and His+ mother said unto HIM+, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

 

And HE+ said unto them,

How is it that ye sought ME+?

Wist ye not that I+ must be about

My+ FATHER’S business?

 

And they understood not the saying which HE+ spake unto them. And HE+ went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but His+ mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

 

And JESUS increased in wisdom and stature,

and in favor with GOD and man.

+  +  +

LET US PRAY:

O HOLY LORD GOD, The FATHER of Our LORD and SAVIOR+ JESUS CHRIST, 

 

we thank YOU for Your Anointing even upon His+ youthful years, that even those early years may be for us an Example.

 

O LORD, Let us “apprentice” ourselves to YOU like HE+ did, to learn Your Work among men.

 

Help us to be continually about “our FATHER’S business” now, as time is drawing to a close for normal life on planet earth.

 

Draw us to the Cross of CHRIST in our lives . . . to see HIM+ coming to give us life . . . through His+ painful death which HE+ embraced.

 

Grant us Your strength each day to pick up our own Cross which HE+ appoints for us, so that we might serve HIM+ in fullness of heart, lacking nothing.

 

For we know and are certain that whosoever does not receive HIS FATHER’S Correction, is none of HIS, as it is written.  [ Hebrews 12 ].

 

This we pray in the LIFE-Giving Name of our Ever-Obedient LORD and SAVIOR+ JESUS CHRIST.  Amen.

HEBREWS 12:6 - 8

For whom the LORD loveth HE chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom HE receiveth. If ye endure chastening, GOD dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye illegitimate, and not sons. 

 

[ Note: Only Legal sons receive the inheritance.]

+  +  +