He Appeared So That He Might Take Away Our Sins

1 John 3:5 “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins; and in Him there is no sin.”

            Lord, what a marvelous First Christmas gift!  You were born to take away our sins and give us so many other blessings, Hallelujah!  I never really thought of these verses being part of  “The Christmas Story”

            I watched “The Nativity Story last night with my beloved Husband Dick.  Some things in that production led me to check the scriptures this morning for validity.  As many times I have read “The Christmas Story” in Matthew and Luke’s gospels, I never caught this:  Gabriel did not share with Mary that You would save Your people from their sins, he shared it with Joseph in his dream to take Mary as his wife.

            He shared some marvelous things with Your mother:  You would be great, called the Son of the Most High, the Lord God would give You the throne of Your father David, that You would reign over the house of Jacob forever, and that Your kingdom would have no end.  With all of that, Lord, did the Father, knowing that Joseph would die before Your miraculous resurrection (and maybe before You started Your earthly ministry), tell Gabriel to encourage Joseph with those words instead of sharing that with Mary? 

            I am very sure that Joseph told Mary what the angel said to him; but this is, for me, one of those “Hmmm” moments.  It does not matter I guess, but these are things I ponder.