While the concept of karma has no basis in Scripture and therefore is not covered in any lessons in our Bible Basics class, the idea of it has certainly crept into our American way of thinking. We may rather flippantly comment on karma playing a role when someone pretty universally considered to be a jerk has a stroke of bad luck. Our usage of karma tends to be more negative than positive – that when bad things happen to bad people, it’s karma coming back to get them.
On the flip side, maybe the slightly twisted Christianized version of karma is this: “Do the right thing, and everything will work out.” Sure, there may be a few detours or unexpected potholes along the way, but generally speaking, when we do the right thing, everything works out. That’s why we have the Ten Commandments after all, right? Follow those pretty closely, and things will go our way. Be nice to people, tell the truth, don’t take what isn’t yours – do those kinds of things and generally speaking, everything works out.
I wonder if that’s why we’re so drawn to a guy like Joseph in the Christmas account. Here is a good guy that the Bible always describes as doing the right thing. The verse today tells us he was “faithful to the law,” (Mt. 1:19), which used to be translated simply as “righteous.” He did the right things. Even after the angelic explanation for what was going on, we see Joseph doing the right thing. “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” (v.24). And later, after Jesus’ birth, Joseph again follows an angelic mandate to take his family to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath. We don’t see Joseph dismissing or disregarding what he is told to do. We don’t see him calling an audible and changing the game plan to what he thinks might be a better option or solution. We see him faithfully following orders – a good guy just doing the right thing.
Yet, look what this good guy had to go through! The quiet, humble, do-gooder Joseph was going about everything the right way in his relationship with Mary. He had been faithfully honoring the period of engagement before marriage, which could have been a rather lengthy time as the families negotiated the details of the marriage, and then the bombshell dropped: she was pregnant, and Joseph was definitely not the father. So much for “do the right thing, and everything will work out,” huh?!?
It’s happened to you, too, hasn’t it? You did all the right things, but still, look what happened. You’ve been prudent and disciplined with your finances, budgeting wisely and refusing to get caught up in a buy everything and buy it right now culture, but still cannot seem to get things into the black. You’re the model employee, following company policy and always getting your stuff done in a timely manner, and no one ever takes notice. You take care of your things far better than your negligent neighbor, and yet you’re the one who always has car trouble or the leaky roof. You really felt you were doing all the right things as a parent, but your heavy heart questions it as you watch your child’s life continue to crumble in one part of life after another. You’re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not working out!
That carries over into our spiritual lives, too, doesn’t it? You’re doing the right things God calls you to in your marriage but the burdens are far outnumbering the blessings. You’ve been much more deliberate about being active and engaged at church, but your problems persist. You’ve been reading your Bible, but rather than experiencing clarity, confusion continues. You committed to the three-month challenge of increasing your giving over the final quarter of the year, but it’s been much more difficult than you thought it would be. You’re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not working out!
It gets more troubling as we get more personal. I’m talking about trying to do the right thing after you’ve done the wrong thing – that internal scale that we try to balance inside our own minds. Our history of exploding in a fit of sinful rage has resulted in physical damage or scathing words more times than we can count. Therefore, we work really hard at being more patient… only to inevitably lose control again. The next morning we tell ourselves last night was the last time we’re ever going on that website… and then after visiting it again the very next weekend we have to establish a new “last time we’re ever going to visit it.” Your dismal financial situation, caused by credit card debt racked up through your unnecessary purchases leaves you feeling ashamed and guilty, so you end up making it worse by trying to escape the guilt with more buying. You know you should forgive the person who sinned against you as readily as Jesus forgives your sins, but… you just can’t. You’re trying to do the right thing – even when trying to balance the scales because you’re the one who’s done the wrong thing, but it is definitely not working out!
If you are frustrated or discouraged by this struggle, the Bible provides some insight to help explain what’s going on. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25). “By the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). That’s pretty sobering news for those hoping to make progress by taking the “do the right thing and everything will work out” approach. It won’t work out. It doesn’t work out.
That misses the whole point of God’s law, which is really summed up by “do the right thing.” Or, to put it another way, love perfectly at all times. That isn’t just a tall order; it’s an impossible one. And that’s what God needs us to realize. Even guys like Joseph, guys we’d prefer to look up to and emulate as “good guys” – they are never good enough. We’ll never prove ourselves worthy or free from guilt by getting to the point of good, because it’s an unattainable goal.
So what did Joseph do when that bombshell of Mary’s pregnancy dropped? Well, since he was the kinda guy who did the right thing, that’s exactly what he stuck with – he did the right thing.
But there’s a monumental difference between doing the right thing in hopes of satisfying God and doing the right thing once you find out God’s more interested in satisfying you. That, after all, was what was revealed to Joseph in his dream. The angel explained the significance of Mary’s pregnancy and birth. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). “Joseph, did you hear that? You don’t have to be good enough! You don’t have to try harder! You don’t have to live in limbo, wondering if you’ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you, Joseph – from their sins!”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, did you hear that? You don’t have to be good enough! You don’t have to try harder! You don’t have to live in limbo, wondering if you’ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you – from their sins!
And he wouldn’t leave us wondering where we stood by remaining in heaven and barking out directions or to-do’s that could we could follow to be saved from our sins. He had to do it, and not from heaven, but here on earth. Matthew connected the dots for his readers to no one would miss that Mary’s Son would be God’s Son, the Savior who, just as Isaiah had promised, would come to be with us: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)” (v.22-23).
Immanuel, “God with us,” is not just the stuff of nostalgia; it’s the stuff of necessity. In Christ, God came to be what Joseph couldn’t be, what we couldn’t be, what no one could be: both perfection and payment. Jesus was the good we all strive so unsuccessfully to be. Jesus was the perfect that we’ll never pacify. Jesus was the payment we could never make.
Christmas is Christmas because it had to be. Out of necessity. I need that child born on Christmas Day. You need that child born on Christmas Day. You love that child and you love Christmas when you are emptied of the notion that you can just do the right thing and everything will work out. It won’t. So God had to fix what we couldn’t, what we can’t, what we will never on our own be able to fix: ourselves.
For all of his righteousness, his faithfulness to the law, his doing the right thing, Joseph still needed Jesus. So do we. Good news: on Christmas, we celebrate that God gave us just what we needed: Immanuel.