What To Expect
A short story about St. Joseph
Merry Christmas to all of my lovely Christian friends out there! This is the first of hopefully many short stories that will be posted to Soul Seekers’ Station and I hope you guys enjoy it.
I thought a story about the very first Christmas would be an appropriate place to start, especially published on Christmas Eve. If you have any requests for short stories from any tradition—be it Biblical, Vedic, or elsewhere—let me know.
Chapter 1: Peer Support
This can’t possibly be happening.
“It’s perfectly normal to be feeling these mixed emotions,” Gabriel assured him.
Joseph looked up from his wine to give the angel a look of numb shock. “You say that like anything about this situation is normal.”
Gabriel shrugged. “If God wills it, then it’s part of the natural order.”
“That doesn’t make it remotely normal.”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t.”
They sat in silence, the matter at hand far louder than the murmurs and clanking of the humble Nazareth tavern. Joseph watched as people from his community enjoyed casual company and conversations, debriefing their workdays with their friends. Maybe a few of them would make Shabbat dinner plans. None of them were having conversations like his, though, that was for sure.
“It’s just,” Joseph began. “Why? We were going to get married. We were going to have a normal, peaceful life. Our families were happy; I was planning to build us a nice little home near her parents. Now Mary’s pregnant, it’s a total scandal, we’re pariahs of the community, and you're telling me the upshot is we are to raise God as our child? Why us? We’re nobodies! Why couldn’t we just be nobodies?”
Gabriel pursed his lips and gave Joseph a sympathetic look. “Nobody is nobody. God gives everyone, including you, the lives they need. The difference, Joseph, is that you are blessed with the opportunity to fully return the favor. The world needs God—and God needs you.”
Tears formed in Joseph’s eyes. “I just wanted to be a father. I wanted a child. A human one. What does a God baby even mean?”
“He’ll be human.”
“But He’s God.”
Gabriel laced his fingers together and leaned forward. “He’ll be both. Your child–”
“My child?” Joseph’s heart felt like lead as he asked. “Will He really be my child?”
“Yes, your child. He will call you Abba and He will see you as such. Once incarnated, God will be completely human. In order for this to work, he has to severely limit himself, so you’re gonna have a truly exceptional, completely human son made of the same stuff as everyone else. As a child, He will cry and run to you for comfort. As a teenager, He will ask questions about the world and occasionally argue with you. Sometimes you’ll be wrong, sometimes He’ll be wrong.”
“And what about as an adult?” Joseph asked. “Will He have a good life?”
Gabriel clearly noticed the hesitance in Joseph’s eyes, but the job of an angel wasn’t to lie. “He is going to sacrifice Himself for all mankind.”
Joseph felt like he was forgetting how to breathe. “You’re giving me a baby I didn’t ask for just so I can love and protect him until He gets ripped away?”
“First of all, I’m not giving you anything. I’m just the messenger—and the occasional nanny, if you need. It was my decision to be here just as much as it was yours.”
Joseph took a small sip of his wine only to chase it down with a gulp. “Does anyone have any say in anything?”
“Your son,” Gabriel said. “The only man to ever have absolute free will has chosen you as His father. And this decision was made out of love.”
There was no arguing with that.
Chapter 2: The Names Of God
Joseph and Mary laid on the grass and watched as the stars began to fade from the night sky, preparing for the birth of a new day. Mary’s hand rested upon her very pregnant belly; Joseph’s hand rested upon hers.
“I can’t believe the baby we’re about to have is the one that put each of those stars in the sky.” Mary’s words danced through the air. Joseph loved that about her; her faith always illuminated the beauty contained in whatever life brought her. He did his best to learn by example, though for him, the theory and practice of faith often felt disjointed.
Joseph turned and smiled. Seven months now they’d been living with the knowledge that they were going to be parents. They’d settled into this new reality, albeit in different ways. Mary had fully accepted that they were going to have a baby running around the house that came from God rather than her husband. Joseph had come to terms with the fact that God was going to be running around his house dressed up as a baby.
“Yes, He’s certainly quite the craftsman. Maybe He can teach me a thing or two about woodworking once He starts talking.”
Mary laughed. That laugh always put Joseph at ease, no matter what was on his mind. “It’s funny that we’ve known Him our whole lives. How He formed us before He came to be our child. It’s incredible, when you think about it.”
Joseph wished he could share Mary’s joyful enthusiasm. He was of course committed to his wife and God, but in what way was the life forming in Mary’s womb his son? Was this child someone he’d known all his life, or some stranger? A new being, or an eternal one?
“We knew Him as God,” Joseph said. “Not Shimonias. They’re the same, but different, as Gabriel explained.”
“No,” Mary said. “For the last time, we are not naming Him Shimonias. It’s going to be Netanel or Yeshua.”
Joseph scrunched his face as he launched a half-hearted defense, though he knew he was losing this particular battle. It was just— the name felt like the one thing in this situation within his control. “Shimonias is a fine name. I’ve known plenty of Shimoniases and they’re all lovely people.”
“It’s an old man's name,” Mary insisted, “and we are not giving our newborn baby an old man’s name. Netanel and Yeshua are the final contenders.” It was clear from Mary’s tone that this was the last time she was going to so much as say the name Shimonias.
Joseph groaned and looked back up at the sky as light blossomed over the horizon. He let the resignation wash over him.“Fine, but it’s not like you can have a name that suits both a baby and a fully grown man—that just doesn’t work.”
Chapter 3: Understanding
Joseph cradled the sleeping newborn in his arms, as Mary snored gently next to them. He studied them both with wonder; Yeshua looked like His mother when He slept. Yeshua was perfect. Not because of what He was going to do or be, but because of who He was at that moment: A sweet, red, adorable, fat-cheeked baby with a shocking amount of hair on his head. Yeshua cracked His eyes open and locked onto those of his adoptive father.
And that was when it clicked for Joseph. Looking into those eyes, Joseph saw but two things: the love he had for this child, and the love the child had for him.
“Yeshua,” Joseph breathed,“God knows—you know—I’m not always going to get it right, but I promise I’ll do my best.”
He recieved a gummy smile in return.
There was a knock. “It’s Gabriel,” came the angel’s voice.
“Come in,” Joseph whispered back.
“Am I interrupting?” asked Gabriel as he entered the room.
“Not at all,” Joseph said through a smile, not taking his eyes off Yeshua.
Upon seeing his incarnated King, Gabriel bowed. “Hello, my Lord.”
Yeshua cooed.
Joseph traced his eyes around the baby’s features. “Gabriel, I can’t thank you enough for being here with us for all of this…whatever this has been.”
Gabriel placed a hand on Joseph’s shoulder. “There is no greater calling than to play out the occasion God raises you to.”
“I see that now,” Joseph said, brushing his thumb across Yeshua’s cheek.
“You’ll do well, Joseph,” Gabriel said. “They’ll call you a saint for this.”
“Eh,” said Joseph. “Abba is good enough for me.”