If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.
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NOTE: Starting last week and continuing for the next two weeks, i am posting a total of four stories about the incarnational birth of Jesus. They are fictional first-person accounts of the events that surrounded the advent of Jesus. Some of the characters and details contained in each story are fictional, but you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL!
My prayer is that through the stories you are reminded of the Good News of the Advent this Christmas season. To that end, let’s look at each part of this story through the eyes of four very different eyewitnesses:
Part 1 as told by Jacob the elder (November 30th)
Part 2 as told by Clopas the uncle (This week – December 7th)
Part 3 as told by Eliezer the cousin (December 14th)
Part 4 as told by Annas the scribe (December 21st)
This week you will hear from Clopas the uncle. Some historians and scholars believe that Clopas was the younger brother of Joseph, and as such, he would have had a unique perspective on the events that were unfolding. So let’s continue with the advent story through his eyewitness account.
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My name is Clopas. I am the son of Jacob the carpenter, and the younger brother of Joseph. I was born in Cana of Galilee and lived there for much of my life.
When I was sixteen years old, carpentry work was becoming difficult to find in Cana. My brother relocated to Nazareth while I remained in Cana with our father. Jehovah God continued to provide my father and me with enough work so we could keep food on our table.
When I was twenty-eight, I married a beautiful young woman named Mary. My brother and I must have similar tastes in women since our wives share the same name!
One year later, God blessed my wife and me with a son we named James. Even when he was young, we could tell he was going to be short-statured as an adult. Since he was shorter than other boys his age, he earned the nickname James the Less. But what he lacked in height, he more than made up for in brawn. He has always been a great helper to me in my work!
When James was five, we traveled to Nazareth to meet up with my brother Joseph so we could all travel together to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. This was the first observance of Passover since our father died, so we all wanted to be together.
We were more than surprised to learn that Joseph was betrothed. We had met Mary and her father on previous visits to Nazareth, but we never imagined Joseph and Mary would marry because of their age difference. Though we were surprised, we also were grateful to hear the news. Joseph was filled with joy again – something that had been absent from his life since his wife, Rebekah, died.
Mary was currently in Hebron so her father, Eli, would be joining us in our travels to Jerusalem. Even though I missed our father’s company as we made the journey, Joseph’s glee helped to lighten my heart. I enjoyed watching the brother-like relationship that had developed between Joseph and his future father-in-law. Their friendship had obviously deepened.
We enjoyed our time in Jerusalem and had even briefly visited our cousin, Achim. Our time together passed quickly, and we all looked forward to coming back together again in December for Joseph and Mary’s marriage feast in Nazareth.
So imagine my surprise when in early May, just a few months later, Joseph and Mary paid us an unexpected visit in Cana. It had been over a year since I had last seen Mary, so nothing appeared unusual. I welcomed them into our home and invited them to sit down and rest from their travels as my Mary prepared refreshments.
After my wife rejoined us, Joseph explained that he and Mary had news to tell us. I looked over at my wife and she appeared to already know what this might be about.
“Soon after we announced our betrothal,” Joseph began, “an angel of the Lord came to Mary and told her that Jehovah God had chosen her, and the Spirit of God would come over her and she would conceive a child. The child will be the Son of the Most High God. He is the Messiah – whose coming the prophets foretold.
“Isaiah wrote that the Messiah would be born of a virgin – and now God has chosen Mary to be that virgin. Mary told her father and me about the angel’s visit after she returned from Hebron last month. By that time, she had been pregnant for three months.
“The messenger of God confirmed the message through Mary’s cousins, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and he has confirmed it to me through a dream. We know that she is the most blessed of women – but we also know how this has appeared to our neighbors. The angel confirmed that I should bring her into my home as my wife. And I have done so. However, we will not consummate our marriage until after the child is born.
“You are my closest family, so we wanted you to know and understand as soon as possible. We know how shocking this all sounds. We both have experienced that shock firsthand ourselves. So, feel free to ask us any questions you might have.”
I know my brother – and I know him to be an upright man of integrity. I know that he loves God and strives to stand righteous before Him. I know that my brother will not lie about his own actions or anyone else’s. His word was all I needed to hear to know that what he told us was the truth.
So, I looked at my brother and his wife and said, “We join together with you in praising Jehovah God for His faithfulness in sending His Messiah, for His mercy in allowing us to now sit here in the baby’s presence, and for His grace in the way He is enabling you to walk through this with Him. Mary, you truly are blessed by God above all other women. And Joseph, our God has chosen well to choose you to be the earthly father to His Son.”
We all embraced and spent the remainder of our time together rejoicing and praising God. Two days later, Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth. As the days went by, my wife and I knew our lives would be different in light of this news. We were to be an uncle and aunt to the Messiah. Our son, James, would be His cousin. How could we have ever supposed that God would allow an unknown family like us to bear witness to His Son in such a way? He is indeed a merciful and gracious God!
My wife and I are both of the tribe of Judah and the line of David. So, when Caesar decreed that every person needed to return to their ancestral home for the census, that meant we must return to Bethlehem. My wife’s sister and her husband live in Bethlehem, so we knew we would be expected to stay with them.
We also knew that Joseph, Mary, and Eli would be making the same journey. And we knew that the baby would soon arrive. We made arrangements to meet up with them in Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem together so we could be of help. When we arrived in Nazareth, we learned that Eli was ill and would not be making the trip. Gratefully, there were others remaining in the town who would care for him. So, the rest of us set out on the journey.
When we arrived in Bethlehem, we parted ways. Joseph and Mary went on to our cousin Achim’s home, while my wife and I continued on to my sister-in-law’s home. We were grateful for their hospitality. Their home was small, and other relatives had also come, so we made the best of the tight sleeping quarters and enjoyed the fellowship.
The next morning, Joseph came to my sister-in-law’s home to see me. He told me the baby had been born the night before. He said a group of angels had announced the birth to shepherds in the hills. He told me how they had come to worship the child. He was in awe of all that had occurred.
But he also told me that Achim had not taken the news of the baby well. Joseph and Mary had spent the night in the stable, but this morning Achim had agreed to allow Mary and the baby to stay in the house until her time of purification was complete.
“However,” Joseph said, “I am not welcome in their home. This morning I went to the synagogue and registered for the census. Now I am headed to Jerusalem to find work for the next few weeks until Mary’s time is completed.”
“Brother, I am so sorry that Achim has treated you this way,” I replied. “I would see if you could stay here in this home, but I know they have no room.”
“I know that Jehovah God has a divine plan in all of this,” Joseph responded. “So we will trust Him that He will use this to further His purpose in everyone’s lives.”
Joseph asked if we would go through Nazareth and check on Eli when we returned home. I told him we would. As we began our journey home, Mary and I talked about the way Joseph and his wife were being treated by family and by their neighbors. We decided we needed to move to Nazareth to help them and encourage them. There was really nothing to keep us in Cana any longer. We knew it was what God would have us do.
When we arrived in Nazareth, Eli was disheartened that Joseph and Mary would be delayed in their return, but he rejoiced in the news of the baby’s birth. I told him the baby’s name was Jesus. He was delighted to hear it and also seemed genuinely pleased about our decision to move to Nazareth. I realized we were not moving here to only encourage Joseph and Mary, we would also be encouraging Eli.
Two months later, we received a message from Joseph that an angel of the Lord had directed them to go to Egypt. They did not know when they would return.
Little did I know what that meant. Little did I know the journey that was before Him. Little did I know where it would lead. But I always knew, wherever the journey led, I would follow.
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You can listen to the audiobook version of this story as narrated by Kyle Bullock by tuning into this week’s episode of my podcast by CLICKING HERE.
This story is taken from Little Did We Know, a collection of twenty-five short stories for the Advent season. The book is available through Amazon in standard print, large print, and for your Kindle or Kindle app. It is also available as an audiobook. Click HERE for more information on how you can obtain your copy.
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Copyright © 2022 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.
Photo by LUMO-The Gospels for the visual age on Lightstock