Dwight Fletcher | The forgotten lesson in the Christmas story

What if I told you that the story of Jesus’ birth has one of the most powerful lessons on resilience? It is a true story of hope, God’s unfailing love, joy and so much more, but it’s also filled with hardship that Jesus’ parents and people endured during that time.

Let me set the stage for you. In the time of Jesus’ birth, the king of Judea was Herod, a cruel man who reigned with terror and even executed members of his own family to maintain his sovereignty. If that wasn’t bad enough, Judea was under Roman authority. This meant unjust treatment, exorbitant taxes, unfair laws, and daily cruelty for all Jews. In fact, Luke 2 begins the account of Jesus’ birth by telling us that Mary and Joseph had to participate in a census that was decreed by Caesar Augustus. The point of the census? So that everyone would be registered to ensure they paid taxes.

Now on this backdrop of hardship, we find Mary. A young woman who risks her reputation, friendships and even her marriage when she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-24). She, then, had to travel to Bethlehem in her third trimester, only for there to be no room to stay. I cannot imagine the pain, worry, discomfort and fear she must have felt in those days.

If she had low resilience, she might have responded in one of the following ways:

Irritability or overreacting

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She would have been quick to anger and irritable, easily becoming enraged over every delay, problem or inconvenience that occurred. She would likely overreact at everything Joseph had to say or cause conflict with him and others in her frustration.

Becoming isolated or overly clingy

As resilience diminishes, people can either start to isolate or become overly dependent on having family or friends around them. Mary could have refused the shepherds when they came to visit Jesus on the night that He was born (Luke 2:15-16) or kicked Joseph out for the part he played in her suffering.

Moodiness or depression

Some people with low resilience find they feel sad a lot and cry more easily than they used to. As resilience decreases, Mary would have experienced a change in her body’s hormones that causes mood swings of extreme highs and lows.

Dwelling on problems

If she had spent all her time focusing on what was going wrong, Mary would have given birth to the Messiah on the side of the road. She would have wasted time and energy casting blame, focusing on what was unfair or torturing herself with “if only” statements.

Lack of hope

The most troubling way we often respond to hardship is with a lack of hope and vision for the future. Can you imagine them giving birth to our Living Hope while feeling hopeless? Mary could have begun behaving recklessly because she was blinded to the reality of the privilege she received.

How do you think you would have handled being in Mary’s or Joseph’s shoes at that time? Would you have responded in one (or many) of the ways listed above? If so, it’s time to pay attention.

The birth of Jesus teaches us that being resilient does not mean a life without stress, emotional upheaval, and suffering. Even those who are closest to God will need resilience to work through emotional pain and suffering.

Here is the good news; you can become more resilient. That is God’s plan for you. Quite frankly, the entire Bible is a book of resilience. When we look at Scripture, resilience is portrayed as the biblical norm for people who believe in God. Resilience is something you can learn. It takes time, strength, and help from people around you. And I want to help you get there. We’ll talk more about this next week.