When Obedience Costs You Your Reputation

The Christmas story starts with a moment that would break most people; Joseph learns Mary is pregnant before they live together, and everything in his world points to betrayal. We read Matthew 1:18–25 out loud in both the King James Version and the NIV, then pause long enough to feel the tension that often gets edited out of nativity scenes. Jesus’ birth is worth celebrating, but it also marks the…