Jesus, the Gift of Joseph’s Vulnerability
When you think of the word vulnerable, you might have a picture of weakness or fear. But becoming vulnerable is an important part of servant leadership. In order for us to lead, we must first serve, and in this week's devotional, we learn about how to be vulnerable in our servant leadership from Joseph.
Joseph is not often talked about when we look at the Christmas story, but he was the picture of leadership. He was showing that despite the honor/shame society that they lived in, he would listen to God first. Check out this week's devotional where we learn about servant leadership from Jesus' earthly father: Joseph.
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What is one area of your life that God might be asking you to be more vulnerable with those around you—especially those you are called to lead and serve—even if it might look like weakness to others?
What area of your current leadership might you be holding too tightly to your own personal agenda or individual plans at the expense of the best interests of others? What might it look like to adjust your personal preferences to better serve those under your care?
What act of radical trust and obedience might God be calling you to take in order to more faithfully serve others? What might taking that risk look like, and how might it better serve the people around you? What practical step will you take today toward that calling?
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We’ve been looking at leadership through the lens of the Christmas story. Last devotional, we studied Mary. As we did a devotional on her, we looked at a picture of servant leadership. Today, we’re going to look at why servant leadership always requires a level of vulnerability.
There is no question that this type of leadership, on the surface, seems like we’re putting ourselves in a weak position. In a way, we are. It is others-focused rather than self-serving. That’s the beauty of it.
Getting vulnerable enough to connect with others and care and support them is the priority of servant leaders. It means we do have to hold our agendas lightly: trusting the Lord for his wisdom. Sometimes, we may have to put our reputation on the line when leading others with a servant’s heart. People who are only interested in the bottom line of an organization are probably going to question our methods.
Joseph is a great picture of this. Let me first give you some context for the story. Joseph is known as the early father of Jesus. He was married to a young woman named Mary, who was pregnant out of wedlock by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s read from Matthew 1:18-25.
“The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.
But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,’ which is translated ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.”
It says here, “When it was discovered that Mary was pregnant.” Joseph could have said, “Woah. I can’t marry you.” It would’ve been reasonable. In an honor/shame society, the fact that his fiancé was pregnant was a disgrace to his reputation and hers. It would’ve sent a message that she was an unfaithful woman.
But the angel of the Lord shows up to Joseph in a dream and convinces Joseph that it was a miraculous pregnancy. The baby was from God (Emmanuel: God with us). Joseph marries Mary, but he did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to her son.
No doubt, this would’ve been very difficult for Joseph on so many levels. He probably had to endure lots of questions, people staring at him, people being judgmental, and potentially some may have even lost some respect for him.
Some people may not have been understanding of how this happened. They could’ve gone, “Joseph, what are you talking about? She got pregnant before you guys got married? Why are you marrying her? Wait. An angel? What story is this?” I’m guessing he had to field every kind of question. Nevertheless, Joseph chose to be obedient to God, to trust God, and to show incredible faith.
Because he believed the angel, he was willing to face challenges, the questions, the risk, and the uncertainty of this very unique situation, which meant he probably looked silly to others. He might have had his own questions that he didn’t even have the answers to.
This is where I see Joseph leading with a servant’s heart. In order for him to care for his wife and his child, he had to trust God and be willing to be vulnerable to ridicule. You might think, “Is that really leading?” Oh, yes, it is. All eyes were on Joseph. These were communities where people were well connected to one another. When this story broke out, guaranteed everyone was watching. What is Joseph going to do? He’s leading others as he behaves a certain way.
This is a fact for all of us. All of us who are in Christ are called to lead. The very way we live our lives, the way we walk in our faith, the way we carry out our businesses, the way we care for our children, and the way we care for our relationships are all a manner of leadership. We are pointing people to Jesus, hopefully drawing them toward Jesus and not away from him.
We are all leaders, and we’re all learning how to be a leader and be able to be vulnerable. As leaders, we must be willing to put ourselves in a place where it might become costly to our own lives and to our own situation. For the benefit of others, it may be that we get inconvenienced. To lift others up, we probably have to share our position of authority.
This is what Jesus did. He came to give his life fully. It says in Philippians 2 that he made himself nothing. He had everything, and he made himself nothing for the benefit of others. It was for my benefit, for your benefit.
Out of gratitude, we want to lead like he did, with vulnerability. Servant leadership and vulnerability go hand-in-hand. You can’t separate them. I love that the Christmas story reminds me how God made himself small to meet us face to face. Jesus is the greatest leader of all. He demonstrated the greatest vulnerability that he might come to be like us, to serve us, and to save us. As Paul reminds us in Romans 5:8, God proved his own love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Joseph gave of himself. He gave up his life for the mission of God. And you can bet this changed dramatically…his whole life changed after this event. He had to put his agenda and his ego aside to obey God and trust God. He trusted the angel when he said, “Don’t be afraid.” Sometimes, that’s going to happen to us. To fulfill the call that God has given us, we must be willing to be vulnerable and sometimes to look weak to others. Ultimately, the benefit is for others. So, my friend, don’t be afraid. God is with us. Remember, Emmanuel.
I’m so glad to remember this, and I want to pray for us. We need God’s help to be able to be vulnerable. I’m so grateful that Joseph shows us a picture of what that looks like. Whenever we’re in this situation, we remember that we can trust God instead of the opinion of others or caring about our own self-preservation. Let us pray.
Father, thank you for this beautiful picture. Yet again, we’re reminded of the beauty of servant leadership. Lord, help us this season and the busyness and all the events and all the things we have to do during the Christmas season. Let us not forget that, ultimately, this is about the gift of being kind to others and caring for others. That’s what you came to do. Help us do the same.
All of it will point to you. People will know the good news that you came to do. We thank you, and we praise you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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