The Cost of Adoption

As I was reading the scriptures this morning this came to me and I had to share with you all.

The Cost of Adoption

Once upon a time there was a young Jewish man from the town of Nazareth for whom God had a mission. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Mt. 1:20-21)

Basically what the Lord told him was, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to adopt a little boy named Jesus.” God’s main mission in life for Joseph was the adoption of a very special child.

I’m sure, just like any young man, Joseph had dreams and ideas about his future. He was engaged to Mary and he probably already had some children’s names picked out in his mind. He probably had visions of expanding the family carpentry shop and working along side of his sons and living a quiet and peaceful life in Nazareth. But God’s mission changed everything… adoption changed everything… there was no way that Joseph could have known the cost of obeying the Lord in this seemingly harmless adoption of a baby but here are some of the ways that I thought of this morning that his life was dramatically changed.

First, Joseph has to endure the disdain of his town and probably his family for agreeing to marry a pregnant girl this is why he intended to release her from the engagement privately before the angel appeared to him. You see the angel appeared to Mary and to Joseph but not to the rest of the town…

Second, God orchestrates the Roman government to take a census in which Joseph and Mary will have to uproot and travel to Bethlehem because Jesus needs to be born there to fulfill prophecy. Everything Joseph has worked to build up in Nazareth is gone. So they start all over in Bethlehem.

Third, Joseph is faced with the stress of his young bride having a baby in a stable because there is no room in the inn. None of this would have been his plan A for his life.

Fourth, After 2 years in Bethlehem suddenly a king, of all things, is after his son and God tells him, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” (Mt. 2:13) The little family has to flee in the middle of the night and once again start all over in Egypt. Imagine a Nazareth small town boy now in a place he knows nothing about. This adoption has now completely altered Joseph’s life in ways that he never could have imagined.

Fifth, After a few years in Egypt he is once again told by the Lord to pick up and move. “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” (Mt. 2:20) He heads for Bethlehem but then hears that Archelaus  is reigning and fearing for his young son goes back to Nazareth where he and Mary are undoubtedly notorious.

Sixth, The next time we see Joseph he and Mary travel to Jerusalem for passover and lose track of Jesus and spend several days backtracking and losing time looking for him. Once again we see how this adoption impacted and disrupted Joseph’s life.

Seventh, Though Joseph was not around to see it, this boy, Jesus, ends up being tried as a criminal and being executed. But not only that, he involves his brothers, Joseph’s blood children that he no doubt prayed for, loved, and was proud of. This Jesus involves them in His mission and they are all eventually executed as well.

I’m sure when Joseph accepted the mission to be an adoptive dad, he couldn’t have foreseen the cost and the trouble that it would bring to his life… but neither could he have seen the immeasurable blessing and eternal impact that this one act of obedience allowed him to be a part.

When Mary says in Luke 2 that all future generations will call her blessed, she is right because God chose her to be the mother of God. But think about how blessed Joseph is in heaven right now because he got to be the adopted dad of God. Wow!

Adoption has been called the living gospel because it depicts what God has done for each of us (John 1:12; Rom. 8:15&23; Gal. 4:5; & Eph. 1:5) but it also depicts in an earthly sense the amazing mission that God gave to Joseph of Nazareth and it should encourage us to follow his example and obey and endure because we don’t know what God may have planned for our adopted child.

Russell D. Moore in his book Adopted For Life says, “Joseph serves as a model to follow as we see what’s at stake in the issue of adoption. Joseph, after all, is an adoptive father. In some ways, his situation is, of course, far different from ours. In other ways, though, Joseph’s mission belongs to all of us. As Joseph images the Father of the fatherless, he shows us how adoption is more than charity. It’s spiritual warfare.”