It's our day-after-Thanksgiving tradition. I ascend the dusty heights of our garage door overhead storage, retrieving the interlocking plywood pieces that make up a nativity scene. The crèche is then assembled on the front lawn and illuminated with an LED spotlight (which sometimes actually works).
One night, as we pulled out of our driveway, Diana noticed a curious visual playing out on our home siding. It was an enormous shadow bearing a striking resemblance to the Joseph figure in our manger scene! The spotlight seems positioned at just the right angle and spacing to make Joseph look huge.
Ironically, his part in the Christmas story—and that of Jesus Himself—is comparatively small. It's so small you might label Joseph a background character. Once the Christmas drama unfolds, we hear no more from or about Joseph. He disappears off the page. Yet he casts a large shadow.
Seeing Joseph's image projected on our house siding made me think about the wide range of people in the body of Christ. Most of us are not in highly visible roles. There are few pastors and even fewer media personalities. We're background folks. We serve in out-of-the-way places doing mundane things often unseen or unknown by others.
There's no glamour, no glitz, no glory. Understandably, background people might wonder, "Am I making a difference? Does my life really count?
But consider.
- Someone had to follow the angel's instruction and name the baby Jesus.
- Someone had to work through the logistics of how the family would make their way to Egypt to escape Herod.
- Someone had to find a way to house and feed a struggling young refugee family in a foreign land.
- Someone had to raise Jesus and teach Him a trade.
That someone was Joseph—a background person. Because of his faithfulness and simple obedience, he casts a large shadow on the life of Christ and our lives to this day.
Do you see yourself as a background person? If so, your deeds are not unseen by your Heavenly Father. Your service matters. Your kindness matters—and may well cast a large shadow.
Recall that in heaven's economy, "the first will be last and the last will be first" (Matthew 19:30). There, we will see your "small" faithfulness for the largeness that it is. So don't give up! Your shadow is showing!
Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary.
-Galatians 6:9
