Advent 2023: Mary’s Remembrances

Image: “Mary and Baby Jesus” by Jean Keaton
 https://www.jeankeatonart.com/…/pro…/mary-and-baby-jesus

Of the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke include the birth narrative. Matthew’s perspective is very different from his fellow writer’s. Together both give us a beautiful picture but I love Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth because, according to church tradition, it is Mary’s own recollections. Only Mary could recall intimate details about Gabriel’s visit the remarkable announcement: “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (vs. 31-32). She remembered her question “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (v. 34), and the angel’s reply about the Holy Spirit’s part in the conception.
Mary even remembered Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy and her aged cousin’s joyful greeting, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed I the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (vs. 42, 43). And “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (v. 45). Mary shared the song she sang: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . .” (vs. 46-55). Mary recalled the shepherds who told about the angel’s song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests” (2:14).
Luke included more than just the birth story as Mary also remembered when Jesus was presented in the temple according to the law and the old man and woman who spoke powerfully about her son (2:25-38). She remembered 12-year-old Jesus alone in Jerusalem, and how He amazed the Jewish teachers by speaking with authority beyond His years (2:41-50). His mother recalled him saying, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? (v. 49).
Luke said that Mary, “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19, 51). I’m so glad she did because she and Luke gave us the most detailed, intimate account of our Savior’s birth and early glimpses of His ministry. I am sure she pulled those memories out as she watched Him die on the cross.
Beloved, on this Christmas Day, amid the fun and presents and family, take some time to read both accounts and thank God for His most marvelous gift of love.

Advent 2023: God in Flesh

Genesis 1 says that when God created the heavens and the earth, He spoke them into existence. “Let there be . . .” light, sky, land, seas, and plants, sun, moon, and stars, fish and birds and animals. Everything except man was created by the power of His Word. John declared that the Speaker/Creator became “the Word made flesh” (Jn. 1: 14). Jesus, the Son of God. He proved Himself as God when the wind and waves obeyed Him (Mk 4:39). He proved His authority over the spiritual realm when He spoke and cast demons out of a tortured man (Mk 5:1-20). He spoke with such authority that a centurion’s servant was healed from a distance (Lk 7:1-10) and a dead man walked out of the tomb (Jn 11). He was – and still is – the all-powerful, all-mighty God of the Universe. Nature, spirits, sickness, and even death have no choice but to obey Him when He speaks.
Yet He came to His creation as a helpless babe in the arms of a peasant girl – the only one who responded to the sound of His voice. Still, I wonder . . . did the wind and waves begin to still at the sound of His cries? Did the demons tremble when they recognized Him cooing? Did the stars shine brighter when He protested the hunger in his belly? Despite his diminutive human state, He was still God. Still the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Still the Author of Life. Still the long-awaited King. Did creation recognize Him, even if His image-bearers did not?
Yes, He was a baby just like any other baby. He needed someone to feed and clothe Him, to carry Him from place to place, to wrap Him in swaddling clothes from the cool night air. But He was a baby unlike any other and I imagine all of heaven was in awe at the sight of God in tiny flesh, so helpless and frail. I believe the creation that obeyed Him “in the beginning” knew that these were no ordinary cries. There was always power and authority and sovereignty in the sound of His voice. It was just small and quiet on that holy night.

Advent 2023: Son of a Woman, Son of God

Wrap your head around this: the baby in the manger was the son of a virgin and the Son of God. The Scriptures say “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son . . . “ Matthew 1:23/Isaiah 7:14. I know – you’ve heard this scripture a hundred times at least. But have you stopped to consider what it really means? We tend to fly over it but we need to give it some time and attention because it is important.
It was crucial that the Savior of the world be spotless, without flaw or error, stain or blemish – perfectly pure. That could never happen with two human parents. Joseph was a righteous man, but he had a sin nature like every other human being. Mary was a virgin and she was“highly favored” by God, but she had the same sin nature. Joseph would be Jesus’ earthly father, but not his “biological father.” Mary, however, would be His biological mother – therefore she had to be a virgin – sexually pure. The Scripture said that Mary was “overshadowed” by the Holy Spirit as the “male party” to conception. The DNA stored in Jesus Christ’s physical body was that of the Lord God! The Father was in the Son.
More importantly, He provided spiritual purity so that the child would be the only human born without a sin nature. Now I am a Bible teacher. I like to make difficult things understandable. But I cannot explain how this occurred. It was a divine action that we must accept with wonder.
Why does this matter? Because you and I are unholy people in need of a holy Savior. The Levitical law declared that “the life of a creature is in the blood,” and “it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev 17:11). Only holy blood – divine blood – could atone for the sin of all men*. There’s just one problem: God cannot die. That is why Jesus had to be both divine and human. It was the only way to provide the perfect blood sacrifice required to redeem mankind from their sin nature*. It is the only hope you and I have.
Beloved, I encourage you to slow down through the familiar Christmas account. Take in every scene and ponder every word. This is not just a warm, fuzzy story to tell around the tree. This story is life. Eternal life. It is wonder and awe. It is Jesus – the God-man who came to save you. Indeed, it is good news.

*The blood of Jesus is sufficient to atone for all sin for all mankind, but not all men will receive what Christ has done.

This is Love

Christmas and love go hand in hand.
Love sent the Divine to earth (Gal 4:4).
Love wrapped the Baby in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger (Lk 2:6).
Love sang to the shepherds (Lk 2:14).
Love appeared as a guiding star (Mt 2:10).
But love isn’t just for Christmas.
Love welcomed the Promise of Israel (Lk 2:25-38).
Love searched for the lost boy for three days in Jerusalem (Lk 2:46).
Love made a home for a son that wasn’t his own (Lk 2:51).
And when the boy grew into a man . . .
Love healed the sick and raised the dead and freed the demon-possessed (Matt; Mk; Lk).
Love refused to judge (Jn 8:10).
Love rejected to devil’s temptations (Mt 4:10)
Love preached the Kingdom of God (Mt 4:17).
Love taught the truth (Matt; Mk; Lk).
Love willingly touched the leper (Mt 8:3).
Love calmed the storm (Mk 4:39).
Love made the blind see and the mute speak (Matt; Mk Lk).
Love spoke in parables that the people could understand (Matt).
Love fed the hungry (Mt 15:29-39)
Love walked on water and rescued a drowning man (Mt 14:22-33).
Love came for lost sons and daughters (Lk 19:10).
Love blessed the little children (Mk 10:13-16).
Love rode a colt into the city (Mk 11:1-10).
Love cleansed the temple (Mk 11:12-17).
Love washed filthy feet (Jn 13: 1-17)
Love broke the bread and shared the wine (Mt 26:126-28).
Love prayed while His friends slept (Mt 26:36-46)
Love restored a wounded ear (Lk 49-51).
Love stood before those who would judge and condemn an innocent man (Jn 18:1-19:16).
Love willingly took the blows (Mk 15:16-20).
Love bore the burden of the cross and the crown of thorns (Mt27:27-31; Jn 19:17).
Love felt the nails (Mk 15:24).
Love covered over a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:8)
Love made sure His mother was cared for (Jn 19:26-27).
Love said, “It is finished” and surrendered His Spirit (Jn 19:30; Lk 23:46).
Love lay silently in a borrowed tomb (Mt 27:57-60).
Love broke open the grave ((Mt 28:2-6).
Love walked through the garden (Jn 20: 10-18).
Love cooked breakfast on the beach (Jn 21:12).
Love sent the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).
Love is coming again (Rev 22:20).
Do you know why I always call you “Beloved?” It’s because God loves you with an everlasting, never-failing, eternal, divine and holy love. Don’t believe me? He planted and nurtured the seed that would grow into the tree that would become the cross on which His Son would die. For you.

Advent 2023: (Not) Just Another Baby

“The Virgin of the Angels” William-Adolphe Bouquereua (1825-1905)

Joy had a bumpy week with us this week. She was not at her best – there were many tantrums and tears and lots of “NO!” punctuated with stomping feet. She is a strong-willed little girl with a lot of emotion. Heaven help us. She especially fights bedtime. But when she finally falls asleep – usually curled up on Poppy’s arm – I look at her and all the frustrations of the day melt away.

To watch a child sleeping is to see the sweet face of innocence. Their eyes are closed to the world; mouth in soft repose as a tranquil, near-holy hush settles over their whole being. They say that when a baby smiles in his sleep, he has been kissed by an angel. If that is true—and why would we doubt it—the Infant Jesus must have smiled the whole night through. This Child was loved and adored on earth and in heaven.

Every baby brings a sense of promise to his family. Mother and father have dreams in their hearts of who this child will be—a doctor, a teacher, a missionary, or a dancer, perhaps even a leader who will one day change the world. One mother knew that her baby indeed would. One mother held the true Child of Promise for all mankind, the Messiah who would bring peace on earth.

Oh, He looked like any other baby lying there in her arms, small, helpless, and beautiful. He cried like other babies. He needed to be fed and changed like other babies. But she had heard the angel say that her child would be the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Joseph said that the angel had come to him too, and told him that this Child “will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Her cousin Elizabeth had declared “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear” (Luke 1:43). And what about the shepherds that came from the fields with a wild and glorious story of singing angels (Luke 2:8-18)? It is any wonder that “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19)?

To the rest of the world, it was just another night. To anyone who might have come upon the stable, he was just another baby. But a young mother—and all of heaven knew—peace had come to the earth, wrapped in rough cloths, sleeping in a manger.

Advent 2023: How Do We Get to Bethlehem?

“Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea . . . “Matthew 2:1

I had a conversation recently with a friend who is moving away. She is greeting this transition with both anxiety and excitement. “It’s all going to be so strange in a new town, but who knows what God has in store there?” I remembered my own move five years ago and that same mix of anticipation and trepidation. Like my friend, I believed God was behind our relocation and in the ensuing years He has confirmed that His will for me is here in this place. I believe God sets things in motion and orchestrates events so that His will is fulfilled. The Bible is filled with story after story of God’s hand in the events of human history, and in individual lives. But sometimes the path He chooses is hard and difficult to understand in the moment.

Joseph had a destiny in Egypt that affected his family, the forthcoming nation of Israel and the entire world. But God took him through pits and prison on the way. David would be king of Israel, but by way of the sheep fields and running for his life through the wilderness. I love the accounts of Paul; God had a purpose for him, to “carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel,” (Acts 9:15). He declared, “you must testify about me in Rome, (Acts 23:11). And he did indeed make it to Rome to declare the name of Christ Jesus, but he arrived as a prisoner, through a storm and a shipwreck and a snake (Acts 27-28).

Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem fulfilled a prophecy made hundreds of years before: “Out of you, Bethlehem Ephrathah . . . will come one for me who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2). How could that happen when His mother and father were in Nazareth, some 100 miles away? Watch what God did. “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone when to his own town to register,” (Luke 2:1, 3). Guess where Joseph’s family town happened to be?

Beloved, a life surrendered into the hands of the Lord God Almighty may have twists and surprises, and yes even doubts and struggles, but you can be assured that He is faithful to fulfill His purpose. Don’t be afraid of these “strange things that are happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). It’s just God at work fulfilling His purpose for you.

Advent 2023: Joseph: A Man of Mercy

In the telling of the Christmas story, Joseph, the earthly “stepfather” of Jesus doesn’t get much attention. Little is recorded about him other than he was a carpenter by trade (Matthew 13:55) and a descendant of David (John 2:4). But I learned something recently about him that had previously escaped my attention in the rush to get to the birth story.

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:18-19).

In the eyes of the Jewish community, Mary had committed a grievous sin – conceiving a child as an unmarried woman with someone other than her betrothed. According to the religious law, the “righteous” thing to do was to “bring her to the door of her father’s house and there the men of the town shall stone her to death” (Deuteronomy 22:21). Instead, Joseph chose to handle the situation quietly to spare her from disgrace and punishment. And because he acted mercifully, God, through the pen of Matthew, declared Joseph “a righteous man.”

Jesus esteemed mercy; He said the merciful will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7) and declared that God “desires mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 12:8). His brother James proclaimed, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). I think, sometimes the church has it backward. Much like the Jewish religious leaders, we think that righteousness means always doing the right thing; Joseph shows us that righteousness is doing the Jesus thing – showing mercy. After all, that is the heart of the Christmas story: God’s love poured out in mercy to sinners like you and me through Jesus Christ.

This Christmas season, is there someone in your life who needs mercy – someone who needs love? I know this theme is playing itself out in my own family right now. It will be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done, but it is the Jesus thing. Let’s commit to being righteous people – let’s be people of mercy.

Advent 2023: Wise Men, Shepherds, and Atheists

The atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell, when asked what he would say if he ever encountered God, said he would tell God “Not enough evidence.” I would tell Mr. Russell that all depends on where you looking and the state of your heart.

We so often hear the complaint that Christianity is just “blind faith,” and many simply refuse to believe without “proof.” But that is not what the Bible indicates. God invites us to step into faith with our eyes wide open. He said “If . . . you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him, if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). God does not require mindless devotion to an unseen, unproven entity. He has gone to great lengths to make Himself known. Even through His flesh-and-blood Son.

On the night of Jesus’ birth, God announced the way to this blessed Child. A chorus of heavenly hosts who appeared to the shepherds in the fields – and they told them exactly where to find this Baby – “in the town of David” (Luke 2:11) and how they would recognize Him – “wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (v. 12). They responded to God’s revelation – “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see . . .” (v. 15). They determined to follow the evidence that God has given them.

Matthew records another visible and powerful proof of Jesus’ birth as the Magi declared, “We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2). “The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was” (v. 9). God not only gave directions; He led the way with a star in the sky. They were overjoyed – they sought the King, and their search was rewarded.

There is another path that God has clearly provided for man to find his Creator. That path leads up a hill in Jerusalem, to Calvary, and to the Cross. God made this way clear and unmistakable when He covered that path with the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus. He has declared that this is the way to find Him – the only way. To all who will accept Him, God has promised not only to reveal Himself but to claim the seeking soul as His own. He welcomes those who seek Him with a heart to believe. Beloved, are you seeking that you may believe?

Advent 2023: Life Interrupted

She stood in the dim light of the early morning with her hand over her belly and her heart full of awe and wonder at the life growing within her. It was all so surreal. She tried to remember every detail but it was so wonderful and frightening at the same time. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and noticed that she was trembling – fear mixed with excitement ran like shockwaves through her small frame. She remembered the angel’s words and every inflection of his voice. “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus” (Luke 1:30). Then the angel said that this child would “be called the Son of the Most High God” (v. 35). Oh my! Did he mean that she would be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah? She was a simple peasant girl from the nothing town of Nazareth.

In the stillness of the morning, the angel’s announcement still rang in her ears. She repeated aloud the words she said to him that day as if reassuring herself and reaffirming her willingness, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said” (v. 38).

Mary’s quiet, well-planned life was suddenly interrupted by God. Her highest aspirations were to marry Joseph and fill their home with lots of children. But now she was in a most scandalous situation, one that could cost her this man she loved, her hopes and dreams, and possibly even her life. Yet she humbly surrendered herself to the will of God and embraced an unknown future with awe and wonder and faith.

When God interrupts our lives, it rarely comes preannounced by an angel. It usually involves a heart-wrenching phone call, a doctor’s sad face, a police officer’s knock at your door, your teenage daughter’s morning sickness, or a memo that the company is downsizing. It often comes with brokenness, pain, disappointment, anxiety, and tears. We don’t often get advanced notice of life-altering occurrences as Mary did. Still, we can respond with the same humble submission and faith that she exhibited. Why? Because God is with us in the unexpected, just as He was with Mary. Because He still has a plan and a purpose. Because none of these life-shaking events have taken Him by surprise. And because, Beloved, there is still nothing that is impossible with God.

God is Mindful of You

When her cousin Elizabeth blessed the Baby in her womb, Mary broke out in praise. Luke 1:46-55 is called “The Magnificat for the first words of her song: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” – “My soul glorifies the Lord.” Her reasons run from individual to worldwide – all declaring His faithfulness. One particular statement in her song always stands out to me.

She said, “He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant”. (v. 48) The NLT renders this “He took notice of His lowly servant girl.” But not because she was anything special.  While certain denominations exalt her to almost God-like status, Mary was just one more girl living in a poor Judean village – she had no wealth, no standing, no theological or religious education – but the Lord God of Heaven and Earth “took notice” of her. And she was amazed that God had given her such a divine blessing.

I wonder if you feel unnoticed, overlooked, or disregarded. Day after day you do the thing – care for your family, work a long day at your job, pour over the books as you study, sit with sick loved ones (or maybe not-so-loved ones), wipe noses and bottoms (your own littles or someone else’s), clean floors and dishes. Maybe you come home to a quiet empty apartment every day, or to kids looking to you alone to meet their wants and needs. You are probably wondering how to stretch a little money a long way and when you will ever get a break. Does anyone see you? Does anyone care?

Yes, beloved – God sees you and God cares. Mary praised the God who took notice of her – a lowly servant girl in a poor village. This was the same God who was named “El Roi” – the God who sees me – by a pregnant Egyptian slave girl on the run in the desert. Hagar named her son “Ishmael,” which means “God hears.” He is the very same God who sees and hears you – every tear, every sigh, every lonely, exhausted night, every whispered prayer for help and strength. You are not unnoticed dear one. The God who created you, who sent His Son to die for you, is mindful of you. He loves you. He has His eyes fixed on you. Beloved, you are precious in His sight.