“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.’” [1]
This is not the way we would normally initiate a story intended to transform lives. I’m reasonably certain that if you or I were writing this story, we would have quite a different approach, an approach that would affirm those who were listening. We would be careful to avoid relating the account of any situation that was less than ideal. We would avoid even allowing a hint that a given course of action could be problematic. We wouldn’t want to discourage anyone, we wouldn’t want someone to be turned off so that they would refuse to hear us out, so we would be ever so careful to frame the story just so. We would want to ensure that the story really captured interest as we spoke of the beauty of the mother, or as we spoke of her ability to overcome every obstacle, or as we told how God chose her because of her intelligence and her native wit.
What we wouldn’t do is begin a story by speaking of a teenage girl, or possibly a preteen girl, who became a mother without even mentioning how she looked, without the possibility of speaking of how she overcame multiple difficulties to succeed against all odds, or without speaking of the brilliance of her mind. But, then, the story that God is telling us isn’t really about the girl—it is about the infant that is to be born, isn’t it!
You do have to admit that the story provided by Doctor Luke is rather strange. A young girl is pregnant, and the people of the village who have known her since she was born, or those who were aware of her presence in the little village, will soon come to the conclusion that she has been unfaithful to her betrothed husband. There can be no other explanation for her condition. When she leaves her hometown, we assume she is fleeing to the distant home of an older relative to allow her to escape prying eyes and wagging tongues. However, she is surprised by the spontaneous and excited greeting she receives from her cousin. Her cousin recognises not only that this child is expecting a baby, but that the baby the young woman now carries is designated as exceptional.
We are told this teenage girl carries God’s own Son in her womb, and the knowledge of the unique character of the child Mary now carries is immediately and divinely revealed to Elizabeth in an awesome demonstration of God’s own power. Don’t miss the fact that a miracle took place as Elizabeth was the recipient of divine revelation of the child Mary carried. Just as the child she was carrying was a divine intervention in the normal course of matters, so the child her cousin was carrying was Himself a miracle, and the knowledge that this child was exceptional was likewise miraculous.
The message for this third Sunday in our Advent season invites each of us to focus on this young girl, paying particular attention to the fact that she is less concerned about self-preservation or maintaining some sort of image she may have constructed in her mind than she is concerned to know and to do the will of God. This young girl is seeking to honour God. And when the Lord has revealed to her what He is doing through the intervention of an angel, Mary responded without hesitation, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” [LUKE 1:38].
RUSHING TO OBEY GOD’S COMMAND — I suspect that more than a few of us preachers, perhaps even you as you listened to a preacher who was standing behind the sacred desk as I do now, have imagined that Mary lingered in her parents’ home for some period, leaving only when her pregnancy could no longer be kept secret. Without actually thinking the matter through, we have convinced ourselves that Mary fled in fear at what others might say when her condition became known, or possibly hurried from her home in fear of the embarrassment her unplanned pregnancy would bring her parents.
Even in the opening remarks, I recognise that it is possible that some could conclude that I allowed the implication to linger that this could be the case. Tragically, such thinking is natural because we tend to project our conditioning onto those who are presented in the Word of God. We imagine that the way in which we would react must be the way that others always react. That is the result of our tendency to place ourselves at the centre of our lives.
That is the way things progressed in the not so distant past in our culture. During my days in secondary school, I recall a young woman, a personal friend, who found herself with child. She had been dating one of the star athletes, and he had impregnated her. When she told him she was pregnant, he refused to marry her or even to acknowledge that he had anything to do with her situation. Therefore, her parents sent her to a home for unwed mothers. That is the way things were done in that distant day.
In this popular view of the biblical text, only when it was obvious that she was pregnant would Mary seek refuge in the home of her cousin Elizabeth who lived in the Judean hill country. I am guilty more frequently than not of having given the impression or stating openly how the young woman undoubtedly wanted to escape the prying eyes of nosy neighbours who would be prone to gossip as her expanding waistline divulged her condition. Though she may not have been eager to face the people of the village as her pregnancy progressed, the text is pointed in informing readers that “Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” [LUKE 1:39-40]. Long before her pregnancy would be apparent, Mary went to the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. In fact, it was immediately after she had been visited by the angel that Mary went to visit her cousin.
Modern readers of the Gospels appear to hold the opinion that Mary was ashamed because she was pregnant and unwed. This opinion may have been informed more by the culture that prevailed a generation past than it was informed by the Word. It is possible that a few old-fashioned individuals might still be capable of holding such a view as this. In this view one imagines that Mary would naturally want to keep her condition hidden. She was pregnant and there had been no marriage at this point. We imagine this to have been the case since are conditioned to think that way. This especially holds true when we allow ourselves to imagine that’s how we would react if we were unwed and pregnant.
That doesn’t appear to have been the case when we are informed of Mary’s response to her situation. She was eager to do what God had commanded, and she clearly wanted to be near her cousin Elizabeth. Mary’s haste was in response to the implied instruction delivered by the angel. Look at the text and take note that the angel Gabriel had specifically informed Mary, “Behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren” [LUKE 1:36].
Mary received information that she had not known prior to the revelation from the angel who had delivered the divine communication to her. God clearly wanted her to know that He was at work in the world and she was a part of His plan. She could not know the full impact of her obedience, but she knew that God was at work in the world! We sometimes appear to forget that it is natural for those who have experienced God’s transforming power to want to associate with others who have been similarly transformed. Twice-born people naturally want to be with other twice-born people. Those who love the Lord want to spend time with those who love God. The surest evidence that an individual has never known the second birth is a reluctance to be associated with God’s redeemed people.
The most natural thing in the world for one who has been born from above is to seek out fellow believers to share the joy of God’s power setting the individual free. Consider the response of those who were saved on the Day of Pentecost. Doctor Luke informs us, “Those who received [Peter’s] word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” [ACTS 2:41]. Those who experienced the saving power of the Risen Christ were added to the one hundred twenty that were already filled with the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Undoubtedly, one major reason for seeking out those with whom we share a common experience is the safety we find when sharing life with others who are twice-born.
Jesus speaks of His redeemed saints as His sheep. There is a reason He speaks of believers as sheep and Himself as their Shepherd. It is because they are actually helpless against the wolves that populate this world; but He is their Great Protector. Recall one particular exchange Jesus had with a number of religious leaders. The account is found in John’s Gospel, where we read, “At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one’” [JOHN 10:22-30].
Elsewhere, we witness Jesus addressing His disciples, speaking of them again as His flock. Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” [LUKE 12:32].
While I don’t wish to belabour the point, recall one other instance when Jesus used this picture to speak of His redeemed people. To the disciples, Jesus said, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” [MATTHEW 10:16].
I’ve stressed this point to emphasise the fact that we are His sheep, and as sheep, we are safest when we are gathered with other sheep where the Good Shepherd watches over the flock. Because we seek out the safety of the flock, we want to ensure that we do not dishonour Him Who watches over us. Scattered by the persecution unleashed by Rabbi Saul of Tarsus, the believers were preaching Jesus wherever they went. Deacon Philip was in the city of Samaria where he proclaimed the Christ. Those who heard him believed what he declared, and though they had once been mesmerised by a man named Simon who performed magic tricks, we are told, “When [the people] believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” [ACTS 8:12]. The sure evidence that they were transformed by the power of the Risen Lord of Glory was that they were obedient to the command that they should identify with Him in the act of baptism.
Then, when Philip had preached Christ to the Ethiopian court official who had been to Jerusalem to worship, that man was changed. He requested baptism as commanded by the Saviour. Thus, we read, “As they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptised?’ And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God’” [ACTS 8:36-37 NASB 95].
Allow me to become somewhat practical at this point. I trust that I have convinced you, if you were questioning the fact, that those who know the saving power of Christ the Lord want to obey Him, and unsurprisingly they eagerly seek out fellowship with those of a like mind. What does that have to do with our text at this Advent Season? It is just this: Mary had experienced God’s power in a unique fashion, and she would go to be with another woman who had been similarly blessed through divine intervention. Both women had been uniquely blessed to be part of God’s divine plan to redeem His fallen creation. They were each fully aware of God’s work in their lives, work that was a mark of divine mercy that had been revealed to them in giving them children.
We need to remember that Elizabeth was “advanced in years” [see LUKE 1:18]. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to inform him that his wife would soon be with child, Zechariah protested that his wife Elizabeth was beyond the days when she could bear a child. Mary’s cousin was not a teenager or even a young woman; Elizabeth was older. The text might lead us to conclude that she had possibly already entered into menopause. Don’t forget that Zechariah identifies himself as “an old man.” Whatever age Zechariah and Elizabeth may have been, the possibility of pregnancy seems to have been so remote as to be considered improbable if not impossible. Despite their prevailing prayer that a child would grace their home, they appear to have resigned themselves to a home that would never know the joyous laughter of children. Then God intervened!
The point of this discussion is to emphasise that the child that Elizabeth was carrying was the result of divine intervention. While we might say that John’s birth was the natural result of human procreation, the timing was the result of divine intervention. John was a miracle baby. And now Mary, a younger cousin of Elizabeth, was also entrusted with God’s gift delivered in a miraculous fashion. Thus, it seems important to note that it is natural to understand that Mary would want to seek out someone who understood something of what she was experiencing. Surely she was alerted to the miraculous nature of Elizabeth’s pregnancy through the words that the angel spoke to her.
Well, it is all getting rather complex, wouldn’t you agree? What is going on? In reality, giving a baby to a childless couple who was beyond what we imagine to be the age when children are usually born followed by a young virgin being chosen to be the vessel by which the Son of God would come to earth was all an act of the Living God meant to reveal His love. Really, things were moving rather quickly. However, the Lord God was moving deliberately to reveal His love for mankind.
RESPONDING TO GOD’S MIRACLE — “When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” [LUKE 1:41-45].
Keeping to the theme I addressed a short time ago, I note that the presence of one who has experienced the miracle of the second birth causes others who have themselves likewise experienced that second birth to rejoice. Welcoming those who have come to faith in the Son of God is the most natural act imaginable. Doing so with genuine affection is the response we would anticipate from those who are twice-born. The redeemed child of God is deeply blessed to know that God has worked in the assembly to turn another from death to life. We are thrilled at the thought that another has stepped out of the darkness and into the light. We welcome them as family members who have been absent too long. We welcome the wanderer home.
Elizabeth welcomed Mary into her home, knowing that they had each shared a distinct blessing, a blessing that revealed the grace and mercy of God for all mankind. These two women realised that they were part of God’s marvellous plan for the salvation of all people. Though they appear to have been separated by years, Mary and Elizabeth experienced God’s love in full power.
I am compelled to stress that both of these women had been blessed in a miraculous, wonderful, awesome fashion as the Living God revealed that He was at work in the world and pointed out how great that work promised to be. The Lord God had promised to send a Redeemer to provide salvation for fallen, broken humanity. Now, at long last, what had been promised from the time of the fall of our first parents was about to be revealed through two women who were blessed in such an unusual fashion.
I understand that there is a sizeable segment of society that does not see children as God’s rich blessing. However, we who walk in the way of the Lord recognise children as a distinct blessing. I find it strange to hear people speak of “an unplanned pregnancy.” When a man and a woman unite in the act of love, there is the potential that a child will result. Is it not rather strange that we imagine that we can play God as though we were in control of giving children. Don’t assume that I know nothing about reproductive biology. I was trained by a scientists from the team which produced the first birth-control pills. I spent a few years in the field of reproductive science, conducting postdoctoral studies in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California in San Francisco. For all the knowledge we claim to possess, I understand that it is still God Who gives us our being.
Worshipping before the LORD, the Psalmist confesses, as do all who receive the Word of God as truthful and accurate,
“Certainly you made my mind and heart;
you wove me together in my mother’s womb.
I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.
You knew me thoroughly.”
[PSALM 139:13-14 NET BIBLE]
Imagine that! Not only the physical body by which others are able to visualise who we are, but even the mind with which you think and reason, were given by God Who loves you and calls you to know Him. The Lord has given each of us body, soul, and spirit!
Soon after writing these words, the Psalmist confessed,
“Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.
All the days ordained for me
were recorded in your scroll
before one of them came into existence.”
[PSALM 139:16 NET BIBLE]
Dear people, the children that graced your home are not accidents that surprise us; nor should you ever think that you were an accident. There is a God Who knows you and Who has given you your being and your purpose. He knew you before you were ever born, for it was He Who has given you the opportunity to know Him and to serve Him.
Do children demand time and the investment of love in order to have their lives moulded so that they can grow to be productive adults? Assuredly! Is the labour you invest in children or in grandchildren worth the effort? Again, for people who are able to think correctly, the answer is a vigorous and hearty agreement with that thought. Has not the Psalmist spoken for the people of God when he writes,
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”
[PSALM 127:3-5]
I haven’t strayed all that far from the text. Nevertheless, it is time for us to focus again on what is written in Luke’s account of the birth of the Son of God. In our text, we note that Mary responded with joy and eagerness at the blessing she received from God. Though her understanding was not perfect, this young girl appears to be fully aware that God was performing a miracle that would bless all mankind, and she had been chosen to participate in bringing that miracle into being. Thus, she was prepared to obey the Lord, honouring Him and trusting that He knew what was best for her and for all mankind.
Note especially the FORTY-FIFTH VERSE, in which we witness Elizabeth saying, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” [LUKE 1:45]. Before Mary has even described why she has come to be with her older cousin, Elizabeth explains how something so incredible as to be unbelievable has just taken place. The baby in her womb leaped for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice, and Elizabeth knew that Mary had been visited by God.
We have witnessed on multiple occasions the community of faith expressing great joy when we witness the testimony of salvation given by one who comes before us confessing Christ as Lord. Have you thought of why this should be? There is no question but that we rejoice in such moments because we are made aware that what we have believed is verified once more. We believed and were born from above into the Family of God through faith in the Risen Saviour. And each time another individual looks to the Lord and confesses Him as Master, we recognise that our own faith has been verified. This is the common experience among all worshippers of the Risen Master.
It is inevitable that as time passes and we experience the pressures of this fallen world that we struggle with why our faith is not more vibrant. We read the words that John penned, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” [1 JOHN 5:4-5]? There was a day when those words were so very real for each of us; but time seems to grind us down and the weariness that attends the battle to stand firm in the Faith intrudes into our life, and we are soon thinking more of our exhaustion than of the Saviour Who redeemed us.
Then comes the day when another individual openly confesses Christ as Master over life. Confessing Him and following Him in baptism as He has commanded those who would follow Him, their obedience and the joy they express reminds us that there is a Saviour and that He still works to turn men and women to life in Him. By their very presence we are buoyed and heartened, our faith is renewed. Once again the intense joy we knew early in our own walk with the Saviour burns a little more brightly in our soul. What we are witnessing in the confession of this fellow Christian, and the joy evidenced as that one stands in newfound life, encourages us and refreshes our soul.
There is something else that must not be overlooked, and that is that the Spirit of God testifies that the Faith of Christ the Lord is growing and spreading. The Family of God has just grown and the Kingdom of Heaven is extended just a bit farther. We have witnessed a victory as Christ redeemed another soul from the kingdom of darkness, and we cannot help but rejoice in the victory He brings and in the knowledge that our Master graciously permits us to share in His victory.
Do you recall the words that the Apostle has written, when he encouraged the Christians in Rome to stand firm in the Faith. Paul wrote, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” [ROMANS 8:12-17].
The Spirit of the Lord affirms our joy because He rejoices at what is happening in the life of that new believer. Because the Spirit of Christ lives in us, and because that same Spirit is living in the new Christian, the joy of the Risen Saviour fills each of us who share in this holy Faith, and we cannot help but be filled with joy and with love. God is working and we are filled with love for those whom the Master is redeeming. The Family of God has just grown, and everyone rejoices in the growth of the family.
Okay, I know that the Thanksgiving season is behind us for another year. However, the follower of the Christ is always filled with gratitude whenever she or he witnesses the Spirit of Christ at work in our world. And that attitude of thanksgiving is intensified whenever we witness the Lord working in the life of the Body in which He has placed us. We experience joy even as we raise our voices in praise to God Who works in our midst and reveals His grace and glory through touching our lives and bringing many sons to glory. Amen.
Imagine! All this comes from the love of God that was revealed to all through the birth of the Son of God. To be certain, we should celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth since it is a revelation of the love of God to all mankind. However, we should keep our focus on the Christ Who became a man, not permitting ourselves to become bedazzled by the tawdry accoutrements of this dying world. Let this holy season impel you to hasten to do that which the Saviour has appointed for you to do. Do it now. Amen.
BLESSINGS FOR ALL — “When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” [LUKE 1:41-45].
There is a beautiful affirmation of all that has taken place in the life of one who is saved, and this is because the Spirit of Christ is present in that one’s life. You will recall how the Apostle has instructed us, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” [ROMANS 5:1-5].
These are not inconsequential evidences of God’s love toward us as His people. Because we are redeemed and brought into the Family of God, we are justified. And because we have been justified so that we have a right standing before the Father, we have peace with God. The peace we enjoy causes us to experience great joy, joy that flows from our standing before the Lord God. These wonderful affirmations endue us with incredible confidence that enables us to see beyond the moment and into eternity. When all this is poured out into our lives, we know that it is because of the love of God. God’s love was revealed in the birth of His Son, and that love is made more certain still whenever we witness God’s grace and power exercised through us bringing others to life.
I’ve been speaking of the affirmation that is experienced by each one who has received the grace of God through receiving Christ as Lord. When Christ is near, the one who follows the Lord is compelled to praise the God Who gives us life, just as Elizabeth broke out into praise. Even to have been in the presence of the Son of God makes an impact on us. Recall the account given of the two disciples who were going back to their home in Emmaus. Jesus had been crucified and buried. Then, the disciples heard of strange events happening on the third day following the death of the Master.
Here is the account as given in Luke’s Gospel. “Two of [the disciples] were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ And he said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.’ And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread” [LUKE 24:13-35].
The Son of God took on human form, submitting Himself to the virgin’s womb. It would require another thirty-three years before God’s purpose in sending His Son to earth would be fully realised. To be sure, students of the Hebrew Scriptures should have known what was taking place; but they were oblivious. Perhaps they were caught up in the mundane affairs of daily life and failed to connect what was happening. Perhaps they were truly ignorant of the very Word they taught and which they said they believed. I suppose waiting thirty-three years to see what God was doing seems like a long time, but really, it wasn’t all that long after all.
Some of us are quick to say that God appointed us for some great task, but we wonder when His appointment will be fulfilled. I mean time passes, decades in fact, and the one great thing we anticipated still hasn’t taken place. Think about Mary, or even about Elizabeth. Mary was told that the child she was to bear into the world was the Son of God. There had been the shepherds with their almost unbelievable account of angels telling them that the child they would find in a stable was the Saviour God had long promised. Then, there had been those Persian magi who trooped in with their entourage, bringing the gifts that were fit for a king. And they had that strange tale about following a star. Then there had been the old man, Simeon, and the prophetess named Anna who had each told how God had informed them that they would see God’s Anointed One. And now, here He was! God’s Anointed One sent to redeem mankind! And this One sent to redeem us was but a baby eight days old. How strange was the love of God!
All that excitement was unleashed in such a brief moment of time. It was as if a flood of events overwhelmed the young girl, and then everything settled down to a dull routine. Years passed with not even a whisper of God being at work. Life settled down into the dreary every day—Joseph building couches and tables, making the repairs to garden tools, and Mary busy with the children that soon began to fill the home. Mary would have her hands full caring for the house, making the meals, drawing water at the village well, and doing all the things that are expected of a mother in Israel.
And all the while, the boy grew, learning to read and being trained in the carpentry trade. There was the bar mitzvah for the lad, the day he became a man in the eyes of the community. Mary would have witnessed the first time He read the Torah aloud in the synagogue. There were all the routine events that combine to define childhood, but there was never a hint of anything that would characterise Him as the Son of God, nothing that was sufficiently momentous that anyone took special note. Nothing, until three decades had passed and He went out into the wilderness where His cousin John was baptising. After He prevailed on John to perform the rite, He began to preach and His notoriety began to grow and grow as more and more people sought Him out.
And what excitement was unleashed in the life of those who received the love of God for themselves! Those who were opposed to the message these first followers carried attempted to put a halt to them and what was seen as a pernicious, destructive philosophy because it would induce people to think independently. They spoke of them as “men who have turned the world upside down” [ACTS 17:6]. And you also, when you allow the love of God to fill your heart, will soon be accused of turning the world upside down. This will not be because you are combative or pugnacious; it will be because the love of God fills your heart and you want to share His grace and mercy with all people. Let His love shine! Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
