Will The New Hope We Find In The Story Of The Birth Of Jesus Move Us To Greater Commitment?
Good Morning Friends,
Here in this story, history and His story and our stories converging in the compassion of the great commandment… a Jesus in a manger, a Jesus on the cross, a risen Jesus…and now Jesus in us. Friends, when we trust in God, we overflow with the hope of the Holy Spirit. When we seek first His kingdom… when we seek first to understand then to be understood, we open up the opportunity to accomplish more together than we could have possibly accomplished alone. Here we hopefully encourage each other in some ways like the angel comforting Mary. We hope in the love of God. And if we believe and desire to be in the will of God because of it, we must eventually ask the hard question. Will The New Hope We Find In The Story Of The Birth Of Jesus Move Us To Greater Commitment?
Scripture: Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:10-14 (NRSV)
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)
Message: Here is the deal… God created everything so that the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of the Universe could have a relationship with us, and we could have a love relationship that unites us. God loves us, and so we need to figure out as best we can what we are going to do with this life we have been given. And because God is timeless, so too are the things that form our experience of the divine in the stream of Holy History. This timeless love is never more evident than in God’s story of Jesus…. God coming to live with us as hope and love and birthing in us this Spirit. We are that important. And God did this with the cooperation of a young woman and the power of the Holy Spirit. And here in the tension of the season we might just find that satisfying our need to comfort, encourage and give courage to others on the journey is one of the best ways of connecting our stories with the story of Jesus. And so, friends, it is here in the drama of the greatest story ever told that we discover that it is not working hard or in material items that we ultimately rejoice, but in discovering compassion and hope and love so deep that it must be expressed again and again as a relationship with Jesus shared. Sure, compassion costs us something. It is not free. Ask the mother of any child. But the grace of it, the hope of it, is as old as creation itself and as new as our last breath…the reality that Christ paid the price so we might live more abundantly should however humble us. Here in this story, history and His story and our stories converge. The hope is that we would be steadfast and focused on that which holds us together, so our endurance would carry us to the finish line.
And So, let us hope in the birth of the child who was destined to change everything. Let us recognize that the world needs more people with the commitment of Mary. Maybe we would not characterize Mary as highly favored if scripture did not say it was so. That would be the wrong motivation for her anyway. But let’s be honest. This was not easy even if this young peasant girl was touched by an angel. And there is a message in that for us. The thing is that she believed and in fact, the first in a way to believe, for if she had not believed she could never have conceived. But having committed it seems to me she submitted and responded in an amazing way. Look at the facts. Herod was trying to kill her newborn son. They had to escape to Egypt. And then after her son comes of age he was about his Father in heaven’s business. Blessings because of this existed to be sure. Jesus honored his mother at a wedding in Cana. But the tears and suffering later were great. When Mary was at the foot of the cross, she saw her son die. But then she was one of the first in the Upper Room to have the Holy Spirit fill her as it did the disciples. Mary leaves an amazing legacy and lesson for our chaotic world. Her humble obedience is a priceless and a precious gift that we cannot fully emulate. But the thing is we too can have a relationship with Jesus’ Spirit birthed in us.
Pray we understand that obedience to God can be both dangerous and painful as well as a blessing well worth the difficulties that come with the commitment.
Pray we realize that Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit into a young woman changed the future of the world and can change our lives too. Pray we seek to honor this past even as we strive to build a better future. Pray we learn from history but not be trapped in it. Pray we see the old in the new and the new in the old, but also the hope of something even better. Pray, if things get difficult in the world and its disruptions of our routines challenge us, that we keep the faith, endure to the end, and follow Christ who was and is worthy of all things. Pray we are not afraid. Pray we shine a light of service into the world realizing that God does not so much want our sacrifices as our love shared for the sanctification of us all.
Pray therefore
that the holidays do not distract us from our true mission in the world. Pray that we realize that we belong to Christ …. that Jesus was born, lived, died and was resurrected so we might be as one body of believers. Pray that we live in harmony with one another glorifying God as He permeates our hearts…our minds and our souls, binding us together with His love. Pray
we accept what is, let go of what was and have hope in what we believe God wants us to be. Pray the God of hope fills us with the joy and peace in believing. Pray our minds and hearts are focused on the hope of Christ and the gift of love we experience at Christmas. Pray we realize that Jesus is our Hope. Pray we realize that circumstances may change, people may change but that Jesus is eternal hope. Pray we have an abundant hope that spills over into the lives of others inspired by the example of Mary. Pray we be moved to ever greater commitment to love in the name of Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 