December 30 | Luke 1:41-52

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DAILY READING

Luke 2:41-52

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REFLECTION

Desperately Seeking

by Mary Alice McGinnis

Are there things in your life that you have questions about? Things you don’t understand? Things for which you wish you had answers?

Most of the details about Jesus’ childhood remains a mystery. From the day He was consecrated in the temple until He was twelve years old, the New Testament writers do not give any information about Him. Then again after age twelve until He begins His ministry at age 30, the Gospels tell us nothing, What was Jesus like when He was 5, 10 or 20? How did He interact with others? Did He do any miracles? Did He have to learn to read and write, or saw and hammer, just like others His age?

Today’s story leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions too. Why did Jesus choose to stay behind in Jerusalem? Why did Mary and Joseph not notice He was not with them for a full day?

From the time of His infancy until He was age twelve, there were no recorded words from the incarnate Jesus.

What were Jesus first recorded words?

“Why were you searching for me?” He asked.

Think about that for a moment. Is there something you have been desperately seeking? Perhaps that search has been going on for a while, and there seems to be no end in sight. 

It may feel like God has abandoned you, been unkind to you, or treated you badly by allowing such distress. Maybe Jesus is asking you that question right now, “Why are you searching for Me?”

The twelve-year-old Jesus continues, “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”

Mary and Joseph had desperately searched for Jesus for three full days. Where do you suppose they looked for Him? Yet Jesus tells them that should have known right where He was - in His Father’s house. It says, they found Him “in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers.”  

He was right where He was supposed to be, tending to His Heavenly Father’s business (as some translations say).

It says that Mary and Joseph did not understand what He was saying to them. Aren’t we just like that? Jesus bids us to seek Him. Where is He working? How is He bringing about His Father’s business right now? Where are we missing Him? He can be plainly seen if we just open our eyes to see Him. But often, in our humanness, we do not understand.

Even though she did not understand yet what Jesus was saying, “Mary treasured all these things in her heart.”   

This had been Mary’s practice since the Angels and the Shepherds came to visit the Child Messiah in His manger bed. Luke 1:19 says: “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” It was all too much to take in. She could not fully grasp it all. So, she gathered all these things together keeping them protected and guarded in her heart like a valuable treasure. Mary preserved God’s unmistakable unveiling of His glory, and kept it locked inside her lest these things be forgotten. Many think that Luke gathered the things Mary treasured up and wrote them down in the gospel of Luke.

After finding Jesus in the temple, Mary again treasures these things in her heart. Now she brings back to mind “why” Jesus came—to fulfill the mission His Heavenly Father laid out for Him. And He would do it in ways that would not always make sense. He would be obedient to them as a child. And as God’s Son, He would be obedient to His Heavenly Father—even unto death, death on a cross.

When we are searching, when we are looking for answers, when we are finding it hard to understand it all, perhaps we need simply to turn our hearts back to the One who DOES know all things. May we keep, protect, and guard this treasure inside our hearts - the relentless love that would go so far as to be born a human and die for us. We will find Jesus right there, doing His Father’s business - pouring out His relentless love in ways far above what we can think or imagine.

PRAYER

What questions were stirred up in your heart today? Bring them to Jesus. Lay them at His feet.

Lift your heart in prayer through this song: Magnify - by We are Messengers.

December 27 | Isaiah 9:1-7

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DAILY READING

Isaiah 9:1-7

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REFLECTION

NEVERTHELESS...

by Beth Voltmann

Isaiah’s prophecy is rich with promise and stirs a beautiful Christmas memory for me:

The small sanctuary, filled with worshipers and candlelight, would swell with the sound of Isaiah 9:6-7 set to the music of Handel’s “Messiah”. The choir would begin, and soon, the congregation would join. We would sing the chorus several times, allowing the wonder of the miracle of God’s promise to sink in, and then...

the music would stop, and our voices, raised in a cappella praise, would sing the chorus one more time. As a child, it seemed as if the final note would linger in the air as we all stood silently in breathless wonder.

At the time this prophecy was given, things appeared to be very bleak and dark for God’s people. It began with “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom...” (Jeremiah 9:1). This was a past prophecy given to a people who desperately needed a savior—words of hope to those needing comfort.

Matthew Henry’s commentary says:

“In the worst of times, God’s people have a ‘nevertheless’ to comfort themselves with something to allay and balance their troubles.”

Perhaps the world seems bleak, or you are feeling a bit down now that Christmas is over. Nevertheless...this is also a present prophecy for us. God sent Jesus, the Word made flesh. All the fullness of the Godhead came down to a little manger in Bethlehem.

“...on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (v. 2)

Do you know this Light? In Jesus our joy has been increased (v. 3), the yoke of our sin has been shattered (v. 4), for to us a child has been born, to us a son given (v. 6).

This is the promise of the Godhead three-in-one:

• the child born in a manger is the Prince of Peace who died for us

• the Son given is our Mighty God and one with the Everlasting Father

• the Spirit of Christ is our Wonderful Counselor

The days may seem long and difficulties many; nevertheless...let these words comfort you today:

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given,

And the government shall be upon his shoulder;

And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor

The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace is he.

Take a quiet moment to sing them a cappella in the silence of the post-Christmas celebration, and look for the joy of the future prophecy given:

            “...of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.” (v 7)

PRAYER

Lord, may I rest in your promises today. When I am tired and weary, I often forget that “God is for us.” (Romans 8:31) Thank you for the gift of this season—this time to reflect on Jesus. He is our light and our hope in a dark world - Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

December 26 | John 1:1-18

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DAILY READING

John 1:1-18

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REFLECTION

Logos, Life, and Light

by Dan Kidd

Jesus' nativity teems with paradoxes. At one specific time in history the eternal One who existed before and beyond everything was born. The One powerful enough to create the universe simply by speaking it forth, who defeated death and every enemy, was exactly as small, frail, and vulnerable as a newborn infant. The King of kings was born in Bethlehem, in a lowly stable, laid in a manger and his birth was heralded by shepherds (who'd been visited by angels in their field in the night). And John's Gospel begins with another paradox,

In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Immediately we hear that the Word was simultaneously with God and was God. And what is this Word? Logos. A byword from Greek philosophy that would have meant a variety of things to John's audience, but had something to do with the timeless, fundamental, rational Principle of the universe. John introduced Jesus by identifying him as the omnipresent source of righteous Wisdom meant to guide the world according to the way God created it. But what might be lost in translation, or in its subtly, is how perplexing it would have been for John to declare a man--fashioned in skin, bone, and blood--to be called Logos. Logos was something imprecise, conceptual, invisible--not something empirical or tangible, and certainly not something like an infant from Bethlehem. And yet, that is exactly what John stated. The One who is the source of all Wisdom, righteousness, and all creation, was incredibly born as a human in the person of Jesus.

John continues in his introduction of Jesus by identifying that in him is life, and the light of all humanity--the light that "shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."

Logos.

Life.

Light.

This is the awesome proclamation we first receive from John. And I think striking awe is exactly what John had in mind. As he prepares us for the story of the life of Jesus, John wants us to know how extraordinary Jesus is. And as we, on this second day of Christmas, reflect on the birth of God in Christ Jesus, let us allow John to drive us into awe.

Awe that the Logos would become not just seen and touched, but human.

Awe that in a grave-bound world he has given us not only life, but life abundant that lasts forever.

Awe that the Light radiated in a world shrouded in darkness and has not--will not--be overcome.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, rouse our souls to marvel at you as they were created to do. Set our lips to singing the hymns of your wonder and majesty. Give us eyes to see your Light shining through the darkness and make it to radiate from us. Let us be full of the joy, peace, and hope that was proclaimed the very night of you birth from the mouths of angels and shepherds.