DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Do Your Part
by Pr. Dave Mann
There are many aspects of a memorable Christmas holiday. The best ones are when everyone takes part in the preparations and on the day itself. If only one person or a few people do the work, it can become burdensome, and the joy of the occasion is diminished — shopping for gifts, wrapping presents, decorating, cooking, baking, worship events, music, carols, prayer, worship, games, perhaps travel, etc. When all do their part, there is joy and celebration.
Even at the first Christmas, there were multiple players, all performing their piece of the celebration of God’s miracle of the incarnation.
Mary played a key part, of course. She believed the message of the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38) and offered herself as a willing servant. For nine months she bore the holy child, which had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, and then she gave birth. In our text today, Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. I truly wonder what these “ponderings” were like for her during that “silent night” and throughout her life.
The shepherds hurried off from their flocks that they were watching on the Judean hills to find Mary, Joseph, and the baby in Bethlehem. After seeing the child, they spread the word and returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.
And let’s not forget Joseph, who at first sought to quietly divorce Mary (unwed and pregnant), then he believed the Lord’s plan, thanks to a dream (Matthew 1:18-25). He organized the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and there secured the only lodging available (Luke 2:1-5). On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, Joseph saw to it that the baby was appropriately named—Jesus — according to Gabriel’s instruction to Mary (Luke 1:31), and an angel’s command to Joseph via a dream. (Matthew 1:21) He listened to the Lord again in another dream and quickly scurried the holy family off to Egypt to save Mary’s and Jesus’ lives (Matthew 2:13-15).
Each of these people was important in the story of the first Christmas. Each showed his/her devotion to the Lord in different ways. It appears that no two players tried to imitate another’s visible devotion. Each had his/her devoted way of serving the Lord. What is your way of showing devotion to Jesus?
PRAYER
Lord God Almighty, you orchestrated the various parts of the first Christmas. You conferred to them various abilities and developed skills, and they employed them so that the incarnation would happen as planned, and Jesus—the God-Man—would enter this world on mission to redeem all who would believe. Please show me what part I should play to worship you, the newborn King, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
