The Spirit in Jesus' Birth and Baptism
Monday, December 20 Luke 1:1-25
“Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you are to name him John”
There were twenty-four divisions of priests in Israel at the time, far more priests than needed in the Temple. Each division took a turn yearly to serve for two weeks. Only one priest at a time had the honor of burning the incense at the altar, an important task since this was the symbolic representation of the rising up to God of the prayers of the people. There were so many priests that this special honor might come just once in a lifetime or perhaps not at all.
On this occasion Zacharias was chosen by lot as the one to burn incense before God. During this, his greatest moment, the angel appeared. Zacharias’ reaction was fear. You might think that this man, born of a priestly tribe and righteous before God, would have been delighted seeing an angel. But when God intervened in his life personally, he was afraid and troubled. The angel said to Zacharias, “Your prayer is heard.” Zacharias had a hard time believing it. Given his wife’s and his age, and her inability to have children, he had probably been praying without conviction. Regardless, the angel tells him he will have a son and to name him John.
You are powerful enough, Lord, to answer even the most unlikely prayer. Amen.
Tuesday, December 21 Luke 1:26-38
“You will conceive and bring forth a son, and shall name him Jesus”
Mary was troubled when the angel told her that she was “highly favored with God.” Perhaps she may have been thinking, “Why me? I’m too insignificant to find favor with God.” I believe Mary was chosen to bear God’s own son because she had the faith to believe that nothing is impossible with God.
Mary had a choice, and her response showed that she had made a decision: “Let it be to me according to your word.” God never forces his love or his will on anyone. The implication here is that the angel was announcing God’s plan and purpose to Mary and it would not be carried out without her consent. When this teen-aged girl chose to serve God, it was not as a Joan of Arc, marching out clad in her armor to lead armies. A figure like Joan of Arc is glamorous. Mary, however, would suffer the ridicule and contempt of being pregnant and unmarried in a small town full of gossips. Knowing all this, she still said, “Let it be to me according to your word.” It is surely one of the most courageous statements ever recorded.
Strengthen my faith, Lord, to accept whatever you ask of me. Amen.
Wednesday, December 22 Luke 1:39-56
“Mary travelled to the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth”
Luke puts Mary’s divine encounter with an angel and her human visit with Elizabeth side by side. Mary had just had the most earth-shaking experience in the world. Nothing will ever surpass it. And what did she do? She immediately ran off to tell someone, in this case her cousin, Elizabeth. She couldn’t wait to share what had happened to her. You can just imagine Elizabeth’s response, “Tell me all about it. What happened? Then what did Gabriel say? And what did you say?” How much we need other human beings to share the watershed moments of our lives. To be a Christian is to believe in a God who is the God of the impossible and to belong to a family of brothers and sisters who are there when you need them most.
While Elizabeth had her own miraculous story to tell, she was not jealous. When she heard the good news, she acknowledged that the child Mary was carrying was greater than her own, and she rejoiced. How blessed we are to have even a few friends like that who, when we receive a great honor, enjoy our success and share our joy.
Thank you, Lord, for my close friends with whom I share my life. Amen.
Thursday, December 23 Luke 1:57-80
“I wonder what this child will turn out to be”
John the Baptist was chosen by the Father to prepare the way for his Son’s ministry. Jesus said of John that among those born of women, none was greater than John the Baptist. The first thing we realize about John is that his birth was unusual and totally unexpected. His birth delighted his mother and his father who, because of their age, had given up all hope of having a baby. His naming was also unusual. When his mother said, “He shall be called John,” family and friends were disapproving. There was no other John in the family. They expected the father to overrule Elizabeth in this strange notion. But remembering what the angel told him nine months earlier, Zacharias wrote on the tablet, “His name is John.”
As soon as Zacharias wrote these words, his tongue was loosed. Struck dumb because he doubted, he suddenly spoke after nine months of silence. As soon as he obeyed God’s instructions in the naming of the child, he was healed. With that, he burst into his marvelous hymn of praise to the Messiah, whose coming would be announced by his son John.
Show me, Lord, what you have chosen me to do in your Son’s name. Amen.
Friday, December 24 Luke 2:1-20
“The time came for her baby to be born”
Luke begins the Christmas story with the mention of Caesar Augustus, arguable the most powerful of the Caesars. He transformed not just the city of Rome but the entire known world with his roads and his armies. At his funeral, his mourners comforted themselves with the belief that he was a god and therefore immortal. The man believed to be a god lived in time and space when the true God came to earth as a child. When the most powerful man of his time decreed that a census was to be taken, Joseph and Mary were forced to travel from their hometown of Nazareth to Bethlehem, the city of their ancestor David.
We might ask, “Who determines history – people like the Caesars, or God?” God is not only the ruler of all things, but also the ruler of human history. Micah of the Old Testament prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And so Mary gave birth to her son Jesus and laid him in a manger in Bethlehem, a town strange to her, rather than in her home in Nazareth, for all was in God’s hands; and, it still is today.
I praise you, Lord, for guiding the history of the world. Amen.
Saturday, December 25 Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
“You are my beloved Son”
Jesus’ baptism shows us that he has the full approval of the Father. Jesus has sovereign authority as the promised Son to dispense the blessings of salvation. He is the prophet who reveals the way of God. He is chosen for the task and is uniquely loved by the Father. This spoken affirmation by the Father, accompanied by the descent of the Holy Spirit, presents Jesus to us as the only one who can bring us into relationship with God.
God’s regular way of communicating with us is quite different from what he did at Jesus’ baptism. We seldom if ever hear God speak in an audible voice from heaven. Instead, the presence of the Holy Spirit within us directs us, especially as we seek God’s guidance in prayer and as we study the Bible. In addition, God may speak to us through the words of other believers who care about us. That is why Christian community, where the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is present, is so important.
I praise you, Lord Jesus Christ, as the One who has come from the Father and who, together with the Holy Spirit, has brought me salvation. Amen