I've been sick. We both have. Nothing serious, but enough to be miserable, especially with the holidays coming. We went out shopping this week. I have to admit, neither of us had much Christmas spirit. It's been two weeks, so I'm sure we are not contagious, but between hacking and coughing and runny nose, I feel grumpy, and I'm sure people around us wish we'd just go away. Jim says I should carry a box of Kleenex with me. Maybe I could put one on a string and carry it like a purse. We hurried through our list and went back to the motorhome as quickly as possible. Yesterday I wrapped and mailed all of our out-of-town gifts. I feel relieved, but not particularly filled with good will towards man.About Christmas. I love Christmas. I want to be excited to celebrate the birth of my Savior. The reality of the holiday gets lost so easily in the hustle and bustle and all the things we think we "need" to do, that it's hard to recapture the spirit of the "holy day." And life intrudes. This year our precious son-in-law Gary is battling an invasive cancer. Dear friends are struggling with health issues. It's hard to feel festive in the midst of life. I heard a song the other day that really made me think. What must it have been like for Mary that first Christmas? She was betrothed - engaged to be married. Her people were under the iron-rule of the Romans, who demanded taxes and required a census to be taken. They didn't have census workers who came to the house. They had to travel on foot, with perhaps a donkey to carry their necessities, to their ancestral home, about 80 miles away. Then, to complicate matters, God decided it was time to send the Messiah. A Baby Changes Everything.
Prophets had predicted the coming of Jesus. In Isaiah 11: 1-2, 6 & 10, the Messiah's birth and lineage is foretold. And Mary knew her scripture. We can assume that based on her response to the angel and her words to her cousin Elizabeth in the "Magnificat" quoted in Luke 1: 47-55. Still, I'm sure she'd never considered the possibility that God would choose her to fulfill His plan. In an instant, her life was turned upside down, and the world has never been the same.
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
In
the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She
was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel
appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
Confused
and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t
be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You
will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He
will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God
will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will
reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary
asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
The
angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be
called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth
has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she
has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For
nothing is impossible with God.”
Mary
responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come
true.” And then the angel left her. Luke 1: 26-38
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