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"Involving baby Jesus in his faith community"
Monday, 1 January 2018
Luke 2:21 On the eighth day, when it was time for his b’rit-milah, he was given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his conception.
22 When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai 23 (as it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai”[Luke 2:23 Exodus 13:2, 12, 15]) 24 and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons,[Luke 2:24 Leviticus 12:8] as required by the Torah of Adonai.
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Mary and Joseph were devout Jews, and they followed the Jewish laws with regard to their newborn son Jesus (cf. Exodus 13:2, 12; Leviticus 12:8). This story, as much or more as the birth in a manger, gave details related to the parents’ poverty. Leviticus 12:8 said the reason for offering “two turtledoves or two pigeons” was “if the mother cannot afford a sheep.” It seems clear that
neither Mary or Joseph could.
• Jesus’ parents had him circumcised eight days after birth, like other Hebrew boys. It was a sign that even as a baby he was one of God’s people. That precedent is one big reason Resurrection baptizes infants—it’s a sign that the child is part of God’s family. Were you
baptized when very young, at a later point in your life, or never? (If never, consider it. You can learn more at www.cor.org/care/baptism, and then choose your campus with the “Locations” tab.) How does belonging to God shape the way you live your life?
• God had sent Gabriel directly to Mary and Joseph with divine messages, saying their son was God’s promised Savior. Yet they came to the Temple like ordinary worshippers to offer their sacrifice. Are there any traditions or tasks at your church that you’re tempted to feel you are “above”? How can our individualistic culture blind us to the value of honoring practices that reflect the history of God at work in the family of faith?
Prayer: Lord God, sometimes I serve you in my own personal way. Sometimes I worship and act because this is the way your people have done things for centuries. Fill both kinds of service with
power and meaning for me. Amen.
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Chris AbelChris Abel is the Young Adults Pastor at Resurrection, and he describes himself as a "Pastor/Creative-type/Adventurer." A former atheist turned passionate follower of Christ, he completed his seminary education in Washington, DC. Before coming to Resurrection, Chris was a campus pastor near St. Louis, MO.
So. It’s 2018. A new year. And you know the drill. This is the time of year when we set goals far outside our reach and dream of that perfect bod we’ve always wanted. (Or is that just me? If it weren’t for all the delicious food out there, I’d achieve that goal…) We all have things we’d like to achieve. Parenting goals. Career goals. Relationship goals. Goals goals goals.
This is why I love today’s Bible passage. (No, not the circumcision part). What I love about this story is that Mary and Joseph fall short of their goals.
You might be asking yourself, “they do? I didn’t read that…”
That’s because it’s one of those sly little comments in-between the lines. (The Bible does this all the time). The verse I’m talking about is Luke 2:24. “They offered a sacrifice in keeping with what’s stated in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” (By the way, don’t you love the days your devotion is about circumcision and animal sacrifice?)
Now, my Bible has a little asterisk next to that verse. It points to Leviticus 12:8. Leviticus is the book of laws for the Israelites when they first escaped Egypt thousands of years before Jesus’ birth. It says, “But if the mother cannot afford a sheep, she can bring two turtledoves or two pigeons.” The context is a specific ritual that is supposed to take place after the birth of a child. The standard was to offer a sheep as a sacrifice at the temple.
And Mary and Joseph brought two birds.
Not the sheep.
It’s not even subtle about what this means. It just comes out and says it. “But if the mother cannot afford…”
Or in modern terms, “if she can’t meet the status quo.”
Now, their religion technically allowed this. But there’s a kind of shame that happens when you fall short of the status quo, isn’t there?
One experience in particular stands out for me. I was raised by a single mom and for a lot of years money was really tight. She filled the role of two parents, and was always faithful to involve us in church. But one week around Christmas she had to make change for a $20 bill in the offering plate. Now these days I blow $20 on Chipotle in a single sitting (praise the Lord), but back then that was a new pair of shoes for us.
Imagine my surprise the next day at school when one of my classmates accused my mom of taking money out of the offering plate. I was absolutely stunned. And the kicker was… he didn’t see it. He heard his mom gossiping about it. It was a harsh realization that people can be really cruel.
When you can’t meet the status quo… people notice.
And I suspect that people were well aware of the kind of sacrifice Mary and Joseph were making that day, too. Maybe somebody even made a snide comment later on.
But like I said, this is why I love Mary and Joseph. Because God didn’t pick the family who had it all together. God didn’t pick the family who was watching what other people put in the offering plate. God didn’t pick status.
God picked the underdog.
Now it’s 2018 and you are probably going to feel pressure to accomplish something this year. But you don’t need to perform or achieve to earn God’s approval. God doesn’t care about sacrifices or achievements or the status quo. God wants your heart. Mary and Joseph brought a discount offering to God—but their true offering was to say “yes” to what God was doing in our world. For you, that might be being the best parent you can be. It might be rocking out as a single person and using your time and energy to make a difference. It might be the attitude you bring to your job you’re not thrilled with, and it might be putting your ambition in the backseat so you can actually slow down and breathe this year.
God doesn’t need or want you to accomplish something impressive by worldly standards. God doesn’t need you to meet some status quo.
God just wants you to bring your dinky turtle doves to the table. And a big heart.
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"Simeon: righteous, devout, filled with holy anticipation"
Tuesday, 2 January 2018
Luke 2:25 There was in Yerushalayim a man named Shim‘on. This man was a tzaddik, he was devout, he waited eagerly for God to comfort Isra’el, and the Ruach HaKodesh was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Ruach HaKodesh that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah of Adonai. 27 Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required,
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Simeon was “led by the Spirit” to the Temple area. The text implies that the Spirit must have also led him to Mary, Joseph and their infant son rather than any other parents who brought infants to
the Temple that day. For Simeon, this was a “dream come true.” Luke said God had promised Simeon that he would see God’s anointed one, the Messiah.
Ø When Jesus was born, the mighty Roman army firmly controlled Judea, and Israel’s religious leaders quarreled and were corrupt at times. Yet Luke said Simeon lived in hope—he “eagerly anticipated the restoration of Israel.” As you begin 2018, how can you nurture a sense of “eager anticipation” about what God is doing, in your individual life and in building the Kingdom of Heaven throughout the world?
• Verse 27: “Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple area.” Pastor Hamilton often speaks about the importance of being alert to the “inner nudges” God sends us through the Spirit. In what ways have you sensed the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life? How can you distinguish between the Spirit’s “nudges” and other impulses that may come to you?
Prayer: King Jesus, I think of all the years Simeon lived in eager anticipation of your coming, never giving up his hope. Keep the light of your hope burning brightly in my heart, no matter how
long my wait to see you act. Amen.
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"Simeon: seeing salvation, light and glory in an infant"
Wednesday, 3 January 2018
Luke 2:27 Prompted by the Spirit, he went into the Temple courts; and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua to do for him what the Torah required, 28 Shim‘on took him in his arms, made a b’rakhah to God, and said,
29 “Now, Adonai, according to your word,
your servant is at peace as you let him go;
30 for I have seen with my own eyes your yeshu‘ah,
31 which you prepared in the presence of all peoples —
32 a light that will bring revelation to the Goyim
and glory to your people Isra’el.”
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If you’ve ever been a parent, or been around new parents, you know how instinctively protective mothers are of their little babies. So Luke wasn’t just recording an everyday happening when he wrote that “Simeon took Jesus in his arms.” Mary most likely must have felt a little uneasy initially as this elderly man, probably a stranger, took her baby in his arms. Simeon amazed her by saying Jesus was a savior for “all peoples,” even Gentiles (verses 31-32).
• Holding the baby Jesus, Simeon said to God, “My eyes have seen your salvation.…It’s a light for revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel.” At that point Jesus was an infant who couldn’t even walk. He hadn’t yet done anything “saving” other than being born. In what sense was he “God’s salvation”? How did Simeon’s Spirit-prompted intuition of what the child would become likely strengthen Mary and Joseph’s faith?
• Simeon’s words of praise echoed Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6, which said “the servant of the Lord” would be a light to the nations (i.e. including Gentiles). Much later even many of Jesus' followers struggled to accept Gentiles (cf. Acts 11:2-3, 15:1-5). What qualities do you think allowed Simeon to see and accept God’s far-reaching vision? How can you stay open to God’s message and mission, even when it stretches your comfort zone?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into the darkness of our world as light and glory for me and the whole world. Empower me to use my gifts to share your light, to push back darkness wherever I can. Amen.
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"The somber side of Christmas joy"
Thursday, 4 January 2018
Luke 2:33 Yeshua’s father and mother were marvelling at the things Shim‘on was saying about him. 34 Shim‘on blessed them and said to the child’s mother, Miryam,
“This child will cause many in Isra’el to fall and to rise,
he will become a sign whom people will speak against;
35 moreover, a sword will pierce your own heart too.
All this will happen in order to reveal many people’s inmost thoughts.”
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The elderly Simeon was full of joy that the Savior had arrived. But his long life had made him perceptive and insightful, too, and he warned Mary that powerful people would resist even a Savior sent from God. He warned her that her “blessed” lot in life would not always be easy: “a sword will pierce your innermost being too” (verse 35).
• Simeon warned Mary that she would see many reject Jesus, that her son’s ministry would generate opposition. Might she have remembered his words as she wept at the foot of Jesus' cross? What helps you trust God and live out God’s purposes when it’s not easy or popular?
When has following God stretched you in ways you never anticipated when you first set out to follow?
Ø Scholar William Barclay wrote, “Nowhere can we better see the paradox of blessedness than in [Mary’s] life. To Mary was granted the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God….Yet that very blessedness….meant that someday she would see her son hanging on a
cross…. The piercing truth is that God does not choose a person for ease and comfort and selfish joy but for a task that will take all that head and heart and hand can bring to it.” *Many—probably most—of us hold back from committing all we could bring to God’s mission.
Identify one or two steps you will take to move in that direction during 2018.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you were a tiny baby in a Temple—and yet, just to get there, you had to hurl yourself from the glory of heaven into a dark, dangerous world. And you did it to rescue and redeem me from that broken world. Thank you. Amen.
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 14.
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"Praise and proclamation from an aged prophet"
Friday, 5 January 2018
Luke 2:36 There was also a prophet named Hannah Bat-P’nu’el, of the tribe of Asher. She was a very old woman — she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage 37 and had remained a widow ever since; now she was eighty-four. She never left the Temple grounds but worshipped there night and day, fasting and praying. 38 She came by at that moment and began thanking God and speaking about the child to everyone who was waiting for Yerushalayim to be liberated.
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Another elderly saint, Anna, “approached at that very moment and began to praise God.” (She and Simeon formed one of the first—and one of the smallest—“praise choirs” ever.) Luke didn’t record her exact words when she “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child” (verse 38), but her testimony was clearly important to Mary and Joseph. Because of her devotion to God and the time she spent in the Temple, she would have been able to share her words regarding Jesus with many of the worshipers there.
Ø Luke called Anna a prophet (verse 36). “Prophet” did not mean so much one who tells the future as one who sees present spiritual realities clearly and speaks for God. When has “confirmation from the body of Christ” (the kind Simeon and Anna gave Joseph and Mary)
given you the courage to move forward in some significant way? When have you been able to encourage another Christ-follower?
• This passage didn’t say how old Anna was when her husband died. In that day, women typically married in their early teens, so it’s a reasonable estimate that she had been constantly in the temple for around sixty years. How can your time spent praying, studying the Bible, and worshipping God shape what you do with the rest of your time, with how you live your life? How can your worship fill you with the same trust and eager anticipation that it gave to Anna?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, at all the ages of my life, help me, like Anna, to serve you with worship, praise and a willingness to speak about Jesus. Amen.
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"Luke’s summary of Jesus’ boyhood"
Saturday, 6 January 2018
Luke 2:39 When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by the Torah of Adonai, they returned to the Galil, to their town Natzeret.
40 The child grew and became strong and filled with wisdom — God’s favor was upon him.
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Luke was the only gospel writer to give us even a glimpse into the years of Jesus' childhood. (Some later gospels tried to imaginatively fill in some of the gaps, and occasionally generate headlines today. But none of them have any strong claim to eyewitness reliability.) Luke added the story of Jesus in the temple at age 12, which we studied two weeks ago (cf. Luke 2:41-52). There he wrote that Jesus remained obedient to Joseph (as his earthly father) and Mary for 18 more years.
Ø Luke showed Jesus as a dutiful, but far from ordinary, son. According to verse 40 (and expanded on a bit in verse 52), Jesus grew mentally, physically, and spiritually during his years in Nazareth. In which of these areas did you experience the most growth during 2017? Ask God to guide you as you look toward your “growing edge” in these areas of life. Ask for wisdom and courage as you fill out your plans to continue growing in 2018.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I’m thankful for your presence in my life, for the fruit you are bearing in me. Please continue to guide and empower me so I can choose a life with you that is worth living.
Amen.
Family Activity: God is always with us—though too often we aren’t aware of God’s presence. Review with your family the story of Simeon and Anna recognizing Jesus in the Temple. Then at supper (or other days’ end activity), ask each member of your family where he or she saw God that day, with questions like, “Where did you see God at work today?” or “In what or whom did you experience God’s presence today?” Do this for at least a week, and consider making it a part of family life. You might create a journal or a banner where you illustrate or write out some of your responses. Each month, review the ways you have each experienced God. Help each person become increasingly aware of God’s presence in his or her life. Thank God for being a constant and faithful presence.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
•Sandi Morgan and family on the death of her mother Lois Kinnaw, 12/22
•Family and friends of Patricia “Pat” Arlund on her death, 12/22
• Julie Jarnevic and family on the death of her sister Teresa Enenbach, 12/21
•Family and friends of Glenna House on her death, 12/21
•Sharon Bryant and family on the death of her husband Tom Bryant, 12/19
•Rea Wilson and family on the death of her husband Dave Wilson, 12/18
•Bailey Amtower and David Wilson III and families on the death of their father Dave Wilson, 12/18
•Family and friends of Dan Williams on his death, 12/18
•Walt McKenzie and family on the death of his sister-in-law Donna J. Robinson, 12/16
•Family and friends of EmmaLee Miller on her death, 12/11
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Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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