I went through and the narratives of the birth of Jesus found in the Bible in the Gospels ofMatthew and Luke and combined them iogether to create a story line of events of Jesus’ birth. My Christmas morning reflections follow.
“In the sixth month of Elizabethʼs pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virginʼs name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.” “And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age - although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God.” So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-25)
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes. This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David. He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”
“When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us.” So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.” Luke 2:1-20)
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
ʻAnd you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.ʼ”
“Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.” Matthew 2:1-12)
My Christmas Thoughts: We see in Luke chapter 1 that the angel Gabriel comes and tells Mary she will bear God’s son. Gabriel tells her she is highly favored. And Mary, a 15 or 16 year old common pheasant girl thinks, “Highly favored! That’s Impossible!” Gabriel tells her she will have a son and be impregnated by the Holy Spirit and name him Jesus,. He will be the Son of the most high God. Mary answered, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?” It is impossible!!! The Angel told her, “Nothing is impossible with God.” And Mary Believed, and said “Here I am your servant, Let it be as you said.”
Joseph, had met the girl of his dreams. He had hopes and plans of settling down in the nice, quiet suburbs and starting a family with Mary. And look what happened! The Angel tells him in his dream his wife is pregnant, and with the child of God! What?!? Joseph thought, “That is impossible!!!! All of his friends were like, “Ya right!” But Joseph did the hard thing, the impossible thing, and he believed.
The Bible is a story of hardship and suffering and difficulty and trying of people’s faith.
Mary and Joseph were having the child of God and look how hard it was for them. If any couple should have had it easy having and raising a child, it would have been them. However, for Mary and Joseph having and raising the child of God was hard, And if raising their child and their life was full of impossibilities, difficulties and challenges, why do you think raising your children or your life should be easy?
The Bible, the story of God, is full of people who continued to believe in the possibilities of God in the face of impossible things. And what we need to remind and encourage each other as well as we read the passage above this Christmas morning is that God is able to overcome the situations, circumstances, challenges, or whatever it may be in your life right now that you are facing.
That God is still a God of impossible things. He still makes the impossible possible. And Christmas is the morning to awake from your sleep, and open up your life to Jesus Christ, and come to grips with the fact that our ways have come up short, and that they are not working. And despite our best efforts and plans, just like those of Joseph, things are not turning out at all Iike we planned.
And just like Mary who at first said, “How can this be?” We need to yield to the sovereignty of God, let his Spirit and love overshadow us, and say over our lives, “Here I am Lord, let it be so in my life.” We need to invite Jesus Christ to be our savior and our Lord. And allow him to bring us into the life he came to earth to give us. The Bible tells us It won’t be easy, but it will be gloriously good!
I pray you will let this new year be an awakening of your life.
My family, Maybe you have believed before, maybe you have been baptized, maybe in some way you had an association with Jesus, through friends, your parents, family members, or a spouse. Or maybe you have an association or relationship with a church. Maybe you have had a relationship with Christianity, but not so a deep intimate relationship with God. I pray this is the year, this is the time for Jesus to be reborn in the manger of your heart. For you to trust in God in a way like you’ve never trusted in God before. I pray this year will be a time for Jesus to make new wine in you! You do not even have to bring him old wine, all you have to do is bring water, or even sour grapes, and he will turn it into wine! And not just any wine, but the best wine! And not just a little wine but barrels full of it. And turn your dry life into a fountain of life in which living waters flow out of it, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you and Merry Christmas my friends!
Please share your reflections with us in the comment box below as swe pend time in this devotion.
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