For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

If you made or have an Advent wreath, begin by lighting the “Christ Candle” in Jesus’ honor. If you don’t have a wreath, light a candle to honor of Jesus, who brings light to our lives.

In the glow of the candlelight, reread the Christmas story from Matthew, chapters 1 & 2 and Luke, chapters 1 & 2.

You may have been excited to give and receive gifts today, but the most important gift you’ll ever receive won’t be found under a tree or in a stocking. Jesus left heaven to offer us the unmatched gifts of forgiveness, salvation, presence, hope, peace, love, joy, eternal life, and so much more.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

Have you received the greatest gift ever offered - to know, love and follow Jesus this Christmas and beyond? If not, perhaps your greatest gift will come today as you accept Jesus’ invitation and welcome him into your heart.

May the LORD who created the stars, and gave us his only son, bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace. Numbers 6:24b-26

Merry Christmas!

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In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Shortly before Mary gave birth to Jesus she and Joseph embarked on an arduous journey to Bethlehem. There were two pressing reasons why they travelled so late in the pregnancy. The first was that everyone was required by Roman decree to register for the census. The second, and more important, reason took place 700 years before the birth of Jesus, when the Old Testament prophet Micah foretold that Jesus would be born in the little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem, with a normal population of around 600, was bursting at the seams. Families reunited in overfilled homes and on the streets as relatives converged for the census. The bustling town was completely unaware of what was about to transpire once the weary soon-to-be parents finally arrived. The birth there of Jesus, the Messiah, would forever change the entire world.

• The whirl of people and activities in Bethlehem caused most to miss the unfolding miracle. If your Christmas feels like a whirl of people and activities, too, ask God to help you focus on the gift of Jesus during this season.
• What have you discovered about God and yourself in this Christmas season? Write a prayer to God to share what you’ve learned and how it will impact your life going forward.
  

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This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Mary is three months pregnant when she returns from visiting her cousin Elizabeth, and her baby bump is starting to show. She needs to tell Joseph, even if it risks her life.

Imagine Joseph’s devastation and confusion when he learns Mary is expecting, and he knows he is not the father. He had an incomprehensible decision to make.

As a man who followed Jewish law, he knew that divorcing Mary publicly would cause her to be disgraced and possibly stoned to death for adultery. And while Joseph would have been familiar with Old Testament prophecies, it had likely never crossed his mind that HIS future wife would be the virgin giving birth to the coming Messiah. But God sent this sign to Joseph:

...an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

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Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!

It is hard to imagine the range of emotions Mary would have experienced during her pregnancy. On one hand, she surely felt great joy as Jesus grew inside her. On the other hand, she likely felt fearful because under Jewish law at that time a woman who became pregnant outside of marriage could be stoned to death.

God did not leave her to face this dire situation alone. The angel Gabriel told her, “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:36-37

Six months earlier, the angel Gabriel had also visited Zechariah. He and his wife, Elizabeth (Mary’s cousin) had not been able to have children and were now past childbearing years. Gabriel said to him that his prayer had been heard and his wife was going to bear a son, whom they would name John.

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child (John the Baptist) leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.

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... God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.“ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

The distance between the Old and New Testaments is only one page in the Bible, but it spans four long centuries. The Old Testament prophets shared many details about the coming of Jesus. After 400 years of silence, God dispatched His angel Gabriel first to Zechariah, and then to Mary. With this silence now broken, every Old Testament prophecy about Jesus began to be fulfilled.

Bethlehem is often the setting that comes to mind when we think of the Christmas story, but the events in Bethlehem would not have happened without the conception miracle in the small village of Nazareth. The Christmas story as we think of it begins in Nazareth when Mary accepted God’s invitation to be the earthly mother of his son, and Jesus was conceived.

Mary bravely pushed past her fears and focused on the promise of God. Where do you need to be brave and push past fear, focusing on his promises? Spend some time talking to God about your fears, asking for his help in working through them.

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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.

First century Jewish marriages were most often arranged by parents when girls were between 12-14 years old and young men between 18-20 years old. When a custom is common to a culture, the Bible often omits the detail, so we can assume that Mary and Joseph were in the traditional age range since it does not include their ages in the story. Mary’s and Joseph’s parents likely arranged their marriage without consulting them following Jewish customs of the time. When the parents settled the details of the marriage agreement, they signed a binding contract. In many cultures, the bride’s father pays a dowry but in the Jewish culture, the groom’s father makes a payment of money, property, and/or services to purchase the bride, called a mohar.

Often, fathers shared some or all of the mohar with their daughter, so that she would have an emergency fund in case something unforeseen happened to her husband. With negotiations complete and the mohar given, the bride and groom were betrothed, considered married. Although they may not have even met yet, a change of plans would require a divorce at this stage.

The wedding ceremony would take place a year or more later. By tradition, the bride and groom would have little to no contact during that year, as the groom built a bridal chamber in his father’s house where they would live after the wedding ceremony. When completed and after his father gave permission, the groom would come for his bride.

The wedding day would be a surprise and usually came with the blowing of a trumpet for a short warning to the bride her groom was coming. A wedding ceremony with family and a wedding feast with friends would traditionally follow. The celebration could last up to a week and was one of the most joyous occasions in Jewish life, especially for a small community like Nazareth.

• God’s plans for Mary and Joseph are quite different than were their parents’ plans for them. How do you deal with unfulfilled desires when God gives you something other than what you had hoped for and expected?
• What is God teaching you about how to deal with these unfulfilled desires? Are there any next steps he is prompting you to take?

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Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

God chose an ordinary Jewish farm girl, Mary, to be used in an extraordinary way. But in a time and place so different from our own, how can we understand more about who Mary was?

To know her better, we need to understand the culture in which she lived. Nazareth was barely a dot on the map of northern Israel, roughly 10-60 acres in size - what we might consider a small farm. Between 100-400 people lived in this hilly area, with a single ancient spring as the source of water for the entire community.

In 1st century Nazareth, young girls like Mary were expected to perform specific tasks in a farming community. She likely washed clothes in a community water trough and carted water from the ancient spring. Her duties might have also included caring for elderly family members, working in the fields owned by her family, tending the goats and sheep and making clothes from their wool, and preparing and preserving food.

Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl. Her work was common. Even her name was common. 25% of all women at the time were named Mary (or Miriam, a variation of Mary in Hebrew). Her town of Nazareth
was not highly thought of, lacking big city affluence, glamor, trade, and cultural appeal. The book of John even raises the question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” An invitation followed the question, “Come and see for yourself.” John 1:46

• Mary wasn’t the only ordinary person on earth. Why do you think the Lord invited her above all others?
• This week, consider how God invites unlikely people to bring about great purposes. What does that say about God? What hope does that give you?
• As farmers, the Nazarenes’ diet fluctuated with the seasons, but typically included a steaming bread cake made from an ancient form of popcorn. The bread cake would have been served with goat cheese, yogurt, fish, eggs, or chicken as a protein source, with lamb reserved for special occasions. During the warmer months, beans, cucumbers, or other vegetables sprinkled with dill, and fruits such as melons, dates, figs, and olives, would also have been part of the meal. Consider making a meal sometime over the next few weeks using these ingredients, and invite others to share it with you.
  

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After seeing him [Jesus], the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished.

How do you imagine the scene unfolded? Did shepherds tell everyone by shouting in the streets and waking up the sleeping town? Perhaps they were so excited as they tried to share the news that people asked them to calm down so they could understand what they were trying to say. However the shepherds shared the news, those that heard were amazed. Jesus, the Messiah, had finally arrived!

The birth of Jesus was incredible news for the whole world, and God chose shepherds to be the first to experience it. After they worshiped Jesus, they hurried off, telling others the Good News as they returned to their flocks.

The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Because of their lack of social status and Old Testament laws regarding the handling of animals, the shepherds were excluded from entering the temple or testifying in court. Think about that for a moment: shepherds weren’t allowed to worship God or be in his presence in the temple, but he invited them to become the first to witness Jesus’ birth. Similarly, shepherds banned from testifying in court were now entrusted with testifying to the world the Messiah arrived.

• The shepherds are a reminder to us that God uses ordinary people to share the Good News of Jesus with others. If you are a follower of Christ who are you being asked to share this good news with? Make a plan to spend time with them soon.

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When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.

God could have sent the news of his newborn son to a palace or the temple, but he chose the least likely location and the least likely people. Shepherds hurried from the fields to be the first witnesses of Jesus’ birth.

This will be the sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Wrapping babies in cloths or blankets, called swaddling, was a common practice in ancient times and is still today. It is comforting to the child, and at the time was a visual cue they properly cared for the child. Some women embroidered swaddling cloths with the symbols of the infant’s ancestry during their pregnancy. Because Jesus was being born into the tribe of Judah, Mary may have embroidered symbols such as a lion, a lamb, or branch.

Wood and trees were scarce in Israel and saved for important projects such as roof timbers and doors, but stones of all sizes were abundant and found everywhere. Mangers were carved out of stone, with a 6-8” deep well in the middle to hold feed, water, or newborn animals. After Jesus was swaddled, it is likely Mary carefully placed him in the middle of a stone manger.

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An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

We can guess that the sight of an angel must be scary since nearly every time an angel shows up in the Bible - as they did to Mary, Joseph, and many others - the first words the angels say are, “Do not be afraid.”

The verse above says that the shepherds were terrified. Can you feel their hearts pounding as they tried to make sense of what they were seeing, hearing, and experiencing?

It may have taken a moment before they realized the angel was there with a message of Good News from God that Jesus’ birth was for all people - both the Jewish nation and everyone else. The shepherds didn’t need to be afraid. It was time to rejoice!

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

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