Luke 1:76-77

And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.

Have you ever lost your voice? I’ve had many sore throats and, at times, have had difficulty speaking. But only once have I lost my voice completely. It lasted for around two weeks and it was the most bizarre experience. I felt horribly disconnected from everything that was happening around me. So, I have great sympathy for Zechariah, who was rendered unable to speak for nine months. Only after the birth of his son, John the Baptist, was his speech suddenly restored - and here are some of his words.

John and Jesus were relatives, but they were brought up in very different parts of Israel and so probably didn’t know one another very well. But Zechariah recognised that John would play a crucial role in God’s plans. John’s message of repentance was crucial in paving the way for Jesus’ ministry - and his baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan marked the beginning of it.

Preparing the way for someone else might not sound like a very attractive role. But Zechariah had the eyes to see that his son’s ministry would be vital in the unfolding of God’s salvation plan. His song is full of praise as he recognised that the coming of the Messiah would be the fulfilment of the hopes of the people of Israel.

Zechariah could see that through this new chapter in history, the sun would shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, and their feet would be guided into the path of peace (Luke 1:79).

Most people have no understanding of why Jesus came to this earth. Christmas time is just seen as a jolly holiday. However, we will have the incredible privilege of doing just what John the Baptist did 2,000 years ago. We too can prepare the way for other people to meet Jesus for themselves.

Question – In what way can you prepare the way for someone to learn about Jesus this Christmas?

Prayer – Lord, help me to prepare the way for my friends and family members to meet Jesus this Christmas. Amen

Luke 1:51-53

His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.

As Mary praises God that she is going to give birth to his Son, she takes us right to the heart of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus didn’t come merely to rearrange things. He came to turn the world upside down.

If we are to take Jesus seriously, we have to look at our society with new eyes. God is not merely disappointed with arrogance, abuse of power and injustice. God wants them to be toppled. Sadly, it is all too easy for us to fit in with our society and, in the interests of a quiet life, not to challenge injustice.

The story of the German Church in the 1930s is a terrifying illustration of this. Hitler sought to bring the Church under his exclusive control, and the overwhelming majority accepted this. They were, understandably, fearful of resisting him and so allowed themselves to be pressed into the Nazi mould. Only the Confessing Church, led by people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were brave enough to stand up and be counted. For many of them, including Bonhoeffer, it cost them their lives.

This is a dramatic example, but much of what happens in our society today is also contrary to God’s will. Our world is shaped by money, sex and power - and very often the cries of the poor, elderly and weak are overlooked. If we are to sing Mary’s song, we need to use it as well, as the lens through which we examine our society. I would encourage you to grab a newspaper and imagine how different our world might be if we turned Mary’s song into practice.

Question – What injustice are you most aware of in our society, and what are you doing to oppose it?

Prayer –Father, I praise you that you love people so much that you want to turn our world upside down. Fill me with your Spirit so that every day I will work hard to bring your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen

Luke 1:46-49

Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.”

What an incredible moment this was for Mary! How could anyone put into words the overwhelming joy and privilege of being called to be the mother of the Saviour of the World? It is hardly surprising that she, as a young Jewish girl, turned to familiar words from the scriptures. She would have been brought up with the wonderful story of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, and would have been familiar with her prayer when she learnt that she was going to give birth. The words of Mary’s song, which is often known as the Magnificat, are extremely close to the words which Hannah had used centuries before.

There are many moments in our lives as Christians when we simply don’t have the words to describe how grateful we are to God. Like Mary, we often turn to other people’s words to articulate how we are feeling.

I thank God for the many songs and hymns that have become precious to me over the years. Many of them are firmly associated with a particular experience. Once, I had a long - and fiercely hot - journey across Romania during the Communist era. I was travelling with a disabled friend of mine and, as we passed through Transylvania, our van broke down. My companions and I were not great technicians but, to our amazement, we managed to fix it. As we travelled into Oradea, our destination, we instinctively broke out into song. We sang ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ - and we really meant it! We could have expressed everything we wanted to say in a prayer, but it felt so much more complete to join together in singing a hymn that was so familiar to us, and that bound us together with God’s people who had used it to express their worship over the years.

God loves it when we worship him, whether we use our words or borrow them from others. Mary’s song may have been based on familiar words from the Old Testament but there is no doubting that they were words from her heart, too.

Question – What song or hymn is particularly important to you?

Prayer – Thank you Lord for Mary’s song and for the way in which it encourages me to praise you for your greatness. Amen

Luke 1:38

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”

We know the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth so well that we often have to work really hard to imagine how completely incredible this moment was for Mary. She was probably a teenager, and may well never have travelled outside of the rural Galilee region where she was born. The news that she was going to have a baby was shockingly at every level. She was a virgin, and having a baby was therefore a complete impossibility. But she listened attentively to the angel’s words and is assured that, crazy as this all sounded, nothing is impossible with God.

Her response was extraordinarily impressive. She describes herself as the Lord’s servant and accepted the future that God had chosen for her. To be a servant would normally be seen as demeaning. We probably instinctively think of Downton Abbey, and the way that servants, living below stairs, were given all the heavy, dirty and difficult work to do so that a few people could live lives of incredible luxury.

Being a servant doesn’t sound remotely attractive. But Mary recognized that it had all had to do with who you were serving - and to be a servant of the Lord was the highest privilege of all.

Mary’s story might feel utterly remote from your life. But it isn’t. Today, God invites all of us to be his servants and he wants us to see that this is the highest privilege of life. It doesn’t get better than this – not for Mary and not for us.

Question – What does it mean for you to be the servant of the Lord today?

Prayer – Thank you Lord that because of your love for me you invite me to be your servant. Help me to be like Mary and to joyfully embrace the future that you have for me. Amen

Luke 1:14

An angel of the Lord prophesied to Zechariah concerning the birth of his son, John the Baptist. “You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord.”

This was the greatest day in Zechariah’s life. Being a male descendant of Aaron, he was a priest, which was a great privilege. However, it is suggested that there might have been up to 20,000 priests at this time, and so there were divided up into 24 groups which served in in rotation.

The greatest privilege of all was for a priest to be chosen to go into the temple and burn incense at the time of the morning or evening sacrifice. Having burnt the incense, the priest would then emerge from the temple and pronounce a blessing on the people. This was such a great honour that a priest could only do this once in his lifetime - and many never got the opportunity at all.

The priest was chosen for this responsibility by lot. Just imagine the sense of anticipation as the choice was made, and the overwhelming sense of privilege and responsibility when you knew it was you! That’s exactly what happened to Zechariah.

Zechariah and his elderly wife, Elizabeth, had no children. At the time, this was seen as a matter of great shame and a burden that they had lived with for many years. So, when an angel met Zechariah in the temple while he was burning incense, and informed him that Elizabeth would not only have a baby but that their son would play a key role in God’s purposes for the world, it is hardly surprising that he was left speechless.

This wonderful account reminds us that we should never put a limit on what God can do. The idea of Elizabeth having a baby seemed ridiculous – but not to God. We must always leave our minds open to the new things that God might want to do in our lives.

Question – What surprising things has God done in your life?

Prayer – Lord God, help me always to be open to whatever you want to do, however surprising. Amen

Matthew 1:22-23

All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Loneliness is one of the greatest problems of our society today - and it is on the increase. This matters because loneliness is incredibly dangerous. It increases the risk of death by 26 per cent, is more damaging to health than obesity, and increases the risk of high blood pressure. Loneliness, living alone and poor social connections are as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to research. But the person who knows Jesus personally need never experience loneliness, because he is Immanuel, God with us, and when we live with him day by day, we are instantly connected to a worldwide family of his people.

The difference between our relationship with God and with other people is that God never leaves us. He is always by our side. We may have warm relationships with our friends, colleagues and family but, because they are human, the experience is constantly changing. Sometimes, they are busy with other things. Added to that, they have good days and bad days. They go on holiday and get ill and can sometimes be distracted by other calls on their time. However firm our relationships with others, they are variable.

But our relationship with the Lord is different. At any time, whatever our circumstances or mood, the Lord is by our side. He is always with us.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, let’s not allow ourselves to become so distracted by the busyness of the celebrations that we fail to see Immanuel, the God who never leaves us. We have often been told that dogs are for life and not just for Christmas. But immeasurably more important is the fact the Jesus is for life and certainly not just for Christmas.

Question – In what ways are you encouraged by the fact that God is always with you?

Prayer – Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you will never leave me or forsake me. Amen

Matthew 1:21

“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Naming a child is a huge moment for parents. If you have ever had that privilege, I am sure you will remember the conversations about the various possibilities. You might have considered names that were particularly important in your family, or names that you simply liked. But, knowing that the child will carry that name for life, you will have given it careful consideration.

We have three children, and I remember the long discussions about various names well! Our third child is called Bethany, the name of the place where my wife and I first met. I was leading a student group on a trip around Israel, where we stayed in a cheap hotel on the West Bank near Bethany. My future wife was one of the students! Many have since asked us what we’d have called her if we had met in Bognor Regis or Market Harborough…and I guess the answer is probably Bethany!

Jesus was given his name because that’s what the angel commanded. It was a very common name and has the same root as Joshua, meaning ‘God saves’. From the very beginning of his life, it was clear that Jesus had a special mission to the world. There is no doubt that Mary was fully aware that she was bearing a very special son after her meeting with Gabriel. But I would so love to know what kind of conversations Joseph and Mary had about Jesus. It must have been a lot for this young couple to cope with - and they handled the situation with such grace and calmness.

Jesus would become an inspiring teacher and a miraculous healer but, before anything else, he came to be the saviour of the world. His unique identity as fully man and fully God enabled him to do what no one else could ever do. He set humankind free from their sins.

Question – How important is your own name to you?

Prayer – Loving Father, thank you for sending your son into the world to save us from our sins. Amen

Matthew 1:20

As Joseph considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.”

This account is so familiar to us that we need to take a moment to try to imagine what the experience must have been like for Joseph.

In all probability, he was a man in his 20s. Mary may well have been a teenager. He was clearly of good character and took his Jewish faith seriously. His decision to end the relationship quietly was understandable - but he must have been experiencing a riot of emotions, thinking about Mary, himself, his family’s reputation and his desire to do what God wanted.

As he turned these things over in his mind, he had a dream in which he was addressed with his family title. He was Joseph, belonging to the line of the great King David. In the dream, an angel told him not to be fearful but to take Mary as his wife, because the baby was a gift of the Holy Spirit.

What I love about this story is that those words were enough for Joseph. Having heard them, he married Mary. He must have known that people would assume he was the father. He would have to cope with the sniggers and gossip but he could do so because he knew he was being obedient to God.

God will often ask us to do things which are not well understood by those around us. Jesus lived with this continually. He was forever being accused of acting with bad motives - and even being inspired by the devil. The prophets in the Old Testament were rarely thanked for their utterances and were often cold shouldered by their communities.

Following God’s will is rarely easy. We may know little about Joseph, but his obedience to God in an incredibly awkward situation is deeply impressive. It should inspire us as we seek to serve God today.

Question – How do you hear God speak to you?

Prayer – Loving Father, thank you for the ways in which you make your will known to me. Give me courage to be obedient to you whatever the reaction from others. Amen

Matthew 1:19

Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

At the centre of the account of Jesus’ birth is a man about whom we know very little. Joseph was the legal father of Jesus, but after Jesus’ birth, we meet Joseph on only one occasion, when the family visit to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus was 12 years old.

Although it is not detailed anywhere, we get the distinct impression that Mary was a widow by the time Jesus’ public ministry began. One verse in the New Testament tells us that Joseph was an artisan (Matthew 13:55) and it is generally assumed that he was a carpenter - but we can’t even be sure of that. The Greek word used for artisan also refers to those who work with iron or stone.

Although we know very little about this extremely important man, we do know about his character. In today’s verse, he is described as a “righteous man”, which means that he was concerned to be obedient to the law.

That made life incredibly difficult for him, because he was engaged to a woman who was pregnant. Engagement, at the time, was a much deeper commitment than it is today, and it could only be brought to an end by death or divorce. When a woman who was engaged to be married became pregnant by another man, the original penalty was death by stoning, but by the time of Mary’s betrothal to Joseph, it had become divorce.

So, according to the law, Joseph was obliged to divorce Mary. But he was a gracious and sensitive man and, although he was eager to obey the law, the last thing he wanted to do was humiliate Mary. Therefore, he resolved to divorce her quietly. Ultimately, an angel stepped in to change things but, still, I warm to the way in which Joseph set about handling this difficult situation.

Life is full of awkward situations and challenges. I thank God for the Josephs of this world who are good and honourable people, always striving to do what is kindest and most honouring to God.

Question – What do you learn from the way in which Joseph handled his predicament?

Prayer – Loving Father, help me to live so close to you that I will always make wise and careful decisions. Amen

Matthew 1:16-17

Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.

Matthew shows here how the Old Testament has prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. He points out that there were 14 generations from the time of Abraham, the father of the nation, up to the reign of King David. This was undoubtedly the high-water mark in the Old Testament. David established Jerusalem as the city of God and prepared the way for the building of the magnificent temple.

After that, everything went catastrophically downhill, with the next 14 generations ending with the Jewish people being taken into exile in Babylon. The following 14 generations were ones in which the prophetic voice was almost entirely silent. There is a 400-year gap between the final book of the Old Testament and the coming of Christ. However, throughout those dark years, there were some who held on to the conviction that God would send his Messiah, his anointed one, to usher in a new age of the Spirit.

The coming of the Messiah was the fulfilment of many prophecies and saw the purposes of God move into a completely new era. History had been pointing in this direction but now, finally, it had become a reality. When the apostle Paul spoke of these things he wrote: “When the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). People had waited centuries for this special moment, but God knew exactly what he was doing.

We cannot be sure how many people were awaiting the coming of Jesus, but it probably wasn’t many. Jesus’ arrival certainly came as a complete surprise to most people. However, we thank God for Simeon and Anna, two old people whose lives were given over to prayer and who immediately spotted the Messiah when they saw him (Luke 2:25-38).

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let’s give thanks to God that he sent Jesus as Messiah and that, through his death, he opened the way for us to find new life in him and to participate in the new age of the Spirit.

Question – Looking at Galatians 4:4 what do you think made the time of Jesus coming exactly the right time?

Prayer – Lord God, thank you for the new era that Jesus our Messiah opened up and in which we can share today. Amen