Starry Night: Christmas Advent Daily Devotional (Beginning Dec. 1)

December 23

Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever."

     The passage above is sometimes called Mary's song, or the Magnificat, and records her response when she visited her six month pregnant relative Elizabeth. Elizabeth had just explained that the infant inside her, John the baptist, leaped in her womb upon the presence of the preborn Jesus, and when the Holy Spirit came upon her she blessed Mary and praised her for believing what the angel told her.

     Today's message is not to venerate Mary, but to look at how seriously she considered everything surrounding Jesus: from the angelic messages, to recognition of her unborn baby, to the visitors just after His birth, and even the unusual things He did when older. Let's look at some of those moments and consider how they can grow our faith too.

     The next thing we will look at is the night of Jesus' birth when shepherds from a nearby field were met by an angel.

Luke 2:10-14 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

     The shepherds followed the angels directions to Jesus and made known what the angels had said. After hearing about the shepherd's encounter we learn of Mary's response.

Luke 2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

Luke 2:41-45 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

     Can you imagine the panic going through Mary and Joseph. They lost the son of God! I imagine they had several of his siblings by then and were distracted on the road with providing for them. How would it feel to raise a sinless child? On this particular occasion they may have thought He committed His first sin. Read on to see what happened.

Luke 2:46-51 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." 49 And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

     How would a parent even respond to that? Jesus must be in His Father's house. Once again Mary treasured these things in her heart. These things she was learning about her son, God's son. When she first responded to the angel Gabriel saying, "let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38) she had no idea what would lie ahead. But as she was pondering these things she gradually came to understand more of what it meant. This is evident when she went with Jesus to a wedding.

John 2:1-5 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

     At this point Jesus had not done miracles, but Mary clearly knew that He could do them. She had been paying attention to who her son was and treasuring all those things in her heart. She knew Jesus well. Jesus honored His mother even though His "hour" had not yet come.

John 2:9-11 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

     My hope is that this advent book has you pondering the things of God like Mary, getting to know Him better, and digging into His word for answers like the magi, as opposed to being so accustomed to hearing about the story of Jesus' birth that it has lost its wonder or even forgetting the truths about it like the Jewish leaders during the time of Jesus' birth. What a blessing to be on this side of Jesus birth, death, and resurrection so we can understand many of the things that the Old Testament believers longed to know. As people around you stay busy with the hustle and bustle of the season, treasure God's word and treasure the best gift — Jesus — the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us.

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