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Luke 2:41-52 (NIV)
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Reflect:
This is really a unique story, recorded to help reveal the uniqueness of Jesus for us. Jesus is God’s Son, and the ramifications of that are incredible. Through this incident, Mary and Joseph are once again reminded that this son of theirs was perhaps not really theirs after all. This ordeal caused Mary to experience anxiety and fear, but it also revealed to her that the person of Jesus and how He was to live was something far greater than what she could understand in that moment. And Mary was able to ultimately respond in reverence as she acknowledged this.
Respond:
This story is a reminder to us of how we can become familiar with our ideas about God, perhaps stifling our relationship with Him. Emmanuel, God with us now through the Spirit is a constant reminder that we are in relationship with God, like no other! As we celebrate during this Christmas season, may this revelation come afresh to us, filling us with greater reverence for Him. Let’s welcome God to once again take His rightful place in our hearts as we let go of our own notions of what God should be like. Let’s pray for each of the Agape churches to live in greater reverence and love for the Lord, especially as we begin 2012. May our affections and reverence overflow!
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The last year has been full of discussion about the growing disparities in pay in the United States. But there is at least one sector where wealth is going up instead of down.
That sector?
Congress.
An article for the New York Times reports that members of Congress’ earnings have continued to go up during tough economic times, causing some to question their effectiveness.
The fact that rich people are in Congress isn’t usually that big a deal. But when Congress struggles mightily to take care of the economic business of the country — from the recent payroll tax extension fight to the debt limit fight — it starts to seem pretty evident to the average, everyday voter that members really don’t understand the economic problems their constituents face.”
Can rich members of Congress really represent the average American?
]]>Matthew 2:1-23 (NIV)
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Reflect:
Compelled by God to search for the ‘King of the Jews,’ the Magi left their homes in search of something they had little understanding of. In faith, the Magi followed a star shown to them by God, boldly travelling to an unfamiliar land and culture. Ironically, in the end it was the Magi, foreigners from another country, and not Herod, who had the privilege of encountering Jesus. One thing we know about the Magi is that they travelled a long way, were pretty ‘high up’ and important, and probably had experienced some of the best things in life in their homeland. But when they encountered Jesus everything changed! After all they had experienced in life and on this journey, they had only one response, to worship Jesus.
Respond:
Today, as we stand in joy and amazement before Jesus, may worship also be our one response. Worship is the deepest response we can have toward God, and when we respond in worship our lives are changed. For the Magi, despite all they had experienced in their lives, this encounter with Jesus inevitably changed them forever. In the same way, today as we worship with our lives, God will shape our whole being. What we believed to be valuable and worthy of our lives before now pale in comparison to what we have experienced. When we encounter the Lord and worship him our lives will not stay the same. Let our worship increase!
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