It’s interesting: the process of aging, getting older, usually means that when you hear the same stories that you’ve heard before, sometimes you discover something that you hadn’t noticed before. Life has given you a different perspective from when you heard the story originally.
Nowhere else, for me at least, has this held true than the Christmas story. By age 30 – if you’ve been a life-long Christian like I am – the story gets very familiar. You’ve got Mary. Joseph. The harried innkeeper. Donkeys. Shepherds watching over their flock. Mangers, wise men, and angels. They’re all there. The events are always the same. Census time. Journey to Bethlehem. The visit of the Magi. Exodus to Egypt. (Interesting that Joseph, Mary and Jesus should go to Egypt to be safe, when hundreds of years earlier, under the leadership of Moses, Egypt was NOT a haven for God’s chosen people.)
This past Christmas, I was struck by the fact that God had entered human history in the flesh by coming into the world as an infant. It sounds familiar – and it is – but do you realize what babies are? They, by their very nature, need to be protected, nurtured, raised, and instructed. Human babies are vulnerable and defenseless. They need all the help they can get.
God did not enter human history as an adult. For the first few years of His life, just like all infants are, Jesus was wholly dependent on Mary and Joseph to swaddle and feed him and change his diaper. He went from milk to soft food to solid food. Jesus had to learn to feed himself and crawl, then walk. Jesus had to learn to read and write. Jesus had to grow up, just like you and I did. When he got older, Joseph taught him how to build chairs and tables. He became a carpenter, just like his father was.
God trusted Mary and Joseph to do well and nurture his infant self. God trusted Mary as a mother and Joseph as a father to raise and protect him and make sure He grew up to adulthood. God trusted Mary and Joseph with Himself! And all along, Mary and Joseph knew this. What had they been thinking? How daunting would this have task been? Truly, raising a baby is daunting enough, but raising the Savior? That’s something else entirely.
God trusted us – through Mary and Joseph – with Himself. If He had that much trust in them, why is it when He asks us to trust Him, we don’t or halfheartedly do? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about since Christmas.
“I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” -Psalm 91:2
See you next week,
Matt
babybirthChristmasfleshGodhistoryMaryparenthoodPsalmraisestorytrust
Mary, Did You Know?
February 9, 2012
Calvary
Comments Off on Mary, Did You Know?
Matt
It’s interesting: the process of aging, getting older, usually means that when you hear the same stories that you’ve heard before, sometimes you discover something that you hadn’t noticed before. Life has given you a different perspective from when you heard the story originally.
Nowhere else, for me at least, has this held true than the Christmas story. By age 30 – if you’ve been a life-long Christian like I am – the story gets very familiar. You’ve got Mary. Joseph. The harried innkeeper. Donkeys. Shepherds watching over their flock. Mangers, wise men, and angels. They’re all there. The events are always the same. Census time. Journey to Bethlehem. The visit of the Magi. Exodus to Egypt. (Interesting that Joseph, Mary and Jesus should go to Egypt to be safe, when hundreds of years earlier, under the leadership of Moses, Egypt was NOT a haven for God’s chosen people.)
This past Christmas, I was struck by the fact that God had entered human history in the flesh by coming into the world as an infant. It sounds familiar – and it is – but do you realize what babies are? They, by their very nature, need to be protected, nurtured, raised, and instructed. Human babies are vulnerable and defenseless. They need all the help they can get.
God did not enter human history as an adult. For the first few years of His life, just like all infants are, Jesus was wholly dependent on Mary and Joseph to swaddle and feed him and change his diaper. He went from milk to soft food to solid food. Jesus had to learn to feed himself and crawl, then walk. Jesus had to learn to read and write. Jesus had to grow up, just like you and I did. When he got older, Joseph taught him how to build chairs and tables. He became a carpenter, just like his father was.
God trusted Mary and Joseph to do well and nurture his infant self. God trusted Mary as a mother and Joseph as a father to raise and protect him and make sure He grew up to adulthood. God trusted Mary and Joseph with Himself! And all along, Mary and Joseph knew this. What had they been thinking? How daunting would this have task been? Truly, raising a baby is daunting enough, but raising the Savior? That’s something else entirely.
God trusted us – through Mary and Joseph – with Himself. If He had that much trust in them, why is it when He asks us to trust Him, we don’t or halfheartedly do? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about since Christmas.
“I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'” -Psalm 91:2
See you next week,
Matt
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babybirthChristmasfleshGodhistoryMaryparenthoodPsalmraisestorytrust