The Weekly Word Advent Series - A Devotion for the Fourth Week of Advent
During the busy month of December, we are offering this special Weekly Word Advent Series as an invitation to turn away for a few moments from the holiday hustle and turn toward the One who came to save us.
This week’s Scripture is from Luke 2:4-7
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
If you think about it, Jesus’ entry into our world was shockingly humble. He wasn’t born a prince or an aristocrat. His earthly parents were peasants – neither famous, nor wealthy, nor educated. Jesus’ birth took place in a barn, where he was swaddled in cloths and laid in a feed trough that doubled as a makeshift crib.
Aside from a motley crew of shepherds, most people during that time missed the miracle in their midst.
And yet, this baby in a barn, born to peasant parents amid the shepherds and the farm animals -- was a miracle indeed. He was the Messiah, sent by God to redeem our broken world and restore our broken selves.
The truth is, like those who did not recognize the Savior right away, we, too, don’t always see the sacred that’s right before our eyes. We disregard the holy or write it off as humdrum. We dismiss the extraordinary as just plain ordinary. We miss the miracle because it doesn’t look like we had expected or hoped.
Jesus’ humble beginning reminds us that God’s miracles often masquerade as the mundane. As the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.” Our lives are steeped in the sacred. Let us open our eyes to God’s presence everywhere.
Gracious God, thank You for the precious gift of Your Son. Please open my eyes so that I will recognize His presence in every facet of my life. Amen.