Devotional

Monday Jan. 6 Scripture: Luke 2:41-52 Today is Epiphany signifying the revelation and realization of Jesus’ true identity as Lord and Savior, the Messiah, the co-eternal Son of God. Jesus gives us a glimpse into his identity as a 12 year-old when he teaches the teachers about God while on pilgrimage to the Temple with his family. Of course, Mary and Joseph had seen glimpses and heard angelic proclamations about their son from the very beginning and it is their response to Jesus’ identity which has begun to fascinate me. Since Jesus was the Son of God and they had already made many sacrifices to protect him, Mary and Joseph could have easily cut corners religiously and assumed they did…

Sunday Jan. 5 Scripture: Matthew 2:19-23 Joseph is often lifted up as an example of humility and compassion. In bringing his family back to Israel after years of exile in Egypt, Joseph shows he is shrewd and wise as well. While in Egypt, Joseph learns from an angel in a dream that King Herod has died and it is safe to return to Israel. Now that he knows what he must do, we might expect Joseph to rush back to Bethlehem (which may well have been his hometown) and reestablish a more normal life for his family as quickly as possible. What could there be to worry about? God has told him what to do and surely God will look…

Saturday Jan. 4 Scripture: Matthew 2:13-18 For obvious reasons, we usually stop reading the story of the wise men with verse twelve of the second chapter of Matthew. The wise men go home by another road. Herod is left waiting by the phone for a call that never comes. All is well. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. But the night that is coming is not good. It is dark, one of the darkest parts of the New Testament. At some point Herod realizes that the wise men aren’t coming back to Jerusalem. His fear does what fear very often does. It turns violent. In this horrible act, this slaughter of the innocents, Herod shows that…

Friday, Jan. 3 Scripture: Matthew 2:9-12 It could be a coincidence, but maybe not. Before the wise men actually meet Jesus, the source of their guidance is a mysterious star. The star gets them from their home country to Jerusalem. Then, however, they have to stop and ask directions. The scribes and chief priests of Jerusalem direct the wise men to Bethlehem, and sure enough the star goes ahead of them, stopping right over the house where Jesus and his parents are. The star shines brightly. It even moves. But it doesn’t speak. After the wise men worship at the cradle of the king, then they begin to hear from God in new ways. That night, presumably, God warns them…

Thursday Jan. 2 Scripture: Matthew 2:3-7 When King Herod hears that there are foreign wise men asking where the new king has been born, he is rightly frightened. He is frightened because his worst fears are confirmed: he is not a real king. History calls him Herod the Great, and we know from sources outside the New Testament that he reigned over Judea for decades and in many ways was a very effective ruler. He was also paranoid and brutal. Herod put to death many people whom he suspected of plotting to supplant him, including members of his immediate family. As powerful as he was in his own kingdom, Herod’s power was limited. He served at the pleasure of the…

Wednesday Jan. 1 Scripture: Matthew 2:1-2 Traditionally we call them wise men, which is a translation of the word magi. It appears that they may have been astrologers, who saw this new star of wonder and followed it to Jerusalem. The word magi might remind us of magic. Indeed, in other places in the New Testament the term was used to speak of ancient magicians. We’re not entirely sure who they were. Nor do we know how many of them came from far away to Judea in search of the newborn king of the Jews. This weekend many Christians will sing “We three kings” in their worship services. The old joke is that they were neither kings, three, nor wee…

Tuesday Dec. 31 Scripture: Luke 2:39-40 Mary and Joseph have brought baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The temple is the center of all Jewish life.  After having done what the law required, Luke says, they returned to their hometown of Nazareth in the region of Galilee. They take Jesus home to raise him as a faithful Jew. This is part of the Christmas story that most of us have long overlooked. We tend to make Jesus in our own image. For Protestant Christians in the south, for example, Jesus looks and sounds like one of us. Or so we have assumed. We customize Jesus, and we neglect the parts we don’t like…

Monday, Dec. 30 Scripture: Luke 2:36-38 Luke says that Anna was a prophet (contrary to what you may read in some translations, the Greek is indeed “prophet,” not “prophetess”). We usually think of Old Testament prophets as people who predicted future events. They did occasionally do this. But more often than that, the prophets spoke God’s word to the present. And that’s what we see Anna doing in Luke 2:38 when she speaks to the people about the Christ child. Most English versions of the Bible call her Anna, but in the original language her name is actually Hannah. Hannah is also the name of the mother of the prophet Samuel. The story of how she came to be Samuel’s…

Sunday, Dec. 29 Scripture: Luke 2:22-35 Simeon was an old man on whom the Holy Spirit rested. This is the same language for the Spirit that is used in Acts 2:3 on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended in power on the disciples. Luke, who wrote Acts, says that the fire of the Spirit rested on each of those who gathered there that day. The Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. Luke does not tell us how long Simeon had been waiting or how long it had been since he first received this revelation from the Holy Spirit. It is possible that he had been waiting a long time…

Saturday Dec. 28 Scripture: Luke 2:21 Before Jesus’ arrival, all we know of Mary and Joseph is that there were ordinary decent people who did their best to follow the Jewish customs of their day. Now, after all the angel appearances, the immaculate conceptions, a long journey to Bethlehem, and the surprise visit by shepherds to the manger, Mary and Joseph do exactly as we would expect: they continue to follow the customs they have been taught. They take Jesus to be circumcised on the 8thday of his life and on that day they formally give him the name Jesus. Jesus, which is a derivative of the Hebrew name Joshua, means “God saves” or “God is salvation.” You may remember…