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If you have stumbled here by accident let me first insist that there really are no accidents in life. If however, you came on your own free will then please by all means open your hearts and your minds to the "New Wine" that God has prepared for you!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

The very best gift

The presents are all gone from under the Christmas tree. Mountains of brightly colored wrapping paper are spilling out of garbage cans that line our streets. Our refrigerators are packed full of leftovers that will add pounds to our bodies, extra weight we will all want to shed next year. All the last minute gift shopping is over as people now return to exchange those not so perfect gifts back to the stores from which they came. Trash truck drivers frown at a plethora of large, stiff dried out conifers that will need to be hauled away, eventually chipped into mulch and returned to the ground from which they came.

The Christmas season is so much more than shopping for gifts and preparing food for family and friends. Its all about the One gift that is available to all people; it can’t be bought or worked for as it  is a gift from God. The advent of the birth of the Christ is the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. Many times through all the hustle and bustle to search for those perfect gifts, we often miss the true meaning of Christmas.
The Christmas story is about sacrificial giving. It’s about a Father who gives away His most precious possession to save people who don’t deserve being saved in the first place.  God gave the world His only Son to be born of a virgin, to grow into a man and finally to die a substitution death for all mankind. The bible says that we are all sinners who have fallen short of requirements a holy God demands. Our free will along with the choices we make in life fall far short of a holy God’s standards.
The pressures of this joyous season can often frustrate and cloud our good sentiments. While we often find great gifts, they seldom fit just right or last very long. Many new  toys will be broken by the very next day. However the gift that God has given to the world, His One and Only Son, is the greatest gift of all time and will never break or wear out. It is a gift that the bible says we don’t deserve; we can’t purchase or work to attain. It is a gift of God’s grace where He offers us His son, baby Jesus. It’s not only the story of a miraculous birth, it’s the greatest story ever told.
Mary and Joseph endured many  hardships  as they traveled to Bethlehem for a birth that took place outside in an animal portico. The baby Jesus was then wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in the animal’s feeding trough where His only visitors were humble shepherds. Sometime after His birth, while still living in Bethlehem, an unknown number of astrologers from the east would follow a bright star leading them to the new born King of Israel.
It’s this majesty, of the Christmas season, that draws all men to celebrate the world’s only true hope. Decorations, food and fellowship are all wonderful reasons to enjoy this festive season and the closing of yet another year. For many people the season offers them a chance to reach out to others who do not know God’s love. The birth of the Christ child offers them the reason to reach out and herald in the news of the birth of the world’s Savior.
However, the birth of the Savior of the world is just the beginning of God’s plan to redeem all mankind.   The child grows up to become a man who has an deep connection and understanding of God, His laws and His plan to redeem the world. The end of the story takes place 32 years later, on an old rugged Roman cross in Jerusalem with the brutal death of Jesus.
What’s paramount to realize is that the birth this baby, Jesus, would eventually lead to His horrible death. Jesus would be executed alongside two  criminals on a hill just outside Jerusalem. His death would be the payment for our sin. God in all His wisdom created the only way for all of us to have a chance to be saved.
So as all the paper wrappings get thrown away, the colored lights get taken down and put back into their boxes it’s so important to remember the reason for the Christmas season. A baby was born in a manger 2000 years ago grew up into a man who would take upon Himself all the sin of this entire world. As Jesus hung on a Roman, wooden execution device, His feet not quite touching this earth, His hands not quite touching the sky but His death bridged the gap that has always separated us from our Creator.  

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Child

It was getting late as Zacharias sat in front of his oil lamp. He set an extra log in the fireplace, stoking up the fire one last time before going to join Elizabeth and baby John who were already asleep in the loft. Before retiring he had a feeling, a desire to take out the scroll of the prophet Micah, searching for words of encouragement there. The hair on Zacharias neck and arms began to stand straight up as the words from the text in Micah 5:2 made his heart skip a beat “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.” He knew that his niece Mary was carrying the Messiah, the Christ and Immanuel inside her womb and by now would already be on the road headed south to Bethlehem to register for the worldwide census.

As Joseph was passing through Scythopolis, the clickity-clack sound coming from the wagon’s rear wheel bearing was getting louder and he knew he had to find a place to stop for the night. Mary was in much discomfort as the baby was continuing to be very active. She tried rubbing her belly, talking to the baby but nothing helped. Her time to delivery was getting very close and each bump in the road hastened the birth of her child. Joseph stacked up some flat stones and squeezed them under the axle of the wagon raising it up off the ground just enough to get the wheel off. Stowed in the back of the buckboard he found the clay pot that held the bee’s wax and packed the wooden wheel bearing with wax. Mary went down to the edge of the Jordan River, knelt down and washed her hands and face with the cool water from the river. She praised God for this beautiful river, Joseph, and the baby God had given to her to carry.
The baby immediately calmed down and ceased kicking Mary as she sang the words from psalm 2:6,7 while watching the water pass slowly through a calmer section of the river “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”  She knew their journey was bringing on her labor and that she could not hold back the inevitable for very long, as the baby was well on His way.
The road was getting very crowded with travelers from all over Judea as the donkey plodded into the city limits of Jerusalem. There were many travelers going to the city and all of its surrounding suburbs to register for the census. Many street vendors had set up shops wherever there was a turn-out in the road where they sold skins of wine, water, bread, woven cloth and trinkets of every kind. Mary couldn’t help but notice a beautiful red home spun blanket as the donkey waited for cross traffic to clear out. Joseph asked the merchant the price and after a bit of bargaining, Mary wrapped the lovely blanket around her shoulders.
The temple was shimmering in the late afternoon sunlight as the priests busied themselves finishing up with the daily sacrifices. The golden clad cedar doors of the temple were blinding when you looked at them directly during the right hour of the day. The white limestone blocks of the complex looked pristine in the orange glow of the afternoon light. Once out of the congestion of the city, Joseph prayed that Bethlehem would be much quieter. Just outside of town the road cleared out a little for the last five miles. Joseph didn’t think Mary could endure the extra mileage to Zacharias and Aunt Elizabeth’s house in the Judean hills so he remembered an inexpensive but comfortable inn where they could spend the night, and made his way there.
“Now there were in the same country shepherds, living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men!’”
Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem, Joseph had pleaded with the inn keeper for a room where his wife could deliver. The inn keeper wished he had a place for them but there was no vacancy due to the festival and census traffic. But being a decent man, the inn keeper allowed Joseph and Mary to stay with his animals in a hollowed out limestone cave adjacent to the inn. Joseph thanked him while Mary laid down on a pile of fresh straw the inn keeper had just put down for them. The animals kept some distance from Mary, standing directly in the opening of the hollow.  They shielded the birth from the cold Judean night and any stray travelers.
As the baby was born, Joseph tied off and cut the umbilical cord. Mary, while exhausted, wrapped the baby in the new blanket Joseph had purchased from the street vendor and laid him in the animal’s feeding trough. A very bright light was born that night in Bethlehem, the new born King of Israel and the Savior of the entire world! 

Monday, December 9, 2013

The prophecy


Many months had passed since Mary, her brother and Joseph had left on their return trip to Nazareth. Even though Zacharias could still not speak it did not stop him from thinking about all he had heard Mary tell of the incredible things the angel Gabriel had told to her. He pondered   how the power of the Holy Spirit had overshadowed her and she became pregnant. So as it came time for Elizabeth’s son to be born, Zacharias kept himself busy studying his collection of ancient scrolls. Pouring over each scroll, Zacharias searched for the long awaited promises of God concerning the Messiah-King that was to be born.

In the dim light of the oil lamp, Zacharias poured over the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Although his heart was pounding, it filled with joy upon reading the text 7:13-17 that foretold of the birth of the coming Messiah “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Zacharias marveled at the fact that his own niece, Mary, was carrying the promised Child Isaiah had foretold would be born! Then as he unrolled the scroll further, he continued reading at Isaiah 9:6-7 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace their shall be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and Justice from that time forward, even forever.”

As the hours passed, Zacharias also remembered what Joseph had said the night they had arrived. After dinner the dishes were properly cleaned, put away and they settled down by the hearth fire to tell story. When it was discovered that she was pregnant, Joseph revealed the fact that he was going to flee Nazareth with Mary to save her from public judgment, humiliation or something worse. He explained that as he was planning their escape, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and said “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The very next day Elizabeth’s time came to deliver and her son was born. All the neighbors asked if she was going to name him after his father, but she shook her head no, as Zacharias motioned for a writing tablet and scratched out “His name was John!” He had been mute for nine months but now immediately after writing the child’s name his voice returned.

Six months later and seventy miles to the north in the village of Nazareth, Elizabeth’s niece Mary was also getting very close to the birth of her baby. Mary lived with her mother, father, brother and two sisters. Joseph lived just outside of town near the main road that led to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. His father was a carpenter who built wagons, carts and repaired broken wheels for a living. The nearby road afforded a steady stream of customers to his shop.

Today, Joseph had promised Mary that he would take her for a wagon ride through the vineyards and olive groves that covered the hills and mountains to the north toward the sea. Joseph was sitting up front on the buckboard with Mary snuggled around a pile of pillows in the back of the wagon. She was eight months pregnant but was willing to endure any discomfort to ride through the beautiful Nazarene countryside. Soon after they left the outskirts of town, they spotted a Roman legion about a half mile away marching towards them. Joseph pulled the  wagon off the road into a turn out as the officer in front looked them over and motioned to the centurion to inspect the wagon. After a thorough inspection, the centurion informed Joseph that Caesar Augustus had decreed that a worldwide census was to be taken. He said they had orders to visit every village in Galilee where they were to post the decree. Later, they would be making a return trip to verify that all citizens had complied and registered in their own home city.

The baby kicked Mary as the Roman legion filed past them kicking dust into the air. Joseph turned onto a back road and returned home to begin preparations for their trip to Bethlehem of Judea. They had taken this same trip just six months earlier, visiting Elizabeth and Zacharias. Joseph knew that the trip would be dangerous for Mary and the baby and that he needed to make preparations to get them to Bethlehem before the baby was born. He had been around many births before, but it was the women who assisted with the delivery so the thought of him having to deliver a baby on a rocky road did not appeal to him.

The next morning, Joseph hitched the donkey to the wagon, and loaded food and supplies for the trip. Joseph helped Mary get into the wagon and positioned several pillows around her swollen belly. Everyone was there to ask God’s blessings on them and to say goodbye. Joseph planned to head south towards Beth Shean, avoiding travel through Samaria. As the wagon creaked and bumped along the roadway, Mary closed her eyes and pondered all these wonderful things; a baby who was to be their future king and coming Messiah.

“The prophecy” is part two of a three part short story that will be published during the month of December. Hitch a ride next week with Mary and Joseph as they travel to Bethlehem and encounter the very first and very large holiday shopping crowd.

 

 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The announcement


Zacharias and Elizabeth lived in a very modest home nestled in the hill country just south of Jerusalem. Zacharias was a priest in the service of the Most High God at the temple in Jerusalem. He was one of thousands of priests, each of whom served a total of two weeks during the year. This was going to be a special year for Zacharias because, as a priest, he was allowed to burn incense in the temple once during his lifetime and this year the lot fell to him. It’s interesting to note that, in addition to Zacharias being from the priestly line of Levi, Elizabeth was a direct descendant of Aaron, the very first high priest of Israel and the brother of Moses.

Elizabeth and Zacharias were both well advanced in years as Elizabeth became pregnant with her first child. She had been barren all her life but now God had sent the angel Gabriel to announce to Zacharias, while he was standing near the altar of incense, that his wife would bear him a son. Zacharias was shaking with fear as the angel Gabriel, who towered over him, said “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

The news was just too much for him and he doubted that this could be true, implying that God could not accomplish this great miracle in his life. Once more, Gabriel spoke to Zacharias who must have fallen face first onto the ground, “But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time”. As the great, thunderous voice ceased, Zacharias peeked through his hands that had been clenched tightly around his face. The large angel was nowhere to be seen as he got up. As he exited the temple he faced a growing crowd of curious onlookers who could not get one word out of his mouth but they tried just the same.

Six months later and seventy miles away, Elizabeth’s relative Mary was also greeted by the angel Gabriel “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women! Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Mary stood still in the dim light.

As the last word left the magnificent angel’s lips, the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowed her and she immediately became pregnant with the Son of God! Gabriel went on to inform Mary that Elizabeth and Zacharias would also have a son even in their old age. And it was that, as the glory of the Lord began to diminish, the angel Gabriel departed with these last words “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Mary would cherish these words sent from God as well as reflect on them many times before Jesus would be born into the world.

Mary’s father and brother saddled the family’s donkey so that she could set out on the 70 mile journey to visit her relative Elisabeth who lived in the hill country of Judah. Mary longed to verify and witness the miracle that the angel Gabriel had prophesied to her concerning Elizabeth’s conception. Mary, her brother, and Joseph set out in haste towards the hill country south of Jerusalem to visit Elizabeth. The road was rocky and the long trip took the trio several days to complete.

As Mary neared the village her heart began to pound as she remembered what the messenger from God had imparted to her. She knocked and then pushed open the door to Zacharias’ house.  There, sitting near the fireplace warming herself, was Elizabeth. Mary hurried to greet her with a joyful “Shalom” and kissed her on each cheek. It happened that as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the baby leaped in her womb; And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary and Elizabeth encouraged each other with the wonderful news God had delivered through the angel Gabriel, however Zacharias was still unable to speak to anyone.

Mary chose to stay and help Elizabeth with all the day to day chores by cooking, cleaning and washing clothes. She stayed three months with her until it was just time for the arrival of her son. Then Mary returned to Nazareth with Joseph and her brother.  However, the trip back took much longer because she was now further along with her pregnancy.  As they traveled through Jerusalem, the morning sun illuminated the gold doors of the temple as the baby kicked inside her womb. Soon she would be back in her own quaint village of Nazareth awaiting the birth of the blessed Son of God!

“The announcement” is part one of a three part short story that will be published during the month of December. I would like to invite you to travel along with Mary and Joseph as they follow this same road to their ancestral city of Bethlehem, enduring many trials on their way to registrar for the Roman census.