Category: Advent Series

Welcome back to the second in our new series of 24 Advent devotionals on “Thanking Jesus.” Did you attempt my challenge from yesterday? Several of you suggested names of candidates (including Adam, Eve, Cain and Noah to name just a few) as the first person in the Bible to give thanks to God.

When I began searching for that person, I was sure it would be someone like Noah or Abraham, but I was surprised to find no record of them offering praise to God. The first time someone clearly offers thanks to God, it is not one of the great patriarchs of the faith but a humble servant.

Abraham asks his most trusted servant, likely a man named Eliezer of Damascus who was earlier named as Abraham’s heir (Gen. 15:2), to seek a wife for Isaac. Eliezer sets off on a journey that, if he is successful, means he himself will lose a huge inheritance. The servant prays and God answers by pointing him to Rebekah. When she agrees to give him a drink and to water his thirsty camels as well, he knows God has answered his prayer. Gen. 24:27 records his words of thanks: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham. The Lord has been kind and faithful to Abraham, for he has led me straight to my master’s relatives.”

Since Eliezer was from Damascus, he came from a pagan background. He must have learned how to pray to God by watching his master, Abraham. He also must have learned to give thanks by observing Abraham. Who is watching you and learning about faith in God? Are they also learning to give thanks?

Day 1

Many decades ago when I was just a little girl, I got the brilliant idea of preparing my Christmas thank-you notes before the holiday arrived. How was this possible? The gifts were still wrapped and under the tree! But smart me, I wrote out a template of notes that began, “Dear (blank), thank you for the (blank). It was very (blank).” All I had to do was fill in the blanks rapidly after my packages were open. For some reason, my older brothers showered me with much ridicule for my efforts.

Today, looking back I can see the humor of my idea, but the importance of giving thanks has never diminished, a thought which leads to the unveiling of this year’s Advent theme: “Thanking Jesus.”

In Philippians 4:6, Paul encouraged the members of his congregation to thank God for everything He had done. In the 24 days of Advent this year, we will look at people throughout the Bible who chose to give thanks to God under all kinds of circumstances. Have you given thanks to Him today?

(Challenge: Can you identify the first person in the Bible who gave thanks to God? Send your suggestions to me today and we’ll see who comes closest!)

Are you excited? It is Christmas Eve at last! Time to laugh around the table and open gifts by the tree. Are you in your own home or away visiting family? Here’s the last in this series on “Parenting Jesus.”

Over the past weeks, we have looked at many aspects of how Mary and Joseph parented Jesus. Mary sought God’s guidance in scripture as she prepared for Jesus’ birth. Joseph took God’s warnings about Herod seriously, acting on them at enormous personal sacrifice. Together he and Mary dedicated their son at the Temple and followed through by taking him regularly to the synagogue and Temple. Mary passed on stories of God’s amazing power. She modeled compassion. She taught her son to pray. She believed in him when everyone else turned away.

We began this series in Deuteronomy 4:9, with God’s command to remember all God has done and to pass those stories on to our children and grandchildren. We’ll close by returning to the same portion of scripture. In Deuteronomy 6:6,7, we read, “Commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up.”

Don’t forget to celebrate this Christmas by giving those you love the most important gift of all: the knowledge of a God who is forever with us. Merry Christmas indeed!

Welcome back for the next in this Advent series on “Parenting Jesus.” I hope you’ll return tomorrow for the last of the series!

Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birth. What great joy we experience as we celebrate Emanuel, “God with us.” With Christmas only two days away, with families gathering and gifts wrapped under the tree, this may seem like the wrong season of the year to remember the events of Jesus’ death. But in both cases, we celebrate “God with us.”

During the final week of Jesus’ life, everyone around him felt stunned. Despite all Jesus’ efforts to forewarn his disciples, a typhoon of emotions must have washed over Peter, James and John. The euphoria of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem disappeared as the somber events of the last supper unfolded. Then came the fear of the soldiers in the garden. The shame of the denial. The horror of the crucifixion. The confusion of the tomb.

After the burial of Jesus, a host of Marys gathered around the tomb. The gospel writers mention Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Joseph, Mary the mother of James, and Mary the wife of Clopas, not to mention Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus who lingered somewhere in the background. Not one of these Marys is identified as the mother of Jesus. Where was Jesus’ mother in those first days as the resurrection became known?

For over thirty years Mary the mother of Jesus had pondered all she learned. She didn’t need to seek her son at a tomb. Her faith was not shaken. The next time Mary appears, it is in Acts 1:14. She is in the Upper Room praying with the disciples…and Jesus’ brothers! In the midst of all the tumult, Mary’s other sons have at last come to believe!

What painful events are you facing in your life? Has your faith trembled or even threatened to shatter? This may be the very time when God is hardest at work in the lives of those we most love. “God is with us!”

Thank you for returning so faithfully day after day! We are almost through this Advent series on “Parenting Jesus.”

Yesterday we saw that even while hanging on a cross, Jesus fulfilled a command he learned in his childhood – to honor his father and mother. He honored his mother when he made arrangements for her care after his death. As he did so, did Mary pause to remember the words of her own song, a song she sang before Jesus was ever born? As recorded in Luke 1:46-48, she said, “Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation will call me blessed.” She felt honored then before her son was born and she felt honored now as she watched him die.

But Jesus was not only honoring his mother. Nailed to the cross and carrying the shame of the world upon his shoulders, Jesus was also honoring his heavenly Father. As members of the crowd stepped forward and spat upon Jesus’ naked flesh, when soldiers scoffed and offered him sour wine, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive these people because they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

By extending mercy and forgiveness, Jesus lifted up his life and offered it as a gift to his heavenly Father.

What gift will you offer to the Lord this Christmas to honor his name?

As we are near the end of Advent and also the end of this series on “Parenting Jesus,” here is the latest thought to share with you.

John 19:25-27 presents a tender scene in the midst of Calvary horror. Mary is standing near the foot of the cross. Her son would die soon, but she would have to go on living. The city of Jerusalem was in a turmoil. Angry mobs screamed for the blood of her son. This city was not a safe place for the mother of Jesus. She could not look to her other sons for solace; they didn’t yet believe in Jesus. Who would look after Jesus’ mother?

Jesus looked down from the cross. He saw his mother weeping. Hadn’t Mary taught him to obey God’s commands, and didn’t one of those laws say “honor your father and mother”? In Jewish culture, people expected the oldest son to take responsibility by caring for a widowed mother. Now, even in the midst of his own raging pain, Jesus paused to fulfill that command to honor his earthly mother. He asked the disciple John to take over the role of oldest son and take Mary into his home.

As the mother of Jesus, Mary clearly deserved great honor. Many parents today don’t appear to merit such respect yet God commands us – all of us – to honor our parents. He offers no loopholes for child abuse or exceptions for parental neglect. So how does a person honor a father or mother who fell far short of God’s standard of parenting? We do the same things Jesus did: We honor those parents by obeying God.

Have you lived your life in such a way that it honors God’s name and, thus by extension, your parents’ name? Have you taught those who follow you to do the same?

Can it be only 5 days until Christmas?  Here is the next installment on this Advent series on “Parenting Jesus.”

Would you be embarrassed if your daughter were arrested for drunk driving? Would your face flame red if your son were arrested in a sex scandal? What if these events were plastered across the front page of the local newspaper or announced on the nightly news? Would you want to crawl in a hole and cover your head and die?

Everywhere Jesus went, everything he said, every miracle he performed reflected back on his parents. But have you also considered how every confrontation he had with scribes and Pharisees also reverberated in the life of his mother? People talked about him and surely Mary heard the gossip. After being rejected by the people in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus left and moved from town to town, but Mary stayed behind in Nazareth. Day after day, she faced those townspeople who had wanted to throw her son over a cliff to his death. She had seen the fury in their eyes that day. After Jesus was gone, she saw her neighbors when she walked to market. She spoke with them in the streets of Nazareth. She met them in the synagogue each Sabbath. Being the mother of Jesus was not easy.

Now, Mary faced something far worse: Her son, the one on whom she had set her hopes, was dying on a cross, accused of blasphemy. His disciples had all abandoned him. But Mary did not retreat into the background. Instead, in John 19:25, we find her right in the middle of the events surrounding her son’s crucifixion. We see her standing at the foot of the cross in plain view of all the mocking crowd. Was she confused? Did she wonder how all those ancient prophecies would ever be fulfilled? Setting aside her own feelings, Mary continued to believe in her son even after he was arrested and condemned. Jesus’ mother stayed near him and offered support.

As parents we may find ourselves being the only ones standing by our child when all others have turned away. Which member of your family needs your support today?

Here we are together once again! Thanks for coming back for another in this Advent series on “Parenting Jesus.”

From the very beginning, Mary and Joseph taught Jesus to respect God’s commands. Like the author of Proverbs passing on wisdom to his son, Joseph recognized that his job was not merely to protect his children from harm but also to teach them the wisdom of God’s laws. Joseph was the spiritual leader of his family. As the writer of Hebrews later put it, “Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God.” (Hebrews 13:17) Joseph tended to the soul of his son.

Matthew 19:16-22 tells us that many years later Jesus met a rich young ruler who asked what he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus explained that the man could receive eternal life by obeying all the commandments. “Which ones?” the man replied, as if he were standing an overladen buffet table.

Remembering what he had learned from his own father, Jesus responded by naming several of the most basic commandments…not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to swear false witness. And, on the positive side, to honor his father and mother. Jesus asked nothing of the young ruler that he himself had not also done. Jesus took all of God’s laws seriously.

Do others see you taking God’s laws seriously? Have you taught your children, nieces, nephews and/or grandchildren to observe God’s commands? Mary and Joseph did.

Welcome back to day 18 in this Advent series on “Parenting Jesus”!

One of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar is the Day of Atonement. Once – only once – each year, the High Priest entered the Holiest Place and made atonement for the sins of the nation. This day was marked by solemn penitence and fasting. In contrast, five days later, the next celebration on the Jewish calendar was the most popular feast of the year, the Festival of Booths. This was a joyous celebration of the harvest, marked by bounteous amounts of food much like our Thanksgiving.

In John 7, Jesus’ brothers announced that they were heading to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths. What caused the brothers to travel many miles to celebrate the later festival when, given a choice, one might expect them to have gone to Jerusalem for the far more important event? Were they avoiding the serious business of atonement and instead opting for the fun of a harvest feast? Was this like celebrating the fun of Santa Claus without remembering the Christ of Christmas?

When Jesus said he was not planning to go along, the brothers scoffed, “If you really are doing the things you say you can do, then you should show yourself to the world!” Can you imagine Mary’s feelings as she listened to her younger sons mocking their older brother? Mary’s heart must have ripped in two when she saw that some of her children did not believe. But the story did not end there. Years later, Mary experienced joy when she saw her son James choose to follow Jesus and even go on to lead the church in Jerusalem.

Are there members of your family that are not following the Lord? Don’t give up praying. The last chapter has not yet been written!