Twenty-fifth Day of Advent
Luke 2:1 – 7 NIV
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
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 room for them in the inn.
It sounds so . . . well, ordinary. A young woman gives birth to a boy baby. Perhaps a little unusual, even for the first century, in that the birth took place in a stable because all the town’s hotel rooms were booked. All the elements of a normal physical birth process were there . . . and yet this birth was anything but ordinary. The greatest miracle in the history of the world – the eternal Son of God taking on human flesh. . . the launch of God’s plan to provide redemption . . . the cure for mankind’s sin problem . . the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. “. . . and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger . . .” At the close of this day, Mary “pondered these things and treasured them in her heart” (v.19). Take time today to follow Mary’s example and praise God for His Son’s very extra-ordinary human birth.
Jean Nystrand
Re: Verse reading – John 8:31-47