Weekly Devotion no 61
19 November 2021
Bible reading – Luke 1:26-38[1]
26 In the sixth month after Elizabeth had become pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. 27 He was sent to a virgin. The girl was engaged to a man named Joseph. He came from the family line of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel greeted her and said, “The Lord has blessed you in a special way. He is with you.”
29 Mary was very upset because of his words. She wondered what kind of greeting this could be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary. God is very pleased with you. 31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king like his father David of long ago. 33 The Son of the Most High God will rule forever over his people. They are from the family line of Jacob. That kingdom will never end.”
34 “How can this happen?” Mary asked the angel. “I am a virgin.”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Most High God will cover you. So the holy one that is born will be called the Son of God. 36 Your relative Elizabeth will have a child even though she is old. People thought she could not have children. But she has been pregnant for six months now. 37 That’s because what God says will always come true.”
38 “I serve the Lord,” Mary answered. “May
it happen to me just as you said it would.” Then the angel left her.
Reflection
We are about to enter the season of Advent. Advent is a word that means “coming” or “visit”. In this season, we remember several different aspects of the “advent” or coming of Christ at Christmas.
• We remember Israel’s hope for the coming of
God’s Christ or King to save, to forgive, and to restore.
• We remember our need for a Saviour to save
us from our sins.
• We remember the first coming of Jesus, when
he was born in Bethlehem around 2000 years ago.
• And we remember our hope for the second
coming of Jesus.
We light one candle each week of Advent. The candles have different meanings, each based upon the Bible. These meanings help us understand how special the birth of Jesus is for us. Today we metaphorically light the first purple candle. This candle represents Israel’s hope that God would send his King to save, forgive and restore his people. It also represents our hope that Jesus will one day come again to bring his people together under his rule.
Mary and Joseph had been hoping to get married. The angel’s words must have thrown this hope into disarray for Mary. The enormity of her finding out she would become pregnant out of wedlock would have been overwhelming. And yet, she decides to serve God and to trust him. She leaves the impact of this on her impending marriage to God and focuses on the hope that God is providing to all people through the child that she will bear: the Saviour of the world.
In our lives, may we too keep our focus on the hope we have in Christ,
and trust God with the things that cause us anxiety. May we serve God.
Hymn
Verse 1
Come,
thou long expected Jesus,
born
to set thy people free;
from
our fears and sins release us,
let
us find our rest in thee.
Verse 2
Israel's
strength and consolation,
hope
of all the earth thou art;
dear
desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
Verse 3
Born
thy people to deliver,
born
a child and yet a King,
born
to reign in us forever,
now
thy gracious kingdom bring.
Verse 4
By
thine own eternal spirit
rule
in all our hearts alone;
by
thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
Charles Wesley © 1735 Public Domain CCLI:69198
Prayer
Eternal
God,
through
long generations you prepared a way
for
the coming of your Son,
and
by your Spirit you still bring light to illumine our paths
renew
us in faith and hope
that
we may welcome Christ to rule our thoughts
and
claim our love;
to
whom be glory for ever. Amen.
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