Advent

December 11, 2022

Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

What is it like to be human? The great creator God apparently wanted to experience being a human to understand this being that God created. Even though the Creator modeled humans after God’s own image, humans were also endowed with other characteristics which God wanted to understand better. Thus, God came to be with humans in human form from the womb forward; God—incarnate Jesus Christ.

Matthew tells us that Jesus’s first challenge was going into the wilderness to face the world’s temptations* before he began his ministry. Surely, that was a powerful experience for the Creator as a human. God is not only with us. God understands what we are going through because of God’s sojourn on earth. Building a firm, lasting relationship with God is the primary key to our growth in wisdom and in truth as we strive to partner with God in actualizing the Kingdom of God by our choice in the world today. Love is not love if it is not by our choice.

Prayer: Lord, enable us to choose to love ourselves as you love us so that we can love one another as you love all your creation. Amen.

*See Matthew 4:1-11

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.