Advent

December 17, 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 does it mean to be saved from sin? What is sin and how does it impact our lives?

The Greek word for sin means missing the target or the mark, but it has a deeper connotation.

hamartía (“sin, forfeiture because missing the mark”) is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originated (self-empowered) nature – i.e. it is not originated or empowered by God (i.e. not of faith, His inworked persuasion, cf. Ro 14:23).

Sin is self-originated whether we realize it or not. I am a basketball fan (Go Thunder!), and if we watch carefully or listen to the commentators, we will occasionally hear words like “the player knew the ball was not going into the basket.” They could feel it when it left their hands that it was not on target. The player’s normal response is to try to rebound the ball or call the potential miss to a fellow player to be ready to rebound. In most instances, the players try to shoot on target by manipulating their way between the other team’s efforts to do everything possible to keep them from hitting the goal. To play the game well, one must be in great shape and practice so much that making the correct counter move is done on automatic pilot or as they say in sports muscle memory.

Emmanuel was sent to prepare us to make the right decision and to do it automatically. Our part is to stay in close communication with God. In those instances when we miss the target, we are assured that God is with us and welcomes the opportunity to correct our aim when we seek God’s guidance. Being surrounded by a team of other God-followers, helps too, as we all wind our way through the world’s distractions.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for coming and dwelling among humans so you could experience life as we do and can teach us to orient ourselves following your guidance and direction. Amen.

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.