In Luke’s Gospel, after the shepherds come to see the baby Jesus and tell everyone what they had been told by the angels, Luke says that “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (KJV: Luke 2: 19). I was thinking about the birth of my own children. Seeing the birth of a baby, especially your own, …
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Merry Christmas! This weekend we celebrate the arrival of God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, in the flesh. Leading up to Christmas, we tend to create lists of what we want for Christmas. We ask for things like toys, games, electronics, and various other things we want (I’m the worst; my list could practically be my son’s!). But, we don’t often put down things …
This Sunday is Christmas when we celebrate the coming of God’s Son in the flesh. Christians throughout the world will be celebrating the coming of the one promised to us for so long. It began in Genesis 3:15 when God promised the “seed of the woman” who would defeat sin, death, and the devil. This promise was reconfirmed to Abraham and …
Poor Joseph must have been quite confused when he discovered that his bride-to-be was pregnant. I’m sure he was very upset and sad to see that Mary was pregnant and that he was not the father. Yet, he did not want “to put her to shame” (Matthew 1:19), so he decided to quietly divorce her. In the culture there at …
This is the season of Advent within the Church year where we anticipate Christ’s coming. Even though we tend to focus on Christ’s birth, in reality there are three Advents of Christ. In his First Advent, which we celebrate at Christmas (and for which we are currently frantically shopping), Christ came in the flesh as a humble baby in a manger …
In chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel, we read that John the Baptist sends messengers to Jesus to inquire, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” John seems to be wondering whether or not Jesus really is the Messiah, the Christ, who was promised so long ago. Well, that seems odd, doesn’t it? For John …
In St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:1-28), he reminds the congregation that he had delivered to them what he himself had received and that this message was of “first importance.” He tells them: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance …
Chapter 3 of Matthew’s Gospel begins with John the Baptist. “In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,” saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew explains that John is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke (Matthew 3:3); he is the one who would prepare the way of the Lord’s coming. …