Two Questions for the Year Ahead

"But what about you?"  Jesus asked.  Who do you say I am?"  (Mark 8:28)

"Simon son of John, do you truly love Me?...Feed my sheep"

 (John 21)

Jesus asked many questions of His followers when He walked with them; it was the way a Rabbi typically taught his students.  Questions engaged the disciple in the learning process as he would have to think his answer through before responding.

Jesus asked these two questions of Peter but in reality they are questions for all of His followers.  I am reminded that when Jesus asked the first question, Peter was able to respond immediately with:  "You are the Christ!"

The second question took Peter a bit longer to ponder and answer.  In fact, Jesus had to ask it three times of him.  Even though Peter recognized that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, he understood his own shortcomings and failures in his relationship with Him.

As I look back on this year coming to a close I realize that I, like Peter, have come up short and failed many times in my relationship with our Lord.  But He is a gracious God and bids me start afresh once again just as He did for Peter.

I think that is one of the things we love about celebrating a New Year; it signifies a fresh start.  What a blessing that we don't have to wait for a New Year to dawn to start again with Jesus!  It is day by day and even moment by moment with Him.

As you go into the New Year, consider that Jesus asks these two questions of each of us also.  And remember that we love because He first loved us!

Happy New Year

Jeannie



Show and Tell

Go, tell it on the mountain

over the hills and everywhere;

go, tell it on the mountain

that Jesus Christ is born!  (old spiritual)

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of those who bring good news...

who proclaim salvation,

who say to Zion,

your God reigns!  (Isaiah 52:7)

Remember "Show and Tell" in kindergarten?  What an exciting event!  Each week a child was chosen to bring in something special from home and share it with the class.  I could hardly wait for my turn!  I knew exactly what I would bring:  my Raggedy Ann doll!  Her rosy cheeks and sweet smile comforted me when I spent a few days in the hospital to have my tonsils out.  I hugged her floppy body tight during a trip to the ER when my brother and I shared a whole bottle of baby aspirin.  She slept with me at night and I could hug her if I woke from a bad dream.  I loved her and could not wait to bring her to the classroom and tell everyone why!  Though beautiful in my eyes, in reality she looked tattered and worn.  Pride in my special toy helped me overcome my slight shyness as I held her up in front of the class and talked about why I loved her.  Then at recess, a little boy came up to me on the playground.  "Why'd you bring your doll to Show and Tell?"  he scoffed.  "That was really stupid!"  My face fell.  Maybe I shouldn't have shared my precious doll and my feelings about her with the class.

Robert Fulghum said that all he really needed to know he learned in kindergarten.  There I learned that sharing from the heart risks rejection.  Today, I have a special friend in Jesus.  Yet, too often I can think I don't need to tell others about Him if my life will simply show them that He is Lord.  But thinking back to the days of Show and Tell puts a lie to the temptation.  What if I had just brought in my Raggedy Ann doll and put her on the teacher's desk for all to see and then sat down?  No one would know why she was so important to me.  They would not know just by looking how she had comforted me with her presence through my scary times.  They may have been able to see my love for her in her worn appearance, but they would never know why I loved her.  When I shared, that little boy told me my doll was stupid, but that didn't mean the whole class felt that way.  So I had a choice to make:  the next time it was my turn for Show and Tell, would I be brave enough to share something so personal again?

The shepherds that first Christmas night had a similar choice to make:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,

keeping watch over their flocks at night. 

An angel of the Lord appeared to them and said: ..."I bring you good news of

 great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David

 a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord..." 

 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 

(Luke 2:8,9,16)

When the angel told the shepherds the good news, they verified it with their own eyes.  What if they had stopped there?  What if the shepherds had gone to see the Baby Jesus, had glorified and praised God amongst themselves for what they had heard and seen, but did not tell anyone else for fear of rejection?  Instead, the gospel writer Luke tells us that:  "When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them."

As Christians, we too have good news to share.  If we only live a life that glorifies God, that would be like me putting Raggedy Ann on the desk and walking away.  People may see Christ in us, but they won't know the details of how He has comforted us through our roughest times.  They won't know why we love Him!  How will people react when we share this good news?  That first Christmas "all who heard" were amazed.  Perhaps it won't be that way in your life if you tell others about this Jesus - you may be told, like I was by that little boy, that what you share is stupid.  But I bet there are some who will be amazed.

Go tell it on the mountain, not only that Jesus Christ is born but that He was born to die so that through Him we might live.  And that is good news that needs to be told!

Prayer:  Father, like the shepherds I too glorify and praise You for what You have done.  I want to be counted among those who bring good news.  Loosen my tongue O Lord so that what is in my heart may be spoken to those who need to hear the message of salvation.  Amen.

No Room At The Inn

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  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.       (Luke 2:1-7)

When I read these familiar verses from the first Christmas, I picture a weary Joseph going door to door in a busy, bustling metropolis, desperately seeking shelter for Mary, who is about to give birth.  I picture innkeeper after innkeeper rudely slamming doors and denying them refuge, and thinking to myself:  If they only knew Who they were denying!

But is this accurate?  More likely my visual picture is based on the tradition of Western Nativity scenes than on the reality in that little town on the first Christmas so long ago.

Ancient Bethlehem almost surely was a little town - it has been estimated its population may have been as small as 300 people.  With the census decreed by Caeser Agustus, that number would have swelled considerably.  Because of the size of the town and the hospitality customs of the day, Bethlehem may have had only one inn, if any at all.  Low supply of lodgings combined with high demand could have meant there was no place for Mary and Joseph because there was simply no room available.

 Or could the reality of their situation actually have been harsher?

Bethlehem was Joseph's "own town", his ancestral home.  In all likelihood, he still had relatives there.  I wonder if Joseph knocked on door after door, only to have cousin after cousin turn their backs on him.  Some may have made a lame excuse, while others may have made it clear their refusal was because of his young, heavily pregnant fiancee.  From all appearances, they had violated God's law.  To invite them in with open arms might bring shame upon the whole household.

I suppose we are not privy to those types of details because why He was born in a stable and not a warm room (at the inn or otherwise) is not as important as the fact that

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us."

This little baby, God come down, was born in a stable - most likely a dark, dirty cave filled with animal dung - because there was no room at the inn.  The Gospel writer John tells us,

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right

to become children of God.   (John 1:11, 12)

Thousands of years ago He came to His own and they did not receive Him.  How often is that the attitude of my heart?  How often have I been like those people in Bethlehem who had no room for Him?  I am a child of His; yet even so I find there are places in my life where He wants to be received and I too am guilty of having "no room".

Surely I know from experience that when I do allow Him into the dark places of my life, He shines light and makes His home there.  Just as He chose to be born in that dirty stable, He still chooses to be born in the dirty, dark places of our hearts.  It is the first and greatest Christmas gift - one that cost Him everything and keeps on giving for all eternity.  

Could we possibly want anything else for Christmas?

In Him is life, and that life is the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness...

Prayer:  Thank you Father that you chose to come and dwell among us so that we might dwell with you eternally.  Forgive me for those times when I have acted like there was "no room".  Give me grace to receive you into every area of my life.  Amen.