Let’s talk about Jesus. Luke 1.26-38

I wish I could have been there . . . I wonder when he first knew he was different. I wonder when he knew that he was God in a man's body. I wonder if Joseph and Mary sat him down and told him about how the angel had announced his birth to the shepherds out in the country. I wonder what other kids thought about him, and when they realized that he was different from them. I
wonder what he looked like at 12 years old, talking knowledgeably with
the rabbis and teachers of the law in the temple. Yeah, there is a lot I
wonder about . . . like if he ever 'liked' a girl, and wished he could
travel another road--betrothal, marriage. I wonder what
the disciples thought, individually, when he called them to follow him .
. . what made them drop everything, and go with him? I
wonder what it would have been like to be in the crowd when he fed five
thousand people from only a loaf of bread and two fish . . . . . . WHAT
DO YOU WONDER ABOUT THE LIFE OF JESUS?

Today, we begin to remember things about the life of Jesus, in preparation of Christmas. There is so much we can take from our observations of who he was, and how he lived, how he loved. . . Consider: He was born in an obscure village, the child of a simple peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop
until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never had a family. He never owned a home. He never set foot inside a
big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was
born, and where he did go he usually walked. He never wrote a book. He
never held political office. He did none of the things we usually
associate with greatness. While He was still a young man,
the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted
Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a
trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was
dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had in
this world - and that was His robe. His purple robe. When He was dead,
He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate
friends. Twenty wide centuries have come and gone, and today He is the
central figure for much of the human race, the leader in the column of
human progress. All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies
that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the
kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man
upon this earth so powerfully as this one solitary life.*

Luke does a masterful job of laying the groundwork for the birth of Jesus, beginning with the announcement of the coming birth of his cousin, John-the-Baptist. An angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah, the priest, telling him that though they had not been able to have children, God was going to give he and Elizabeth a son
in their old age. Elizabeth does indeed bear Zechariah a child--a special child, and a rugged individual of a man--later called John-the-Baptist. And then:

“In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over
the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be calleda the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.” Luke 1.26-38

Indeed, nothing is impossible with God. Amen.

Christine