The Baby Jesus

I was talking to my daughter, as we like to do at the dinner table. Mind you she is only 9-months, so the conversations are pretty one-sided at this time. But sometimes she looks at me and makes sounds her baby language. Today’s conversation centered around the Christmas story. As a new dad celebrating Christmas with his daughter for the first time, I wondered what she thought about the Baby Jesus.

She is so close to walking on her own now, and determined to figure out how to get moving and on her own. She has places to go and especially people to see. I asked her when she thought Jesus took his first steps. We wondered together if Mary had a book like Ellie’s mommy has to keep track of all of Jesus’ firsts.

When did Jesus get his first tooth?

When did Jesus begin to sit up?

When did Jesus start crawling?

What was Jesus first word?

We took the conversation a bit further too as Ellie does a compromised version of Elimination Communication (or click here). We look for her cues and then take her to go poopy. I asked my daughter if she thought Jesus gave the perfect cues to Mary to let her know when he needed to go.

We were blown away just thinking about how the Son of God, the almighty who was here at the beginning of the universe playing a role in creation also sat on the floor and played like our daughter does. The king of the universe allowed himself to go through all the same processes as any other baby. Talking with my daughter about Christmas helped me get a new perspective of Jesus’ humanity.

How does thinking of Jesus as a baby change how you picture him?

The Tomb is Empty

She stood outside the hole hewn into the side of the rock with the garden at her back. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she stood alone-her friends all left her behind on this Sunday morning. The one she came looking for had vanished, so she bent down looking into the opening.

Two angels stood near her, one at the opening of the rock and another on the stone rolled off to the side. They asked her why she cried. Mary barely could make anyone out through the tears wetting her face. Thinking that her enquirerers were some of the guards hired to watch the tomb in this garden, she said someone has stolen her lord. You see, only a couple of days earlier her lord was put to death for a crime he didn’t commit. She came early on this morning; the day after her traditional celebration of the Passover, in order to pray respects to the body of her master. Her master made a lifelong connection with her as he helped transform her life into one of dignity and hope from that of despair.

She came one last time to share her final thoughts with her lord as he lay dead. She wanted to offer her heartfelt gratitude for everything he did for her. Everything seemed to be happening as fast as his trial was fast tracked, and his execution came immediately. Everything he came for had been taken away all at once or so she thought…and now his body had disappeared. Likely those he wanted to destroy him took him away too.

As her misery overwhelmed her another man came up behind her to ask why she was crying and who she was looking for. She looked at him without recognizing that she knew him. She explained her story again.

When he responded to her by calling her name—Mary, suddenly she saw into his eyes and knew him again. She saw those piercing eyes of peace and compassion. The forgiveness that she first realized when he looked into her eyes. Her savior stood in front of her alive. No wonder she hadn’t recognized him as he was the last person she expected to talk with that morning. But when she heard Jesus tenderly say her name in the incredible and unconditional loving way he always called her name or any of the other disciples, she knew it was him.

When we look into the eyes of our Lord, how does he call our name? Do we hear a gruff father calling us as we work hard to make him proud? DO we hear an old grand fatherly figure who just heaps love on us? Or do we hear the most powerful being in the universe tenderly call us as he looks upon us with his amazing love and mercy?

Mary’s Calling

I wanted to share the gist of the sermon I preached this weekend at Our Home Chapel. I looked at the story of Christmas from the angle of Mary, and the formation of a calling.

At the age of 13 or 14, Mary was suddenly given the news that she would be responsible for the Son of God. Jesus came humbly to this earth and relied on a human mother to raise him and show him how to live. God selected this girl from a small, insignificant town outside of Galilee to take care of his son. God tasked her with the duty to train Jesus in the way to live rightly.

First, God cared more about who Mary was than what she could do. In our world, we take tests or give a resume to prove what we can do in order to get a good job or enter the university of our choice. We base everything on performance and production. In God’s economy, He cares most about character and relationship. When the Angel came to Mary, and I can’t imagine what she must have thought when the massive being appeared before her dazzling in its beauty, Gabriel told her she had found favor from God. God looked down from heaven and found a girl with the right heart and makeup. We see her react in humility and faith. She goes on to respond to God’s call in worship, as seen through Mary’s song. She shows us how we can respond when God calls us. God has called us all to something. Some he calls to serve full-time in the church while others are called to business, journalism, law, medicine and a variety of other things to fulfill God’s work in all spheres of influence in the world.

Think about the calling that God has placed on your life. Know that he cares more about who you are, than what you do for him.

Second, I noted that when God gives us an assignment, he allows us time to prepare. God gave Mary the normal time of 9-months to come to terms with her new role and get ready. Mary did just that. After the angle announced to her God’s desire and confirmation by having her cousin pregnant in her old age, Mary quickly went to see with her own eyes what God was doing. She spent three months with Elizabeth. I am sure those months were spent inquiring of Elizabeth and Zechariah about could this be true, and what must she do now. Mary had the opportunity to talk with a respected priest full of wisdom and experience. I am sure she took full advantage of her time to prepare, even if Joseph wondered what was going on while his bride-to-be was off in another village for a long time while he prepared for his new family.

Not everyone will always understand what God is saying to us, or what is happening in our life, but we must find those mentors that can help us achieve our potential.

I am reminded of my grandfather’s story. He is one of the people I most respect. He lived a life of character and service to God throughout his entire life. He always worked with other men to help point them toward Christ and see them grow in their faith. He was a great family man. God had a special call on his life that never fully actualized itself. When he was a teenager at camp, God called him to be a pastor. He returned home from the camp to tell his pastor what God said to him only to have the pastor not see the God-given potential within him. The pastor did not affirm the calling on his life and in fact discouraged him from the ministry. The pastor knew he had family problems and didn’t see him going far in pastoring. We should never let one person derail us from the calling on our life, but sometimes one key person is all that it takes to dishearten us from fulfilling the maximum potential in our life. Remember, God is more concerned with our character, than our skills.

Finally, I saw in the story of Mary, someone flawed. God didn’t expect perfection, but he expects us to learn from our mistakes.

Mary forgot Jesus in Jerusalem after the Passover festival. What mom does that? Most parents do at some point…I am sure she was freaking out. Her 12-year-old son was missing, and more than that, the son of God was missing. She lost God’s only son…the one thing God asked her to take care of.

Later, when Jesus was an adult, she tried to call him away from the ministry fearing he had gone mad, Mark 3:20-21. Mary didn’t get everything perfect, but she learned from her mistakes and stayed close to her relationship with God. We find her right at Jesus’ feet when he was crucified. We even saw her numbered among the disciples in Acts 1:12-14. Mary kept moving forward in her walk with God. She fulfilled her assignment, but more than that she was the person God wanted her to be.

In conclusion, God doesn’t so much care about what we do as he does care about who we are and how close we are with him. In fact, he doesn’t need us to do anything. He is God and can accomplish anything he wants. All he wants from us is our heart, mind and body. After that, he allows us to participate with him in what he is doing on this planet.

So for the long post, but I hope you can find some helpful points as I unpacked the call of God.