Devotional for Tuesday, December 17th
Today’s Bible Reading: Luke 2:36-38
How do you feel in the days following Christmas? Relieved that it’s all over and things can go back to normal? Stressed that you now have to take down the lights and throw out the tree? (Or, if it’s a fake, figure out how to pack it back up in the box!) Or do you have a twinge of disappointment that the holidays didn’t meet your expectations?
I wonder if Mary and Joseph felt any of those emotions in the days after Jesus was born. They had seen angels announcing the birth of their son. It must have been an exciting experience. And, in a few months, they would be on the run from Herod and his henchmen.
But for right now, there was a lull in the excitement. Mary and Joseph settled into an ordinary routine of caring for an infant. I’m sure that included rough days and sleepless nights. And after 40 days, they did what any other Jewish couple with a newborn would do. They went to the temple to offer a sacrifice.
Did it seem silly to Mary and Joseph to go through this ritual? I mean, if anyone would be exempt from this formality, it would be them. Their son is the long-awaited Messiah! Mary and Joseph don’t know what the future holds, but they do know that the Law requires a visit to the temple. They continue taking their next right step even when God is silent. Because they can’t afford a lamb, they offer up two turtledoves. (No word on whether there was a partridge in a pear tree.)
After their encounter with Simeon (or rather, in the middle of it), another person ran up to greet baby Jesus. A prophet named Anna. This woman is remarkable. She was only married for seven years when she lost her husband. That was 84 years ago. Since that time, she has committed her life to prayer. Eighty-four years of constant prayer, night and day. Prayers that found their answer in this child.
God works through the mundaneness of life. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I don’t think I would enjoy a life like Anna’s. It seems so boring. Too tedious. I want to do something “exciting” for God. (And let’s face it, something exciting for me.) But the kingdom of God is moving through people like Anna. People who are being faithful to what God has called them to do, even if it seems monotonous to the outside world. What would my life look like if I took prayer even half as seriously as Anna did?
Maybe the “Christmas Blues” comes from life returning to normal. Whether we have a great Christmas or a disappointing one, we all face days ahead of us that can seem quite ordinary. Even Jesus would spend the first 30 years of his life in quiet obscurity. But when we offer our days to God, we never know what he will do with them.
Questions to Ponder:
Anna’s story is told in just three verses. From those verses, what is your impression of her?
Have you ever seen God work through the mundane and ordinary days of your life? What about the life of others? (It’s always easier to see God working through other people than ourselves!)
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