| DAY 7 |
The time of the LORD’s favor
has come.
THE LIGHT OF LIFE
——————————————————————————————————————
How easily the words to some of our best carols escape our hearing. Take, for instance, the exquisitely gorgeous “Coventry Carol.” The first verse ushers us to a safe place. Mary croons to her infant: Lullay, thou little tiny child; sleep well, lully, lullay.
Soon, however, the lyrics lead us where we’d rather not go. Violence intrudes. Herod the king in his raging; Set forth upon this day; By his decree, no life spare thee; All children young to slay.
Herod had learned of the birth of the king of the Jews from the wise men (MATTHEW 2:2). Consulting the religious leaders, he then heard that the prophecies foretold Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem (VV. 4–6). So Herod ordered the slaughter of every baby boy there (V. 16). Matthew records the anguish: “Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead” (V. 18).
Herod thought he’d won, but he is remembered only as an archvillain. Jesus gets the last word. Decades later, He sat down in a synagogue to read another prophecy: “He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come” (LUKE 4:18–19).
Jesus changed the trajectory of our story. Violence will end. A new day is coming.
What aspects of the holidays trouble you? How might the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18–19 encourage you this Christmas season?
Thank You, Father, for sending Your Son to bring peace and healing to our broken world.
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | MATTHEW 2:13–18
13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search
for the child to kill him.”
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,
15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
13 He also said, “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.”
14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.
15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham.
17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
|
|
|
|
