When Mary Dropped Jesus...

A week or so ago I attended Colby's school recital. For the most part it was the normal telling of the Christmas story with Colby's class performing a play that intertwined the story with a sci-fi twist about traveling through time in an attempt to visit Bethlehem. The younger classes - preschool age- were used as the shepherds and angels in the Christmas story. One lucky little girl and boy were chosen to portray Mary and Joseph, and they were dressed in what you normally see little children dressed in these events.

As the play is progressing just as you would expect, the unexpected happened! Mary's head wrap fell off her head! So as any proper young lady would, she leaned over to pick it up. But in the process she forgot about the baby Jesus she was cradling in her arms! Baby Jesus (just a doll, not a real baby for those of you picturing a live nativity) landed up on the floor! But get this - when Mary realized what had happened she lost it! She began wailing (VERY loudly!!) uncontrollably and she was not to be consoled! Someone tried quickly to hug her, hand her the baby and assure her it was ok to go on with the play, but she was having none of it! Mary was devastated that she had dropped baby Jesus and they had to wrap her up and remove her from the play. Thank goodness the play was almost at the end!

But what about the lessons there if you ponder a bit...First...How often do we drop Jesus? I do it at some point everyday in my reactions, actions, or thoughts. Are we dropping Him now during the very season we are to be celebrating Him? Are we too wrapped up in gifts, travel, decorations, or cooking so that we cannot focus on Him and how He would have us to celebrate by worshipping and serving others? I realize it's Christmas Eve now, but make sure to pause sometime today to worship and if you feel led to serve by blessing a family in some way do it! Toby Mac keeps reminding me  "You ain't living til you choose to give love, joy, peace to one of His!"

Second - when we realize we have dropped Jesus, what is our reaction? Do we come undone like Mary did, or do we just go about our day with an "oh well" reaction? Undone is good. Hopefully a reaction like that will keep us close and from dropping Jesus frequently. Our hearts should break when we drop the One who gave every blood drop in His body for us to have salvation, abundant life, grace, and mercy - the best Christmas presents anyone can receive.

In the Christmas story in Luke 2:25, Simeon was described as righteous and devout and He was LOOKING for Jesus. The Bible says he was looking forward to Israel's consolation. What a thought. Consolation. Maybe we should have told Mary in the play all she had to do was pick up her consolation. Maybe that's something we all need to hear. If Christmas is not a season of enjoyment this year, Jesus is your consolation. Just pick Him up, and if you by chance happen to drop Him along the way during the year, remember He will console you because He is consolation. Merry Christmas from a fellow Jesus dropper.

Need a Piece of Peace?

When I was a little girl I always remember my Mother saying she just wanted some peace and quiet. Now that I'm an adult I SORTA understand what she was talking about. I understand that life gets hectic, pressures mount, time and money is limited, and often people just want more of us than we really have available to give them. Of course, I really think she was talking about the noise level - but that still doesn't make sense to me because I'm an only child!

Seriously one of the things I look forward to most, is sitting in my pajamas in my chair with the candles (and now the tree) lit, a cup of coffee, Bible, iPod, and eventually the newspaper. I can sit there for two or three hours during the morning with no trouble....peace....at least while the kids sleep. But that is a false peace created by my own staging on Saturday mornings.

Sure, the Lord and I meet together, but I set the stage with my props. And my peace is usually over the moment one of my kids awakens. Not that it's a bad thing. I'm sure we all advocate for our "quiet times" but the kinda of peace we all really need is the kind of peace that sustains us when our world is crashing in on us. The kind of peace that we need when our future is very uncertain. The kind of peace we need when we get an unfavorable health report. The kind of peace we need when our job is in jeopardy. The kind of peace we need when relationships that are supposed to be solid, get rocky. I think you know what I'm talking about. This is the kind of peace I'm talking about. In order to obtain and cling to that type of peace there are a few things we need to know:

1. Peace is not meant to be understood - just accepted and experienced.

Philippians talks of a peace that surpasses understanding.....

Philippians 4 tells us that when we rejoice in the Lord, when we are gracious and remember the Lord is near, when we don't worry but petition the Lord with our requests and thanksgiving that:

"the peace of God which surpasses every thought ( or our understanding) will guard our hearts and minds."

If you have not experienced this, it is almost impossible to explain, let alone comprehend. When we have prayed in this manner Paul describes we become enveloped in a peace that can only come from God. When life’s circumstances are the worst possible, we still find protection from the world in the God of Peace. It is so incredible that the Bible tells us we cannot understand it. How can you be facing the worst situation in your job or marriage, with your kids or other family members, in your finances, with your health – and still experience this incredible peace. It is spiritual and straight from God – not meant to be understand, just experienced. Kinda like math - I don't understand it, but I experience it. Trust me, peace is much better than math!

Peace translates as several different meanings in the original Hebrew and Greek. Some of my favorites are rest, quietness, exemption from the rage and havoc of war, peace between individuals, of the Messiah’s peace, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, the blessed state of devout and upright men after death.

I think my favorite part is the exemption from rage and havoc of war. This doesn't just refer to political wars but our very struggles in our lives - the basic war between spirit and flesh. I can have peace over that. I don't have to understand it, just experience it.

So - where did/does this peace come from? Let's go back to the Old Testament to find out! 

Isaiah 9:6 - "For a child will be born to us and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

2. Jesus was sent to us to BE our peace- not just as He saved us from our sin and to provide ultimate peace at death, but He came to BE OUR PEACE ONE DAY AT AT TIME while we live on earth.

This word peace here is "Shalom" and it is connected to the peace found in Philippians. Some have called the Prince of Peace to be known as The Tranquilizer (referring to Hosea where lion and lamb will lie together). How interesting to think of Jesus as my Tranquilizer - when my emotions are running amuck, when I'm tired, or upset with someone, or feel I have been wronged, or I'm just sad and disappointed. Whatever I need Him to be, Jesus IS. This is promise that was given through the propehcy. Now lets look at the manner in which God sent peace to earth and the angelic reaction.

Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people He favors.

This is what the angels sang! They didn't sing of prosperity, health, or political freedom. They sang that Peace had arrived.

I love the words of Sara Groves in the introduction to Jars of Clay's "Peace is Here: Christmas Reflections." She describes the angels announcing the birth of Jesus as if they were bursting at the seams...that perhaps they had to beg God to let them sing to just one town, or small group of shepherds...that perhaps they promised it would only be a few of them and they would not blow the cover of the Christ Child. And then they sang.....Peace is here!

The angels GOT it! They saw the entire picture and they KNEW the gift that had just been given to mankind. The interesting thing is that the Roman government had instituted a policy of "peace" but no government, even one as powerful as the Roman government, can dictate your personal presence of peace - either with God or with life in general.

3. What a government cannot do, God alone does.

Ephesians 2:14a - "He is our peace....."

The idea the language gives us here in the use of these particular nouns and verbs is the idea of joining together...specifically Jew and Gentile ...but also Jesus to us and us to Him.

Jesus and Peace cannot be separated! So if you have Jesus, there is no question whether you have peace in your life or not! Now, you and I can make choices that make peace elusive or foggy! Sin does that and so does forgetting exactly what authority Christ brought to earth! Remember, of all the things the angles could have sang, they sang of peace because they knew how desperate mankind was and would always continue to be for peace, and they knew the gift God had just sent to the world.

 4. And the Giver of all good things gave us exactly what we needed: 

John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful."

In this simple statement - a normal greeting but also a parting word - Jesus left a legacy for the disciples, but also for us. He didn't just leave peace for them - He left it for me and you too. Sin is forgiven and forgotten. He made and continues to make a way for us. He left us with precious promises to claim: Romans 8:28, Psalm 27:13, and so many others of being with us when we go through the fire and flood, never forsaking or leaving us, loving us with an everlasting love and so much more.

This Christmas as we wrap gifts up with fancy trimmings and bows and place them under the tree, perhaps we should all take our favorite verses, maybe some of the above, or others you love or need to hear, and place them in a box under our tree to be opened Christmas morning. Then we are reminded exactly why He journeyed far to earth - how He was announced by the angels, and the exact gift He left us. Peace is here! Gloria!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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^[1] Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

^[2] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Lk 2:14). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

^[3] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Eph 2:14). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.