PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

December 25, 2024

AN INFORMED FAITH

Late one winter evening Tom and Carol heard a knock at their front door.  Who could it be?  They lived a good way out in the country and many of the local roads were closed as a result of the snow and the drifting.

Standing in the glow of their porch light was a young couple.  They explained that they had been on their way to the hospital when the storm hit, had seen the lights of their house, and had hoped they might find shelter.  To make matters worse the young woman had been having contractions and was sure she was close to giving birth.

Tom and Carol showed the young couple to an unused guest room.  Fortunately, their daughter who was a nurse was home and had some experience assisting women who were giving birth.

While Carol and her daughter attended to the young woman, Tom sat with her husband.  He unfolded a strange tale.  The baby about to be born was to be a special child.  God has specific plans for him.

The next morning, shortly after the snow plow had cleared their road, some neighbors who had spent the night together arrived.  They said that during the night they had heard a voice saying that a special child had been born at Tom and Carol’s home.  They had come to see him.

What was Tom to make of all this?  It seemed crazy?  How could he believe all that he had heard?

The first Christmas Mary and Joseph must have been filled with the same type of questions and doubts that Tom and Carol had.  Was Mary blindly to believe what the angel had told her?  Was Joseph to take his dream to be an authentic message from God?

Fortunately both Mary and Joseph possessed information which helped them believe what they had heard and seen.  The last half of the First Century BCE there was a general expectation about the coming of a Messiah to overthrow the Roman oppressors.  The founders of the small town of Bethlehem believed that the long expected Messiah would come from their number.  Bethlehem was the home of David.  It was from his lineage that the long expected one would arise.

The fact that Elizabeth was pregnant with her first child well beyond her child bearing years was an affirmation that with God anything might be possible.  In addition Elizabeth’s baby leaping in her womb when Mary arrived was another indication of the truth of the angel’s words.

The Gospel of Luke reports that when Mary and Joseph went to the temple to offer a sacrifice as was prescribed by the Law of Moses, they met two persons, Simeon and Anna.  Both of them confirmed that Jesus was the long expected one.

God still invites people to believe him and what he is doing in the world today just as he invited Mary and Joseph to be a part of His plan.  Fortunately, he does not expect us to believe blindly.  He provides us with information and indications that help to inform our decision.  While we never can have absolute proof of God’s call on our lives, we can have an informed faith like that of Mary and Joseph the first Christmas.

(This article was originally published December 25, 2011.  Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)