Advent - An Unexpected Saviour
Readings for this week December 16 - 21
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Day 1 – A Very Challenging Baby
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Micah 5:1-2
Micah’s prophecy wasn’t just a (largely overlooked) affront to those who thought that if God were to act, he would do so from the centre, from a place well known, a place of fame and renown. As well as elevating the unconsidered, the unimportant and the overlooked, God’s choice of Bethlehem as the birthplace of his chosen representative – of his incarnate self – was also an outrage to those who did inhabit and rule the most famous city in the land. Choosing Bethlehem was a smack in the face to the leadership elites of Jerusalem and the Temple, those who considered themselves the shepherds and spiritual leaders of the nation. If they were truly in charge, as they claimed, if they were truly God’s chosen mediators between himself and his people, why was God signalling that perhaps he wouldn’t be coming to them, where they were…?
Long before his birth, the scene was set for Jesus to challenge and confront those in power. The leadership in Jerusalem would have seen themselves as the most important people in the land. Everything important – everyone important – would be in the metropolis of Jerusalem, the political and spiritual centre of the nation. There would be no need to look anywhere else for the guiding voice of God. But God came from the wilderness, in the form of a tiny baby, from an unimportant family, from a place with as close to no name as you can get. Whatever prophetic pedigree his advent may have had, it wasn’t what Israel’s leaders were expecting or wanting.
Question to Consider
How does Micah 5 inspire you to trust in God's promises during times of uncertainty?
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the hope that you offer us and the faithfulness that you show us in times of struggle. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – Where Did You Say You Were From Again?
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Micah 5:2
The fourth chapter of Micah had contained allusions to Israel’s glorious past under the rule of King David, allusions that now become more explicit in chapter 5. Bethlehem Ephrathah refers to the birthplace of Jesse and his sons, including the youngest, David, who had been chosen as king. Bethlehem was insignificant and lest anyone think that saying so might have been offensive to the Israelites, even they thought it was unworthy of mention: when Joshua divided the land Bethlehem wasn’t even mentioned in the list of place names in Judah (see Joshua 15). 115 towns and place names are mentioned in the passage, often with the phrase “and their villages,” and Bethlehem was not one of them – truly an unimportant, unthought-of backwater hamlet.
But this is what God does. He uses the ignored. He moves in the forgotten places of the world. He calls forth the overlooked. This reference to a place not even worthy of a mark on a map shows us how God lifts up the ignored and despised. The coming Messiah, the chosen one of God, come to save his people, will arise from the tiny town of Bethlehem, a place so small that even Judah, the tribe given the land containing the town, didn’t mention it. The name Bethlehem might be known the world over now; it might be a place of pilgrimage and tourism and, occasionally, conflict; it might be the subject of songs and carols. It might have enjoyed some small cachet as David’s birthplace. But the town God chose as the Messiah’s birthplace was as inconsequential as you can get.
Question to Consider
In what other ways does the Christmas story illustrate God’s tendency to life the downtrodden and highlight the neglected and ignored?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you raise up the ignored, you reach down to the insignificant, you honour the forgotten and unhonoured. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – True Leadership
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Micah 5:4-6
I do not think that such a challenge to Israel’s leadership, even if not explicitly spelled out, is coincidental. In these verses following the prophecy about Bethlehem, Micah describes the role the this newly emerged ruler of Israel, and the type of leadership that he will offer, the way he will protect and guide his people. Yes, Israel will be ‘abandoned’ for a while – there will be a period of exile – but then will come one to lead the people and the exile will end. He will be the strength of his people, bringing peace and leading them out of the shadow of the Assyrian threat – if they are willing to trust in him.
Under such strong leadership the people will dwell secure. It is quiet, faithful trust in the Messiah that will bring security, not wealth or social status or even victory on the battlefield. But sheep who trust the great Shepherd will live securely, not just in the land but wherever they are, as the Shepherd’s greatness extends over the land and even unto the ends of the earth. Even when disaster strikes, even when (for example) the Assyrians strike, the Messiah’s protection will prevail. The Messiah brings peace, he brings comfort and security. He brings unity, strength and purpose for his people and the promise that he is always with them and that nothing – no power earthly or otherwise – will prevail against him. The Messiah is light, peace and hope for his people – for all people. He is the perfect leader in whom we can put our trust and to whom we should give our allegiance. He is the one we prepare for and celebrate at Advent.
Question to Consider
How does the promised Messiah's role as a shepherd reflect on leadership qualities needed today?
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for bringing us true comfort and security. No matter what happens, you are ultimately in charge. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – An Unlikely Messiah
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Matthew 2:1-4
When King Herod, disturbed by the news of the birth of the “king of the Jews”, asked the chief priests and teachers of the law where the Messiah would be born, this passage was the one they quoted to him. The idea that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem was not something divinely revealed to the gospel writers; it had been around for a long time. But for many it may have seemed like a ridiculous promise. Notice that Herod – the king, the one in charge – had to ask his advisers where the Messiah was going to be born. He didn’t know. It wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t common knowledge. Whatever Micah might have prophesied, Bethlehem was not considered important enough to remember.
But from such little things came such great events. God’s view is not our human view. The significance we attach to things isn’t the same as the importance with which he sees things. It was from Bethlehem that Jesus, the Messiah and saviour of his people and the world, came. But it was not where he began as Micah hinted at. The Son’s origins “are of old, from ancient times.” Yes, this links back to Daivd and his history. But we also catch hints of the eternal nature of the Son; we start to see what the nature of the Messiah might actually be like. Did Micah expect some sort of supernatural figure? Could this new leader, while still in continuity with Daivd, somehow be radically, supernaturally, different? It appears God himself may be intimately involved in a way no one anticipated.
Question to Consider
Why does God choose the insignificant and the overlooked? What does this tell us about what God looks for?
Prayer
Almighty God, help me to remember that your ways are not my ways. Help me grow your heart and your vision to see things the way you do, and to be ready for the surprising ways in which you move. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – From Nowhere to No One
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Matthew 2:5-10
Not only did Jesus come from Bethlehem – nowhere – he also came for the sake, not just of the Israelites, but of the Gentiles too – no one. Micah prophesied about Bethlehem but there weren’t crowds of people waiting to herald the coming Messiah. Even Micah’s prediction didn’t put Bethlehem on the map. The only people who came actively seeking the Messiah were foreigners from distant lands. The magi were not Israelites. But God still spoke to them, he still guided them and brought them to Israel, all the way to the house where the infant Jesus was living with his parents. God called the magi and guided them through the star in the sky. God brought these foreigners to where his son was waiting. And even more than this, through an angelic dream visitation, he warned them not to return to Herod and reveal the whereabouts of the new-born king.
Foreigners. Not part of the people of God. Magicians, astrologers, astronomers, scholars, with beliefs and practices alien to the Israelites understanding of how to see the world. Definitely not the type of person God would put in a personal appearance for. But he did. The story of the magi coming to the king is a reminder that all people, in all places, holding all sorts of beliefs, can be recipients of God’s call and instruments of his purpose. After all, if God did not speak to those who do not know him, how would any of us ever come to know him? And how would he ever speak through us to those who don’t yet know him?
Question to Consider
How did God speak to you before you knew him? How did you respond? How has your manner of communication changed over time?
Prayer
Almighty God, thank you for reaching out to me, before I knew you and loved you. May this be my model for reaching out to others as we share your love with those yet to know you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)