Mary’s Face

In tombs of Egyptian royalty there have been found hand mirrors made of polished brass from as long ago as three thousand years. These mirrors were owned by the wealthy and royalty.

Mary, on the other hand, almost certainly never owned and had possibly never even seen a mirror. She likely never saw her own face. While her family and Joseph saw her every day, she herself may never have seen her face. The same was true for most of the humble people in the ancient world.

God’s choice of Mary was like His choice of Moses. Both were people who lived in a social, family environment and both had no expectation or ambition to change their lifestyle. Neither Mary nor Moses was seeking a mission or even a close relationship with God. Their lives were apparently uncomplicated, as Moses worked for his father-in-law and Mary was a young woman living at home until her marriage. Both were startled by God’s call: Moses at the burning bush, and Mary at the visit of the angel Gabriel. God waited for each of them to agree to his calling. Mary agreed promptly.

Mary, who seldom if ever, had seen her own face, was able to believe the angel and to accept his word that she had found favor with God, and that the Lord was in fact “with” her. (Luke 1:28) She was also able to keep to herself the news from Gabriel as well as the news from the shepherds: Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2;19) She “treasured” the visit of unkempt shepherds to the stable where her baby lay in swaddling cloths in a manger. She was moved by their testimony of the angels’ appearance. These events , and many more, must have stayed with Mary for her whole life, as even today mothers remember the details of their child’s birth.

When Jesus grew , Mary saw God in her son’s face at a wedding reception when she said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you to do.”(John 2:5) and Jesus turned water into wine.

At the cross, Jesus saw Mary’s face, and said to his mother standing near his disciple, John, Here is your son, and to his disciple he said, “Here is your mother.”(John 19:26)

Mary never needed to see her own face. She lived with and helped shape the son of God for all his growing up. As he was dying he saw her face.

Love in Him

Prue

Charles Spurgeon once wrote that for him, one of the marvels of Christmas was the willing and even joyful presence of the angels. It was remarkable, he thought , that they displayed no jealousy over the fact that God had chosen humanity to receive His son, instead of choosing the angels themselves to receive him.

I thought it was an odd perception. It was prompted by the enormous joy displayed by the angels to the shepherds, and the amount of participation of individual angels with Zechariah and Mary and Joseph. Unrestrained joy was the angels’ mood. There is no other display of hosts of angels such as greeted the birth of Jesus with their song.

With Spurgeon’s remark I thought how hard it is for us to comprehend the Spirit of God at work in our own world. Angels at least have supernatural qualities and would seem to be closer to God than human beings. Yet God chose two human beings to parent His son, and celebrated his birth with the dazzling display of the contents of heaven. His audience was a carefully chosen group of shepherds who responded as only the faithful would: they went joyfully at the angel’s word to visit “This thing that has come to pass.”(Luke 2:15)

In Jesus’ birth we catch a glimpse of God’s heart in welcoming the arrival of His son to live among human beings as one of them, while all the time belonging to God. That Fatherly love poured out on that night has never been extinguished, though it has been tried very hard for more than two millennia. When the baby grew up he expressed it to one who came to seek him out. Nicodemus had caught a glimpse of God in Jesus; And Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He have His one and only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God chose to visit us that we could draw closer to Him. The psalmist wrote, Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8) At this time of year, there is much to taste! All along it had been God’s intention to draw human beings closer to Himself than even the angels. Not just at Christmas are we invited to Come see this thing that has come to pass!

Merry Christmas!

Love in Him,

Prue

Once while teaching a Sunday School class to sixth graders I mentioned that it might be hard for us to imagine the situation of the Israelite slaves in Egypt, since we in America knew no one who owns another human being. Phillip raised his hand and said, ”Yes we do! A person can be adopted, and then he is owned by his parents.” Only later did I learn that he had just been to court with his parents where his own adoption was confirmed. It was imperative that I agree that he was “owned” by his new mother and father, and could not be removed from them.

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. (1Peter 2:9) Mary became “God’s special possession” when she said to the angel Gabriel, “Let it be to me as you have said,” (Luke 1:38) and it was confirmed by Elizabeth when Mary visited her. Mary responded, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is His name.”

(Luke 1:46-49)

We are the spiritual descendants of Mary. Over the expanse of two millennia, we could still say “The Mighty One has done great things for me.” In carrying, delivering, in nurturing and loving the son of God, Mary experienced all that she proclaimed. She did it as a human being, and recognized that the events of her pregnancy and delivery were both great and holy. She and Joseph rejoiced at being “God’s special possession.”

Young Phillip in my class had already tasted the goodness of living with the couple who adopted him. He knew that he desired nothing more than to be their son. We have all tasted and know that our Lord is good, (Psalm 34:8) and Peter assures us that there is much more in a relationship with Him. There is the bonding that gives strength and joy to each one, a bonding that God loves to share and that Peter knew as “God’s special possession.” It is a possession of love.

Love in Him,

Prue

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain salvation upon you. (Hosea 10:12)

The love of God is a steadfast love that lived in eternity but emerged onto a human being the moment that Adam walked on earth. It was God’s love that would be made very clear in some in some ages, and less clear in the times when the objects of His love had turned away.

The prophet Hosea urges his people to sow righteousness by drawing close to their God, by obeying His laws and instructions, by turning their attention and obedience to Him. A few were able to do that, but the nation fell short of those who would experience the fruit of steadfast love.

At the beginning of the first century, at least two individuals responded to Hosea’s call to sow righteousness. The young woman, at first perplexed and even afraid by a visit from the angel Gabriel, was told, Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (Luke 1:29) Instead of turning away, Mary listened as the angel told her of God’s plan to give her a son and that he would be God’s son as well. Mary’s simple response, I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled,” (Luke 1:38 ) revealed one soul who truly sowed righteousness. The other righteous sower was the man Joseph, to whom Mary was engaged: After he had considered divorcing Mary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:2) These two people unconsciously and personally responded to the call of God in a private way that sowed righteousness in their own lives . Mary and Joseph “broke up their fallow ground,” and in spite of inconvenience or difficulties, accepted God’s plan for their lives. For them, Christmas was living their lives in the consciousness of God’s presence in a stable, in their trip to Egypt, and in their home in Nazareth. They daily lived with the fruit of steadfast love in their home. The real steadfast love is that very love which entered the world and has never left. At Christmas we see it in the infant Jesus who grew and died to rain salvation upon even us.

Love in Him,

Prue

Angels cannot preach the gospel. . .Presumably they do not hear the gospel the way we do: in their purity they have escaped the effects of sin and are unable to comprehend what it means to be lost. Rather, God has commanded the church to preach. . .Only man can speak salvation’s experience to man…(“Angels”, by Billy Graham)

The story of the nativity of Jesus is awash in angels; not just one angel, Gabriel, but an entire host of angels who sang to the shepherds. At no other place in scripture did God empty His heaven of angels to visit earth in celebration. They came to reveal the identity of the baby Jesus to the shepherds, but also express the very heart of God to this handful of men who on that night would share God’s own love and anticipation wrapped in swaddling cloths and in a manger. The angels also shared and participated in the great joy that they expressed: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. (Luke 2:14) The joy of the angels reflected the joy and delight of God Himself at this tiny event made huge by His angels. God had sent Gabriel in advance, first announcing the pregnancy of Elizabeth, who would bear John the Baptist in her old age, and then greeting young Mary with God’s plan for her.

Later, angels would attend to Jesus at critical times in his life on earth. When he was tempted in the wilderness, and when he prayed on Gethsemane, at the beginning and near the end of his earthly ministry, angels attended him. At his arrest, Jesus said, “Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled. . That say it must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26;53-54)

Everything about Jesus’ birth fulfilled scripture. All of his life fulfilled scripture, too. The scriptures were fulfilled as Zechariah,the father of John the Baptist said, “God has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He said through His holy prophets of long ago.” (Luke 1:69-70)

The scripture was fulfilled when Mary said “yes” to the angel Gabriel. In his parents, Mary and Joseph, Jesus saw scripture being fulfilled. In his life he experienced the ministering of angels. It was angels who announced his resurrection to the disciples. The angels do not preach, but they do work God’s will in the lives of His people, and they have never been retired.

Love in Him,

Prue

The arrival of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem was preceded by the arrival centuries earlier of the baby Isaac to Sarah in her old age. These two babies embrace the history and the progress of God’s people in getting to know and to love Him.

Isaac’s birth from Sarah was a public miracle witnessed and received by many as an act of God. Isaac’s birth brought laughter and joy not only to Sarah, but as she herself exclaimed, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6) Isaac was revered throughout his life as a man of God.

The birth of Jesus, descendant of Isaac, however, was wrapped in secrecy and visited by the shepherds who heard the angels’ message of the baby’s arrival and of his identity from God. Even the visit of the wise men ended in secrecy, as they “left by a different route” to avoid informing Herod. (Matthew 2:12) Soon after, Jesus was brought to Egypt for his safety.

Two miraculous baby boys frame the progression of God’s plan for redeeming His creation. Each baby was deeply loved and protected by his human parents. Each one tapped a wellspring of love in his parents that drew them and eventually others, to a deeper love for God Himself. When God spoke of His love for Israel, His strongest comparison was a mother’s love for her infant: “Can a mother forget the baby she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15) God’s love for His people is stronger even than maternal love, a love which everyone can know and recognize.

God gave Isaac to his parents as a gift of love and also of covenant. Isaac was the fulfillment of a promise, creating a bond anchored in parental love. Jesus, too, was a gift of love and of covenant. He was the fulfillment of a promise to Mary as well as to the whole world, of a savior who would bring salvation to human kind: For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given. . . and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace. (Isaiah 9:6) The baby Jesus was nurtured in the arms of Mary and Joseph, and he became the bridge between us and our God, the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in Jesus’ love and obedience to his Father God.

Love in Him,

Prue

The interaction between God’s angels and human beings has a very long history. Jacob wrestled with an angel before he went to meet Esau, his brother. Jacob insisted on being blessed before he released the angel, and Jacob received a new name: Israel. “Please tell me your name”, Jacob said. But the angel refused. (Genesis 32:29)

Manoah, the father of Samson,was told by an angel that Manoah’s wife would have a son. Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name?” He replied, Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” (Judges 13:17-18)

Daniel overheard the name of an angel in a vision:. . . There before me stood one who looked like a man. I heard a man’s voice. . . calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision!” (Daniel 8:15)

Many centuries separate these encounters from the dramatic scene in the Holy of Holies when an angel appeared to Zechariah and gave him the news that Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth , would have a baby boy in her old age. The angel’s response to Zechariah’s initial disbelief was, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. I have been sent to. . .tell you this good news. (Luke 1:19)

Finally this same Gabriel was sent to a young woman living in Nazareth. She never so much as asked for his name or for any other “credentials.” The simplicity of Mary’s response, and her choice to visit Elizabeth, reveal a whole soul accepting God’s will: I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

Perhaps Mary learned late that the angel who visited her was named Gabriel: All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about these things. (Luke 1:65)

Advent is a time to read and think about the Bible. Chasing Gabriel through his unnamed friends to his astounding announcement to Mary made me better appreciate the role of angels in God’s universe. They are the engines God chose to represent Himself to His creation, and to further His plan for humanity. We know the names of only two of them: Michael, and the messenger who announced, “I am Gabriel.”

Love in Him,

Prue

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has become a holiday almost bigger than Thanksgiving itself. In one way it really is bigger, for merchants of all kinds announce that “Black Friday” will begin the week before Thanksgiving, and continue for the whole following week, while Thanksgiving lasts for one delicious meal and an afternoon at best. I have heard of people who have left the table to get in line at a “Black Friday” sale.

St. Augustine lived from 354—430 AD, long before the western hemisphere was even discovered by Europeans. He preached about our love for “gold.” Speaking for the Lord, he said, “But you say to Me, ‘ Isn’t gold a good thing, then?’ “Certainly gold is a good thing. But bad people do bad things with good gold. So because you can see the sort of people I’ve given it to, ask me for better things; ask me for more excellent things; ask me for spiritual things; ask me for Myself.” (St. Augustine, sermon no. 311)

Jesus spoke strongly to his disciples: For everyone who asks receives: the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew7:8) Here he is not speaking about “gold” but about asking, seeking, and knocking on God’s door to find Him. Jesus’ promise is astounding, but St. Augustine echoes it from personal experience, as he himself searched for many years before he found the treasure that is in Christ. Neither Augustine nor Jesus denies the goodness of the substance “gold,” but each looks higher and more clearly to something better: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or, what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Mark 8: 36)

Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, a time of preparation when the church encourages reflection and meditation in our own spirits, especially concerning the birth of Christ. It’s in him that we are even able to look for, seek, and ask, and with full assurance from the mouth of God’s son, to receive. When God sent that baby, He made it clear that He was sending Himself. Augustine said it simply: “Ask for Myself.”

We couldn’t do better during Advent, than to spend our meditations on that very request. Such a request would spill over into our every day lives in unexpected blessing, for we know that there is nothing closer to God’s heart than to grant that request.

Love in Him,

Prue

Ripe Harvest

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for a harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life. . . (John 4:35-36)

Once I asked a class if they believed that the “fields” are still “ripe unto harvest.” I was surprised that the answer was mixed. No one felt sure that it was either way, and several felt that the Gospel had been preached for so long and in so many places that the fields might actually be shrinking. I was disappointed because I was convinced that Jesus’ words are even more urgent today. The whiteness of the fields was a statement and an assurance to the disciples that even in Samaria, where they were resting, hearts and minds were ready to receive the the Word of God. If that were somehow no longer true,we would all be in despair when we looked at “the fields.”

Soon after this discussion Jack and I visited Caprock Canyon with some friends. As we drove to the canyon we passed a large cotton field that looked withered and dead as the result of a drought. I felt a regret for the farmer and for the potential that such a large field had held.

We stayed in the canyon all day and in the late afternoon headed home. The sun was still bright as we passed the cotton field and I could hardly believe my eyes. I asked, “Is this the same way we came this morning?” “Yes,” our friend , who was driving answered, “why?” I said, “Look at that field!” In that one day the cotton had burst open . I stared and stared, and the others in the truck were amazed, too. “Are you sure this is the same field?” I asked. “Yes, yes. It’s just that the cotton has bloomed in the one day, and what a sight!” said our friend.

For me it was more than just “a sight.” I couldn’t help thinking that my earlier disappointment had been healed. I believed with all my heart that the fields are really, truly, ready for harvest, and that they have been ready for more than two thousand years, and even in that time some “reapers” have known it and have reaped a harvest and a crop for eternal life. Thanksgiving is a time for reaping friendships and relationships, and for celebrating the harvest of souls who acknowledge Christ’s offer of eternal life. I will never forget the sight of a cotton field almost blindingly white in the sun, so very ready for harvest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love in Him,

Prue