When the Parties are Over

The day after Christmas has its own let-down effect. The parties are over, the gifts are unwrapped, the surprises revealed, the guests have gone home. Here's a meditation to keep your focus where it needs to be--on Christ.

Today's Scriptures focus on God's favor toward those who are humble. The angel's song proclaims peace, not for those who please God, but for those with whom God is pleased. This may seem like an insignificant difference, but the distinction here is important. The tense is passive, indicating not a person who earns God's pleasure, but someone who simply receives it. God's favor rests not on those who triumph by their mighty deeds, but on those who quietly trust in His love and grace.

Zachariah's prophecy about his son John reveals God's supremacy over all things, and the calling He gives to the humble. Zechariah was the last person that anyone would expect to become a father in his old age, yet God favored him with a son who would be called the greatest of all men. John's way of life would demonstrate his humility, yet God would use him to proclaim the Messiah. God still lifts up the humble today, and calls His servants from the ranks of the small, not the great.

The focus on Bethlehem reminds us not just of a small town that God exalted, but that God continuously lifts up the humble. Bethlehem had an inferiority complex. It thought itself to be the least in Judah. But God had bigger and better plans for Bethlehem than its residents could imagine. In the same way, we tend to have a lower estimation of ourselves than God has. If we could see ourselves through God's eyes then we would realize that His purpose for us goes far beyond our wildest imaginations.

Simeon's song mentions that Christ came as a light of revelation for the Gentiles, before he says that Jesus came as the glory of His own people Israel. This reverse order indicates the favor God shows to those who we would normally count as the least. Even the fact that God choose Simeon, a man who was old and long past his prime, to deliver this message, shows the Lord's favor and leading on "the least of these."

Maybe you're feeling small, insignificant, or used up on this day after Christmas. Let God's word remind you that the Lord has a plan of blessing for you, too.  Let it fill you with the peace, live, hope, and joy of Christ.


A MEDITATION WITH ECUMENICAL PRAYER BEADS:
(Click here to get your own)

Invitatory - Luke 1:68-79
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
 in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
 in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Cruciform - Luke 2:14
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
 and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Weeks - Matthew 2:6
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel. ’”

Benedictory - Luke 2:29-32
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
 according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”


*Scriptures taken from the ESV