JOY IN THE JOURNEY! Advent 2020 Devotional 18

December 18, 2020
Luke 2:19-20

MARY, DID YOU KNOW?
“Mary, Did You Know?” asks a popular Christmas song, one perhaps inspired by verse 19. It had been a long time since the Annunciation and a ninety mile donkey ride, a no vacancy sign, and the labor of delivering her firstborn may have left Mary feeling less than blessed this first Christmas night. And to have the promised Son of God looking so much like an ordinary baby (“no beauty that we should desire him” Isaiah 53:2) might have raised some questions as well.

Maybe another angel’s visit would have been more welcome than a bunch of rustic shepherds on the night shift. But their excited news was reassuring: “a Savior has been born …, the Messiah, the Lord.” The shepherds not only confirmed the message that Mary had heard those many months ago, but were also eager to spread the good news about the child.

God may not speak to us through angels, but words of reassurance and salvation still come to us, perhaps even from the lowly. Do we share the shepherd’s excitement that Jesus Christ is born?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, you love us so much that you sent your Son. What a gift! Help us to go tell it on the mountain. Amen.

Dave De Graaf