Monday, December 25, 2017

CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS



I want to wish my friends a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.  I haven’t posted anything here on Window Reflections in a very long time.  I’ve been thinking.  This Christmas has been very different for us.  We actually went on a two week vacation right in the middle of Advent season!  Never did that before!  Best thing I’ve done in years!  You know why?  We were not as busy doing Christmas so I had much more time to reflect on Christmas and what it means to me.  This post is the collection of thoughts the Lord brought to my mind this Advent and I just wanted to share them with you.  I hope the Lord opens your heart to see the same thing he has shown me this year.  Merry Christmas!

In reflecting on the Christmas story this season I have been amazed at the frequency with which we encounter the working of the Holy Spirit.  No, he is not mentioned in every instance, but there is no other explanation for the actions of the people in the story.  It is obvious that the Holy Spirit is doing a work in them.  When Gabriel came to Mary to announce her pending pregnancy she wondered how she could bear a child when she was still a virgin.  Gabriel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…” (Luke 1:35).  Then her response to Gabriel’s words can only be explained by the working of the Holy Spirit in her heart.  She said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).  She is receptive and appears to be completely at peace with the amazing news. 

When Joseph learned that Mary was expecting he did not believe that it was a work of God and he came to a resolution; he was going to divorce her quietly in order to spare her the shame of public humiliation.  He came to a resolution!  It was not merely an inclination or a feeling.  He was resolved!  Then he had a dream in which an angel came to him and told him to take Mary as his wife because she really was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  When he woke up, not a few days or a week later, he did exactly what he had resolved not to do; he took Mary to wife.  How can such a dramatic change take place in an embarrassed man’s life unless it is the Holy Spirit at work? 

The now-famous shepherds also heard from an angel about the birth of the Savior.  They obeyed the words of the angel, went to Bethlehem, found the Christ child, and turned into evangelists!  “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told the concerning this child.  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them” (Luke 2:17, 18).  It is almost impossible to understand such a transformation apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the shepherds!

            We come to Simeon in Luke 2:25ff.  Luke describes him as being “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Luke 2:25).  The ancient Jewish writings identify Simeon as a great scholar and theologian.  He was a member of the Sanhedrin and the head of a Jewish school.  This Simeon is known as the father of the great scholar, Gamaliel, under whom Paul studied.  The writings also say that late in life he was removed from both the Sanhedrin and the academy because he did not adhere to the common view that the Messiah was going to establish merely an earthly kingdom based on the restoration of Israel.  He was banished and his name was erased from the records.  Yet Luke says the Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die before he saw the Lord’s anointed one (Luke 2:26).  So we see the Holy Spirit working in the heart of Simeon.  And on this very day when we meet him he is in intimate communication with the Holy Spirit.  “And he came in the Spirit into the temple” (Luke 2:27).  What does that actually mean?  Very simply, Simeon was living so closely to God that when the Spirit urged him to go up to the temple, he did!  Next, the Spirit pointed out the young couple bringing their newborn son into the temple for his presentation.  The Spirit told him that this infant was the Lord’s Christ!  The work of the Holy Spirit is everywhere in Simeon’s life!

            But there is more!  This old man approached Joseph and Mary and took Jesus into his own arms!  How does an old man take a baby from his parents?  Was he very well-known?  Did they recognize him?  Was he still wearing priestly garb at this point in his life?  Or did the Holy Spirit give Joseph and Mary a sense of assurance that he was working through this old man?  It seems unlikely that a mother would have allowed this to happen unless the Holy Spirit had given her confidence in him.  Simeon took Jesus in his arms and began to pray (see Luke 2:29-32).  The content of Simeon’s prayer amazed Joseph and Mary!  They knew who Jesus was and the shepherds knew and maybe a few other folks in Bethlehem knew; but how did this old man know about Jesus?  It could only be the revelation of the Holy Spirit!

            So we see the Holy Spirit at work throughout the Christmas story.  It is as if he is going here and there and revealing God and his message all over the place.  The very words of the story seem to have a weight and gravitas about them that tell us that this is a very important moment and God is saying something most significant. 


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