This is the second week of Advent, and as such, we light the second purple candle. Depending on who you ask, this candle can symbolize different words. It is referred to as the faith, or peace, or the preparation candle. It is also known as the “Bethlehem Candle,” as it signifies Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.
Last week, I briefly mentioned how a census required Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem, and we read the account of what happened in Luke 2:1-5 (ESV). To review, it says, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”
Have you ever stopped and thought about what it meant to Mary and Joseph that they had to travel to Bethlehem? No one knows the exact route they would have traveled, but from Nazareth to Bethlehem, it would have been at least 65 miles, and would have taken, at minimum, four days. That was no simple trip- it was a journey.
I think it’s safe to assume that this was not a journey that they wanted to take at this moment in time. As any woman who has been pregnant can tell you, myself included, it is not convenient or easy to travel in the end stages of pregnancy. We don’t know if Mary rode a donkey or walked, but I can’t image having to walk all that way, much less be jostled about on a donkey when greatly pregnant. I think Mary would have preferred to stay home and get ready for the birth. Like any good mother, she would have wanted to have her home in order and all preparations made and ready for the new baby’s arrival. Certainly, this journey interfered with those plans.
But God intended for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, even though Mary and Joseph resided in Nazareth, so there had to be a way to get them to Bethlehem. The way to get them there was this interruption of the census. Jesus had to be born in the place that God had promised, and so God used a Roman ruler to accomplish His goals.
Their unexpected journey to Bethlehem is an example for us of how God sometimes has to intervene in our lives in order to further His plans for us. That means sometimes we find ourselves on a journey that we did not plan for nor want to go on. Sometimes these journeys are burdensome and make us weary. I don’t think anyone wants to go on the journey of fighting an illness. Ask any cancer survivor. I think they would say cancer is a journey they would not have chosen to go on. Or someone who has faced the tragedy of losing loved ones; those are journeys that, of course, we would not want to have to endure. Other journeys we would rather avoid are things like poverty, facing unemployment, or businesses failing. We also go through journeys of life where friendships end, we are lonely, or brokenhearted. Sometimes those journeys are of our own making. Other times, those journeys are a part of God’s plan for our lives. He will orchestrate circumstances in order to bring us to a particular place, physically or spiritually speaking.
Yet other times, some journeys that arise in life are merely interruptions that get in the way of our plans. The days before Christmas are some of the busiest of the year for a lot of us. If you are like me, you don’t enjoy having your plans interrupted. These life interruptions can be exactly what we need, though. Despite interfering with Mary and Joseph’s preparations, the census was a necessary part of God’s plan.
So sometimes interruptions to our lives are burdensome and make us weary, but are also necessary for God to accomplish a goal. Other times, interruptions are used to get our attention and to help us focus on what is really important. I think Advent is intended to be an interruption in our normal lives to do exactly that. In Advent, we are interrupting our daily schedules in an effort to center our hearts on the upcoming celebration of Jesus’ birth. Every year in my home, we go to great lengths, interrupting our normal lives in our efforts to do this. We pack up our regular home décor and set up Christmas themed décor instead: Christmas trees, colorful lights, nativity scenes, Bible verses proclaiming Jesus’ birth, Advent wreaths, and Evergreen wreaths.
We also change our daily activities. We take a break from homeschooling, and each day we open a calendar door, read extra scriptures, light candles, read prayers, and advance a candle around an Advent wreath; signifying the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We also make special foods and desserts, and we listen to Christmas music that reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. All of this is done with the purpose of centering our hearts on the celebration of Jesus’ birth. We have interrupted our regular life in order to think about Jesus’ birth. That is what Advent is all about. At least that is what this time of advent, leading up to Christmas Day, is supposed to be all about.
If you look around at what the world thinks Christmas is all about, you’ll find a very different idea than what I just mentioned. The world thinks Christmas is about Santa and toys, and the songs the world listens to are all about reindeer, mistletoe and Santa Claus. I don’t know why people who don’t celebrate Jesus’ birth bother to call it Christmas, for Christmas means “mass of Christ.”
This name was brought about in the 4th century by the Roman Catholic Church, which was the dominant church at that time. They adopted the date of December 25th from a Roman holiday in order to get people to stop celebrating this other pagan god’s holiday. They declared December 25 to be the day of the Lord’s birth and originally, they called it the Feast of the Nativity. Because of that origin, there are Christians who do not participate in Christmas. I can understand the hesitancy, especially when, as I mentioned, so many people have turned Christmas into a completely secular holiday. But I love celebrating Christmas, because despite what the world has done to it, I think it’s a beautiful way to interrupt our schedules and focus on celebrating the arrival of Jesus to earth. It aligns with God's tradition of establishing festivals and feasts to worship Him.
Just look at what God established with the Israelites. He appointed special times each year where the people were to interrupt their normal lives and celebrate and remember the Lord. Leviticus 23 lists some of these feasts and festivals that the Lord established for His people. It begins by saying in verses 1-2, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.’”
Then the chapter goes on to list seven feasts. The first one is the Sabbath. Each week, the people of God were to interrupt their lives and take a day of rest. Exodus 20:8-10 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” As simple as that sounds, if you have ever tried to follow the Sabbath instructions, you know it is very interruptive of normal life.
The second feast is the Feast of Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leviticus 23:5-6 says, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.” First, they were to celebrate Passover and then, as a continuation of the Feast of Passover, they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They had to remove all leaven from their homes. This was no simple task, for all traces must be removed. At the end of that, then the Feast of Firstfruits was to be observed, as a way to thank the Lord for His provision. During Passover and before bread could be eaten again, this offering of grain and a lamb prepared to God’s specifications had to be given to the Lord in thanksgiving (Leviticus 23:10-14). Those feasts are really more like one feast, and even the names for them are used interchangeably, for they are all connected to each other.
Then there is the Feast of Weeks. Leviticus 23:15 says, “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering.” This feast was to take place 50 days after the Feast of Passover ended. God established this feast as a way to remember when He gave the Law from Mount Sinai, which happened 50 days after the Israelites had escaped from Egypt. They were to prepare a grain and burnt offering to the Lord, and as verse 21 says, “And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.”
The fifth feast that is mentioned is the Feast of Trumpets. As Leviticus 23:23-25 explains, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.’”
The next feast is called the Day of Atonement. The high priest was to enter the holy of holies to begin the atonement process, which is described in Leviticus 16:1-34. God had commanded Moses to warn Aaron not to enter the Most Holy Place on any day other than this designated day once a year, lest he perish (v. 2). This rule would be in effect for all subsequent high priests as well. This was a very solemn ceremony, as it was important for the people to realize that God’s method of sacrifice was the only way to atone for their sin, and so this event was to be taken very seriously. Before the high priest could enter the tabernacle, he had to bathe and wear special garments, and offer a sacrifice for his own sins and his family. Then he was to bring two goats: one was to be slain, its blood to be sprinkled on the ark of the covenant. As verse 16 says, “Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins.” The second goat was called the scapegoat. The high priest was to touch the goat’s head and confess the Israelites’ sins, and then send the goat into the wilderness with a designated man (v. 21). All of the people’s sins were carried by the goat. It was also a day of rest for all people, and they were to do no work on this day.
The seventh and final feast Leviticus mentions is called the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths. The Israelites were to leave their homes and gather branches of trees and build themselves booths to live in for eight days. Leviticus 23:35-42 says, “On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.”
All the appointed feasts of the Lord were done so the people of God would be reminded of the Lord and His greatness. They were obligated to observe these special times of the year as well, in obedience to Him. Exodus 23:14 says, “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.” The Lord established these festivals as celebrations unto Him.
After God sent us the Messiah and the tabernacle was not necessary any longer, we see Jesus establishing two new celebrations unto God. Baptism, while performed only once, is established as a sacrament or ceremony where the believer is washed and forgiven of sins. The other is communion. Jesus institutes this ceremony during Passover, right before He was led to the cross to die, for the blood of Christ was given as atonement for our sins when Jesus died on the cross. When we take communion, we are remembering that sacrifice.
Though people hold differing opinions about the necessity of keeping the Sabbath, I believe we are still to follow this directive, for it is also one of the Ten Commandments. One way we see the fulfillment of this command is in setting aside one day a week that is holy to the Lord when we worship the Lord in the context of church, joining with other believers to study His Word and sing praises to Him.
While we do not see a feast or ceremony that describes the annual observance of Christ’s birth, I think all of those previous examples of God establishing festivals to celebrate Him are why it is good and right to celebrate His birth each year. We are interrupting our normal lives and schedules to celebrate God.
Now if Christmas is not about celebrating Jesus’ birth and it’s about Santa and hiding elves, then yes, please abandon that holiday. But if you are taking this time of the year to stop and celebrate the arrival of the Messiah to earth, then please, yes, let’s celebrate with as much pomp and ceremony as we can. Christians, of all people, should be, by far, the most joyful and excited about Christmas. For even though the world tries to erase Jesus from Christmas, it is impossible to do so. The message of the birth of the Christ Child is still present behind every twinkling light that shines, every Christmas card that is sent, and every jingle-bell that is rung. For over a month every year, our stores and homes are transformed into a celebration of Jesus’ birth, whether people acknowledge that or not. Rather than grumbling over the takeover of Santa, let us be part of the chorus that proclaims with our loudest voices that the reason for the season is Jesus’ birth.
Let us whole-heartedly embrace this interruption to our normal lives and use this time to focus on the fact that the God Who created the universe chose to come to earth and be born of woman, humbling Himself to be one of us. This Christmas time should be a welcome interruption, a welcome opportunity to rejoice in the arrival of the baby Jesus.
This second week of Advent, as we use this time to prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of our Savior, let us remember the journey God took Mary and Joseph on. As we recall, for God’s purposes to be fulfilled, God caused circumstances to arise in order to force Mary and Joseph to interrupt their plans and go to Bethlehem. So should we welcome this “interruption” of Christmas, and embrace whatever journey the Lord brings our way.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we pray for Your blessings to be upon us this second week of Advent. Help us to embrace whatever journey or interruption we find ourselves in. Help us, by Your Holy Spirit, to faithfully follow wherever You are leading us. As we get closer to Christmas Day, and we find our normal schedules getting interrupted more and more, we say thank You for this interruption. Thank You for this time to focus on the Christmas story and remember why You sent Jesus to be born of a woman. You sent Him so that He could save us. That is the reason for this season of Christmas, and why we celebrate. As the Christmas carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem says, “Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.” Help us to share the Christmas story so more hearts will receive the Christ Child born for us. And in His name we pray, amen.
Comentários