This week I am reflecting on the joy of what happens when God comes near. How so often the most unlikely people find themselves playing leading roles in God’s story as it weaves its way through history.
As we explore the accounts of Jesus Christ coming to our world it is remarkable to find that Caesar, Herod or the Chief Priest, the power players of their day, lead a relatively insignificant and even antagonistic role in the grand narrative of events. Instead we find a teenage mother bearing the cultural stigma of a child conceived out of wedlock invited into the centre of a story bringing Jesus to us. We find a previously seemingly anonymous, quiet, respectable tradesman, Joseph, also invited by God to steward our saviour into the world. And we find angels announcing the coming of the King of Kings to a group of working class herdsmen.
In reflection, I think we find good news for us whatever season of life we find ourselves in, because just like Mary was invited to introduce Jesus to the world, just like Joseph was invited to steward the advancement of God’s Kingdom in our world, and just like the shepherds we too are invited to announce Emmanuel, we all get to play. It is our joy and pleasure that we are all invited to partner with the Father in His redemption strategy for our world. Our joy and pleasure not simply to be rescued but to be recruited to introduce our neighbours to the love, the grace and the kindness of Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to invite those who are on the outside of His story right into the centre of it with us.
So long may we bring the joy and hope of Jesus to our world, whether it’s in work, our neighbourhoods or our social circles, wherever we find ourselves setting foot!
Isaiah 40 : 3-5:
“A voice of one calling:
‘In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”