Luke 2:17-35, Matthew 1:18-25
Audio file is at the end of this text.
The next 365 days will bring surprises because this is the way God works. His plan for you in your life and in this new year is perfect but you'll never know what it is until you stop doing what you're doing and start paying attention to the surprises that unfold for you. Mary was minding her own business as a young girl and Joseph was doing what other twentysomethings were doing. These two received a call from God and they stopped what they were doing and obeyed God's instructions.
We have talked in the past few weeks about the shocking turn their lives took and how they had to completely trust God. Today in America 40% of babies are born to an unwed mother so it is not such a big deal for us to know or hear about girls having babies before they marry and many have no intention of getting married to the father. In the time of Mary and Joseph, the proper way to handle Mary was to stone her to death and Joseph had every right to dismiss her as his wife-to-be and even throw the first stone.
We have read that Joseph's first inclination was to take a middle-of-the-road approach. He was thinking about not making a big public spectacle but to quietly break off the engagement and move on with his old life. But, the dream came and he trusted it was from God even though it made no logical sense. What can we learn? Joseph and Mary were surprised by God and they went with it. They didn't give the excuse that what was happening to them had nothing to do with the goals they had already set for themselves.
Eight days after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph followed their religious laws which required that the boy be circumcised and officially named. (Leviticus 12:3) So in obedience the parents took their baby boy to the Temple in Jerusalem. He was named, Jesus which means, "God saves."
Also at the Temple that day was a devout old man named Simeon and, "the Holy Spirit was on him." You might think that God didn't send the Holy Spirit to us until after Jesus ascended to heaven but you can see from Luke 2:25-32 that Simeon was lead by the spirit to come to the Temple. We learn that God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen with his own eyes the one who would come to save, not just Israel, but all people.
When Simeon saw the young couple bringing their baby for the rituals, Simeon took the baby into his own arms and prayed, "God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised. With my own eyes I have seen your salvation."
The passage goes on to say that Mary and Joseph were, "speechless with surprise" at the words of Simeon. Simeon went on to pray over the parents and to Mary said that she would see her son in pain from a sword. The truth is sometimes so painful we can't understand it but if we are following the path of Mary and Joseph, it will be a path with no map and no certainty.
In 2012 open yourselves to God's plan. Let God be the director and one year from now, let's rejoice that we let God work in our lives because God's plan is perfect and full of surprises.
