It is the season to write about Advent and Christmas. I interrupt my train of thought to share some seasonal thoughts.
Advent weeks are leading up to Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
In the church calendar, the Advent weeks are also a time to reflect on and prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ. One day, Jesus will return. Then he will judge all men. It will become evident to all that he has always cared about the evil committed by certain people.
At the time before Christ was born, there were godly Jews, praying and looking for God to act on their behalf. God answered these prayers. Jesus Christ was born. God said, “Look at this child!”
Jesus was not just any child. His birth was proof of God’s love. God sent His own Son to become a real man and to be born by a real woman. God wanted Jesus to really know what it feels like to be born, to grow up and to live as a man.
For thirty years, people did not get to hear much about Jesus. Then Jesus began his public ministry. He went about preaching. He said the kingdom of God is at hand. God cares about you. He is ready to act and to help you.
God’s intervention one day will culminate in the second coming of Jesus Christ. He will return from heaven. He will judge the living and the dead.
Advent Season Calls Us to Think of Both: Christ’s First and His Second Comings
In Bethlehem, Christ was born into lowly and humble circumstances. One day Christ will return in power to be seen by all men. Then the kingdom of God will be fully revealed.
A Word to Jesus’s Disciples
In the gospel of Matthew, we read of a particular incident. The disciples asked Jesus: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” At another occasion, we find the disciples quarrelling about who was greatest among them. One day, a mother of two disciples even wanted Jesus to promise that her sons would be allowed to sit at the right and at the left hand of Jesus in the kingdom of God.
Here is the incident I want to refer to today:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.” (Matthew 18:1-5 New International Version).
Jesus calls us to humble ourselves. He wants us to lay aside our ambitions. He wants us to lay aside our pride.
Jesus was born as a baby. Talking about the kingdom of God, Jesus said we were to become like children.
Children know they still have to learn many things. There are many things they cannot do. There are many things they do not know.
Once a child feels at ease, once a child trusts an adult, he or she will naturally learn from him or her. He or she will also begin to emulate his or her behaviour.
Jesus calls us to be teachable. He wants us to listen to His teachings. He wants us to lay aside our preconceived ideas.
Many years later, the apostle Peter wrote to scattered Christian believers:
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:1-3 King James Version).
Peter encourages us to eagerly receive the word of God. The word of God can strengthen and nourish us in our faith.
One final quote from the gospel of John, speaking about Jesus:
“He was in the world, and though the word was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natuzral descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1,10-13 New International Version).
Conclusion
Not long after today, we are going to celebrate Jesus’s birth at Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. One day, Jesus will return in power.
Jesus was born as a babe. He calls us to become as children to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
We are invited to receive Jesus as our saviour. We are invited to eagerly learn from his word. We are invited to become God’s children.
If you are interested, I’d like to recommend another Advent post of “The Devotional Guy”: “Simeon and the Holy Work of Waiting”. Just click on the link.