When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the Child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” (Matthew 2:13)
If You Will Wait Advent requires waiting, but that waiting shows the providence of God. When we wait, most of us have had thoughts that are not the ideal conclusions we hope for. The owner, waiting on the results of a partnership, could conclude it will not work. The student, waiting on entry exam results, replays every question, second-guessing her answers. The offender, waiting to know if he is forgiven, anticipates revenge. While we wait, we must have spiritual roots. Whether the whole world recognizes the doom when God's chosen are looking for Messiah, the story does not seem to line up with the anticipated results. The Messiah does not come with pomp and circumstance. He does not come immediately annihilating the dark spiritual world or pummeling the Roman oppressor of the Jews. He was not born in a spectacular or renowned city. Everything about the kingdom and the King's arrival is muted and inconspicuous. A young woman and man trying to make sense of conversations with angels, a virgin birth, and after a ninety-mile walk, there was no place to lay their head. How do you get redemption from this kind of start? Advent requires waiting, and in that pause, we learn of God's providence and of His power also. While we wait, we often create stories of doom for ourselves or others. However, God has repeatedly demonstrated that, if we would just wait, God's power is perfect because we are weak. In this feeding trough lays the Son of God, forcing us to repent and change our minds about how any story must unfold. Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes for us what could be for our Advent, if we would just wait: "...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong and that what we take to be evil and dark is, in reality, good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives." We cannot avoid trouble and ought not be surprised when we or others experience it as though something strange is happening to us. We do not author stories of doom for others or ourselves when the Savior of the world's Incarnation began in a feeding trough. Gospel believers don't wallow in the vanity of misery; they know the story ends in power. In that acknowledgment, there is peace even in the waiting. Comments are closed.
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