Jesus Triggered Thanks to God (Tuesday, Week 3 of Advent 2011)

What Did Jesus Do?

“She began to give thanks to God and to speak of Jesus to all
who were waiting of the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Luke 2:38

Waiting is all about the future, of course. Yesterday is come and gone. Today has arrived, no need to wait for it, it’s already here. But the future, well, anxiously or patiently, eagerly or with trepidation, we’ll just have to wait for it to get here, won’t we? Advent is a time when we, anxiously or patiently, eagerly or with trepidation, wait for Christmas to come. Two thousand years ago there were many in Israel who had been waiting, who had been looking to the future, for quite some time. One long-cherished hope was that, with the coming of the Christ, Jerusalem might be set free from the yoke of foreign occupation and oppression, that she would be redeemed. For Anna, the birth of Jesus, and his presentation in the Temple according to the custom of the Law (Luke 2:27), triggered thanks to God because in Jesus the aged prophetess perceived that the time for Jerusalem’s redemption had come.

With twelve days remaining before Christmas 2011, what are we waiting for, hoping for, praying for? Do our future hopes, both short-term and long, have more to do with what might or might not be unwrapped this Christmas morning, or with the gift wrapped in swaddling cloths which Father gave the world on the first Christmas? If our hopes are tied to the former, we may well hold our thanks until the 25th gets here. But, if our hope is directly connected to the child who was born in a stable in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, then we have every reason to join with Anna this very hour, and give thanks to God for Jerusalem’s redemption, and ours! We can, and should, give thanks today, and all the remaining days of this Advent season, because our celebration of Christmas is not about a redemption we must yet wait for, but rather the redemption which Christ has already accomplished on the cross. The greatest thing about our celebration of Christmas is that it is with the knowledge that Jesus has completed the work which Anna and the world had to yet await, for it remained in their future.

But our Christmases are richer still, because we do not simply recall the birth of Jesus, we look forward to his return. Our Advent should involve our preparing to celebrate the birth of the Lord who has come, and who is coming again. You see, Anna celebrated when she encountered Jesus, even though Israel’s past was a long and bitter one, even though Jerusalem’s present was far from happy and free, because it had been revealed to her that in Jesus was the assurance of all the hopes of God’s people—Anna’s thanks to God was all about faith. Regardless of how bad our yesterday may have been, and over and above any and all adversity and affliction which may befall us today, it is faith, faith in Jesus that triggers our thanks to God on Christmas, and every day.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4