Praying the Names of Jesus: January 2009 Archives

Welcome back to "Praying the Names of Jesus." If you missed the explanation for the name of
Jesus we're studying this week, click here or scroll down to Monday's entry.

I was forty-six when I adopted my first child - not as old as the biblical Sarah but a far sight older than Mary, the teenage mother of Jesus. But no matter how old you are or how long you've waited, a child can be one of life's greatest blessings, opening you again to wonder, renewing your amazement at God's good plan for the future.

Little wonder that a child was God's first promise to the world. After Adam and Eve sinned, as they were being forced from their garden paradise, God made the greatest of all his promises, assuring them that Eve's offspring would one day crush the serpent whose temptation had pushed them out of Eden and into so much misery. No wonder Mary has sometimes been called the new Eve, her obedience a striking reversal of Eve's disobedience. And as for the Christ child - he has always been identified as the fulfillment of God's promise to crush Satan, our worst enemy, and lead us back to paradise.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

"Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."(Genesis 3:14-15)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

--Ann Spangler

Adapted from "Praying the Names of Jesus" by Ann Spangler, with permission. Each day for five weeks, learn to better understand the nature and character of Jesus through his many names. Did you miss any entries? Stay subscribed to this feed and you'll receive the entries you missed once the feed restarts.

Welcome back to "Praying the Names of Jesus." If you missed the explanation for the name of
Jesus we're studying this week, click here or scroll down to Monday's entry.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:4-7)

Reflect On: Luke 2:1-20. Praise God: For speaking to us through his Son. Offer Thanks:For all the ways God has provided for you and your family, materially and spiritually. Confess: Any failure to value God's Word enough to read it regularly. Ask God: To nourish you through his Word.

Have you heard the story about the first grader who drew a picture of the nativity in his Sunday school class? After complimenting him on his artistic ability, his teacher inquired about the round figure lurking in the corner of his drawing. Surprised that she hadn't recognized him, the boy responded, "Oh, that's round John Virgin!"

At a distance of two thousand years, it can be easy to get some of the details wrong. How many of us, for instance, picture Mary riding a donkey into Bethlehem? But the Bible never tells us whether Mary walked or rode on an animal. The only donkeys in the story are the ones that populate our crèche sets. And what about the three Magi who worshiped the infant in the stable? The Bible never specifies how many Magi were there, though it does say they presented Jesus with three gifts. But at least we know they worshiped the infant in the stable, right? Sorry! Matthew's Gospel says Jesus was living in a house by the time the Magi arrived in Bethlehem. Some biblical scholars think he may have been a two-year-old by the time they caught up with him.

While none of these details significantly alter the meaning of the story, we sometimes miss details that do. Take the manger, for instance. There's no disputing the fact that the Bible says Mary placed her baby in a feeding trough shortly after his birth. This detail highlights the humble circumstances surrounding his birth. We know that. But how many of us have ever wondered if there's more to it - another reason why God's Son began his life in a feeding trough? Could God have been telegraphing a message, hoping we would understand that Jesus would become a source of nourishment for his people, feeding and sustaining us throughout our lives?

As you read Scripture today remember that Jesus wants to nourish you - to share his life with you. Take time to meditate on what you are reading, asking his Spirit to give you understanding. As you meditate on God's Word, remember that meditation simply means to ponder or to chew on something. Instead of going away hungry, ask God today to help you feed on his Word, to let it satisfy your longings and fill up your empty places.

--Ann Spangler

Adapted from "Praying the Names of Jesus" by Ann Spangler, with permission. Each day for five weeks, learn to better understand the nature and character of Jesus through his many names. Did you miss any entries? Stay subscribed to this feed and you'll receive the entries you missed once the feed restarts.

Welcome back to "Praying the Names of Jesus." If you missed the explanation for the name of
Jesus we're studying this week, click here or scroll down to Monday's entry.

When they [the Magi] 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."

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. (Matthew 2:13-16)

Reflect On: Matthew 2:13-20. Praise God: For never abandoning his plan to save us. Offer Thanks: Because even as a child, Jesus shared our suffering. Confess: Any tendency to hide your faith for fear of opposition. Ask God: To increase your understanding of the gospel.

Christmas - it's not about a baby! That was the surprising message of a talk I listened to a few years back. I don't remember everything the speaker said, but I am certain he must have opened one too many Christmas cards depicting the Christ child as a cherubic babe, surrounded by velvety soft animals more suited to the pages of a children's book than a stable. He didn't want the celebration of the great feast of the incarnation to be reduced to something sentimental and saccharine. In fact, the Lord's birthday story is a dramatic and richly layered narrative that bears careful rereading. You could say it contains the DNA of the gospel, linking the child Jesus to Israel's past as well as to its future. It is like a seed that encapsulates the unfolding story of salvation - past, present, and to come.

For instance, Matthew's Gospel begins with a long genealogy linking Jesus to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon. Then, after recounting Jesus' birth and the visit of the Magi, the story shifts because already opposition to the Christ child is rising. An angel appears to Joseph in a dream, warning him that Herod is searching everywhere for Jesus, intending to murder him. So Joseph flees with Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Like Moses, the child Jesus is rescued only in the nick of time. Enraged that the Magi have left without telling him the precise location of the newborn king, Herod orders all the boys of Bethlehem two years old and under to be slaughtered, echoing Pharaoh's decree that every Hebrew male infant be drowned in the Nile River.

It's the Exodus story in miniature. From the very beginning, Jesus is linked to the suffering history of his people, to their exile and oppression. His life recalls the words of Hosea: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1).

The nativity links Jesus not only to his people's past but also to their future. To shepherds tending their flocks outside Bethlehem, an angel proclaims: "I bring you news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:10-12). The shepherds were amazed, telling everyone about him. They had seen their long-awaited Savior, the desire of all nations, the one who would one day refer to himself as the Good Shepherd.

So Christmas, the great feast of the incarnation, is about a baby after all. And it's not about a baby. It's about the great story of God's love as it stretched across the centuries toward its climax in the life of the child Jesus. No wonder Simeon held the boy in his arms when his parents brought him to the temple, speaking these words to Mary: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35).

Even as a child, Jesus created turbulence in the world. His mere existence demanded a response. Either love him or hate him, accept his message or try to quash it. Why then should we be surprised when we encounter opposition because of our faith? If we bear the image of Christ within us, we will certainly cause offense to some. But many others will welcome the Jesus they see in us. Pray today that Christ will shine more brightly in your heart and in every heart that belongs to him because God wants to reveal his Son to a world that is dying to know him.

--Ann Spangler

Adapted from "Praying the Names of Jesus" by Ann Spangler, with permission. Each day for five weeks, learn to better understand the nature and character of Jesus through his many names. Did you miss any entries? Stay subscribed to this feed and you'll receive the entries you missed once the feed restarts.

Welcome back to "Praying the Names of Jesus." If you missed the explanation for the name of Jesus we're studying this week, click here or scroll down to Monday's entry.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. (Isaiah 9:6)

In a loud voice she [Elizabeth] exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!" (Luke 1:42)

Reflect On: Isaiah 9:6 and Luke 1:26-45.
Praise God: For keeping his promise to his people.
Offer Thanks: That God's ways are so much higher than ours.
Confess: Your tendency to rely more on yourself than you do on God.
Ask God: For the grace to depend on him like children depend on their father and mother.

One of the reasons I find the gospel so convincing is that it's nothing I would have dreamed up. Think about it. God became human, a little baby who had to be fed, burped, and bathed. God allowed himself to get the flu, to be teased, to stub his toe like any other little kid. To be thought the illegitimate son of a teenage mother. To have for his main defense against an irate king a human father without an ounce of political pull. And that's just the beginning.

What if I had been God? Would I have devised an all-loving strategy to woo my people back to myself, developing a plan that would require weakness, humility, and dependency on the part of my child? I doubt it. My strategy would probably have involved more power than love because power seems less risky.

From a distance of two thousand years, it can be difficult to comprehend how shocking the incarnation was and still is. It's true that the Jewish people had been awaiting a child who would become Israel's deliverer, ushering in a golden age in which God's people would finally come out on top. No more oppression. No more bondage. Little wonder that every woman wanted to be that child's mother. But even in her wildest dreams, no Jewish woman would have thought that would have meant cradling God in her arms. God's gracious plan was beyond anything his people could have imagined.

The apostle Paul speaks of Christ's crucifixion as "the foolishness of God." But surely God's foolishness began when he allowed his Son to be born in a stable and laid in a manger. In fact, the life of Jesus was nothing but divine foolishness at work, trumping human wisdom and exposing it as folly.

Jesus puts it to his disciples like this: "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" (Matthew 18:3-4). Like everything else he demanded of his disciples, Jesus lived the pattern before he asked it of them. But what does it mean to become like little children?

Most children don't have much money. They don't have a lot of power. They often lack wisdom. And they aren't afraid to ask for help. Hasn't Jesus already made it plain? If you want to be big in God's kingdom, become small in this world. If you want to save your life, be willing to lose it.

Today, God is calling you to become like a little child, asking you to follow him with humility and trust. Decide to embrace his "foolish-seeming" plan for your life, confident that his strength will be perfected through your weakness. Guard against self-reliance and self-promotion. Try to find ways to humble yourself, committing yourself to following Christ in childlike trust and obedience.

--Ann Spangler

Adapted from "Praying the Names of Jesus" by Ann Spangler, with permission. Each day for five weeks, learn to better understand the nature and character of Jesus through his many names. Did you miss any entries? Stay subscribed to this feed and you'll receive the entries you missed once the feed restarts.

Welcome back to "Praying the Names of Jesus," by Ann Spangler. This week's name: Child.
--
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 2:1-12)

Prayer
Lord, you were cradled in human arms and laid in a manger. How can I begin to understand a gift so unexpected? That someone so great would allow himself to become so small? Help me to follow you, like a little child, laying aside my pretensions and admitting my need. Help me to love you, trust you, and lean on you today, and thank you for showing me the way into your kingdom.

Understanding the Name
Though the Israelites considered children a great blessing, they occupied the bottom rung of the social ladder. Entrusted with the solemn responsibility of teaching and disciplining them, parents were accorded nearly absolute authority over their children. To be a child was to be powerless, dependent, subservient. Yet even little children and young infants could receive wisdom from God and their lips could praise him. The prophet Isaiah spoke of a child, or yeled (YEL-ed), who would one day be born of a virgin and sit on David's throne. Luke's Gospel tells us that Mary, while she was yet betrothed, was expecting a child, or pais (PICE), and that she gave birth to him in Bethlehem.

Studying the Name

1. What images come to mind when you think of the child Jesus?
2. Why do you think Luke mentions that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that he was Mary's son?
3. Why do you think God allowed his Son to be born in such humble circumstances and to be placed in a manger?

Adapted from "Praying the Names of Jesus" by Ann Spangler, with permission of Zondervan. Did you miss any entries? Stay subscribed to this feed and you'll receive the entries you missed once the feed restarts.

Welcome to "Praying the Names of Jesus." For the next five weeks, Ann Spangler will guide you in learning the significance of the Bible's many names for Jesus. You'll learn one name per week, and be invited to prayer and...