On Day 10, we saw Zechariah in the Holy Place burning incense and praying for his nation. He was probably praying with his eyes closed, and then he opened his eyes, and boom, there was an angel standing there at the right side of the incense altar. He’s startled at first because he’s supposed to be in there alone, but upon closer examination, this guy is really powerful and scary looking. He’s more than startled, he’s terrified now. Gabriel tells him not to be afraid, then goes into his message. You, Zechariah, will have a son, you are to name him John, and he will bring joy and delight to not just you but lots of people. He will be great in the sight of the Lord, and then he tells him the big deal about John. He’s not going to be some ordinary kid.
“He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:11-17 (NLT)
For John not to take wine or other fermented drink means that he is called to be a Nazarite, as described in Numbers 6:2. Many people would make a Nazarite vow for a period of time, but John is to be specially consecrated to God for his whole life. Not only that, but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb. He will be all of this because he has a huge job to do. John’s mission would be to prepare the hearts of the people of Israel for their Messiah by bringing them back to the Lord their God.
Before I go into the next thing said about John, I want to say it blows my mind how God told His prophet about his life 700 years before John was born, then he told Zechariah before he was even conceived all about the life he would live and the things he would do, and they happen just as God says!
Okay, back to the story. Let’s look back 400 years to the prophet Malachi and the last things said by God at the end of the Old Testament.
“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6 (NLT)
Sound familiar? God speaks this, then is silent for 400 years. Now, he’s saying it again about this baby that is about to be conceived and brought into the world. Jesus confirms in Matthew 11:14 and 17:12 that John came in the power of Elijah just as it was foretold. Definitely not an ordinary child sent to bring Zechariah and Elizabeth joy in their old age. No, he was coming to prepare the way of the Lord but will bring joy while he’s doing it.
Today’s truth is that God knows the details of time from beginning to end. He knows everything about our lives before we ever live one minute, and He’s right there, active in the midst of it. We can trust Him with the outcome.
On Day 9, we left off with Zechariah being chosen by lot to burn incense in the Temple. This was a once-in-a-lifetime honor. Zechariah had probably dreamed of this day. He was an old man, so he may have thought this honor had passed him by. There were thousands of priests, and so few were chosen each year that he could have lived a lifetime and not had this opportunity. Now here he is in the Holy place, burning incense and offering prayers for the nation of Israel.
“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.’” Luke 1:11-13a (NLT)
While angels are mentioned more in the New Testament than love and sin, this doesn’t mean that everyone saw them. Zechariah probably felt like his heart skipped a beat. I think it’s a pretty good description that, at first, he was startled; he thought he was alone there, and then when he realizes it’s a huge angel standing there, he’s terrified. I think we all would be.
The angel tells him not to be afraid but then says something interesting; your prayer has been heard. At first reading, I thought maybe the angel was talking about his prayer for a child since that’s what he’s there to tell him, but his job right then was to offer prayers for his nation. He was a righteous man, a priest, and this was a lifetime opportunity, he wouldn’t be in there asking for his personal needs. Plus, as an old man, he wouldn’t have been praying for a child anymore, and certainly not at this momentous occasion, but God is so good, He not only answers his prayer for his nation – John was going to usher in and prepare the way for the Messiah, but He was also going to answer many years of prayers for Zechariah personally.
“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.” Luke 1:13b-15a (NLT)
The angel starts out with the news that this answer to his prayer is going to be for him and his own personal joy and delight, but then he expands it to others. There will be many who will rejoice because of this child’s birth. And not only will he be a joy and a delight to many, but he will also be great in the sight of the Lord. This promise would be amazing on its own, but tomorrow we will see that there’s more, much more.
Today’s truth is that we never know if our waiting is for a much bigger purpose than we ever imagined. Our prayers are never wasted, whether they are for ourselves or for others. God cares about them all.
As I said on Day 8, before the angel visitation to Mary and Joseph, there was a visitation a few months earlier. This visitation was proclaiming the birth of a child as well, and he would be important in preparing the way for Jesus. There were prophecies written about this child, too.
“Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies.” Malachi 3:1 (NASB2020)
Today we will look at the parents of this special child, Zechariah and Elizabeth. In verses 5-7, Luke tells us that during the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah from the priestly division of Abijah. Zechariah’s wife was also in the priestly line of Aaron. They were both righteous in God’s eyes and observed all His commands and decrees without fault. They were the perfect couple, right, but there was one problem, they couldn’t have a child, and they were both really old.
Since I’ve read ahead and know the end of the story, I know that Luke bringing up Herod here isn’t just to let us know when all this took place, this is an introduction to the villain who will have a part to play in this whole unfolding story. Also, letting us know that Zechariah is a priest from the division of Abijah is important as well. I love how God doesn’t leave out the women in the story, He lets us know that she is from a very important priestly line, too. But then you read that they are childless and have been for a long time because they are very old. Since I already let the cat out of the bag and told you that they were going to have a son that would prepare the way for Jesus, you already know about the first miracle in this Christmas story. So how did it begin?
“Once, when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.” Luke 1:8-10 (NLT)
You might think that Zechariah going into the Temple and burning incense was something that he did on a regular basis, but the truth is, a priest might only get to serve once in a lifetime like this. The priests who served in the Temple had to be from a certain lineage. Since there were so many of them by this time, they used a lot system to determine which priest would serve when, and how. There were more jobs in the morning and evening sacrifices than burning incense, and burning incense was very special. The priest would go in with the other priests into the Holy place, once the other priests finished their jobs, the other priests would leave. The priest offering the incense would put the incense on the altar and offer up prayers for the nation while the people would be on the outside praying. This was what was happening on this day. Tomorrow we’ll unpack what happened next.
Today’s truth is that you may think all the details in your life are random, just like the lot system, but God has a plan for your life and the details matter.
Let’s back up just a little bit. After visiting John chapter 1 and finding out Jesus existed as the second person in the Godhead before time began and then heading over into Isaiah to check out the prophecies foretelling the birth of Jesus, we jumped into Matthew. Matthew began the story with Jesus’ genealogy and went straight to Joseph and Mary. But there was an angel visitation a few months before Joseph and Mary had theirs. So, we are going to head on over to Luke and do some digging there. We will examine the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth for a few days. There are too many details to dig through to give it just one day. Today, though, we are going to look at how Luke begins his book.
“Since many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting to me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in an orderly sequence, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” Luke 1:1-4 (NASB2020)
He’s not about to tell us some fairy tale stories. They aren’t made up by someone. No, these are real people with real lives who experienced incredible things. Luke is telling us that he carefully searched out and investigated all the events he shares in this book from the very beginning.
Luke was a doctor. He had experience examining evidence, but in case anyone thought he was just a regular guy doing some amateur sleuthing, he wrote these first four verses in technically beautiful Greek. It was written in classical Greek, in the same way that classical Greek historians would open up their histories. By writing in this way, Luke was letting everyone know that he knows his stuff. He’s a scholar. Then, in verse five, he starts talking in common street Greek. He establishes his credentials as a scholar with legitimate research and investigation chops and then writes a story for everyone.
Why does that matter? Well, as I said above, these weren’t made-up stories. Luke examined the evidence and wrote the exact truth that could be backed up by those who lived it. It enables us to read these accounts with confidence in what we’ve been taught. As he tells Theophilus, he’s writing this book so that we may know the certainty of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Today’s truth is that the Christmas story details we are examining over these 30 days are real events we can base our lives on. We can be certain that the things we have been taught out of these scriptures are the exact truth.
The angel told Joseph that the child within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that she would have a son, and that he was to name Him Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. This was already big news, but then what the angel said next was even more amazing.
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying: ‘Behold, the virgin will be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:22-23 (NKJV)
Not only were Joseph and Mary supposed to wrap their head around the fact that she was carrying a child conceived by the Holy Spirit while she was still a virgin, but it’s happening just as Isaiah prophesied it over 700 years before. They would have known this prophecy, but here they are a part of its fulfillment.
“When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.” Matthew 1:24-25 (NLT)
When Joseph woke up, he could have thought, “Wow, that was a crazy dream,” but he didn’t. He did just what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do. The angel didn’t just ask him to do these things, he commanded him to do them. That could have played a part in Joseph getting up and actively obeying.
Remember, we read that Joseph was a righteous man, well, that word in Greek is dikaios, meaning righteous, observing divine laws, virtuous, and keeping the commands of God. Used of him whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God. He wasn’t just a good guy; he was a guy who was going to do what God told him to do. It’s a good thing, too, because Joseph was going to have a few more encounters with that angel, and it wasn’t going to be an easy road ahead.
When the angel said to take Mary as his wife, it meant he was to bring her home to live with him. He was going to be responsible for her and the child now. Did Mary tell her parents? Did they believe her? Did Joseph tell them about his dream with the angel? Or were Mary and Joseph talked about by their village as a couple who just couldn’t wait for the ceremony? Since Joseph took Mary as his wife, they had to think that he was the father of the child she carried.
Their reputations were probably ruined. Gossip about them was surely rampant. But this young couple was so committed to this incredible journey God had put them on that in the face of all this, they remained true to their mission and kept Mary a virgin until the birth of Jesus.
Today’s truth is that you can be smack dab in the big middle of the perfect will of God, and life can be incredibly hard around you. I wonder if Mary was the first one to tell James, Jesus’ brother, to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials?” (James 1:2a)
Crisis averted. Mary is pregnant, but now Joseph knows that all she told him is true. It took an angel coming to him in a dream to change his mind, but Joseph needed to be fully on board with this plan. He had to know it was real, and he needed to be told what he was supposed to do. Mary had to carry and give birth to the Messiah, but Joseph had his part to play in all of this, too.
“And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through His prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 21-22 (NLT)
“…you are to name Him Jesus” Jesus was a common name at that time, but it meant “The salvation of Yahweh.” Peter says in Acts 4:12, “there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved.”
He was to be named Jesus, the salvation of Yahweh, because “He will save His people from their sins.” He was coming as a savior. That was His purpose. It had been God’s plan from the beginning.
As we talked about on day three, the people were looking for a Messiah that would come and liberate them from their oppressors, but here the angel makes it clear what Jesus was coming for, He was coming to save them from their sins. Another man might be able to defeat their foes, but only Jesus could save mankind from the grip of sin and death.
In Romans 5, Paul tells us that through one man, Adam, sin and death entered the world. Sin and its consequence spread to everyone. It was now a part of our DNA. We were helpless enemies of God because of that sin. That is why Jesus had to come into the world as a human. He had to die to take our place so that through His death and resurrection, we would receive God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
The mother of the Messiah had to be a virgin who conceived by the Holy Spirit because the corrupt seed of Adam could not be passed on to Him. He was truly Immanuel, God with us! The angel was letting Joseph know that the child Mary carried was the very child foretold by the prophet Isaiah. His mind had to be blown.
Today’s truth is that the Christmas story isn’t a sweet story about a tiny baby born in a manger. It’s an incredible story of a promise fulfilled, and grace and forgiveness poured out as God became one of us to save us from our sins.
Day Four was a page-turner. Mary, a virgin contractually bound to marry Joseph, comes up pregnant. He is not the father. Joseph could have had her stoned for adultery, but he is kind and righteous and is contemplating his plan to break off the engagement quietly. I wish I knew more about their love story. Did he love Mary, or was he just the kind of guy who always wanted to do the right thing? He didn’t have to love her. With arranged marriages, we don’t know if he really knew her at all. All we know is that he was a righteous man with a really big problem to solve.
“As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:20 (NLT)
Joseph planned to quietly break off this engagement because how could he believe what Mary probably told him about the angel and how she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit? Did she tell him about all the things the angel had told her about the child? If she did, he had to be thinking that this girl had some imagination. Maybe that’s why he planned to do this quietly because he thought she was a little crazy. Wouldn’t you? Then he has a dream.
Joseph was in the midst of trying to fix what he thought was broken, but God wasn’t going to leave him there in the dark. He sent Joseph an angel of his own to let him in on the plan. The angel lets him know that Mary isn’t crazy, so he doesn’t have to be afraid to go ahead and marry her. He also let him know that she was telling the truth about conceiving by the Holy Spirit.
Also, did you notice that the angel addresses him as Joseph, son of David? This is important. Even though Joseph wasn’t the true father of this child, it was still legally critical for him to be a descendant of David. He doesn’t know it yet, but this is also his ticket back to Bethlehem at just the right time for Jesus to be born there; another prophecy He will fulfill that we’ll examine later.
Today’s truth is that our plans are not always God’s plans. God can give us strategies and answers in our trouble or crisis situations that take us on His path in the purposes and plans He has for us. We must take time to seek Him today for those answers.
In Day three we talked about the prophecy given about Jesus in Isaiah; a prophecy given about 700 years before Jesus stepped onto the world scene. Today we are going to begin our look at Jesus’ entry as we examine Matthew chapter one.
“All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.” Matthew 1:17 (NLT)
Maybe you’re different, but I always skipped over the long genealogy in verses one through sixteen. I mean sixteen verses of hard-to-pronounce names are not in my top reading desires, but they serve a very important role in proving that Jesus was qualified to be the Messiah. He had to be in the line of David, and He was.
Backstory matters. We all want to know how a story really began. Although Matthew doesn’t give me all the details I’d like to know, he does start with some important ones.
“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.” Matthew 1:18-19 NLT
Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married but being engaged in that day was not as casual as our engagements are now. To be engaged or betrothed as a Jew at that time meant that a contract had been signed, agreements had been made, and they were basically married except she remained with her parents, usually for a year, as her betrothed went to His father’s house and built on a room to bring his bride home. Once that was finished, and his father said he was ready, he would go get his bride, and there would be a final ceremony and consummation of the vows. Mary was in the waiting time; a virgin contractually bound to Joseph.
Now she’s pregnant. A true scandal. Adultery was punishable by death at that time. Joseph could have had her stoned, but God had chosen a righteous man for Mary, and he didn’t want to disgrace her publicly. He decided that he would break the engagement quietly. Joseph didn’t know he was going to play a key role in the protection of Mary and the Messiah she carried. God had other plans as we’ll see in tomorrow’s reading.
Today’s truth is God didn’t just choose Mary to be the mother of Jesus; He chose Joseph as well. Mary couldn’t do this alone.
This Christmas season I thought I would take a journey through the Christmas story and make note of the new insights God gives me. I’d like to invite you to join me over the coming days as I look at a story that is so well-known that it’s easy to skip over important truths. I hope you’ll join the journey. Let’s dig in.
“In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.” John 1:1 (AMP)
You may be saying, “Wait a minute, where’s the angel talking to Mary or the manger with the wise men and shepherds?” Well, that’s not where this story begins. It starts in the beginning, before time, before creation, before the world was made and there was nothing. Jesus was there, not the man Jesus, but the second person in the Godhead Trinity. Wow! That’s a hard one to wrap my head around, but a spiritual truth I need to know to fully understand the incredible story that unfolds as He enters our world as a man.
Before Mary, before the manger, before the wise men and shepherds, there was the Word, and He was with God in eternity, and as God, equal to the Father. He wasn’t a created being. He wasn’t a lesser god.
“He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.” John 1:2-4 (NLT)
Today’s incredible truth is that before Jesus became God incarnate – the most high God embodied in flesh, in human form – He was. He didn’t just show up on the scene the day He was born or even the day He was conceived. He was there before there was a beginning.
I look forward to tomorrow to see where the Holy Spirit leads us next.
Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all.The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel. – Matthew 15:29-31
At first the people were trickling through the village, but now there are swarms of them descending like locusts, eating and buying up all the extra food to be had. They are on their way to see a teacher; a young Rabbi they hope will be able to heal them or someone they love. They come with their mats, carts, and slings upon their backs filled with lame, blind, and mute men, women, and children.
I have never seen so many sick in one place. They are usually hidden away to keep them and their families safe from ridicule and contempt. Everyone believes that being blind or lame comes from sin; either yours or your family’s. I have always wondered how I could have sinned before I was even born. Is that possible? But how could I accuse my parents? What could they have done so terribly wrong that would give them a son with a lame foot? Thankfully they love me, and didn’t throw me out on the street to beg or even die.
At least I can do some work as a shepherd as long as they stay in the fields close to my village. It’s hard on my family when they take the sheep to pasture in the upper hills. The other shepherds don’t want me to come because they say I go too slow and hold them back. I don’t blame them, but we don’t have as much to eat during those times. I know it is my fault. Would this Rabbi heal me too?
All my family and friends think I should go with this group and try to see the Rabbi they call Jesus. They say, “Zechariah, this is your chance. You should go and see him. Maybe you will be healed.” That would be a miracle for sure. Oh what a wonderful miracle that would be! It seems impossible, but I’ve heard story after story this past week about this man. They say he isn’t at all like the other Rabbis or Pharisees. He doesn’t sneer and stay away from the sick; condemning them for their sins. He actually goes to them, touches them, and then they are healed. What kind of man could do this? I’ve heard whispers that he is the promised Messiah.
Maybe I will go and see him. If I am not healed myself, at least I can see his miracles. No one will yell at me for going too slow, this caravan of people are all going slow. I’m glad we are close to where they say he is. I hope this throng of people don’t drive him away with their needs. I don’t know how one man could possibly meet all of these needs.
As we begin to climb the hill, I see thousands of people camped out everywhere. There is singing and praising God all over. A man runs up to me and says, “I can walk, I can walk! I once was paralyzed, but now I can walk!” Another woman is crying and saying that she can now see. There are parents clapping and laughing as their child is running around them with legs that have become straight. It’s true. It’s all true. He can heal the sick.
I start to make my way further up the hill where a crowd is pressing in. I think this is where Jesus is. Yes, there he is. I see him now putting his hand on a young girl’s head and looking up to heaven. He is talking to God and calling him Father. I’ve never heard someone talk so freely and intimately to God. Now the young girl is screaming, and laughing, and hugging the people around her, and they are laughing, too. She can talk! She’s never been able to say a word, but now she can talk.
I sit down on a rock not far from Jesus, and I watch as person after person comes before him, and he heals them; young, old, rich, poor. So many of them have much greater needs than I do, and there are so many. How can I ask him to take time to heal my foot? He is so busy, and there are so many more waiting for his touch.
His disciples are worried about him. They keep coming and urging him to stop and eat something, and rest. The crowd has been amazingly good; no fighting or pushing trying to get to Jesus. There seems to be such a peace about this man, that you have that same sense of peace when you are near him. It’s a feeling that everything will be okay. If he walked away to get something to eat or to rest, would that peace go away and the crowd begin to get upset?
The disciple they call Peter is insisting that he come away for a little while, and the other disciples are pushing the crowd back. Jesus smiles and says something to the crowd I can’t hear, and then they move away. Jesus turns and begins to walk a little way off, but then he stops. He’s looking straight at me. His eyes feel like they are looking deep into my soul. He’s walking my way. Did I do something wrong? Why is he coming over to me? Will he tell me he can’t help me because of my sin or my parents’ sin? He hasn’t said that to anyone else.
He walks right up to me. I nervously look at the ground at his feet. “Zechariah, why have you been sitting here all day, do you need something?” he says smiling. “Yes, Rabbi, but it is such a small thing, just a turned in foot. Surely you only have time for much greater needs than mine.” He begins to laugh, but not a mocking laugh like I hear so often from some of the men in my village. No, it’s a wonderful laugh; a kind of infectious laugh that makes me want to laugh, too, even though I don’t know what I’m laughing at.
I look up into the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen. Their warmth keeps me from looking back down. Then I ask, “Wait, how do you know my name?” He smiles and says, “I know all about you, Zechariah. You are worried that your problem is too small for me to care about, and so many others are worried that their problem is too big for me to fix. With God, all things are possible. What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”
Can that be true? Am I really valuable to God? Jesus makes me believe that I am. Jesus puts his hand on my shoulder and asks me, “What would you have me do for you, Zechariah?” I take a deep breath and say quickly while I still have the courage, “Oh Lord, I really want you to heal my foot. I want to walk normally. I want to be able to work and help my family so my parents won’t have to work so hard.” I’ve said it finally; the deepest desire of my heart, the desire I haven’t allowed my thoughts to articulate because I’ve never had any hope that it could be possible. Now, looking into Jesus’ eyes, I believe it is.
Jesus kneels down in front of me, takes my foot in his hands, looks up to heaven just like he did before, but this time he’s talking to the Father about me. Right before my eyes, my foot begins to straighten out, and my leg begins to grow and even out with my other leg. Jesus looks up at me smiling, and says, “Why don’t you try it out?” I leap to my feet and start running up the hill. I can’t believe how fast I’m running, but wait, I haven’t thanked him. I turn and run as fast as I can back to Jesus’ side, I fall on the ground in front of him and cry out, “Thank you Lord!” He has me stand up before him. There are so many questions I want to ask, but before I can, his disciples come and urge him to come over under a tree where they’ve prepared some food for him. He walks away with them leaving me with a smile.
It’s really happened; I’m whole, not just because my foot is now healed, but because Jesus has done something in my heart. I’m as changed on the inside as I am on the outside. I believe he really is the Messiah. I can’t wait to tell my family about him. Even though I’ve been here for two days, and I should be tired, I feel like I can run like the wind all the way home. I pick up my pack and begin to make my way through the crowd, headed back to my village. I am stopped along the way by different people I traveled here with asking me what happened to my foot. Each time I tell them, the pain from all my years of being lame, all the teasing and taunts from others, all the struggle, it all slips away. It’s like I’m brand new on the inside, the old me is dead, and a new me is born.
As I walk home, I look up to heaven and thank the Father for sending Jesus to make me whole. I walk a little faster until I am running. I start laughing. That’s it, Jesus’ laugh, he knew all along.
Debbie's Perspective 