Denise Gallichio

CONSIDER THIS

A major theme in Advent is that Christ comes to us as Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” As we move through Jesus’ faith family history, drawing on stories of people who walked with God in exemplary ways, and connecting them to the life of Christ, we come to Ruth. Ruth is a model of what it means for Jesus to stay with us through all we experience.

A few years ago I had major reconstructive surgery on my foot. It would be months before I could walk normally again, and the physiotherapy was grueling. One day, alone in pain and feeling as if the ordeal would never end, I received a text from a dear brother in Christ. He asked if now would be a good time for him to come over. I told him I wouldn’t be much company, but sure.

There in my living room, my foot propped up and my mind foggy from medication, we sat. We talked about anything and everything under the sun. There were long lulls in the conversation. If I wasn’t so distracted by the pain it would have felt awkward. The lulls didn’t seem to matter to him. I kept wondering when he would think it was time for him to leave. But he seemed to have nowhere else to be.

After a while, I realized what was happening. He had just come to be there, to sit with me in my struggle. He had come to stay a while, sit a spell, take a load off—with me. He had come to listen, to make me laugh, and to be a friend to me in my season of hard healing. Maybe you have a friend who has done the same for you.

Maybe you have been that friend.

The friendship and family kinship between Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, is one for the history books. Ruth, a Moabite, was devoted to her Israelite mother-in-law after the death of their male family members. In Ruth 1:16–17, she says the words that forever endear her to the Jewish people: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.” Ruth stayed.

She eventually marries Boaz, her kinsman-redeemer (that’s worth a study sometime), and becomes a part of the family line of the Incarnate Son of God, Jesus. A woman who stays is part of the family line of the Lord who stays—the Lord who stays with us through it all.

Stay. In John 15:4–5, Jesus says these words to his disciples: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. . . . If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” The Greek word for “remain,” also translated “abide,” is the word meno—put simply, it means to stay. In other words, stay a while. Sit a spell. Don’t go anywhere. Remain—without needing to leave. He calls us to stay in him, and tells us that he will stay in, with, us. Emmanuel, God with us. There it is for our Advent reclaiming—Jesus is the Staying Lord.

Advent reminds us that the covenant loyalty and love God showed in history is the same covenant loyalty he shows us now in Christ. The gap between our Creator and us has been bridged by the presence of Jesus. He’s not going anywhere. Neither should we.

Jesus, no matter what you are going through, is your Staying Lord. He is the present, remaining, Emmanuel, God-with-us King—and he is in no rush to leave your side. He is with you in sweet conversation, today, by his Spirit working within you. No matter where you are, in a hopeless valley of the heart, or on a mountaintop of highest praise, Jesus stays with you. He’s here, with you—all the way.

THE PRAYER

Staying Lord, we desire to remain in you, and to have you remain in us. Our hearts are prone to wander, Jesus, as the old hymn says, but this Advent we choose to reorient ourselves to your unshakeable, unrelenting, loving presence in our lives. We take comfort in your nearness to us as we walk together through the days and weeks ahead in this Christian New Year. We’re not letting go; we will stay with you just as you stay with us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• Have you ever felt the Lord staying with you, hanging in there with you, when others couldn’t give you what you needed in time or attention? As you remember, bless him, praise him, thank him, for never leaving you or forsaking you (Heb. 13:5).

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt

Now the men had said to her [Rahab], “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. . . .”

“Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”

So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.  Joshua 2:17–18, 21

CONSIDER THIS

As we turn again to the genealogy of Jesus in our study of his faith and family roots this Advent, a fascinating woman is named in Matthew 1 as part of his lineage—Rahab. Her faith that God had favored the people of Israel, a faith expressed in her hiding of the Hebrew spies who were assessing the land and Jericho’s weaknesses, became the hallmark of how we remember her.

Rahab is an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what makes her so unique is that it seems that her occupation was that of a prostitute. Matthew wants to make sure we see her mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy in the first chapter of his gospel. What is going on here? When you look in the mirror, do you always see your best self? “Good morning,” you say. “You are one shining example of a human being! What a joy it is to be you today, to actually be you. God loves you, adores you, in fact—and it’s more obvious why every single day. You are the one of the best of us, friend. Now let’s brush those teeth and get out there so the world can be a better place!”

If you say something like that each morning, good on you! A wise mentor once told me, “Humility is not too high a view of yourself or too low a view of yourself—it’s an accurate view of yourself.” If you’re anything like me, however, you typically see not only the beautiful work that God has done in your life, you also see the blemishes, the mistakes, the regrets, and the struggles that even followers of Jesus still attempt to carry around in our memory long after he has set us free. You and I see our whole story staring back at us in the mirror—and we often have little grace for ourselves as we do.

Jesus, however, sees your story, knows your story, just as he knew the story of every sinner he was accused of treating as a friend (Matt. 9:10–12). When Jesus sees you and me, he never sees us according to our past, failings, or broken story only—he calls us by our name, sees us as we are to him, and he calls us beloved. We are never as far from God as we may feel like we are. A door of hope is always open with his Advent invitation welcoming us in: “Come, exchange your worst for my best.”

Rahab must have had hard days considering her own past. As a prostitute, the narratives about her, uttered in the streets of the city, were most probably demeaning, belittling, and derogatory. Imagine no one caring about your story, how you got to where you are, and offering no compassion for you in your situation. Then, something miraculous happens in her life, just as it happens in ours. Rahab is given an opportunity to show faith, to take God as he is and as he comes to her, and to believe. She takes that opportunity, just as every friend of Jesus has taken that opportunity over thousands of years. Rahab becomes a friend of God with one decision of trust.

The next morning, when she looked in the mirror, is it possible that instead of seeing the same broken woman she saw every other day, that the winds of faith blowing through her spirit enabled her to catch a glimpse of the beautiful daughter of God the Father saw her to be? Faith can have that effect on a person. It often does; faith calls us out of our old story and welcomes into a new one—as the Spirit opens us to who we were made to be.

In Matthew 1:5, Rahab is mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy, and in Hebrews 11:31 she is named in the “Hall of Faith”: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” In other words, Rahab believed.

Jesus, born under a Bethlehem sky all those years ago, was born to be a friend of sinners. Sinners were members of his own family, and their stories were not unfamiliar to him. As a salvation storyteller, Jesus knew how to turn a story around with a word, a touch, and a glimpse of pure love.

Jesus is a friend of sinners. You and I are called to be the same, knowing our own stories, and from where we have come by the grace and mercy of Christ. You and I are in good company with the Lord who receives us as we are, and shows us, along the way, who we are becoming by grace.

THE PRAYER

Jesus, friend of sinners, we thank you for all you have done and are doing in our lives. Continue to transform us day by day until we become like you in every way. Transform our desires to match your own. Transform our thoughts to match your own. And give us eyes to see those who are broken by sin, ministering your love to them with compassion, forgiveness, and empathy. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• In what ways, throughout your faith walk with Jesus, have you experienced him befriending you even when you were far from him?
• How could you extend that same friendship and acceptance to those not walking with God in your network of relationships?

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  John 8:12

CONSIDER THIS

A third, important Advent image that feeds the roots of Jesus’ story is the image of God as light. Light is part of the biblical narrative from the very beginning of time. In the storyline of Jesus, we discover that God is always bringing light into dark places, clarity and truth into the dim shadows of a broken world. In Advent, Jesus comes to us as the Light of the World.

Jesus is the light that dispels the shadows that lurk in the human heart. From the garden to the Gospels, from the Great Commission to the great city of the New Jerusalem, God has been, is, and will be lighting up hearts, and lighting up the world.

There is a high probability that for those of us who put up Christmas lights in or around our home, one of our favorite things to do is to turn off all the other lights in order to see them glow.

Maybe you do what my family does; during the Christmas season we take drives around different neighborhoods in our town to see the hard work people have invested in decorating their houses with way too many lights.

Some well-known homes in our town are so lit up they can be seen from a few streets over, and probably from space. These domestic spectacles even have a radio station signal you can tune in to in your car to see their lights dance along with the music.

The point is this. Light is best seen, maybe even best understood for its value and power, when it shines in the dark. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). The darkness of the chaotic and meaningless void was lit up by the Lord of creation. The Gospel of John picks up this theme and says that God’s very being is light: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Revelation ties a bow on the image by saying about Christ in the New Jerusalem: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:23).

In the Old Testament, the people of God were called to be a light, shining the truths of the nature of God, the ways of worship, and how to treat one another, into the world. “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:6).

When Jesus comes on to the scene, he declares: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). John spends a considerable amount of time reinforcing the image for us: “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). “Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).

Jesus turns to us and says: “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). We are to shine like stars in the sky (Phil. 2:15), living as children of light in our families, towns, and cities: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

You and I are lights in the world, following the Light of the World. Step into the darkness into which Christ walks with you, bearing the good news of Jesus’ love for all you meet, and shine like a star in our generation.

THE PRAYER

Light of the World, shine your love on our hearts this season. We know there are dark places for you to reveal, to bring your loving light to, so that we can be set free from those things that are still hidden within us. Let us shine the light of your love to everyone who meets us in this season. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• What environments have you been called to be a light within, in your home, church, or city?
• How could you be an even brighter light in those environments this Advent season?

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . .

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth..  John 1:1, 14

CONSIDER THIS

As we move through Advent and rediscover the roots of Jesus, we note once again that he came to us from a people, a place, and a story. A second, powerful image that runs through the story of Jesus, weaving through the Old Testament and culminating in the New Testament, is the image of Christ as the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14).

In Advent we prepare our hearts to receive the message anew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem as the Word of God among us— the living Word of God. Jesus moved and communicated as the embodiment, the very expression, of the heart of God. That’s what words do, and that’s what Jesus did as the Word of God made flesh.

For the ancient Hebrews, words held great meaning and power. While we are often flippant about our use of words today, the Jews understood that God, by his Word, spoke the entire cosmos into being (Gen. 1:3). The decrees and laws spoken through Moses held power for keeping Israel in alignment with the character of God and the goodness of his covenant. In fact, the people needed Moses to do the talking for God because they were afraid to have God speak to them for fear they would die (Ex. 20:1–19). God’s Word holds power (Prov. 18:21; James 3), and when the first cries emerged from the rough stable in the Christmas story, that power was resident in Jesus.

Jesus is God’s speech to us. In the Bible, God’s speech is always creative, healing, penetrating, and transforming. Jesus is God’s Word to you, to me, and to humanity. God’s Word to us, in Christ, is creative, healing, penetrating, and transforming. In other words, God’s Word, Jesus, is life.

Hebrews 1:1–3a says this about the baby born in Bethlehem:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

In Advent we revel in the reality that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

When we feel as though we can’t hear the voice of God, we can simply open our Bibles to the Gospels and watch God’s speech in full, powerful motion! The life of Jesus is God speaking to us; we can hear his words knowing that we are hearing the very words of God.

Advent is a thrilling declaration that God speaks to people. God speaks to you. God speaks to me. At the fullness of time, in Jesus, the Word made flesh, God spoke to us all.

THE PRAYER

Lord Jesus, you are the Word of God among us. We choose to hear you, to obey you, to follow you, and to be led by you into greater wholeness and awareness of your love for us this Advent. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• What could you do to spend more time in the Gospels this Advent season, taking in the stories of Jesus, discovering (or rediscovering) how the Father wants to speak to you through the life of Christ?

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt