Advent Devotional - December 13

December 13

Matthew 28:1-10

"...afraid yet filled with joy."

Matthew 28:8b

One might wonder if this writer hasn’t gotten his Christian seasons a bit mixed up. Yes, I know this is Advent, not Lent…we are moving toward Bethlehem, not Jerusalem. But I got to wondering as I read today’s text if there wasn’t some parallel between the mixture of fear and joy the women experienced at the tomb and that of the shepherds on a Judean hillside. Both were confronted with something they never expected. Both heard the kind of news that changed their lives. Both were suddenly searching for something new to be discovered.

The unexpected can be both frightening and joyful…sometimes, all at once. For brand new parents who take their child home for the first time, there is joy and fear…joy in the wonder of a small piece of yourselves, living, breathing in your arms…fear as the burdens of parenting fall suddenly and squarely on your shoulders.

There was a mixture of fear and joy when Cindy and I brought Clayton home from the hospital the first night. We were happy to welcome him into the home that had been lovingly prepared for him; happy to realize the dream we had envisioned for so long. But as the lights were turned out that first night and Clayton lay in his crib beside our bed, I confess that I listened for every noise, every movement, every breath. Several nights passed like this before we settled into routines that diminished the uneasiness created by the gravity of our new situation. I can tell you there have been other moments of joy and fear through these past seventeen years, and there will probably be a few more to come.

The Bethlehem story is love incarnate as God comes to dwell among us. The Jerusalem story is love overcoming as sin and death, terribly frightful human experiences, are defeated. Fear and joy…yes, thanks be to God!

Prayer: Afraid, yet filled with joy, we walk toward Bethlehem and Jerusalem, O God. Amen.

Jim Abernathy