Week of December 22, 2024
Glory of Christmas – Magi (and Christmas Week)
This week we celebrate the birth of Jesus and will begin with the Magi (aka the Wise Men), the first Gentiles (non-Jews) who worshipped the infant Jesus. We wish you a joy-filled Christmas as you also worship Jesus as your Light and Savior.
Monday | Matthew 2:1-12
Interestingly, the most Jewish of the Gospels is the only one to mention the coming of Gentiles to worship Jesus. Why might that have been important to Matthew’s Jewish readers (see Thursday’s reading)? How would you characterize the Magi? Pastor Mark identified qualities of curiosity and humility leading to worship. What are you curious to learn about in your faith journey in the months ahead? How can you humble yourself before your Savior?
Tuesday | Luke 2:1-7
“Silent night. Holy night.” Jesus, God incarnate, is born into the world through an ordinary Jewish mother and laid in the humility of a manger … a feeding trough. Why was the fact that the birth took place in Bethlehem significant? Why does the humility of the birth matter (see Philippians 2:6-8)? As you think about the Baby in the manger, what emotions are stirred in you? What does his birth mean for your faith journey?
Wednesday | Luke 2:8-20
Merry Christmas on this day of joy! What was the range of emotions experienced by the shepherds that night? What was the obvious response to all that they had seen and heard (Luke 2:20)? What are the gifts of Jesus that you are most celebrating today? In the upcoming week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when can you carve out time to “ponder them” in your heart … to reflect more deeply on the gifts and how you will journey with Jesus in 2025?
Thursday | Isaiah 60:1-6
The beautiful prophecy from Isaiah anticipates the coming of Jesus, the Light of the world and the coming of Gentiles to worship him. Isaiah would have seen the darkness of unbelief, idolatry, and immorality among his own people. What are the aspects of humanity’s current darkness that seem most oppressive to you? What is evidence that the light of Jesus continues to break through the darkness? How does the international nature of Jesus’ church demonstrate the ongoing fulfillment of this prophecy?
Friday | John 1:4,5, 8:12, 9:5, 12:44-46
What does it mean to you that Jesus is the “Light of the world”? What does the life and teaching of Jesus show us? How does he bring light to the darkness of humanity? How have you experienced the light of Jesus this Christmas week?
