Tuesday, March 24: Luke 2- God dwells in normalcy.

There are very few stories of Jesus’ childhood and today’s chapter carries most of them. Not much. We could call Jesus’ childhood years His silent years. Another way to look at it is that Gospel writers were mainly interested in writing about His ministry years.

A little tidbit emerged in verses 22-24 that I never noticed before. Luke writes, When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” According to Leviticus 12:7-8, These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.… Simply put, if you were poor and couldn’t afford a lamb you could offer a pair of doves or pigeons.

Jesus grew up in a poorer family.

This was not new information for me, but it stuck. His family was faithful, but poor or at least on the low end of the financial spectrum.

I began to wonder what lessons this might have taught Jesus. Faithfulness does not necessarily equate to worldly success. Faithfulness involves sacrifice. Doves to a poorer family may feel more significant than a lamb to a rich one. Jesus was part of a regular family, nothing particularly special about it.

I thought God dwells in normalcy. His light shines in the everyday situations of the everyday people seeking to be faithful to the Lord.

Lord, thank You for normal and that You are present in normal everyday life. Thank You that faithfulness is not contingent on income, status, education, profession or any other subdivision of life.  Lord, I pray that today during the normal activities of life I might live faithfully to and for You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

 

 

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