Another Look at the Advent Stories

I try every December to read the Advent stories with a fresh eye.

Every year I’m surprised by something I learn about the Christmas story.

After examining Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ birth and the characters surrounding it, something always seem different.

Why?

Advent stories as part of a living book

Hebrews 4:12 reminds us “the word of God is living and active,”

That doesn’t mean the Bible and the stories change.

I’m what changes year to year.

For that reason, stories I once read over without a second thought look different.

My experiences, Bible study or life makes the stories more poignant or touching.

The year I gave birth, for example, gave me far keener insight into Mary than I’d ever had before.

Jesus’ childhood didn’t end in Bethlehem

Rich Mullins wrote a song one Christmas that changed how I thought about Jesus’ childhood.

I’d studied the book of Exodus that year and realized Jesus lived in Egypt.

Mullins’ song, “My Deliverer,” talks about Jesus’ experiences in that country in a poignant way.

“Joseph took his wife and her child and they went to Africa
To escape the rage of a deadly king
There along the banks of the Nile, Jesus listened to the song
That the captive children used to sing
They were singin’

My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by
My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by.”

Somehow, I’d never realized Jesus was a refugee who didn’t live his whole life in Israel.

Traveling and Elizabeth

I knew Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem while great with child.

But I hadn’t thought much about her hike down to the same area as a young girl to see Elizabeth.

We often have a picture of her running carefree over the hillsides to her cousin’s house.

But Elizabeth lived a distance away. Mary must have cleared that trip with her family.

She stayed six months–long enough to learn what it was to be pregnant. She may even have been there for John’s delivery.

What about Joseph?

I had not seen the parallels between Joseph the carpenter and the Joseph of the Old Testament.

Both men loved their God. Both men were inspired by divine dreams.

They were both in Jesus’ lineage.