December 23, 2025

FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT: LOVE

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘For no word from God will ever fail.’ said the angel of the Lord. ‘I am the Lord’s servant,‘ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’” (Luke 1.37-38a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

We are all in search of meaning and purpose. Meaning and purpose gives us that sense of belonging that makes us feel alive from the inside out and from the outside in all at the same time. We want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. All of that falls into that place called love. To be truly loved is to truly belong. It is where we find ourselves the most alive not because of what we do but because of who someone believes we are. Sometimes that “person” we are isn’t even known to us until we are truly loved.

I honestly can’t imagine what it must have felt like to be Mary. No, not because I am not a young girl (which I obviously am not). No, it is hard for me to imagine finding myself in a place where the expectation of reality was exceeded by the reality itself. Just like I have expectations of heaven based on scriptural declarations and descriptions and those images many have tried to capture to give us a glimpse of heaven. Even the stories of those who have “came back from a near death experience” only pique our curiosity as to that great unknown. The reality of heaven will far exceed my hopeful expectations. There is that sense I feel when I read of Isaiah’s encounter with the living God when he entered the sanctuary of the Temple to pray. He went to God where He could be found with expectations of living in a moment of remembrance. It had always been good for Isaiah to go there. In all its beauty and wonder, mystery and solitude, the sanctuary was exactly that- a place to get away to be with the invisible God whose presence could be felt but not seen. Except on that particular day when he took his grief to God with the thought of surrendering it into the invisible hands of God reality exceeded the expectation. It was his epiphany of a similar calibre as the burning bush was to Moses, the ram in the thicket was to Abraham, the “wheel within a wheel” was to Ezekiel, the wrestling angel was to Jacob and the angel of the Lord was to Mary.

What must it have felt like to be in a place where your desire to love God was suddenly exceeded by God loving you? Mary did not enter in her sanctuary with a sense of purposelessness. She made herself ready to serve at the Lord’s command. It was her reason for living having been given into the service of the Temple since she was a small child. Yet, the day was coming when she knew a change was inevitable. She accepted that moment knowing she would either be a servant in the Temple forever or step into a world that was not as known to her to become a woman. Whatever it was, she did not know, she trusted in God to provide. It was always her desire to love and honor and obey her heavenly Father whose name was too personal to even speak outside of the Temple. In that moment, in the days of Rosh Hashanah, Mary went before God to pray. On the days which were recognized as the beginning of a new year (in the month of September for us), when God made Adam and Eve and introduced His servants into the world to fulfill their purpose, Mary’s expectation of reality was exceeded by reality itself. God made Himself known to her with the greatest gift of love He could offer. It wasn’t a reward for her faithfulness that God spoke His truth for her life. If it had been, she would have surely wanted to give it back when the challenges that faithfulness brings (as it brought to her as the mother of Jesus) arose before her, around her and over her. What God revealed to her was the fulfillment of her faithfulness. She found in Him her place of belonging. She found the love of God for her was greater than her love for God. In that moment, God’s love made her a sanctuary of “the Most High God.”

I reflected the other day on the question “What price love?” This became a real question for Mary on that “new year’s day.” Her faith and faithfulness to God was put on the line. We cannot forget that Mary could have said “No!” She could have turned away from the calling on her life that was rising up in her life. Her search for meaning, in that moment, far exceeded the expectation of the reality she had imagined, dreamed about and prayed for. I don’t know what would have happened if she had said “no” to God, “thanks, but no thanks” to the great I AM ALL THAT I AM so you can be all that you are. She could have. She offered an excuse to God just as Moses said “I cannot speak well” or Isaiah said “I am a man of unclean lips in the midst of a people of unclean lips” or Ezekiel said “I am too far away from the God of Israel who dwells in Jerusalem” or even Zechariah who said “I am too old to father a child” or Jesus who pleaded “Father, it is too much; if it would be possible please take this cup from Me.” Yet, faithfulness to God that is bound in true love knows no other answer but “Yes.” Mary could have said “No.” Instead, she surrendered her expectation of reality into the reality God expected of her. She said, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” That word was “Immanuel,” the God who loves is with us. That day, the word filled Mary beyond expectation. It made Mary the “expected one” as she conceived by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the one who would bring new life, new hope, which comes to those who repent and call upon God for their salvation. On that day, the reality of God’s answer far exceeded the expectation of a nation’s prayer for forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption. All because Mary believed and loved the God who believed and loved her. Mighty ones of God, God believes in you and loves you, too. Let this Christmas exceed your expectation as you seek the real God who loves you so much He would send His only begotten Son into the world! Oh “what price love!”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.