December 28, 2025

TEN days to Bethlehem…

…journeying as magi.

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love; the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13.13)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

For Christ followers around the world, three is a very significant number. It represents the full image of Almighty God, His Immanuel- God with us. Matthew remembers Jesus teaching the disciples concerning growth plans and spiritual discipline leading to reconciliation as “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I AM in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18.20) It is the very thought of God’s abiding presence which gives us faith, hope and love. It is a type of holy trinity binding God and humanity in a perfect circle of life. In a fashion it was captured in the vision of God’s presence to Ezekiel with a wheel within a wheel. (Ezekiel 1.15-16) It was and is a symbol of God’s omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence. It brought comfort and stability to Ezekiel’s shaking existence as a prophet to the exiles who were encamped by the River Chebar in southern Babylon. Their encampment was no accident. It was the place where their “Father of Faith, Abraham” had been born, raised and called out by God to become the “Father of Nations” whose God would be Yahweh Elohim. The exiles of Jerusalem had been brought back to Ground Zero. They were given the opportunity to experience what we might call “a do over.” For Ezekiel, the theophany brought clarity to the understanding of the God who was, is and will always be. (Yes, another “three.”) The very presence of God was not bound in any one place or time. The God which many believed existed only in Jerusalem, only in the Holy of Holies, only in the lost Ark of the Covenant, reminded them of an abiding truth. It is a truth we often forget ourselves as we journey through our daily lives. We tend to compartmentalize our faith, our hope and our love. The vision given to Ezekiel was a reminder that the God of the Mountain (Moriah and Sinai) was the pillar of Fire and Smoke (in Egypt and the Wilderness) was the Law and the Covenant scribed on tablets (the Ten Commandments to be written on the hearts of all believers) was the Mighty Shout and Still Small Voice (Joshua and Elijah) and was now a “wheel within a wheel within a wheel” appearing to give affirmation, confirmation and destination to Ezekiel so that he might lead the people of God who were dwelling in the midst of God’s people even in a land that had once been their “birthplace and point of origin.” That image of “three” provided solid footing like a tripod on which the truth of God and His people could rest.

THREE FRENCH HENS. Those are the words of the next verse in the song we know as “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” We have taken the steps with the magi toward Bethlehem as those coming from a far-off land. It is our sin and sin alone which has put distance between our reality in this world (even after we are “saved”) and our desire for the world yet to come (which is promised as being prepared in the heavens beyond us.) Sin destabilizes us by either taking one leg of the tripod away or by creating uneven ground beneath our feet. What we must consider and thus remember is that this world is not our home. it is a dim reflection of what God had first created and called “perfect” by defining it as “good.” Flashes of that greatness can still be seen and announced by us as wonderful, awesome and the result of a grand design. Even in some of the “great and terrible” things which happen on earth (earthquake, flood, wind and fire) we have to consider how they are a part of the whole plan of God to demonstrate mastery over the initial chaos. Those elements of chaos (the disconnected matter that had no meaning or purpose existing in randomness) still exist. Free will and free choice can give life and freedom to those elements for a time. By the same token, free will and free choice exert the true influence of Immanuel to bring the balance and harmony which not only creates life but sustains the life and fulfills that life as it was meant to be. (Yes, another three.). What is that balance and harmony? In the words of the Apostle Paul writing to the off-balance people of God in Corinth, it is “faith, hope and love with the greatest of the three, not to the exclusion of the other two, being LOVE.”

Which one of us can look at those “three French hens” and determine is the greatest and most important? How then can we truly know which leg of the tripod of spirit, truth and worship is the greatest and most important? How then can we truly know which of the three gifts that bring life, sustain life and fulfill life is the greatest and most important? It is said that “the greatest of these is love.” We began the journey to Bethlehem with the magi. Yet we recognized their journey was really no different than that of the shepherds in the Bethlehem fields. Importantly, and most importantly, we saw their journey was in reflection dependent on the same circumstances as the one taken by Mary, Joseph and God’s only begotten Son- Jesus who was, is and will always be the Christ of God and the Messiah of God’s people. In all three journeys, there is but one goal: to see what God has done for the good of all humankind. The fate of the world, and all creation really, depends on that journey. Yes, the greatest of it all is love. But which of the three is love? How can we tell? Is one stronger than the other? Is one more ornate than the other? Is one more prominent than the other? While it would seem that one of the three may stand out more than the others at some given time or opportunity or need, is that the indication of greatness and prominence? I believe it is actually the mystery of Immanuel. It calls us to seek the most important which is love. But not knowing which one of the “three” it is, then we must pursue them all. How can we live without faith and hope if there is no love? How can we live by faith and love if there is no hope? How can we live by hope and love if there is no faith? Still God’s truth is that “without love, we are no more than a clanging gong or a banging cymbal; that without love I could speak all languages of man and angels and not communicate effectively; that without love I may possess wisdom, knowledge, power and resources but prove myself only to be ineffective, falling short and no more than chaotic as everything was from the beginning before time itself.” (1 Corinthians 13.1-3) What then shall we say? Is it not that all our journeys must be love motivated, love intentional and love giving? We must journey faithfully and with great hope? Is it not that we must journey toward what is truly important for life to be life which is where “the two shall be as one” as much as we know that “two plus one equals three”? Indeed, the culmination of our true journey is that we believe with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength that there is but One, the perfect “three in One.” Believing that, we become a part of the greatest reality of all where faith, hope and love abide and love abounds.

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.