The Weeks Between
Christmas and the Cross
Christmastide has ended. Ephiphany has passed. The Wisemen have left their gifts and departed by a different route to their native lands.
Now what?
A new year, and with it, renewed hope. The promise of Resurrection Sunday!
For us, there are about eleven weeks between Christmastide and Easter week (or the Passover).
For Jesus, there were roughly thirty-three years.
From age twelve until He appears on the banks of the Jordan, we know only that “[He] increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:52)
After His death, God inspired four men, each with distinct personalities, to write down an account of what Jesus said and did while He walked among them. The Bible doesn’t tell us ALL that Jesus said and did. For as John says in his gospel, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” (John 21:25)
Jesus spent much of His time teaching... and walking! And nearly everywhere He went, He performed miracles. The Gospel writers record for us nine miracles for crowds and thirty-five for individuals.
The miracles involved healing, casting out demons, financial help, food, protection, raising the dead, and judgment.
Jesus even gave His disciples (the twelve and the seventy) the power to heal and cast out demons. (Luke 9:1; Luke 10:9) How much would you give to be able to heal a loved one or friend who is suffering?
As you might imagine, the seventy returned to Jesus, rejoicing!
“Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’” (Luke 10:17)
Jesus gently rebuked them, saying, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)
I can only imagine the intense compassion and love Jesus felt as He performed these miracles on men and women He Himself had formed in the womb. Yet, He knew He had come to give them much more than physical or emotional healing.
He had come to save them from their sin. To provide a way for them, and for us, to live forever in heaven with Him.
God has given us many skills, gifts, and talents that we can and should share with our fellow man. Even so, let us remember that we, like Paul, can “deliv[er] to [them] first of all that which [we] also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Cor 15:3-4) The Good News
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to take a closer look at some of the miracles Jesus performed. I hope that together, we can look beyond the miracles themselves to see the significance and spiritual truths they reveal.
And in the process, grow closer to the One and only worker of miracles: Jesus Christ.
“As we behold Him we will become holy, for ‘we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.’” (Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer quoting 2Cor 3:18)
Shalom.
AI Disclaimer: No part of this blog was written by bots. Every word, typo, grammatical error, and witticism is lovingly and/or accidentally crafted by my own two (very human) hands.