12.25.22 - Dare to Believe Christmas

December 25, 2022

Jay Vanderbur

For the next several weeks - from Christmas Day to Easter we are going to be going through the Gospel of Luke. Instead of this being a “cradle to grave” story, it is a “manger to empty tomb” story that carries us from the incarnation to the ascension of Christ! Luke 1 opens by telling us Luke’s purpose in writing. He wants to share an orderly, carefully investigated, eyewitness account of “the things that have been fulfilled among us.” Luke wants the reader to have certainty about these things. Luke was a frequent traveling companion of the Apostle Paul and Paul refers to him as the “beloved physician” in Colossians 4:14. Luke 1 quickly moves from the purpose of the writing to telling the story of two miraculous births. This challenges the modern reader because Luke claims to have done his research and interacted with eyewitnesses and yet immediately asks us to believe the story about two “impossible” births. Luke, you’re a doctor, you should know better! But this suspicion doesn’t do justice to Luke’s narrative. Zechariah and Elizabeth and Mary were not gullible bumpkins who didn’t know how babies were made or were ready to believe crazy stories (and neither were Luke or his original readers). They found the whole thing just as unlikely as we would... but that’s the point! Luke is bringing an important truth to the forefront at the very beginning of his “orderly account” - God’s salvation will come in a seemingly impossible way! The angel declares the same truth to Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Could we dare to believe more than what our eyes see? Blessing comes when we believe the words of God more than our feelings and fears! Christmas beckons us to believe! Will you?