THINK TOGETHER.
How much of the Christmas story do you remember?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 1:26-38. 26…God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” 29Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” 34Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” 35The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God… 38Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
You’ve probably heard the Christmas story before, haven’t you? Baby Jesus born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, placed in a manger because there was no room in the inn. Shepherds and wise men come to visit. The little drummer boy plays a song for him pa rum pum pum pum (no, that’s not in the Bible). Well, this story from Luke 1 is the story before the Christmas story. The angel, Gabriel, has come to Mary and told her that she is going to have a baby even though she is a virgin (she doesn’t have a husband).
The Holy Spirit is God; he is the person in the Trinity who does God’s will. God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to get things done. In the Old Testament days, the Holy Spirit would come upon people for a period of time so that God’s plan would be accomplished. That is exactly what is happening to Mary – The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
And what is God accomplishing? The birth of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will put the baby Jesus into Mary’s tummy so that she can be his momma. This is called the incarnation. Can you say in-car-na-tion? The word incarnation means “made flesh” or “made human.” The incarnation is one of the Holy Spirit’s most important works – God made human. The baby Jesus inside of Mary will be BOTH God and human. Because Jesus is from the Holy Spirit, he is God. Because Jesus is from Mary, he is human.
Why is the incarnation so important to us? Because if Jesus isn’t human like us, then he can’t be our substitute on the cross. He can’t take our place and pay for our sins. And if Jesus isn’t God, then there is no way he could have ever been a perfect substitute, perfectly obedient to God in our place.
Notice Mary’s response to God’s plan – I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true. By the Holy Spirit we can have the same response to God when he tells us he wants to accomplish his plan in us. We can say YES to God. Yes, to God showing the world Jesus through us.
Because of the Holy Spirit Jesus was born and lived for us.
With the Holy Spirit Jesus is alive in us today.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Create “YES” cards together. Decorate a 3×5 card with the word “YES” as a reminder to say yes to God like Mary did.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, let the Holy Spirit show Jesus to others through me today. Amen.
TLICfamily 