Against all odds …
Are you a betting kind of person?
If so, you may not place any large bets on the birth story from the gospel of Matthew, about the first years of Jesus’ life.
Consider just a few of the odds to overcome … Maternal health and a survival of infants in the 1st century Palestine, and the impacts on both from the poverty of most residents. The need for the absolute rule of Rome over its territories and all that meant for an average Galilean. The extreme lengths king Herod employs to keep hold of his reign of terror. The dangerous travel of those who were following not a papyrus map, but a map written in the heavens. These are just a few. Odds against the baby coming into the world and surviving into adulthood.
Yet beloved, these seemingly unfavorable odds should be encouraging to us. They should encourage us to work toward the things that seem, that appear impossible. Our call is to work toward the ways of life that seem insurmountable. There is no lack of injustice in our day. Solving many of the problems confronting us these days have terrible odds, climate change, racial and economic inequities, to name a few.
The Gospel message proclaims, forgot the odds this New Year! Lean more heavily on the faith God has in us. The incarnation means God put a lot of faith into each of us. Let’s follow that star!
Alison +
