Waiting
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary – born as any other human is born. Jesus did not magically appear. He did not descend from on-high, a fully formed adult human in body and intellect. Mary was pregnant for 40-weeks. Mary waited. The world, albeit unknowingly, waited as well. Jesus was born, a helpless baby, needing the care and attention that every baby needs.
And Jesus grew, “… [He] increased in wisdom, [and] in stature…”. Luke 2:52. Again, waiting.
Jesus was 30 before he entered His active ministry. More waiting.
Three years later, the culmination of Jesus’ ministry – Jesus dies on the Cross to show us how far God’s love for us will go. Waiting again.
Three days later, the Resurrection reveals God’s power over death. Wait some more.
Forty days later in the Ascension, Jesus is taken up to heaven, but first tells His disciples to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit.
Ten days later, Pentecost.
Waiting… waiting… waiting.
Over and over and over again we are shown throughout the Scriptures that God is in no hurry. He has the benefit of being Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent [all-knowing, everywhere at the same time, and all-powerful], while we are limited to the here and now – and we want everything… here and now. Our lives are so busy and riddled with “time-saving devices” that I don’t have time for another time-saving device! Waiting is not our strong suit, yet wait is all we can do. Fortunately, we are powerless to control time. We control too much as it is and, in too many ways, we aren’t doing a particularly good job of it.
The Advent Season is a period of constructive waiting where, for a change, we know what will happen. We celebrate what happened over 2000 years ago – the birth of Jesus, our Saviour and Redeemer. We celebrate what is happening today – the birth of Jesus in our hearts not only at Christmas, but every day, every moment of our lives. The birth of God’s Son is not just the birth of the Saviour and Redeemer of the world; Jesus is also the birth of God’s love in our hearts. Without God’s love, where would we be… what would we be?
God’s love makes waiting possible.
God’s love makes waiting tolerable.
God’s love is what Jesus is.
God’s love is what we are called to.