After three days [Jesus' parents] found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers (Luke 2:46-47).

Of all the stories about Jesus' childhood, why would Luke choose to tell this story? Certainly, there were more interesting ones; stories that would give us a flavour of what his youth was like.

This story fills in the portrait of Jesus being painted. In Philippians 3, Paul details how he had been the perfect Jew. Luke is picturing Jesus with similar colours. He was born to and raised by pious Jewish parents. Only men were required to attend the religious festivals, so Mary's going shows deep family piety.

With this family setting, Luke invites us to consider the kinds of things our children learn from us. Do our words and actions match the faith teaching that our children and grandchildren receive? Is our piety mostly showy, as Jesus decries in Matthew 6, or does it reveal a deep faith in God's activity in this world? Can those around us notice our growing faith?

Jesus and his parents were well integrated into their community. This three-day trip was traveled in caravans for protection. That Jesus' parents did not worry about him for the first day, indicates that they expected others to be looking out for him. They were likely looking out for other children and youth. Jesus' family seems very ordinary.

In that day, it was not unusual for students to gather at the feet of the rabbis to discuss the Jewish faith and how to live faithfully with God. This was usually in a group question-and-answer format, as Luke indicates. Thus, Jesus' interaction with the rabbis was not unusual. That he didn't leave Jerusalem with his parents was unusual, but the focus not here.

Luke wants us to recognize that even at this young age, Jesus has amazing knowledge of the things of God. Those listening to him are astonished at his understanding, a reaction that will occur later to Jesus' miraculous work (8:56). Already early in life Jesus values the pursuit of comprehending God.

Jesus' interest in God was not a product of his unique divine sonship. Rather, it was the outcome of a life lived among those who walked with God. It pictures how all of us should prioritize our lives before God. The way he lived his life and pursued God faithfully reflects how we should seek God's face. When David was dying, he counselled his son with these words, "If you seek [the Lord], he will be found by you" (1 Chronicles 28:9). Luke is illustrating this truth.

Finally, this story illustrates something that one of Jesus' brothers would later write, "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere" (James 3:17). Jesus and the religious leaders would come to logger heads, but that was because they were threatened by him, refusing to believe that he was the Son of God. They pursued their own power rather than submitting to the Lord. Jesus began by submitting to them.

As you ponder the year that was, consider these things.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the God who gives hope fill you with great joy. May you have perfect peace as you trust in him. May the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.

"Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever (Psalm 52:1,5,8).

David is hiding from King Saul and his murderous paranoia. When the priest Ahimelech gives David refuge, Doeg tattles on him. Having volunteered to kill the priest, Doeg kills Ahimelech and 83 of his clan. When he's done, he feels macho: a warrior to be reckoned with. This prompts David's sarcastic line, "Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?" (Psalm 52:1).

The Bible traces this "Big Lie" from the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the Lake of Fire in Revelation.

The "Big Lie" can be understood in various ways. It is the lie that says, "I have created myself; I am like a god; I command my own destiny; I am self sufficient and autonomous; the meaning of life is pleasure, self fulfilment, or independence."

When we live out of the "Big Lie", we deceive and manipulate people for our own ends. We make ourselves the centre of our universe. One question becomes most important: "What's in it for me?" Cut off from God's goodness, we become evil in our intentions, feeding our own selfishness.

God comes to shatter the "Big Lie" that started in the Garden. When Adam and Eve fell, they did not become like gods, as Satan promised. Instead, they simply found themselves naked and jumped into the bushes. There, God confronted them, showed them their sin, executed His judgment by throwing them out of the Garden to wander across the earth.

We are still tempted, however, to live without God, but He doesn't leave us alone. He comes with a gracious warning to show us our choices: to live with Him in the truth or live without Him in the "Big Lie." This Psalm addresses these choices.

The psalm exposes the stupidity of the "mighty person" who trusts in herself or in his money, choosing evil rather than God's goodness. Such a person loves lying and has a "deceitful tongue" to cover up their evil.

God will bring such people to ruin. The righteous will be in awe and laugh at such stupidity. The psalmist will be among them in God's house, worshipping and waiting on the Lord. Rather than finding life's meaning in himself, he finds it in the mercy of God and the goodness of His name.

But doesn't a little of Doeg live in all of us? Jesus has the cure for doegishness: "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the God who gives hope fill you with great joy. May you have perfect peace as you trust in him. May the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.

"How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Psalm 84:1-2).

Let's begin with a simple question, "What do you want?"

Some of you may be looking in the refrigerator to get some breakfast. I'm not interested in your breakfast. This is one of those annoyingly profound questions like what you want your legacy to be. What do you want for your life? or from your life?

I get irritated with stories in which a character immediately knows the answer to such a question. I find it depends on the day and the things happening around me. I'm not always sure if there is one thing that I really want.

We all have appetites and longings: a bigger house; a faster car; better make-up; successful children; political position.

We want many things. But getting these things doesn't satisfy. In fact, they tend to kill us. We humans have an infernal habit of mistaking the things God gives for the God who gives them. We tend to worship the things God gives, rather than God himself. As Paul once wrote, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised! Amen" (Romans 1:25).

God made everything for His glory, to reveal His greatness. The things He created all point back to Him. They remind us that He is our true home, our destination. Sin makes creatures our home rather than God to whom they point. Worshipping God's creation will be our death.

The psalmist knew this. He was away from Jerusalem and longed to be home. Not because he worshipped that city but because in Jerusalem was God's temple, God's presence on earth. That is where he encountered God. That was joy.

This is even truer for us, followers of Jesus. We are his temple. God is right here, where we are. But do we want him? is he our joy? We can take either of two roads. On the one road, we focus on all the things that we can't enjoy right now and feed our longing for them.

The other road is the one the psalmist took. Rather, than feeding his longings for stuff, he fed his longing for God. We can take that road too. We can ask the Spirit to sift our desires so that we increasingly desire him. Then, when someone asks us that irritating question, "What do you want out of life?" we know our answer.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the God who gives hope fill you with great joy. May you have perfect peace as you trust in him. May the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25).

There is a scene in the sixth Harry Potter movie that offers an image of the church. Harry's guardian, mentor, friend, and father/grandfather type figure, Albus Dumbledore, has just been murdered by a trusted friend. Dumbledore was the leader of those fighting against the rise of evil. Now he lies dead, at the foot of the Hogwart's walls. Thus far in the story, Hogwarts was the only truly safe place against Voldemort's encroaching evil regime.

It is a scene of despair and hopelessness. Horror-stricken people are gathering around the fallen body. Eventually, one of them raises her wand in the air: the tip glows with light, as if it were a candle. It's a statement of defiance against evil. One by one others raise their glowing wands. Soon there is a small halo of light above those who will continue to resist the forces of evil. Hope is still alive.

In Monday's devotion, I reflected on the opening words of Hebrews which introduces the grand themes about Jesus which are worked out in the rest of the book. But Hebrews can be summarized in these four words: Jesus is the greatest. The thing is though, at Christmas, Jesus is little more than a flickering candle: he lies with little fanfare in a feed trough.

After his resurrection, when he returns to the glory of heaven, he leaves behind a group of disciples who have no idea what they are up against. They don't know what they are supposed to do or how to get started. They don't even really understand what Jesus was doing. Yet, they are the ones whom he leaves behind to continue his work.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians are the descendants of those first disciples. 2000 years later the church is now an international organization, and one would think she would have her act together. But truth be told, she still seems to flounder, not quite sure what she is supposed to do or how to do it.

Christmas reminds us of our humble beginnings. It also reminds us that Jesus told us to remain humble. The mission of the church is accomplished through acts of service. It was when Jesus got down on his knees to wash his disciples' feet that he told them to follow his example. Jesus is present with us through these simple acts.

Hebrews is a heady book, picking up grand themes from the Old Testament, arguing how Jesus is far superior to anything that took place back then. It's often a slog for people to get through the book. When it finally gets to the application the author simply tells us to spur one another on to good deeds and to keep meeting together.

On our own, the flickering candle of our faith and love tends to get snuffed out by the winds of evil and selfishness. But together our combined faith and love, fanned into flame by the Holy Spirit, dispels the darkness, at least a bit of it. That is why that scene from Harry Potter reminds me of the church. We need each other.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Human words muddy the beauty of this profound text. How can we convey the intensity with which God desires to communicate with his people?

At many times and in many ways! Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day, God calls out, "Where are you?" God leads Israel out of Egypt with fire and cloud and chisels his intentions for them on stone tablets with his own finger. God calls Israel back to himself with fire by burning up Elijah's alter. And in a quiet whisper he asks Elijah, "What are you doing here?"

All these communications pale in comparison to His Son. He now speaks to us through His own Son.

What can we say about Him? This is the Son who will inherit all things. When the history of this age comes to its grand conclusion, this Son will reign overall.

What can we say about this Son? This is the Son through whom God created the world. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1).

What can we say about this Son? He is the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of his nature. If we care to see God, all we need to do is look at this Son. What Jesus does and says is what God does and says.

What can we say about this Son? Not only will the world be his in the end, not only was the cosmos created through him, this Son continues to hold the universe together by his powerful Word. Because we can see the smallest details through microscopes and far away galaxies through telescopes, we might forget that if it wasn't for this Son, the entire universe would disintegrate.

And this magnificent Son, he became flesh through the womb of the Virgin Mary. He made the journey from heaven's glory to die on a cruel cross thereby reconciling us to God. This Son who lay helpless in Mary's arms, who lay exhausted in a tempest tossed fishing boat, who lay dead in the tomb is now seated at the right hand of God in glory.

There is a mystery in this grandeur. God speaks to us through his son, a babe. The light of the world voluntarily reduced his splendour to that of a candle. He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of God's nature. He is a babe in his mother's arms, as vulnerable as a flickering wick.

These are the kinds of words we take to the top of a mountain (or the roof of our houses), look at the stars and ponder. To these words there can be only one response -- falling on our knees in amazement.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Jeremiah 31:31-34; Isaiah 9:2-7. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

1. How do you experience darkness? In what ways has it pressed in on you? Overwhelmed you?
2. Our passages tell of God's promise to overcome the darkness. What are the two surprises they contain?
3. Take time this week to meditate on the four Royal Titles given to Jesus in Isaiah 9. How do they encourage you to live well?
4. What does it mean to know God?
5. What things characterize our waiting for the fullness of the kingdom.

Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do (John 9:1-3).

We are exploring what it means that Jesus is Immanuel, "God with us." In the Old Testament, light is an image that gets attached to Immanuel. In John's gospel, this image explodes onto the page like a light bulb given power in a dark room. Our text is one of those detonations. The disciple's understanding of the world is turned on its head.

The disciples ask, "Why is this man blind? Who sinned causing this blindness?" They are trying to understand the condition, meaning, and purpose of this man's life. If he is blind, if he is disabled, isn't it because he or someone has sinned? Why would he be this way if no one had sinned?

In their way of looking at the world, a problem like blindness was always the direct effect of someone's sin. Today, we think such ideas are old fashioned. We are too educated for such simplicity. But just hold on. What is our gut reaction when someone is homeless or a refugee? For many of us, our first response is to ask why. To step back and analyze the situation. And isn't that exactly what the disciples were doing? Analyzing the situation, making it fit into their worldview.

They don't see a man in need of healing, do they? They're blind to his pain. They want an answer to a theological question. Likewise, we try to explain what we see as unfortunate, lamentable, regrettable. But in doing this we place ourselves at the centre of our questions; God is put on the sidelines.

In our text, Jesus flips the disciples' thinking on its head, as he so often does. In responding to their question, Jesus shifts their focus from the blind man to God and to Himself as the Light of the World. He says to them, "Don't look for someone to blame. Look instead for what God can do. This man needs light and I am the light of the world."

Jesus intends to point us beyond the problem to the possibilities it presents. When we see an afflicted individual, we should not start with blame, but rather how can peace, comfort, and healing for this person show the glory of the God. We should be about the business of bringing wholeness to them.

Jesus continues to rebuke his disciples when he says, "While it is still day, we must do the works of the one who sent me. Night is coming. Then no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." In other words, don't let your opinions deflect you from the task that God has put you here to do. How often do we analyse and dissect rather than act to bring God's light into the world? How often do we apply our theological minds to working out why something is the way it is, rather than doing what we can to right the wrongs we see? In being the hands and feet of Jesus, others discover through us that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.

To paraphrase Jesus, "Whoever has eyes to see, let them see!"

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me" (John 5:6-7).

Jesus loved to ask questions. Some were innocent enough, like "Will you get me some water?" (4:7). Some were asked to encourage people to leave him alone, like the time he asked the Jewish establishment, "Where did John get his authority, from man or from God?" (Matthew 21). Others helped a listener probe deeper into Jesus' identity, like when he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Still others, like the one in our text, are a set up.

The question does seem a bit strange, but the setting helps us get a handle on it. Jesus went up to Jerusalem, the city of peace. He went to celebrate one of the Jewish feasts, a joyful event praising God for his work of deliverance. The scene is the pool named Bethesda, which means 'house of mercy.' So, the location is peace, joy, mercy.

We are expecting a happy story.

Instead, we are told that this pool is surrounded by a great number of disabled people, but we focus on one person. He has been lying there for 38 years. That's a long time by anyone's reckoning. We might want to know about the magical nature of this pool. How is it that only the first person who touches the pool after it is stirred gets healed? Was it really an angel of the Lord who stirred the pool?

But Jesus does not oblige our curiosity. He wants us to focus on this person lying here for 38 years. How many times has he seen the water stirred and he has not been able to touch it because someone else was always faster? Has he given up hope? Has he given in to his condition and expects to live out his life begging for scraps from passing feast goers?

Jesus asks, "Do you want to get well?"

Some suggest that Jesus wanted to know if the man had any hope left; it being a requirement for healing. Others suggest that Jesus was exposing that the man had become comfortable in his paralysis and did not want to get better. He needed to start taking responsibility for himself. These issues are not part of this story. The man doesn't answer Jesus' question. He just says, "Hey man, what I want doesn't really matter. I can't get to the pool. I won't get healed."

The man's got nothing. Jesus heals him.

His mercy is free. He comes to bring it to those who are without hope. He comes to bring it to those who don't expect it anymore. He comes in mercy to bring peace and joy.

Are you looking for God's mercy? Are you trying to figure out how to answer Jesus' question? The answer is not important; Jesus brings mercy wherever he goes. You don't need to look elsewhere. Look to Jesus.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.