He Started Small
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6
Matthew 2:1-12
Divine Inspiration
Good morning, and happy New Year! It IS a new year! And, with a new year comes all sorts of hopes
and expectations. In fact, sometimes we
think that since the New Year has begun, those hopes and expectations should
become a reality right now! It’s as if suddenly, we’re going to start
doing all those things we’ve been meaning to do, like eat better, walk more and
pray more. We may even do all of them
for a day or two, or a week or two. But
then, we seem to fall back into our normal patterns, and we may even get a
little frustrated because nothing really has changed. This is probably how the people back in
Jesus’ time felt. They were waiting and
hopeful. They had been told by multiple
prophets that a great king was coming who would change everything. Then, Jesus was born, and this new king, who
was going to save them, had finally arrived.
The only thing, though, was that this new king was only a baby. A baby!
What could a baby do? On top of
that, it was winter – the darkest, coldest time of the year, when the days are
short and the darkness long. So, what
they had in the way of this big change that they were hoping for was a little
baby in the darkest time of the year.
But, this is what God wanted, because the baby, the people, and the
seasons were able to grow together over time.
Jesus is and was the light of the
world, and as he grew, so did his ability to reach more people. He started small – an infant – and grew
brighter and stronger until he reached all people around the whole world for
all time. And because of that, his
impact was much, much bigger than if he had arrived as a full-grown king in a
burst or explosion of light. Keep this
in mind as you wait and hope for the changes you want to make in this New
Year. Approach them as Christ approached
the world – in a very small way at first, letting them grow and develop over
time. An example of this might be in how
you eat – maybe you add a salad to one meal each day rather than changing your
whole way of eating. Or, maybe you walk
two or three doors down and back rather than trying to take on the whole
hallway. Start small, let your changes
take hold and watch them grow and change you for the better, just as Christ did
as He grew and spread his light throughout the world.
Amen.
Readings from Sunday, January 5, 2014.
