We now start the Christmas season when we reflect on the childhood of Jesus. The Christmas season goes from the birth of Christ to the celebration of the arrival of the wise men on January 6. January 6 officially starts the season of Epiphany when we then look at the adult life and ministry of Jesus. Sunday our text will focus on Joseph and Mary carrying Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem for circumcision as is required by the Law of Moses. Baby Moses and baby Jesus children born in some similar circumstances.
10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’ Exodus 2:10
I thought it might be fun to ponder the childhood of children in the Bible compared to Jesus’ childhood. Jesus was born during a time of great turmoil as “Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” Joseph and Mary traveled from northern Israel to southern Israel, to Bethlehem, and went to the Temple in Jerusalem, not a synagogue in Nazareth, to have Jesus circumcised. Moses’ parents lived as slaves in Egypt and the Pharaoh had ordered that all male babies be killed. His parents hid him and when that no longer worked, they put him in a basket in the river Nile. Both babies were born into worlds of political unrest where their parents were pretty much slaves, we might say “blue collar workers.” Herod killed children under age 2 and Pharaoh killed all male babies. But both babies survived because God was working.
Jesus was given his name because he would rescue, deliver, save his people. Moses was named because he was drawn from, saved by water. Our names have meaning. My name means “stranger.” I did not like my name until I read in a baby book while searching for a name for my unborn child, a Christian interpretation. A stranger usually comes to your door to bring news. So, a person with my name could see himself or herself as a visitor who brings good news. I like that.
Let’s think about our names and our birth circumstances today and how we can live out that identity to the glory of God. Despite all the political danger in their worlds and despite the dire straights of their parents, both babies grew to be men who changed their worlds. Let’s pray for ourselves and our loved ones that they will be blessed to be a blessing.
On the Way to Wonder 