If you think God’s way is the easy way, think again. If you imagine that to be “highly favored” by God means that everything will fall together for you without some much as a drop of blood, sweat, or tears, you need to take a clue from the holy Scriptures.

God has uttered His final Word, and it turns out to be His first Word. God has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and it turns out to be His only-begotten Son. The Word became flesh and dwells among us, and we find a humble little Child born of a virgin mother. All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God, and they will see salvation in the face of the infant of Bethlehem, a mangered Baby wrapped in cloths.

When the Word of God takes on flesh to be with us, nothing is ever the same again. There are very few sure things in life besides death and taxes, but here is one of them. Virgins do not conceive. You don’t need an advanced degree in biology to know that. Joseph knew that too. Don’t succumb to the silly notion that these were simple, superstitious people living in 1st century Nazareth. Joseph was a carpenter, a practical man who worked with his hands, who dealt in the firm, concrete world of material - wood and blade and nail. He knew full well how girls ordinarily got pregnant, and he knew that it wasn’t “by the Holy Spirit.”

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

The words of our Lord cause us to consider what it means to be great. What is greatness? Is it fame, fortune, power, influence? John had none of these things. He never published a book, appeared on Oprah, or on the cover of Time or Newsweek. He was ever Time’s Man of the Year; he never won a Nobel prize, organized a charity, run for political office. He didn’t wear expensive clothes or live in a mansion or drive flashy cars or hang out with the A-list celebrities. The religious leaders thought he was crazy, demon-possessed. He accumulated a following for a while, but then them all to Jesus. He was on the verge of starting a movement, some people even thought he might be the messiah. But then he criticized the bad morals of Herod who was shacking up with his estranged sister-in-law and got himself thrown in prison. Eventually he would die in that prison, his head served up on a silver platter as a reward for a step-daughter’s seductive belly dance.

Advent is a season of hope. In the Scriptures, hope is much more than a wish for something better. When we say, “I hope so,” that usually means we aren’t sure but we sure would like to think so. Will we have a good Christmas this year? I hope so. Will we have good health in the new year? I hope so.