Advent Devotional by Carroll Makemson

Luke 1:5-17

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. (Luke 1:14)

Think about waiting for a baby to come. Maybe it was your own child, a niece, a neighbor’s baby, a church baby, a grandchild, a friend’s baby. We’ve all waited anxiously for the news that she or he has arrived. This waiting story is a little different. First, we waited for the grandbaby to be born. We rejoiced, but then, two weeks later, we were waiting again. The parents, with an infant and two cats in tow, made the 14-hour drive home for Christmas while we waited, I might add, anxiously. When the baby arrived, we were ready with kisses, hugs, and Christmas clothes, including pajamas with jingle bells and a baby-sized stocking to swaddle him. We read Christmas stories, kissed his feet, sang Christmas songs, introduced him to long-time friends, and eventually took him to Christmas Eve service in the balcony where we shared him. The wait brought great joy!

In our scripture, the wait in Luke 1 is different. Zechariah and Elizabeth had waited faithfully for decades for a child. The Judean culture and expectations pressured them to conceive. After many years, the Angel announced to Zechariah, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you will name him John … and many will rejoice at his birth.” It came to pass, and we know the rest of the story, the foretelling of our Christmas joy. John came to prepare us for Jesus’ birth, as told in the very next chapter. Now, during Advent, we prepare for God to fill our hearts as we share the good news of our Savior in word and deed.  

I still try to coax that Christmas baby, now a college student, to my lap and sing a version of our special song, “Christmas baby, Christmas baby, I will always love you!” Perhaps that’s the same song sung each year with different lyrics and tunes, in many different languages, to our Christmas baby, our Jesus. 

Carroll Makemson