December 22, 2024 - House of Bread

 

House of Bread

Sunday, December 22, 2024

By: Lori Wheeler

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

Key Verse: Luke 2:4

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

Bethlehem means “House of Bread,” the perfect birthplace for the “Bread of Life.”

For several weeks, Bambi and I have opened our home to our neighborhood for Monday morning Bible study. Nothing gives my daughter and me more pleasure than teaching God’s Word with and to people that have a hunger to learn and be a part of gathering together to study the Living Word of God. We have been studying from the book of Matthew. In Matthew 14, we have the feeding of 5,000 Jewish men and their families and 12 baskets of left over bread. In Matthew 15 we have the feeding of 4,000 Gentile men and their families and 7 baskets of left over bread. And oh, there is so much I would love to write about the beauty of these chapters from Matthew, but I will save that for a later opportunity.

However, for now, our passages from Luke 2:1-20, take place in Bethlehem. The name Bethlehem means "House of Bread" and is derived from the Hebrew words Beit-lechem, where Beit means "house" and Lechem means "bread". I encourage you to grab a front row seat as we travel with Mary, Joseph and the shepherds to experience this prophesied birth in Bethlehem, “The House of Bread.” Jesus Christ refers to himself as “the Bread of Life,” and in Matthew, at the Last Supper, “Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Our “Bread of Life,” Jesus Christ, took his first human breath in Bethlehem and acquired the title of Immanuel as a very tiny, perfectly formed, dearly loved, God-sent Savior. The angel proclaimed, the shepherds came, Mary and Joseph watched over the child, and in all this, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

We have this stunning image vividly etched in our heart’s mind of the advent of our Savior. We see Mary wrapping this precious gift in cloths and placing him in a manger, the arrival of guests to share in the witnessing of this miracle that had been prophesied, and the angel watching over and making the announcement of the birth of this child - all part of that image. We even had a heavenly host joining the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 

But to get to this perfect moment, we have some backstory that proved challenging for this young couple. We know that one chapter earlier, Mary was met with a tough decision. Luke tells us that “Mary was greatly troubled at the words of the angel” and wondered what his greeting was about to reveal. However, because of her great faith, her response was, “yes” to being the mother to the Son of God. Joseph, too, was willing (after great consideration and a very vivid dream) to choose to accept this challenging situation and accept Jesus Christ as his son.

Mary and Joseph both made the long 100-mile trip nearing the end of her pregnancy to Bethlehem and then were told there was no room for them and ended up in a “stable” where Mary gave birth to Jesus. Very difficult circumstances. Yet even the shepherds were willing to leave their posts to come and see what had taken place, and they went back to proclaim the fulfilment of prophecy.

Today, there is so much going on in our world, and I don’t even mean on this earth. I mean in the space that we specifically occupy and/or what occupies our minds in the months, weeks, days and hours leading up to Christmas. As we approach Christmas, we make plans, we prepare, we pick and choose the perfect gifts for those on our list. In the midst of all our plans and preparations, we also encounter challenges. Maybe something breaks down and we find ourselves having to make different arrangements for travel. Maybe UPS, Amazon, or FedEx don’t get it right and we need to reorder, take time to return items and run the risk that the new item may not arrive in time for the great event. Maybe while shopping, someone runs over our heels with a cart or takes a parking spot we were signaling and waiting to take. Or, maybe an office worker or family member lets us down, or just maybe we don’t have family or friends to share the holiday with and it only brings heartache to even think about it at all.

During our Bible study, the question was posed, “How do we react in those times?” What kind of witness are we when things aren’t going well? What spills out in our body language and words that are spoken are a clear representation of what lives within our hearts. The shepherds didn’t moan about their schedule being disrupted, but instead, “they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.” Mary and Joseph accepted the humble provisions and continued to make preparation for the arrival of this child. Mary wrapped her gift in cloths and placed him in a manger, but she also “treasured up all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”

I pray that whatever your circumstance, whatever your plans, whatever seems to be in the way of the “perfect” Christmas for you this year, you will be able to find excitement and joy and take time to reflect on the beauty and purpose of this day. Just like the multiplication of the bread, we too get to partake in the abundance that was blessed and gathered. Luke 2:21 “…he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.” The beginning of a perfectly executed plan.

As I read and reread these passages from Luke, I step into the pages that paint his humble beginning. I kneel alongside those shepherds and look upon the face of our perfect King with so much gratitude. I invite you to do so as well. So, I share this song with you. Gratitude by Brandon Lake.