Here endeth the series.
The Fourth Wednesday in Advent A Son Has Been Born Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! The women of Bethlehem rejoiced in Naomi’s joy. “*A son has been born to Naomi*!” Dear Christian friends, The women of Bethlehem are an example for us, written into the Scriptures in order that we may learn to share her faith. What does faith do? Faith looks for nourishment and restoration in the birth of a son. Faith also turns and speaks faith to the neighbor, in order that that the neighbor’s faith may likewise find nourishment and restoration in the birth of a son. The women of Bethlehem have provided immense help to Naomi’s faith. It is not that Naomi had no faith prior to coming home. Naomi had lived by faith all the days of her pilgrimage in Moab. But you know from your own experiences how easily we Christians get ourselves turned around and muddle-headed concerning the faith. We need each other continually. We must not only provide one another for comforts in our sorrows but we must also help one another with the clarity of our thinking and the faithfulness of our confession. The women of Bethlehem speak Naomi’s faith for her, clarifying, correcting and re-directing Naomi, just as we do for one another when we join together in confessing the ancient creeds. Naomi had become understandably turned around in her thinking concerning the birth of a son. Mahlon and Chilion, her beloved boys, had died. Grief has a way of messing with your mind and heightening your need both for your fellow Christians and for their faith. While still in Moab, after her two boys had died, Naomi despaired at the thought of producing more sons to give to her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Naomi. That was the problem: Naomi thought of the birth of a son as something to give, rather than something to receive. Naomi said, “*Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands*?” (Ruth 1:11) No, Naomi, you have no more sons in your womb, in order that you may give them to your daughters-in-law. But you have also missed the point of hoping for the birth of a son! Listen to the women of Bethlehem, Naomi! Those women know and believe that the birth of a son is NOT so that you may have something to give, Naomi, but that you may have something to receive. The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Again, they said in a thrilled voice, “*A son has been born to Naomi*!” The true joy of that son was NOT found in what Naomi might give, but in what Naomi shall now receive. Naomi held in her arms and upon her lap the child whom God had sent, especially for the purpose of providing Naomi with redemption and restoration and nourishment unto life. The child had not even been produced by Naomi’s womb, and yet the child was still Naomi’s child, born for her that day in what would later be called the City of David. This child born to Naomi was not yet the Promised Christ, but he certainly sounds close. The resounding parallels between this child, born in Bethlehem, and that later, greater Child born in Bethlehem are nearly deafening. Of Ruth’s son, the women said, “*A son has been born to Naomi*!” Of Mary’s Son, the angel likewise declared, “*To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord*” (Luke 2:11). As with the son born to Naomi, so it is with the Son born to Mary: the joy shall NOT be found in what we might give, but in what we have now received. Mary’s Son is our redemption and restoration and nourishment unto life. “*A son has been born to Naomi*,” but Jesus is our baby.
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