Thought for the Week

Some weeks ago, I had a Thought that I knew would take a lot of space. I asked Editor Baughman if I could have more than my normal space and she graciously granted it. I don’t think I should ask again so, would do me a favor: cut out and save these next few Thoughts, it would be helpful to have them to read together. I want to lead you to think about a Christmas Journey. This is not what you might normally think about. It is not the journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, nor the journey of the shepherds from their fields to the manger. It is not the journey of the wise men from the East. It is the journey of a Groom. But, it is tied in with the Christmas Story. Some years ago, a scholar named Ray Vander Laan, did a series called, “That the World May Know” for “Focus on the Family” ministries. The series had to do with the circumstances and activities that were a part of Biblical history. My copy is on VCR so you know it is not new but it is still valid. In one of the episodes, he gave the background to Hebrew weddings. One feature is that the groom, once betrothed, was responsible to prepare a house/home for his bride. The normal pattern was for him to construct additional rooms to his parents’ home. In other historical aspects of family, that was also a part of culture. The addition could be called “daddy house.” The younger generation would add on to the parental home and in time a switch was made. The senior parents would move into the smaller addition and the younger parents would move into the larger. I do not remember that was the case for the Hebrew home but it was that the Groom would prepare for his Bride and when all was ready, he would go to bring her home. The wedding would be celebrated, and it was a marvelous celebration. The Christmas story ties into such an event. God’s intent was to have a marriage-like relationship with humanity. God, The Father, Creator of the Universe intended to claim Israel as His Bride. Unfortunately Israel did not live up to her part of the relationship. The next step in this adventure was for God, The Son, to come to earth and develop a marriage-like relationship with The Church. Scripture explains it as, “For this cause (the cause of marriage) a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they two shall become one flesh.” So, as a part of the journey, The Son had to leave His Father and His heavenly home. Scripture tells us, “When the time was fully come, God sent His Son…” There is not much Scripture devoted to the happenings of Heaven in history. So, we know next to nothing about what the leaving of the Son was like. We do not know how much God told the angels about what was going to happen. The Son leaving is the first step of the journey.

Scriptures to Read

St. Matthew 19:4-10

Isaiah 54:3-8

Jeremiah 3:6-14

Hosea 2:14-20

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Numbers 32:9-13

Hosea 2:19-23