Special Christmas Edition with Sister Mercy

In this episode, my daughter Sister Mercy and I examine prophecies that predicted the coming of Christ.

Be sure to check out the transcript if you want references for the prophesies.

Would you like to get a weekly sneak peek into the guests?
Join my Substack @janjohnson3

JustTalkingAboutJesus.com

If you have a story to tell, check out the form on my website.
I'd love to connect with you!

Transcript

Jan: Welcome to Just Talking About Jesus. I'm Jan Johnson, a seasoned believer who loves relationships and, you know, just talking about Jesus.

Welcome, everyone, to this Christmas episode Hooray. Special edition with my daughter, Sister Mercy. Welcome, Sister Mercy.

Sister Mercy: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Jan: So glad that you're here as well.

Sister Mercy: A pleasure.

Jan: We are going to talk about Christmas today because what we thought would be really interesting is to go through the Christmas scriptures and then look at the prophecies that are matched up with them.

Naturally, it's not going to be all.

Sister Mercy: The prophecies just scratching the surface because podcasts can only last so long and clearly would be here for hours. But really, I mean, there's so much that you could say about this.

So just the very tip of the iceberg, but we'll give it our best go.

Jan: Yeah. And don't mind us as we read through our notes because we don't totally have it off the top of our head.

Okay. So we are so glad that you're here today and joining us. And even if you're watching this after Christmas, it's still going to be good.

Sister Mercy: It's okay. Christmas lasts for several weeks. It's all right. Grab your cocoa, snuggle up, peppermint coffee creamer. Put your earbuds in, call it a day.

Jan: Exactly. Okay, I'm going to start with. And I'm reading from the book of Luke.

God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.

So the angel Gabriel is one of the few angels that's named in the Bible and is known as a messenger of God. Gabriel delivers messages about pivotal moments in God's redemptive plan.

He brings divine announcements that point to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. His appearances in scripture are associated with delivering significant messages about God's plans for salvation and the fulfillment of prophecy.

Gabriel's message prepared the way for the arrival of Jesus by announcing the birth of John the Baptist, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies, prophecies in Malachi, in Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3.

Sister Mercy: So he. He proclaimed that Mary was found, had found favor with God, and would bear a son, Jesus, who would be called the Son of the Most High. So the first thing that it starts with is Gabriel explained that this miraculous conception would occur through the Holy Spirit and reassured Mary with the phrase, do not be afraid, which, I mean, the first like thing of significance is to acknowledge that Mary is human.

Like she, she's human, she's probably what, a 12, 13 year old girl, she has real fear, she has real anxiety, is if somebody, you know, I'm sitting there doing my laundry, whatever, and all of a sudden, bam, an angel comes out of nowhere and I'm like a 12, 13.

Heck, even if I'm now, I would be quite terrified, you know.

So I think the first thing is to like acknowledge. Like, yes, this is a human reaction of fear, but also at every single occurrence, right? The angel says, all throughout the story, the angel says, do not be afraid.

Perhaps there's a reason for that, you know, and how many times, one for every single day is there that Jesus says in the Bible, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.

Fear not, Fear not, Do not be afraid. So what is he telling you in this, the fulfillment of this, the significance is the Annunciation, which, you know, Gabriel coming to Mary to ask her if she to be the mother of Christ is central in the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, which is that therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.

And the fulfillment of that is from the old testament. It's 7 Isaiah 7, 14.

And it's Gabriel's announcement. That's the fulfillment of God's promise in the Old Testament that he promised his people, the Israelites, that he would send a Savior. And they didn't know how the Savior was to come.

They didn't know how he was to happen, but they trusted, right? Because we know about God, that he fulfills his promises, right? So he fulfilled this is the fulfillment of his promise that he would send a Savior.

Jan: So he was, they went to a town in Galilee, so he was born in Bethlehem. So the significance of that is the prophecy was, but you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the cities of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

So there's also a reference in that was Micah 5:2. And then Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the same time as King Herod, which was in Matthew 2:1 and Luke 2:47.

Now Bethlehem also is the city of David, which is significant because it says, you know, the prophecies are saying that he is going to come from the line of David.

Sister Mercy: So the next part is we get to the part, I think we maybe skipped a little here, but what the words of the greeting might be. So Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

His kingdom will never end. How will this be, Mary? Asked the angel. Since I am a virgin, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age. And she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.

For no word from God will ever.

Jan: Fail, which is pretty amazing. Just that in itself.

Sister Mercy: Just taking that by itself. Just that in itself. Even Elizabeth, your relative, who's going to have a child in her old age, she was unable to conceive and is now in her sixth month of.

Jan: And how old was Elizabeth?

Sister Mercy: Old enough to be at a childbearing age.

Jan: Long out of child.

Sister Mercy: Long out of childbearing age. But no word from God will ever fail. And really, I mean, isn't that the premise of this whole. This whole. This whole episode really is like, no word from God will ever fail.

All of these things are the fulfillment of the prophecy because we follow a God who keeps his promises.

Jan: Mm.

Sister Mercy: I am the Lord's servant. Mary answered, may your will be fulfilled. Then the angel left her.

So a little combo of these things. The.

The fulfillment of this is from. It comes from Genesis 3:15, which is called. It's the Proto Evangelium, the first gospel. It's the prophecy that says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head and you will strike at his heel. It's for Genesis 3:15 and a little later in. Oh, a little later. A lot later in Galatians. Sorry, this.

This passage from Galatians, when it says, when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law. So the promise is right, that Mary, through her sin, or I'm so sorry, Eve, through her sin, created God, created this enmity, put enmity between her and the serpent, right between her offspring and his.

It's the only time that God has ever put Enmity between two people. And it's the only enmity, right, that's never like it's. It's not resolved in this world, in this life.

Right? But he chose Mary to be the humble servant, right? It's. We're talking about this a little later when talking about full of grace. But Mary is the one and Christ that are going to defeat Satan.

It's this promise that was first made to Adam and Eve and is fulfilled in Christ and Mary through Eve's disobedience, her saying no to God. And that's what sin is, right?

It's disobedience. It's saying no to God. Mary redeemed with her. Yes. And there's this beautiful quote, this beautiful quote. That's. It's from St. Irenaeus, but it says that one moment the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience.

When the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened through her faith, right? This is Mary's fiat. It's her yes. It's her saying yes to be completely and totally his.

To hold back nothing, absolutely nothing from him. I mean, think of what she must have felt like. She's a 12, 13 year old girl who's completely giving up her life in this instant.

And it's this idea that like all of these little yeses she's saying through all these throughout her life, really, she's saying all of these little yeses to God when he asks her something so that when he asks the big thing, the big hey, would you be the mother of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ?

Have you heard of him? Oh yeah. You know the one like the prophets foretold him for thousands and thousands of years. However, like, you know, you've been wanting and like there's a version gonna give thee.

How would you feel? That's you. Oh, you're good with that. Great. Awesome. Like she can say yes to that because she said yes to God with her whole life, with every fiber of her being, with everything she does, she said yes.

Which has prepared her for this big mega yes.

Jan: Yeah, I really, I never thought about that connection between Eve saying no and Mary saying yes. And that's. Yeah.

Sister Mercy: On a further. Pretty huge for another episode.

But really though, because like in the garden, it's in the garden of Eden that it all starts with sin, right? Sin starts in the garden of Eden. In the garden, Adam and Eve say no to God and they say yes to the devil.

They say yes to sin, they say yes to refusing what God has offered them. It is in the garden. How many years later that Jesus says yes to God and crushes sin.

Jan: Oh, I see. An Easter episode coming your way.

Sister Mercy: An Easter episode coming your way. But for now, back to Christmas.

Jan: Back to Christmas.

So it also talks about the throne of David so that the Messiah would be a descendant of David.

So the prophecy, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land, as from Jeremiah 23:5, and then reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. That's numbers 2417, which is numbers is way at the beginning of the Bible. That's a long time ago.

To have a prophecy about Jesus coming that much longer. Amazing. I think.

And then reign over. Let's see. I just said that he will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, Isaiah 9, 7. And of his kingdom there will be no end.

Which was Luke 1:33.

Then his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. But before they came together, she was found to be present.

We'll try that again. But before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace.

He had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this an angel of the Lord. I'm guessing it's the same angel. Maybe Mr. Gabe was there in that instance too.

Sister Mercy: We're on first name basis.

Jan: Appeared to him in a dream and said, joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.

Son of a gun says the same thing. I think that's a little later with the shepherds too.

Sister Mercy: Do you think there's a theme?

Jan: Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David. Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son and he gave him the name Jesus.

Isn't this a little bit Like Zechariah and John. You will give your son's name John and Zacharias. I just mess it up. Elizabeth and Sacris.

Sister Mercy: It's okay, folks. She's new here. We love her. We love her.

Jan: Anyway, the point was God told him what to name his son. And the same thing here told Joseph what to name.

Sister Mercy: Because also with. With Zucker and Elizabeth, right? When they say his name shall be John, and they say nobody else in the family has that name, his name shall be John because that's the name, right, that the angel told him.

And this. Yeah, same. Same thing, right? How many? I mean, yeah, we read the genealogy of him. I don't think there's anyone there named Jesus.

Jan: That's true. That is true. Many Jesuses to follow, but many.

Sister Mercy: So the next part of this is Mary's visit to Elizabeth. At that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice, she exclaimed, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit.

Jan: That was not loud. Do you want to reread that?

Sister Mercy: It was not loud, but it was profound.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you bear by. Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your grating reached my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy.

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. You know, I think that's something.

There's so many things that you can say with this, because after this comes Mary's Magnificat, and it's just her song of. Of praise to God. But just one thing that leaps out of you just from this little section.

Blessed is she who is believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. I mean, if nothing else sticks out of this, like, Mary's humility and her absolute trust and faith in God.

Like, what a woman of trust? What a woman of faith? I mean, her life is completely upended. A teenage girl, and she's like, hey, guys, all of a sudden, bam, I'm pregnant.

I'm not just pregnant. I'm pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh, I'm also engaged. This really just, you know, just really changes things up for me.

Jan: Like, anybody would believe that was even possible, right?

Sister Mercy: But, like, I mean, the severe ramifications for that in her Life for her family's life, for Joseph's life.

Every single aspect of this must have been so confusing and so stressful and really like. I mean, what is your response to this? What is your response to this? What's our response to this?

Doesn't matter. What's Mary's response is blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. Do we actually believe that God will fulfill his promises?

Jan: Yeah.

Sister Mercy: In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, and everyone went to their own town to register.

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

He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. Okay, fun fact. Let's just go out on a limb and say this might be the most exciting part of the episode.

Well, okay. I don't know about that, but I was quite excited when I learned this the first time. And so I hope that you can share in my joy. But my joy in this is my excitement.

Hold onto your horses. So Bethlehem, the meaning of the word Bethlehem, the town that they're in, means house of bread.

So Jesus, right, is the bread of life. He's born in a stable and put into a manger. The manger being the feeding trough for the animals, right? And John 6, what is he telling us?

He's telling us, eat my blood. Ooh, eat my flesh. Drink my blood. I am the bread of life. No one can get to the Father through me, right? So this, which is the feeding trough of animals, which is a foreshadowing of him being the bread of life, which we.

Which he's asking us to consume, right? Which we see that in communion.

Jan: Wow. I think that's pretty cool. All these little things that match up so many things.

And there were shepherds living out in the field nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord.

Yeah, I think maybe the same guy is getting around again.

Sister Mercy: I think he has some job security.

Jan: Appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, hey, guys, don't be afraid. It's just me. I mean, some of your Friends have seen me before too, and so it worked out all right for them.

We bring you.

Sister Mercy: That's a direct quote. News, direct quote.

Jan: Bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be assigned to you.

You'll find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger. So the shepherds represent the poor and ignorant, while the magi represent pagan believers and intellectuals. All are called to share in the gift of Christ's kingdom.

Sister Mercy: Okay, but isn't that so God, right? That's the purpose of the Incarnation, right? Incarnate word, God becoming man, thinking on flesh. He didn't just do it to save the rich, the wealthy, the poor.

That, I mean, he came to save every single one of us. He came, he gave flesh, he put up flesh. He became flesh for us. For us. To save every single one of us.

And not one of us is to be left out from that.

Jan: And it was not just Jews. It was Jews and Gentiles both. And even in the line, I mean, that's a whole nother topic of discussion.

Sister Mercy: What?

Jan: But there were four women who were gentiles in the line of the descendants.

Sister Mercy: In the genealogy, right?

Jan: Right.

So don't you think that maybe that was one of Jesus's biggest sacrifices, was becoming man, taking on flesh?

I just think that would have been to give up all of who you are in the spiritual realm to come down and be around a bunch of dum dums, really.

People who didn't have any clue of really what the kingdom was all about and all of that, it just would been something. It would have been a sacrifice.

Sister Mercy: But really. Okay, going off, sorry, tiny tangent here on the sacrifice. But, but really with every, with every mystery of Christ, every single everything, everything in scripture that you can meditate on, right?

In the background, even of the most joyful, wonderful things, even in the visiting of Mary and Elizabeth, even in the birth of Christ, the baptism of Christ, These beautiful, wonderful things, right?

Even in those things in the background is the cross.

In the background is the cross. The cross is always there, right? You don't have Christ without the cross. You don't have the cross without Christ. And it's there even in the midst of Mary's joy, right as she's welcoming this newborn child, this infant.

In the back of her mind, you know, she's, she's. I mean, she knows, right? She, she knows, she knows if God is here, God is incarnate. This baby. I'M holding in my hands.

It's not for me to keep for myself. Right.

She becomes, right. She, she at some point, as much as she treasures her newborn, as much as she loves him, she shares him with the world. Right. She shares him with all of us.

And she knows his life is not going to be one of flowers and roses and butterflies. Like she knows the cross, she knows the pains, the suffering. She may not know every detail, but she knows that her life is not going to be this fantastic, wonderful thing like they are the holy family, their lives are on display and the fulfillment.

I mean, Christ became man to save us. He's not going to save us with dum dums and lollipops. You know, it's not this smooth path to heaven. Right. She knows and Christ knows the cross is always there.

And the cross is not going to be this easy and light, cheerful thing. Right. Christ tells us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross to follow Him. He never promises it's going to be easy.

He never promises it's always going to be sunshine and roses. Right. But he promises that he'll be with us and he promises that there is redemption.

Jan: Yeah. So the angel of the Lord, Gabriel, who was very busy in that season, what do you think the glory of the Lord was like?

Sister Mercy: What do you think?

Jan: I mean, I'm thinking probably bright lights.

Sister Mercy: I actually.

Jan: Yeah.

Sister Mercy: Yeah. I kind of think the chosen. I think the chosen Christmas episode personally, like the lights and like a.

But like a non cheesy version of that because it's God and you can't even.

Jan: Yeah.

Sister Mercy: Describe or make that. I mean you can't describe it without it sounding really cheesy, but that's how I picture it.

Jan: Yeah. And really, how would you not have some trepidation or wondering what the heck is?

Sister Mercy: Yeah, because there's a reason that every time the angel comes he says, do not be afraid.

Jan: Yeah. I mean, because it's awe. Some full of awe and trying to. So different from the norm in everyday life. Right. Okay, moving along. So the good news, which will cause great joy for all the people.

So the prophecy, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Isaiah 53, 4. And the fulfillment, he will save his people from their sins in Matthew 1:21. Another prophecy.

I will also make you a light for the gentiles. I Isaiah 48, 6.

Sorry, 49, 6. And the fulfillment, a light for revelation to The Gentiles. Luke 2:32. And Prophet, another prophecy. All nations will be blessed through him in Genesis 18:18. Clear all the way back to the beginning of the Bible.

He was foretold, which is pretty amazing. All those pieces that fit together.

And then the fulfillment. All nations will call him blessed, which was in Galatians 3, 8. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared. And the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.

Sister Mercy: I think you could maybe sing that.

Jan: I probably could, but maybe that.

Sister Mercy: I think perhaps that would really just make this episode. I think that would just really be the ticket.

Jan: It might be the thing that makes people push. I think that pause.

Sister Mercy: No, that would. I'm telling you, that would be. That's the. That's the tickle.

Jan: You go right ahead.

Sister Mercy: Okay.

All right, I'm done. Okay, so the next part of this is peace. Okay, so the prophecy. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That's from Isaiah 9:6.

And the fulfillment is, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.

In Zechariah 9:10, it says, he will proclaim peace to the nations.

Luke 2:14. Peace on Earth and good will to all men. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about.

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. The prophecy from Isaiah 53. 2. He grew up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form of comeliness that would look at him, and no beauty that would desire him fulfillment. She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger. From Luke 27.

We're going to pause there because I know what's going to come out of her mouth.

Jan: Was he an flk?

Sister Mercy: What's an flk? Tell us, tell us.

Jan: A funny looking kid.

Sister Mercy: Here, Take, please, please take, take, take courage. Take comfort in the fact that according to Isaiah, Jesus may not have been a looker. Yeah, all you out there with ugly babies.

Jan: This baby was an flk. And look at her now.

Sister Mercy: Look, this baby.

Jan: She's adorable.

Sister Mercy: Took not one try, but two tries to win the clots of county beauty contest as a baby. So all you out there with ugly kids, there's hope for you and your babies.

Jan: Are you done?

Sister Mercy: Yeah, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.

Jan: When they had seen him, they spread the word Concern concerning what? I start that over.

Sister Mercy: Ladies and gentlemen. She was a Reading teacher.

Jan: When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about the child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Another? Yes.

Right after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born, King of the Jews?

We saw a star when it rose and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this and he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him, when he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

In Bethlehem, in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written.

Sister Mercy: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child.

As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may worship him.

Jan: And we know that that was not the case.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way. And the star they had seen when it rose, went ahead of them until it stomped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child and his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to the country by another route.

Sister Mercy: So the symbolic. Well, first, one little fun fact here about the star. So after guiding. What was the purpose of the star?

Jan: To guide them.

Sister Mercy: To guide them. Right. After guiding the Magi to the Christ child, the purpose of the star had ended. Henceforth, the light of Christ himself guides the people of God.

Bomb. Boom. Okay, there you go. So what were the gifts? Right. The symbolic significance of the gifts. The first being gold. The symbolism. So there's symbolism from a like, symbolic significance of the Gifts and then theological significance of the gifts.

So first, symbolic. Symbolic significance. The gold. Gold is associated with royalty and kingship. It symbolizes Jesus role as the king of kings. The biblical part of this, from Isaiah 9, 6, 7, the gold represents Jesus divine authority and sovereignty as the promised Messiah who would rule with justice and righteousness.

Because at the time, right, they're expecting a messiah to come. They're expecting him to come as a king. They're expecting him to come to save them from, like. Like from a military perspective, right, they're expecting a king that's going to save them from the tyranny of the Roman Empire, right?

From the persecution that they're enduring. That's what they're expecting. And Christ is king, but it's not coming in the way that they're expecting him, not the king that they're expecting, right?

His kingdom, he tells us, is not of this world. The second is a frankincense. The symbolism being frankincense is a resin used at incense for worship and religious rituals. It signifies Jesus divinity and his role as a priest who mediates between God and humanity.

Christ is the perfect intercessor, the perfect mediator for humanity. To Christ, Frankincense highlights Jesus role in establishing a new covenant and his function as high priest.

Myrrh. The symbolism is it's a resin used for anointing and embalming. It foreshadows Jesus suffering and death, emphasizing his role as a sacrificial savior. Right? And it goes back to that idea that the cross is always there.

The cross is always there, even in this moment of joy, real, genuine joy at the birth of our Savior. In the back of it is always the cross. The cross is always there.

This reminder. The purpose of the incarnation, the purpose of Christ becoming man, is to save us from our sins, to save us from our sins. And he saves us through the cross, right?

Myrrh points to Jesus humanity, his suffering on the cross, and his mission to die for the sins of the world.

The practical significance of the gifts is provision for the holy family. These valuable gifts may have been provided for their financial resources. Because if you think about it like, there's many, like, instances of the Bible that would lead us to believe that Joseph and Mary are poor, right?

He's a carpenter. When he pays the temple for the presentation, he pays us two turtle doves, which is like the.

The gift of, of somebody who's poor, right?

Something can't afford something higher, right? So these gifts, I mean, they're practical provisions for the family, maybe with Their leaving. I was thinking about this the other day, the fight into, into Egypt, right?

That happens right after this.

They didn't go home, right? They don't go back to his, you know, his carpenter shop. Their way of life. They lose their house, their shop, their means of living, their income, their everything, right?

So these gifts had a very practical reason for him as well, is providing.

Jan: For the holy family and then the theological significance. The wise men's gifts collectively acknowledge Jesus as the king with the gold, his authority over all creation, God with the frankincense, his divinity and worthiness of worship and Savior with the myrrh, his sacrifice and redemption of humanity.

These gifts illustrate the recognition of Jesus multifaceted identity and mission, uniting the themes of his kingdom, priesthood and ultimate sacrifice. Joseph's relation to King David is significant because it fulfills Old Testament prophecies that the Messia would come from David's lineage.

This connection establishes Jesus's legal right to the throne of Israel and affirms his identity as the promised Messiah.

Sister Mercy: Okay, so our last little bit here, I think that we're going to chat about, is Jesus presentation in the temple.

When the time came for the purification rights required by the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord.

A pair of doves or two young pigeons.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was righteous and devout. He was waiting the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought him to the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.

Jan: Saying, sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary the mother, this child is destined to cause the failing and falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

Sister Mercy: That right there, going back to the cross, right? Mary's heart, her Immaculate heart that always triumphs, right? Her heart that is, that is there, that is so open and, and, and ready to love, to love Christ, to love humanity and to receive whatever that counters, you know, and this at the very beginning of his life, the very beginning of his infancy, right?

And Simeon is, is telling her, like, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be this easy. Walk in the park, right? A sword is going to pierce your heart and that's indicating the sword, the sorrows, right, of the passion that are foretold.

So one more really just beautiful thing I think about the. We actually, we pray this prayer for night, for every night. The canticle of Simeon, this. Now, Lord, you may let your servant go in peace.

We pray this every night. And I have this image in my mind of Simeon taking Jesus because it says he takes the child in his arms.

And there's this really beautiful painting that I've seen that's, you know, Mary and Joseph looking on as Simeon is just holding Christ and looking into his eyes.

And I mean, can you even imagine, like, can you even picture holding baby Jesus that close to your heart and looking into his eyes like, what, what a precious, tender moment is that?

What a moment to hold salvation in your arms and to just love him and to be loved by him. To have that eye to eye, that heart to heart with them.

Must have been incredible.

Jan: Yeah. Wow.

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84.

She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying, coming up to them. At that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who are looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

So even the cannon, too. So here's something that I find interesting. All the places in the Old Testament where the. This is another tangent, maybe, possibly where the Holy Spirit speaks to people, because it's before Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit is still there.

Sister Mercy: There's still the Holy Trinity. They are the Holy God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity in union all the whole time.

Jan: Yeah. Yeah. This year, in reading the Bible through the year, it's just been so interesting for me all the way from the beginning to start looking at all of the places where the Trinity was, you know, or how all of, all of this story speaks to the end story, which is the salvation of us all that you know, because of Jesus Christ, died, resurrected and will return.

What a glorious day that is going to be when we all see Jesus.

So we hope this has been enlightening to you. It was really an enlightening to us as we went through and and started looking at things there.

Sister Mercy: And we hope you enjoy it and had just as much fun fun listening to it as we had making it.

Jan: We did. We did. So we wish you all a very merry Christmas. And I know it's the end of the day and coming out late and whatever, but it's still all, you know, for good.

All for good, right? So if you enjoyed this episode, share with somebody else and we'll look forward to seeing you next time.

: I have traveled many nights Cold and weary With a baby inside and I wonder what I've done Holy Father, you have come Chosen me now to carry your son I am waiting in a silent pray I am frightened by the Lord I bear In a world as cold as stone Must I walk this path alone?

Be with me now Be with me now.

Breath of heaven, hold me together Be forever near me Breath of heaven, Breath of Heaven Light in my darkness Pour over me, oh, holiness, for you are holy Breath of heaven.