Issue 007
Have you ever been in a difficult situation and then wondered where on earth the solution will come from? Maybe it’s a people issue, or a business challenge. Perhaps it is a financial shortfall or budgeting dilemma. Whatever the problem there seems to be no apparent solution.
Someone once worked out that the cost of raising a child was around
sixty to a hundred thousand pounds. How this was done and
whether it was accurate is less clear but there is no doubt that
children create legitimate financial demands – especially at Christmas.
For Mary and Joseph their situation was clearly not easy. We know
from their accommodation, and later on the type of ritual offerings
they made to give thanks for their child, that they were not financially well off. Maybe Joseph contemplated how he was going to get through the early months which, given the dash to Egypt, were hardly a financial or occupational breeze.
Then three men arrive with extremely valuable donations. Gold,
incense and myrrh. We tend to romanticise this event and see only
its symbolic meaning. But in the hard financial realities of the world
these represent a significant source of income. Maybe Joseph and
Mary kept them as souvenirs of a Christmas never to be forgotten, I
suspect they converted them into food, shelter and clothing.
Maybe this Christmas you are needing a solution and don’t know
where on earth it will come from. The same God who brought stock
from the east can be your provider.
It could be, however, that God is calling you to be the solution. Your
work has been successful this year and you are well able to help
someone in need of a solution.
Whether supplier or recipient, none of them realised fully that the
baby himself was God’s ultimate solution to a difficult situation when no one on earth knew how it was going to be solved.
Matthew 1: 1-12
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
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Geoff Shattock
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