Artwork:
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Edward Lear, (1859) is an oil on paper mounted on canvas. Housed in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, Lear portrays a sprawling landscape view of a sunrise from the Mount of Olives in the 19th-century. Two reposed figures look upon the historical City of David in the distant background.

Advent Devotional

I’m told that from the Mount of Olives the sun sets over Moriah – the hill Isaac ascended carrying wood for sacrifice. In the distance, some six miles south of Jerusalem lies the little town of Bethlehem. With only a few hundred inhabitants in the first century, it was something of a sleepy suburb, an unwalled village, neither glamorous, cosmopolitan or secure. The burial place of Rachel, its fields of grain were gleaned by Ruth, its pure water treasured by David (2 Samuel 23:15).

The Messiah defied all expectations. He didn’t arrive in the royal palace of a big city but rather amidst the shepherds, farmers, and small households of Bethlehem. As the song tells us, Jesus stayed with the “poor and meek and lowly.”

Mary placed her newborn son “in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them” (Luke 2:7). This likely means that Joseph’s relatives were unable (or unwilling) to accommodate them in the sleeping quarters and so Joseph and Mary stayed amidst the household animals.

Forty days later, when Jesus was taken up to the temple, His parents couldn’t afford the cost of a lamb (Lev.12:8, Luke 2:24), and so they presented a pair of doves or pigeons instead. They didn’t offer a lamb at Jesus birth, but at his death, Mary would stand beside and watch the lamb of God sacrificed on that hill.

When Jesus came, there was no room for Him. Yet He goes to prepare a place for us. And there is room enough in the Father’s house (John 14:2). Jesus ascended the hill, carrying the wood, making a way and preparing a place so that He could take us to the Father.

Prayer

Lord,
be at home in my heart.
Prepare a place for Yourself here.
Grant me an awareness
of Your Presence.
May I be content in
and with You.