Tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent and today was the
first day of a devotional that Corinne and I are reading. It’s written by John Piper and its entitled “The
Dawning of Indestructible Joy – Daily Readings for Advent”. The theme of the devotional is the fullness
of Christ as described in John 1:14-16, The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the
glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth…… Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace
already given. Other translations
use the wording grace upon grace to describe what we’ve received from his
coming. Grace itself is unmerited favor.
We have received, through Christ’s coming, his advent, unmerited favor upon
unmerited favor. That’s something that
ought to supply joy in these dark days.
Today’s reading from Luke 19:10 speaks to the purpose in
Christ’s coming, The son of man came
to seek and to save the lost. Advent
means coming, so at Christmas we celebrate his coming to seek and to save the
lost, those who can be saved because they know they’re lost. A number of years ago a group of church
members, guided by my wife, Corinne, collectively created the mosaic shown below
of the prodigal son returning to his father.
Other than the boarder, the mosaic is made from broken ceramic pottery and
dishes. So as you view this work of art,
the brokenness that we understand from the story comes through as strikingly visual,
and we see ourselves in the broken and dejected image of the son who’s
returning to his father.
For us to receive grace upon grace, it helps to begin with the
reality that we need it, and desperately.
Lord, help me to see advent through the eyes of the broken person that I
am.
