Advent Day 18

Wednesday, December 18th

23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. — Romans 8:23 (NIV) We celebrate the miracle of the incarnation at Christmas. It is the belief that Jesus came into the world as a human and, therefore, understands firsthand

what living in a body is like. He knew physical pain, suffered hunger and thirst, and cried real tears. He is “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3, KJV). In the incarnation, Jesus signals that the physical world is where He has entered to work and bless. But He doesn’t direct us to

magical levers we must push to merit His attention. There’s a longer trajectory to the restoration we are receiving.

In her book Miracles and Other Reasonable Things, Sarah Bessey talks about how a serious car accident changed her understanding of living in a body—especially one that breaks. She writes: “We are made in the image of God, (Genesis 1:27) communal by creation. And my body isn’t an impediment to knowing and following and embracing God. It’s part of the whole redemption. It is also redeemed, blessed by the incarnation all over again. Even my body, as it now stood, both healed and unhealed, was blessed.”6

By choosing to be one with us this way, compacting all divinity into small flesh to live and move as we do, Jesus shows His respect and love for the body, and His desire to save us, body and soul. While He walked on earth, He prioritized healing people’s physical bodies. But how do we cope when we pray for healing, but it doesn’t happen? As Sarah says, we must learn to “hold both grief and hope in [our] hands at the same time.” There

are glimpses of the coming restoration that has already begun this Advent.

O God, may I have eyes to see the ordinary and extraordinary miracles along the way. Amen.