Grace is coming.  God’s grace is upon you!  That’s the message of Christmas, and no where is it more clearly seen than in the Gospel of Luke.  Christians use the term grace so much, but do we really understand it?  If you took a moment, right now, to define grace in your own words, could you?  I know I have struggled!  I have a difficult time with abstract thought and things I can’t see, and for me grace falls in that category.  It’s one thing to be familiar with a definition, but another matter to understand a concept.  Let’s go beyond definitions to grasp the concept.

After much thought, I would describe grace as when those who have share with the have-nots.  It’s not that they have to share.  On the contrary, they have no obligation to share whatsoever.  They can do whatever they please.  But when those who have are generous and share with the have-nots, they do so in a way that draws them in and includes them.  It’s relational and inclusive.  It’s acceptance and kindness that doesn’t have to be given.  Grace is action that displays that the have-nots are no longer have-nots; they are those who have.  It’s identifying with, accepting, and being in relationship with those who have less so they can be included and be more.

Grace is powerful.

Grace is so powerful I cannot contain it in a two-word definition, and I’ve heard two-word definitions.  Honestly, I don’t believe a few sentences does it justice, either.  But, I’m excited to share with you what I’ve found in Luke, so we must move on because there is so much more to discover!

Just over a year ago I was studying the Hebrew word for grace, whose verb form is hanan (חנן).  (That will be important later, so remember hanan.)  I was hoping to get a better understanding of grace through its usage in the Old Testament.  Then advent rolled around and I decided to carefully study the advent narrative in Luke Chapters 1 and 2.  I was completely surprised to find that these two chapters are dripping in grace!  The Greek word for grace is used several times, which is sometimes translated as favor.  However, the concept permeates each section, and in some surprising ways.

Chapter 1 begins with Zechariah, a priest.  An angel appears to him saying he and his wife would have a baby boy.  In our English Bibles, we read that the angel instructs Zechariah to name the baby John.  The name John in Hebrew is Yohanan.  Do you see it?  Yo-hanan.  The name means God is gracious.  John’s name is to reflect his mission.

John was not the only character to surprise me with a message of grace in this advent narrative.  Fast forward to Chapter 2, when Mary and Joseph take baby Jesus to the temple.  They are met by two prophets.  The first is Simeon, who had a revelation from the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Messiah.  Was Simeon on a need-to-know basis with God?  No!  It was God’s grace that pulled him in and shared with him knowledge of the future.  God included him in how He was working in the world.

Next, we meet the prophet Anna.  Well… that’s her English name.  Her name would have been pronounced Hannah.  Hannah means gracious.  Hannah may have been considered a “have-not” by those around her.  She was poor, very old, and widowed while she was young.  But God shared with her this beautiful moment.  She was one of the few that saw the baby Jesus and recognized their Messiah.

Not only is the promise of grace strong in the advent narrative of Luke Chapters 1 and 2, but person after person experiences God’s grace.  Although they each experience different expressions of God’s grace, they all have the same basic reaction:  they exclaim the grace of God to all around them.  They have to share grace!  Once grace has been experienced, it cannot be contained or hoarded.  Grace spreads.

May Christmas be an experience of grace for you.  God has shared and desires to share so much more with you.  May His grace overflow in your life, saturating those around you.  Merry Christmas!

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Searching for grace in Scripture this week!

As we lead up to Christmas day, read Luke Chapters 1 and 2.  I’ve sectioned it out into 5 daily readings of about 20-30 verses a day.  Look for the concept of grace.

Monday:  Luke 1:5-38
Tuesday:  Luke 1:39-56
Wednesday:  Luke 1:57-80
Thursday:  Luke 2:1-21
Friday:  Luke 2:22-51

(By the way, you don’t need to know Hebrew to make these discoveries!  Study Bibles have this kind of information in the notes.  A Study Bible is an invaluable tool and wise investment.)