The Miracles of Jesus

CHAPTER ONE Miracles of Jesus: Born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38) In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus is described as being the Messiah (Christ) who was promised by the prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible. Jesus is fully God and fully human. God allowed himself to be born as a person, to live among people and to teach people about God's plan of salvation and to die for our sins. Because Jesus also is human, he is called the Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus was born to a woman named Mary about 2000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem, which is near Jerusalem, in the Biblical land of Israel. Mary was engaged to a man named Joseph. In Matthew 1:20, Joseph is called a "son of David," meaning he is a descendant of King David, who ruled over Israel about 3000 years ago. Mary was a virgin when she became pregnant with Jesus. The miracle of the virgin birth of Jesus is recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew, it says: This is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law and yet, did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. Then after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us"). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Application for Community Building: Within each community lies the future and the purpose of that community and it is housed within the heart and spirit of each child. If we are going to have strong communities, we must have strong children. Unfortunately, within many of our urban communities, this is not the case. In this miracle, the birth of the Christ child, we see that God was orchestrating the entire process. Not only did God choose the vessel which would present the savior of the world, but He did it in such a way as to respect the customs of that day. When we are in the process of building community, we must first know what we are dealing with and once we assess the potential of that community we then must seek out the people that will carry the dream or vision of that community to full term. This means that not everyone who claims to be for the community is actually for the community. God specifically chose Mary and Joseph because of both their history and their future. And in choosing leaders to build our communities we must do the same. Mary was pure and undefiled, leaders must be dedicated and devoted to the purpose and promise of any given community. Mary was obedient, leaders must be willing to serve as well as be served. In this day and age, with so many so-called leaders “pimping” our community, we need leaders that are servants first. They must be willing to get dirty with those that they are trying to lead and basically, lead by example. As the story goes and as we will see in other miracles involving Mary that she was the quiet leader who knew her son and knew what He was purposed to do. Leaders must be clear on purpose, promise and process in order to build the community properly. When we look at Joseph from a community building perspective, he represents the reluctance and hesitancy of any community when the change that is needed and necessary doesn’t fit the status quo. Joseph represents the “traditional” approach to community building and when doing it the same old way and expecting different results was challenged, he had to be convinced. There are many within our community who are holding it back because of the fear of change and the fear of losing identity. This is becoming an ever increasing problem as our leaders of the past are maturing and yet, do not want to let go of the reins of power, influence and control. The solution to this is found in how God dealt with Joseph. In simple terms, God presented the case based on his position as “the Son of David.” Meaning that because Joseph was a part of the lineage that the Christ had to come through and because Joseph knew the law, God appeared to him in a dream to not only have his attention but to present it to him away from others that might have influenced his decision. When we are trying to move a community, we must engage the keepers of that community also known as the elders. Within them lies a reservoir of history and knowledge that we dare not forget and in fact, will create the foundation upon which to build. Emerging leaders within any community must find a healthy balance between themselves and the elders. By forging this alliance, the elders will be able to soften some of the blows that may come and also assist in guiding the new leaders in ways they may not have thought of. Joseph, within that short encounter with the angel, understood his role within the life of the new leader, Jesus Christ. He was there to provide the humanity that He was going to need, provide the understanding of a true father-son relationship and give him the skills that he had, so that He would become a builder of men. When seasoned leaders team up with young energetic leaders, there is always going to be a give and take within the process. Each entity must know its role within the construct of a healthy viable community. Both Mary and Joseph were given specific assignments in very different ways according to the purpose that each of them had to fulfill in order to present to the World the true community builder. What we learn from this is that while we all have a role to play in the building of our community, we must be willing to listen, learn, grow and go in order for the community to flourish. Failure to partner will create a dysfunctional community and the potential of that community will be lost, starting with the future of that community, the children.