Advent: Hope in a Father Who Pursues

by Jessica Gilbert

Something that hits me each holiday season is the beautiful way that the Christmas story describes many of the ways that our Father pursues his children.  

“God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man name Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you…Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.’” (Luke 1:26-31) 

#1 – God our Father sent the angel Gabriel in physical form to calmy and powerfully tell Mary about the way that she was going to be used to birth Jesus. 

“Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.’” (Luke 1:39-44) 

#2 – After speaking with the angel, Gabriel, Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. The scripture says that the moment that Elizabeth heard Mary, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit filled Elizabeth with excitement and confidence about the birth of Jesus! 

“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. But 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’).” (Matthew 1:18-22) 

#3 – An angel of the Lord appeared to David in a dream to give him peace and crystal-clear direction!  

This articulation of our Father’s pursuit of us is something that I love to meditate on, especially during the Christmas season when it is so easy to allow my mind to drift to the materialistic, obligatory, and rushed side to this time of the year. Our Father chases after us, leaving the ninety-nine (Matthew 18). He doesn’t do this because one of us is somehow more valuable than the other, He does it because He is capable of loving each of us that much. He is able to maintain that laser-focus on each of us.  

I pray that you are filled with hope each time that you think about the Christmas story this year. Rest in the fact that our Father is not content and will not stop with a one-time whisper in your direction. He will not speak to you in only one color, but He will pursue you in a rainbow of different ways.  

^“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may OVERFLOW with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)