…the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3:38)
The top of the leaderboard only stands still at the end of the tournament. Within the bigger storyline of the event, each round has many stories. The players also have a daily and weekly stories, with joys and aches and birdies and bogeys, and these are weaved in with their larger life story. And their life stories are not simply isolated to golf, as they are also each part of their family and community story. Just like you and me. And all our stories are weaved in with each other to form the intricate embroidery that is history.
When Luke set out to tell of the story of Jesus, he was reminding his readers that, though it is a unique story, it is not isolated. It does not unexpectedly sprout up, but rather is part of and unfolds within the history of the world. Luke’s historical genealogy, going all the way back to Adam, tells us that the whole of human history, the entirety of ordinary family life since the very beginning, has been marching forward to a high story point: Jesus.
We must remember that the most miserable of days is part of, and not the end of the story.Beholding the miracle of the appointed time for our Savior to be born, and to live, and to die, and to be raised to life again, we find God’s faithfulness in preserving the promised seed of Genesis 3:15 through the flood and all the broken families of the Old Testament. God kept his promise despite and through it all. And this promise was never a small token of affection; it was always pregnant with the loveliest of treasures, of God with us, of salvation unto eternal life.
Just like we cannot know what a golfer is really like from just one round of golf, so we cannot really know Jesus just as an infant in the manger, or just as a rabbi, or even just as a man on the cross. The significance of the cross cannot stand apart from the family titles of “son of Adam” and “son of God.” The holy mission of the cross cannot be divorced from its purpose of redemption; it cannot culminate apart from the weight of the Old Testament narrative driving meaning into it. What we find in the New Testament is not a new page to start from; it is a page rather that continues the tapestry of God’s mercy and grace to sinful people.
In the middle of our personal stories, things can often seem bleak and God’s goodness and grace far off. Broken days and broken relationships weigh on us, and make us despise the history we were created to be a part of. There we must remember that the most miserable of days is part of, and not the end of the story. Since God kept the promise of Jesus through all the darkness of world history, no darkness within or without will stop him now.
No matter how many bad bounces you’ve had, double bogeys you’ve made, and no matter how many are ahead, Jesus stands forever on top of the leaderboard. Take heart, your story has purpose and hope, because it goes forth and ends with him and in him, not in shame.
—
Isabelle Beisiegel
December 17, 2015
Copyright 2015 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.