Advent Through The Alphabet                  

is for Behold 

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” -Luke 1:30-33

ACTIVITY: Each family member should find a special, small item that can be hidden in their hands.  Keep the item hidden from the other family members as each person takes a turn to give 2-3 clues describing their item. After the clues are given, allow family members to guess what item is hidden in each person’s hands. After the guesses are made, reveal your item by saying, “Behold, it is ____!”

When we share something awesome or new, we ask others to behold it, which means something like check this out! We love showing off cool things, rock collections, collectable cards, handmade jewelry or maybe it is something we can do, like jump high, or doing a perfect cartwheel. Behold is a word to prepare others to see or experience something cool, amazing. It is a way of telling them to, “get ready!”

Beholding isn’t for ordinary things. We wouldn’t tell someone to “Behold, I am about to brush my teeth!” No beholding is for special, extraordinary, or new things.

Today we read the words of the angel to Mary, preparing her for something new and amazing. “behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Behold, you are going to have a baby and He is God!!

This isn’t the only time we are told to behold about Jesus. The shepherds were told to behold the baby (Lk. 2:10). The disciples and others beheld the great miracles of Jesus. And after Jesus died on the cross, the ladies in the garden beheld Jesus (Mt. 28:9), but He wasn’t dead, He was alive! Revelation 1:7 tells us that we are waiting to behold Jesus again, that He will come again. But while we wait, we remember the words of Jesus before He went into heaven, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:20).

PRAYER: Dear God. The baby Jesus is something to behold. Help us to share this exciting news with those around us. In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.