To all nations

just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. - Galatians 3.6-9

So it is Christmas Day again. This is my 59th Christmas. This is Mary and my 36th Christmas together. Those numbers are astounding. I have a hard time reading them and accepting that they are real. 

But anyway, a Happy and Blessed Christmas to everyone. Nollaig Shona agus Beannacht. 

Remember the message the angels proclaimed to the shepherds? 'Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.' 

That alone would have been a shock. Everybody knew that the Jews were God's people. This passage starts in a way that would seem to reinforce that. It starts with Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jewish people. Immediately though he moves from the Jews and the Law with 'only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham' to the famous phrase 'Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' 

Part of the great promise to Abraham, along with the promise of a multitude of children, was that 'in you all the nations shall be blessed.' Jesus was a 'son of Abraham' and only in Him could there be true blessing. Only the believing Jews were truly the children of Abraham and because of Christ the blessing is available to all.  

Faith was the key before Christ. In Christ that faith was fulfilled. And in Christ we have hope. The gospel that was preached to Abraham was the gospel we avail of through Christ.  

Indeed, Happy Christmas.