Archive for December, 2008

Nativity Narrative

December 29, 2008 at 12:22 pm · Filed under Jesus Christ, New Testament ·Tagged , , ,

Luke 2:22-28

Tradition

We all love the familiar Christmas carols, don’t we?  And the children’s Nativity Play, and the Manger Scene with the Ox and Ass standing by. The Shepherds with their lamb and the Three Wise Men gathering around the manger all together.

This is our traditional crib scene, and this is how we imagine the Nativity. Over the centuries the Church has made a pretty little story out of the Nativity. There is a danger of making it seem cosy and welcoming, when in fact it was the exact opposite. The stable was cold, droughty and smelly. There was no welcome for the Son of David in David’s town -  no room at the inn. And alongside the birth of the wondrous child we have such terrible events as the Slaughter of the Innocents and the Flight into Egypt.

In our Christmas services we hear parts of the Nativity story,  but rarely do we hear the whole story from beginning to end. It’s all out of context – no wonder people often get confused about the story.

To those who have not grasped the whole narrative there seem to be many discrepancies. Why does Luke refer to the “manger” – presumably in a stable – while Matthew talks about the “house” where the child was? Why does Luke speak of the presentation of the child in the Temple at Jerusalem  while Matthew speaks of the Holy Family fleeing for their lives to Egypt?

If we go through the story in chronological order we will see these discrepancies vanish. You see, Matthew and Luke are telling us different parts of the same story.

So let’s start at the beginning:

 
Preparation

Luke chapter 1 –  In the days of Herod King of Judea there was a priest called Zechariah. He had a wife called Elizabeth and they were godly and righteous people. Unfortunately they had not been blessed with children. (To be a wife and childless was a disgrace in those days.)  One day, when Zechariah was in the Holy Place, burning incense before the Lord, an angel appeared, to announce that Elizabeth was going to have a child. That child was to become John the Baptist, the one who would come first to announce the  advent of the Messiah.

So Elizabeth conceived – even though she was well past the age of childbearing. And when Elizabeth was six months pregnant there was another angelic visitation. This time the angel Gabriel was sent to  a young virgin in Nazareth called Mary who was betrothed to Joseph the carpenter. (She was a cousin of Elizabeth.)

Mary was astounded at the news that she was going to become the  mother of God’s Son. but the Angel Gabriel reassured her and reminded her that with God all things are possible. Mary immediately submitted to God’s will.

I am the Lord’s servant, Mary answered. May it be to me as you have said. Then the angel left her.  (Luke 1: 38)


So Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit while still a virgin. She went to visit her cousin in the hill country of Judea. When Elizabeth heard the voice of Mary she felt the child in her own womb leap for joy. Mary responded with that wonderful song known as the Magnificat. After three months she returned home to Nazareth.

 
Joseph

Meanwhile Joseph was in a predicament. We read in Matthew how he resolved to break the betrothal quietly. He was horrified to  find that his fiancee was pregnant with someone else’s child. He had not slept with her, she was a virgin and was supposed to be one until her wedding day. Joseph’s heart was broken at the thought that she had been unfaithful to him. But the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream to reassure him.

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.    ( Matthew 1:20)

So Joseph married  Mary,  knowing that her child was the Son of God.

 

Census

We go back to Luke’s Gospel for what happened next.

Caesar Augustus issued his famous decree. Like all politicians of all times he needed money – and the easiest way to get it was to raise taxes. And to raise taxes he needed to be able to check up on his subjects. So he ordered a census -  everyone had to go back to their ancestral home and be enrolled on the tax register there. What chaos it caused!  All the road were choked with families travelling to and fro. Joseph was of the line of King David so he had to go to Bethlehem. For Mary the journey was particularly hard and dangerous for the baby in her womb. It was 90 or so miles over rough road on foot or on donkey back and Mary was almost at full term. But Caesar Augustus took no reckoning of such things – everyone had to be enrolled, no exceptions.

When they got to their destination the town was crowded with other descendents of David who had also come to register. There was no room in the inn. And so, God’s Son was born in a stable or outhouse. Mary wrapped her child in strips of cloth and then placed him in the manger because she had no cradle for him.

Luke then tells us about the shepherds watching over their flocks who were told the glad tidings by the angel. And the choir of angels who proclaimed :

 ”Glory to God in the highest,  and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.” (Luke 2:14)

The shepherds hurried down to Bethlehem and eventually found the child in the manger. They were overjoyed and praised God.

Law of Moses

After a day or so, I should imagine, Joseph and Mary found better lodging than a stable for their child.  On the eighth day they took him to the local synagogue in Bethlehem to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses, and he was given the name Jesus – the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Now the Law of Moses also specified that 40 days after the birth of a male child  that the mother should go to God’s sanctuary to undergo rituals of purification and to present her child to the Lord. So it was that Joseph and Mary travelled from Bethlehem to Jerusalem,  to the Temple ( a journey of about 10 miles) with Jesus to dedicate him to the Lord.  As they were bringing the baby into the Temple courts they were met by a holy prophet of God, Simeon, who took the child in his arms and blessed God

“Now, O Lord you can let your servant depart this life in peace according to your word of promise – for my eyes have seen your salvation.”

Simeon had been waiting for this moment for years. (It had been revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.) Immediately he recognized this Child as the Messiah.  Simeon prophesized wonderful things about the Child and so did Anna, a devout elderly lady who had spent all her time in the Temple in prayer.

Wise Men

Now you might have noticed something missing in the story so far. Where are the Three Wise Men?

Let’s put aside any idea of the wise men arriving at the stable at about the same time as the Shepherds. Also let’s put aside any idea of them being kings – it says nothing about that in Matthew. As for the tradition that they were called Balthazar, Gaspar and Melchior, and that one was a European, one an Asian and one  African – all that is made up, sheer fantasy!

All Matthew tells us is that they were Magi or Wise Men. He doesn’t even tell us how many there were – although we assume there must have been three because of the three gifts. Let’s put out of our minds all traditional and legendary accretions and stick to the historical record. So where do the Wise Men fit in, if they were not in the stable?

We notice that Matthew tells us it was when Jesus was born in Bethlehem that Wise Men from the East came to Jerusalem. Some translations say after Jesus was born. And that makes sense because the wise men saw the star in their distant eastern country and that star presumably appeared on the very night Jesus was born. It could have taken them many weeks or even months to travel to Jerusalem. They may have come from Persia or from Southern Arabia.

We note that Herod was eager to know the exact time the star had appeared – he  wanted to know how old the baby was. late. Later, when he was filled with anger that the Wise Men had not returned, he gave orders to slay all the baby boys under the age of two in the Bethlehem area. It thus seems likely that Jesus was more that one year old by this time – possibly getting on for two.  If he was that old, then he would not have been in a stable. Joseph and Mary did not live in a stable permanently. Thus we have the explanation of Matthew’s reference to the “house” where the Child was.

Flight and return

When Herod ordered the slaughter of the  children Joseph was warned in a dream by an angel and fled the country with his little family. So  it was that God’s Son lives his earliest years, not in Israel, but in Egypt.

 Some time later Herod died and Joseph, Mary and Jesus went back to the Holy Land. Herod’s son was in control of Judea so they didn’t settle there. Instead they went back to their old home of Nazareth in Galilee. And there it was that Jesus was brought up.

 

Themes

In this wonderful narrative of the infancy of Jesus  we see a couple of very important themes:

God’s overruling providence
There were a number of occasions when the Child was in danger of loosing his life:

  • Mary could have had a miscarriage during the arduous journey to Bethlehem.
  • Jesus could have died of exposure in the street if shelter had not been provided.
  • Herod’s soldiers could have killed him along with the other baby boys, But God protected his Son.

 

God’s concern for the outsider
In this narrative we see God’s concern for despised agricultural workers ( and shepherds really were regarded a the lowest of the low), childless women like Elizabeth ( and they really were despised), widows like Anna (who had no place in the social structure) and Gentile like the Wise Men (who would have been treated with disdain by Herod’s scribes, despite all their wisdom and wealth). And the Holy Family found refuge in the despised pagan land of Egypt – the very place where the Israelites had formally been slaves.

God chose the humble and  weak people and the despised and and deprived situations to  bring about his salvation. His Son came not just for the rich and powerful, the honoured and the admired. He came also for the humble, the poor, the needy, the outcast and rejected.

God’s salvation is for all people. As the angel said to the shepherds:

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

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Mary and Joseph

December 20, 2008 at 1:08 am · Filed under Christian living, New Testament, marriage ·Tagged , ,

 
From the experience of Mary and Joseph we can learn something for our own lives. An example to follow.

Mary

She was a young woman who was:

 Godly

The angel said: “the Lord is with you” – obviously Mary was a girl who knew and loved God. The Lord would not have chosen her if she had been in rebellion against him.

Are we the same kind of people?

 

Perplexed

Mary didn’t know what these words meant. How could she be highly favoured of God? Why should an angel (the Archangel Gabriel no less) visit her?

We also may be perplexed in life by many things.

 

Apprehensive

Mary had questions to ask the Archangel Gabriel. She didn’t see how it could come about that she would be the mother of God’ Son, the Messiah. She wasn’t married and she was still a virgin.

Perhaps we have questions about life and about God which seem to be unanswered.

But Gabriel reminded Mary: “Nothing will be impossible with God”. When God is in the midst of a situation that situation is transformed. And this is true of our situations – who knows what God can do in our lives when we open up to him?

 

Believing

Mary trusted the words of the the angel. She believed the promises of God – even though what was promised was unprecedented in human history.

Do we trust God – his promises to us? Do we believe in Jesus his Son?

 

Submissive to God

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:38)

Will we say “Yes” to God, as Mary did.

 

 

Joseph

He was a young man who was:

 

Righteous

Like Mary he also loved and feared the Lord. He knew God and sought to live by his laws. We are told that Joseph was a righteous man.

 

Perplexed

Joseph also was perplexed – not to say shocked. He found out his fiancee was pregnant. He had not slept with her – some other man must have seduced her. She had been unfaithful to him. And yet, it was so out of character for Mary. How could she have done that? His mind was in turmoil – probably more so than the mind of Mary.

 

Loving

Joseph still loved Mary. As a religious man, a righteous man, he would have to break off the betrothal. But as a loving man he would do it quietly, to avoid scandal and pain to Mary. He still loved her.

Are we capable of having the same kind of loving spirit Joseph had?

 

Believing

But when it was all explained to him by the Angel of the Lord, in a dream, then Joseph believed God. Although it seemed a far-fetched and even incredible explanation, he believed. Perhaps his knowledge of Mary’s character and his love of her made it easier for him to believe this than that she had been unfaithful to him.

 

Obedient

Like Mary he did what God said. He took her to be his wife, so that he could become the foster-father of Jesus. Mary was not going to be a single mother, and Jesus would have a human father-figure.

 

One last thing:

Self-controlled

“He had no marital relations with her until she had born her Son”

Although he was her husband he did not demand his marital rights. So their marriage was not consummated until after the birth of God’s son.

After that time they took up normal marital relations and other children, brothers and sisters to Jesus, were born to Mary and Joseph.

Joseph and Mary’s discipline and control in sexual matters is an example to all followers of Jesus.

 

If only we could all be the same kind of people Mary and Joseph were: godly, believing, obedient, loving and self-controlled.

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The true spirit of Christmas

December 14, 2008 at 9:57 pm · Filed under Christian living, New Testament ·Tagged , , ,

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28


Well, Christmas is almost upon is. Next Sunday we will have our carol service. Everyone is going about making  preparations – all the rush and bustle of the pre-Christmas period. Some of us have already had more than one Christmas dinner!

With all this bustling activity how can we keep the true spirit of Christmas?

The first thing is surely to come to church and to worship Jesus Christ. That is what we are doing today and we can find in the New Testament many passages which offer guidelines for living the Christian life. One of them is in our reading from 1 Thessalonians today. Paul gives advice on how the followers of Jesus Christ should behave. If we follow these guidelines we will be living as true Christians and keeping the true spirit of Christmas.

I Thessalonians 5:16-24
 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good;  abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

How?

Now there seem to be some very difficult commandments here. How can you “rejoice always”, or “pray without ceasing” or “give thanks in all circumstances”? it just seems impossible, doesn’t it?

The first thing we should note is that these words are intended for committed Christian believers – they are  for those within the church. Can you imagine the response of the outsider to these words?  What would a non-Christian say?

“Rejoice always? Are you kidding? Who can do that? Should anyone ever do that? Isn’t that just plain denial, a refusal to deal with the present moment?
Pray without ceasing? Who can do this? That will give you camel knees? Besides, isn’t there too much work to be done to just waste time mumbling in the dirt?
Give thanks in all circumstances? Whose side are you on anyway? O yeah, slap me again, it felt so good.
Do not quench the spirit? Now there’s one I can agree with. This is the time of season to be merry and to party. Let’s break out the spirits!

The rejoicing, praying, giving thanks in the Spirit are things done by insiders; that is, by those who know something about the present circumstances that can only be known by faith.”  -  (Comment by  preacher from the Internet.)

The point is that to those who are outside the life of faith, those words are ridiculous. But to those who are inside they not only make sense, they give purpose to life.

 

Looking from the inside

Inside is different from outside. It’s a bit like Dr. Who’s “Tardis”. From the outside it’s just an old-fashioned 1960s police telephone box. But inside it is a vast hi-tech ship capable of traveling through time and space. It’s totally different inside. So is the life of faith.

Let’s try and look at these words then from within the faith.

 ”It is not who you are or what you were that is of interest to God but what you desire to be.” –St. Gregory.


It’s your aspirations which matter. And these words are aspirational. We may not always be able to achieve the standard set out here by Paul but we will try. We will aspire to be true followers of Jesus.

To capture the true spirit of Christmas we must:

 

1) Rejoice always

Now this doesn’t mean we have to go around like Pollyanna, denying the reality of evil (although to be fair to Pollyanna the little girl in the story, that’s not what she did, she just looked for the positive in everything).
It doesn’t mean we have to go about with a great big grin on our face and smile in all circumstances. No, that is something which people who do not know the Lord may have to do. They may have to be in denial about the realities of life. The Christian, on the other hand, knows how to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. The person of this world can only cope with its problems by denying them. The so called “joy” of this world is not really joy -  it is happiness. And happiness, by its very nature, is temporary.

Note that the word “happy” is derived from “hap” or circumstance. So when good things happen to you you are happy, when bad things happen you are unhappy. It’s all a matter of “hap” or chance. But Christian joy is more than just happiness.

One preacher puts it this way:
“Outsiders have never experienced the presence of the Holy One. They base their joy on their physical and relational circumstances. Relationships always change, they are like rollercoasters. (Which is why basing marriage on romantic love is so silly) Our joy is based on our experience of the Divine…  
Most of our culture is based on selling each other joy [or rather: happiness], prepackaged, easy to use. But the toys always break, the sex appeal fades, they stop laughing at my jokes, and sooner or even sooner some really bad stuff happens. Only God remains. Only God is faithful. “

Our joy is something much deeper. We can hold on to it under trial and temptations because we know the presence of God in our lives. We know he loves us – he sent his Son to be born in a stable and to die on a cross. Whatever happens to us in this life we know there is a better world coming. To paraphrase an advertising slogan: “The future’s bright: the future’s” … no, not Orange.  Rather, the future is suffused with the golden glow of eternity.

The Apostle Paul could rejoice even while he was in prison and we also can learn to rejoice, even in the setbacks of life.

 

2) Pray without ceasing

 No, it doesn’t mean going around mumbling prayers all day long. I think it means: don’t give up praying, don’t get so discouraged that you stop taking things to the Lord in prayer. He is with us at all times and there is no time or place in the world we can not pray to him. For some people, their time of prayer is just when they kneel down at their bedside to say their prayers. For others there is the realization that we can talk to God in a onversational way throughout the day. We don’t have to pray out loud  – God reads all our thoughts.

So I think this instruction is about having a prayerful attitude in all that we do.

 

3) Give thanks in all circumstances

Once again we seem to be back to Pollyanna – the relentlessly cheerful orphan in the story who found an occasion for thankfulness in everything. Have you seen the film of it  (it was on TV recently) starring Hayley Mills aged 12.

It’s quite a good film really. Pollyanna’s parents had been missionaries in the West Indies. She had wanted a doll for Christmas so they asked the Mission Society to send one for their little girl. When the parcel arrived they discovered there had been a mix-up – it was a pair of crutches, not a doll. Pollyanna was upset but her Father said  “Let’s play the Glad Game -  think of something you can be thankful for.”
“What’s good about having a pair of crutches?” she said.
“Well you can be thankful you don’t need to use them!” said her father.

I’m not saying we should all be like Pollyanna’s father, or like Pollyanna herself – there is something off-putting about relentless cheerfulness. But there is  such a thing as a positive attitude to life.
 If we believe God loves us and he is working out his divine purposes then we can find things to be  thankful for in the circumstances of life. In the film Pollyanna and her father had made a game of it – the Glad Game. Always look for the silver lining in the cloud. It is surely a good thing to cultivate a positive, optimistic attitude. Look for the things for which you can thank God.

(Remember: this is meant to be aspirational – I do appreciate that we do not always manage to achieve it.)

 

4) Do not quench the Spirit

No, it doesn’t mean “drink your whiskey neat”! It refers to the way we can hinder the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. By a lack of faith, or by negative attitudes, we can fail to take hold of the spiritual gifts he has for us.

There is a story about a man who had a dream of heaven. An angel showed him  into a room, the walls of which were lined with cubby holes. inside each cubby hole was  a parcel, all  wrapped up. “Who are all these  presents for?”,  said the man.
“These are all the spiritual blessings and gifts the Lord wanted to give you in your lifetime, but you didn’t take hold of them!” said the angel.

Yes, we can quench the Spirit if we are too proud to accept what God offers us. If we try to live the Christian life in our own strength.

 

5) Do not despise the words of prophets

This is linked with the previous one. God has given gifts of prophecy to some people. He can use them to convey his words. Prophecy can come in different ways, I think:

  • it might be the words of a preacher in a sermon
  • it might be the words of Scripture
  • it might be that someone really feels they just  have  to say something to us.

All these can be forms of prophecy. “Now, if God is speaking to you”, Paul says, “don’t despise what he says. Listen to the way he wants your life to go”.

But, of course, not every prophecy is true. Not everyone who says, “The Lord told me this”, is speaking the truth.sometimes they are deceiving, and sometimes they are self-deceived so:-

 

6) Test everything

Check up on whether it really is from God. How can we know? Ask yourself:

  • does it agree with the teaching of the Bible?
  • does the prophecy ring true? If specific facts were given, did they turn out to be true? Did any predictions come about?
  • What about the lifestyle of the person who brings the message. Are they godly, are they honest, are they loving, are they humble?

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7: 15-16)


Jesus tells us it’s by the way a person lives their life and by he things they do that we shall know if they are genuine.

Test everything – don’t be gullible – don’t be taken in by every new and trendy teaching.

 

7) Hold fast to what is good and abstain from every form of evil

It’s not just a matter of exercising discernment, we must live godly, honest and loving lives also.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable— if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think about such things.  (Philippians 4:8)

We need to concentrate on the things that are good and wholesome (and that seems to have brought us back to Pollyana again!)

 

Conclusion

 

As Paul draws near to the end of his epistle he pronounces a benediction on his hearers and readers:
 
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
(Thessalonians 5:23-24)   

You see, it’s not a matter of struggling hard to live up to these commands it’s God who will do it in us. He will do the work of sanctification by his Holy Spirit, we do not rely on our own strength. And as we live our lives we are looking forward the return of our Lord when we shall be with him for eternity.

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Magnificat!

December 9, 2008 at 10:22 am · Filed under Jesus Christ, New Testament ·Tagged , ,

 See full size image

Have you seen the film of the Nativity Story which came out a couple of years ago?When my wife and I looked at a DVD of it , I must say, we found it a disappointment! It was so plodding and slow, so downbeat and lacking in drama. Here we have the greatest story ever told and unfortunately it is presented with less movement and action than an infant school nativity play. For example when Joseph and Mary get to Bethlehem in the film, the place seems to be deserted! In reality it would have been packed with other visitors who were also going to be registered for tax puposes – that’s why there was no room in the inn. The scene with the angels and the shepherds was particularly disappointing – we had one shepherd and one angel, and he was just a man in a white gown with a light behind him! Where was the blazing light shining all around? Where were the cowering shepherds? Where was the angelic choir filling the heavens with their praise?

With all the resources of digital technology you would think something would be possible.

But most disappoininting of all, to my mind, was the portrayal of Mary. She was so passive, so lacking in character and emotion! In reality, what happened to Mary was exiting, and traumatic, and wonderful, and distressing all in one. But in the film the young actress playing Mary showed hardly any emotion at all. Perhaps we have got used to the portrayal of Mary as a passive and characterless figure, but nothing could be further from the reality. Read the gospels and you will see a feisty young woman with amazing strength of character as well as humility and deep reverence for God. Like her Son she wasn’t all meek and mild but could talk about tyrants being toppled from their thrones – revolutionary stuff!

 

Mary’s Son and Saviour

 

When Mary went to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth the child in Elizabeth’s womb moved suddenly. That child was to destined to be known as John the Baptist, the one who pointed people to the coming Messiah. When her child moved in her womb Elizabeth interpreted it as her baby leaping for joy at meeting the child in Mary’s womb, the one who was the Messiah. Elizabeth uses a very significant phrase in speaking of Mary – “the mother of my Lord”. What an amazing phrase! “My Lord” here means “the Messiah, God’s Son”. We talk about Peter’s amazing confession of Christ: “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”. And Thomas’s confession after the Resurrection: “my Lord and my God!”

But this statement was even before Jesus was born! What tremendous faith Elizabeth had: “Mother of my Lord”!

Of course, Christians of some traditions have made a great deal of the unique position of Mary. They venerate her above all the Saints and offer prayers to her. Some even speak of her as the mediator between us and God, co-redeemer with Christ. They have also said that Mary was the product of an imaculate conception, that she was sinless from before birth and throughout her life. I have no doubt that Mary herself would be horrified at this. She was very much aware of her own unworthiness before God and she knew that, in common with every other human being (apart from the child in her womb), she was a sinner. She needed to know the forgiveness of her sins like all of us. She needed to now that God was her Saviour:

And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, ( Luke 1:46-47)
How wonderful to think that as she spoke these words her Saviour was there – in her womb. 33 years later Jesus, by his death on the cross, was to save Mary, and all of us, from our sins.
As she was filled with the Holy Spirit Mary declamed a wonderful paeon of praise to God, the Magnificat, which is so well known to anyone who attends the evening prayer of the Church of England. In this poem she recited the mighty deeds of God for his people – how he had defeated tyrants (like Pharoah and Nebuchadezzar). How he had raised up humble people (like David, Esther and Hannah).  Mary’s song owes a great deal to the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2: 2.

I said earlier that Mary’s words were revolutionary. Consider this:

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
(Luke 1: 51-53)
 
 
Three-fold revolution 
 
 the Magnificat has been described as the most revolutionary document in the world. William Barclay talks about a 3-fold revolution:

 

1) A moral revolution

 v5 “He has scattered those who are proud in their thoughts”.

Christianity, says Barclay, is the death of pride. If you set your life alongside that of Jesus you can never be proud. The proud will always be rejected by God, and the humble always be acceptable to him. In order to become a Christian you have to humble yourself, confess your sins and seek mercy. If you have ever been to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem you will know that, although it is a magnificent Byzantine basilica, you can only enter by a small door with a very low lintel. You have to bow your head to enter. This is a picture of the Christian faith – a moral revolution of the heart.

 

2) A social revolution
 v52  “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble”.
Christianity puts an end to the worlds labels and prestige.It lays no stress on the world’s status symbols. The true Christian is not concerned with how well a person dresses, or what car they drive, or how much money they have, or that person’s status in society. All that is required is a heart that is open to God. Barclay tells of Muretus, a wandering scholar of the Middle Ages, who lived a life of poverty. He was taken ill and brought to a hospital for homeles people. The doctors were all around him, discussing his case in Latin. “How about using this fellow for one of our experiments? He’s only a worthless wanderer”. They said this, not knowing that the patient could understand. Muretus looked up and answered, in Latin, “Call no one worthless for whom Christ died.” Once we have grasped that truth we can despise no one as a human being. (We might despise what they believe, or what they do, or what they stand for, but that’s another matter.)
 

3) An economic revolution
v53 “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty”.
Now this sounds like Communism, but remember: the New Testament got there first! Marx and Engels and the others borrowed the ideas of the New Teatament and just left God out of it. And you can’t leave God out of it – that’s where the Communists went so fatally wrong. You can’t enforce equality by means of violence. You have to have a moral revolution first. People have to come to love Jesus, then they will want to share with the needy.
Barclay says: “A non-Christian society is one where each man is out to amass as much as he can get. A Christian society is a society where no man dares to have too much when others have too little, where every man must get, only to give away.”

 

God working through people

No, you can’t leave God out of the picture. Mary’s words are revolutionary, but not in the way Marx and Lennin were thinking of it. She is not saying, “Rise up, O oppressed people, and tear the thrones from the tyrants. Grab the bread from the hands of the rich and give it to the poor!” No, she says, “It’s God who will do these things”.

  • He will scatter the proud
  • He will bring down rulers
  • He will lift up the humble
  • He will fill the hungry
  • He will send the rich away

Of course, God will do these things through people. He will use men and women to fulfil his purposes, but they must never try it without him. That will only lead to disaster and boodshed, as the story of revolutions tells us. (Think of the French Revolution if you want to see what happens when you leave God out of your social reform.) And so in this wonderful song of praise we see the purpose of God being worked out. It will come about through the coming of Mary’s Child, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

 

David Jenkins

(Article from the Treasury Magazine of the Presbyterian Church of  Wales) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Advent Comfort

December 7, 2008 at 1:17 am · Filed under Jesus Christ, Old testament ·Tagged ,

Isaiah 40:1-11,  Mark 1:1-8.

There is a time for all things, we read in Ecclesiastes: a time to destroy and a time to heal.

Doom and gloom

The prophets of the Old Testament seemed to spend a lot of their time proclaiming messages of doom and judgement. The people of Israel and Judah had sinned against the Lord. They had turned away from the Living God. They worshipped idols, they neglected to care for the poor, they oppressed the needy. The leaders of the nation -  the King, his nobles, and the priests were the worst because they were complacent about God’s judgement coming upon them. They were so taken up with themselves they didn’t see it coming. (Rather like those financial wizards who didn’t see the credit crunch coming.) It was the task of the prophet to undermine this sense of complacency and to warn the people. That’s why there is so much doom and gloom in the prophets.

But one day the catastrophe came. The Babylonians invaded and destroyed Jerusalem. The Temple became a ruin the Ark of the Covenant was taken, never to return. And the people went into exile.

So now the time for doom and gloom was over and a time for hope and comfort came. You see, there is a time for all things: a time to confront and a time to comfort.

If you take a look  at the book of Isaiah you will see that chapters  one to 39 are mainly about God’s judgement on the nation and on the peoples of the nations around, but from chapter 40 onwards there is a dramatic change in tone.  Comfort and hope for the worst of times, soft reassuring words replace the harsh warnings of Isaiah’s earlier chapters.

 

Healing and comfort

From now on the book of Isaiah is mainly about  God’s care for his people, his salvation coming to the world  through the Messiah, the Suffering Servant. Isaiah 40 was written to address a situation in which the nation had been devastated by being sent into exile. The Babylonians had ruined everything -  but now God says he will restore his people. He will bring them back from exile, he will heal and comfort.

In those days there were many people who needed hope and comfort – and I think the same is true today. Let’s see what comfort there is for us in this passage:

“Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people!” As we read these words inevitably the  music of Handel’s Messiah seem to ring in our ears. For this message of comfort  to Israel has for centuries been seen as a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word Comfort in English comes from the Latin Confortare “to strengthen much” (derived from com- + fortis ). So when we think of God comforting us we are not talking about a warm, gooey feeling – no its more like a bracing fresh breeze which invigorates us.  It is the wind of the Holy Spirit, who also is called the Comforter. In Greek this is the word Parakletos which means “one who stands alongside” – to encourage, to strengthen, and also to plead on our behalf.  Through his Holy Spirit the Lord does all this for us.

We can all find comfort in three characteristics of God revealed to us in these verses:

A God who is forgiving

 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has  been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.  (Isaiah 40:1-2)

God’s people had sinned, they had worshipped idols and turned from the Living God and punishment had come upon them – they had gone into exile. But now has come the time for forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Old Testament reveals to us a God who forgives sins when the sinners repent  and return to him. And the New Testament reveals how this came about – how God sent his Son  Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is the very centre of our message that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16)
Because Jesus died for us we can know that God is a forgiving Father. And when we receive Christ as Saviour we experience that forgiveness.

 Our good news to the world is that we have a Saviour:

 “We have a gospel to proclaim,
Good news for all throughout the earth,
The gospel of a Saviour’s name.
We sing his glory, tell his worth.”

 

A God who is present

Isaiah speaks of a God who is coming to visit his people:

A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.  (Isaiah 40:3-5)

The people had to get ready to receive God.

In those days when a king visited his people he would send out engineers beforehand with workmen to make the roads ready. They would level and straighten the roads. All the potholes and dips would be filled in, all the lumps and bumps would be cut away. The bends would be straightened and the rough surfaces smoothed. All this was done to prepare for the progress of the King’s chariot throughout the land.

So Isaiah says, in like manner,  the people themselves must also prepare their hearts  for the coming of the Lord God.

When John the Baptist came, that’s just what he did -  he urged people to get themselves right with with God. To repent and get rid of all the crooked actions and all the rough and uneven areas of their lives.  They had to turn from their sins because the Messiah was on his way. 

For us the good news is that the Messiah,  heralded by John, has come.  Jesus is Immanuel – God with us. (Even though he has now ascended back to heaven he can dwell in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.) But first we must repent of our sins  – straightening the crooked, smoothing the rough – and we must believe in him.

Often people expect comfort from Christian ministers – especially in times of bereavement. And there can be great comfort in  the words of scripture on such an occasion. But I have found that the comfort can only really there to help a person if that person has faith in God. If there is real Christian faith then there is also great hope and comfort in the message of God’s love and Christ’s victory over sin and death. But the stark fact remains that Scripture offers no comfort for those who do not believe, who refuse to follow Jesus.  All we have to offer people is Jesus Christ himself  – there is no comfort or help apart from him. How important then that preachers do urge people to repent and believe. The blessings for those who do are immense.

A  God who is caring

 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.  (Isaiah 40:11)

This  is the comfort we can offer to people. We can say: Ask Jesus into your life, become one of his flock. He is the good shepherd, you are his sheep, his lambs. See how tenderly he cares for them. He takes special care of the weak and feeble lambs and of the ewes who have the extra burden of feeding their young.

 We may take encouragement if we are his sheep, in the knowledge that he is especially close to those who feel feeble and weak. Those who do not trust in their own strength will know his help most of all. Those who are broken and battered by the world will know his comfort the most.

“Jesus is our shepherd,
Wiping every tear.
Folded in his bosom
 What have we to fear?”

The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, Jesus tells us in John’s Gospel.

May this season of Advent and Christmas be a time of comfort and joy to each one of us as we trust in the God of all comfort.

“God rest you merry, gentlemen.
Let nothing you dismay.
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day,
To save our souls from Satan’s power
When we had gone astray -
 O tidings of comfort and joy!
Comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy!”

(Traditional carol)

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