...and the Word Became Flesh

 

Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 2020

In the beginning the Word already existed.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.  The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
So the Word became human and made his home among us.  He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.  And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.  John 1:1-5, 14

After a year of being stuck in Africa our Granddaughter made it home this week.  The reunion brought much relief, and prodded joyful memories.  Nine years ago we attended a middle and high school combined chorus concert at my granddaughter’s school.  We saw and heard Christmas, the part where He came in a lowly place, an unexpected place – a very noisy place full of barnyard critters.  

We got there early to get a good seat; and (wonder of wonders) we succeeded, right down front where we could see the dimples on my beautiful granddaughter as she sang a solo part, and we could also see our ,grandson in that red bowtie...priceless!  People were in a festive mood, and the kids sang the obligatory numbers that choirs have been singing for centuries.  They also sang “The Twelve Days AFTER Christmas” (five gold rings that turned your fingers green, along with three French hens that were turned into chicken soup to cure a cold….well, it was a hoot!). 

But that wasn’t Christmas – not the word become flesh.  The stage was decorated, the kids wore elf hats and antlers; but that wasn’t Christmas, either!

What made it Christmas, for me, was the rowdy crowd!  Through all fifteen songs the parents and friends of these kids kept up chatter, trips to the bathroom complete with swinging, slamming doors.  They talked, laughed, and made it impossible to hear the singing.  One group behind us must’ve had bladder problems; I counted eight trips to the facility in the hour and fifteen-minute concert.  The young lady behind me was reclining on her seat, one leg draped over the arm of her chair, dangling in the aisle; she was texting, playing video games, bouncing her baby sister on her lap, talking to her boyfriend, and singing (rather off key) from before the opening curtain, straight through to Silent Night.  It was like attending a combination football game and tractor-pull.  The crowd distracted everyone who was trying to sing, play, direct or hear.  Whew…talk about a “rowdy-crowdy”!  Our “concert rowdy-crowdy” was unknowing of the treasure those 7-9^th grade kids had practiced weeks to bring them. 

So, what’s the connection with the word became flesh?  God came to the rowdy and blind…and he did it on purpose!  Humanity without God is blind and unknowing.  Most of our manger scenes are quiet, very pastoral, and serene.  But has farm life ever really been quiet?  With all due respect to “Away in a Manger” – when cattle are lowing, they are loud.  They bellow because they’re ready for something to happen…very ready!  Goats, sheep, and pigs add to the noise too. 

The Word becoming flesh was God choosing to come to the middle of a rowdy mess, like an interrupted concert, a distracted choir, and a crowd, all blind to the beauty.  That’s grace…we didn’t deserve it, but he came anyway.  God chose to die for us – it tells us the truth – we’re that messy!  He was full of grace and truth…we’re that messy, and he loves us anyway.  He took our rowdy mess to the cross; that is the glory we celebrate this season.  He lived with us, died for us, and rose that his grace would carry us all the way to where he is now.  He did that for us blind, lopsided, and totally rowdy!

For You Today

If you don’t put yourself in the “rowdy” picture, guess again; He came for ALL of us.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image:  via Pixabay.com   W  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For more posts on John 1:1-14 see Catch and The Fullness of Time    

 

Some Patience Required

 

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”  And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”  “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied.  “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request.  But if not, then you won’t.”  As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire.  It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven.  Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father!  My father!  I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!”  And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.  Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up.  Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River.  He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”  Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.  When the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened, they exclaimed, “Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.  “Sir,” they said, “just say the word and fifty of our strongest men will search the wilderness for your master.  Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has left him on some mountain or in some valley.”  “No,” Elisha said, “don’t send them.”  But they kept urging him until they shamed him into agreeing, and he finally said, “All right, send them.”  So fifty men searched for three days but did not find Elijah.  Elisha was still at Jericho when they returned.  “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” he asked.  One day the leaders of the town of Jericho visited Elisha.  “We have a problem, my lord,” they told him.  “This town is located in pleasant surroundings, as you can see.  But the water is bad, and the land is unproductive.”  Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl with salt in it.”  So they brought it to him.  Then he went out to the spring that supplied the town with water and threw the salt into it.  And he said, “This is what the Lord says:  I have purified this water.  It will no longer cause death or infertility.” And the water has remained pure ever since, just as Elisha said.      2 Kings 2:9-22

Elisha had a burning desire to carry on Elijah’s ministry.  He’d been the prophet’s  understudy and had seen God’s hand moving, and the good work accomplished.  There was some anxiety about whether he’d get the job after his master was gone.  There was some patience required.

Kind of sounds like Advent.  Every bit of the Old Testament’s pointing to the arrival of God’s kingdom was just that, pointing to the future.  Until Mary’s water broke, and the God/man Jesus came forth, it was all waiting. 

Much patience required.

And in that patience is a healthy portion of warning to not get the cart in front of the horse – and not even imagine it’s a cart and horse, rather than maybe, say, a space shuttle.  The prophets of Jericho thought they were doing good when they insisted on searching for Elijah, but they’d misjudged everything.  So did the people of Jesus’ day…they wanted a political messiah, so they put Jesus on trial to push the envelope.  And when Messiah wouldn’t bend to their wishes, they hung him on a tree on the town garbage dump.

We’re hardly better.  At the pace of life today, patience is more than a virtue, it’s the vital and missing piece of the puzzle.  We anxiously waited for the outcome of the presidential election.  Some are still wringing their hands, awaiting possible recounts to change everything.  The other half are wringing hands that their “win” will be taken away.  We’ve waited close to a year for a cure and vaccine for Coronavirus, and the injections will begin this week, albeit with wringing hands that it won’t cause this or that kind of new problem.

And the beat goes on! 

Waiting and anxious; nervous and expectant; never calm, claiming kingdom membership, but hardly living in the grace of God’s promises.

For You Today

The apostle Paul reminds us in his letter to the Roman church that the tribulation we now find ourselves in is God working on us to develop patience.  And, as Jesus’ half-brother, James, reminds us, we ought to thank God for that!

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  James 1:2-4

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image, Pixabay.com and    W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For another post on this passage see:  Chariot of Fire

 

Highly Favored - Part 2

[i]

Friday, December 23, 2016

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived.  She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth.  At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.  Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?  When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.  You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”  Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.  How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.  For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.  He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.  His mighty arm has done tremendous things!  He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.  He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.  He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.  For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”  Luke 1:39-55^(NLT)

Perhaps both Elizabeth and her niece Mary naively misunderstood everything.  They certainly couldn’t forsee all the pain that was on their horizon.  Elizabeth’s child would be imprisoned and beheaded; Mary’s child….well, you know.

But, their misunderstanding was well-placed.  Elizabeth’s and Mary’s words recorded in this text are words of utmost faith in Jehovah.  It was like a flash mob, extemporaneously gathering and exploding with praise on that Judean hillside.  Elizabeth was filled with God’s Spirit and bubbled over with praise for God’s kindness in bringing about the fulfillment of the long-awaited promise of Messiah. 

Mary, also, is seized by the Spirit’s joy and her Magnificat (song of praise) proclaims that everything in life is about to be turned upside-down:

·       Those with reason to be proud will be humbled

·       Those proud because of their riches will end up at the soup kitchens

·       Those who pridefully occupy thrones will be powerless

This is the future about which Mary and Elizabeth prophesy.  Everything is turned on its ear, and God sets it all straight.  So what have Mary and Elizabeth missed here?  What is misunderstood?

C.S. Lewis called Mary’s song a terrible song, playing on the Latin “terribillis” which means dreadful, frightful, fearsome[ii].  It seems the birth of Jesus will fiercly shake the very foundations of society and change everything. 

Children will do that!  When our first child, Jennifer, came along we were so thrilled, and so very naïve about how life was going to be so perfect.  The pain of childbirth, it is said, fades into memory past, leaving the joy of relationship.  But, in truth, childbirth also obscures the pain of the future.  Scraped knees and assorted “boo-boos” aside, this dangerous world (particularly to children) is a labyrinth of trouble.  There are places like the Twin Towers, Columbine, and Sandy Hook!

Mary sang over her firstborn, a perfect child – future king; but she missed entirely the shadow which the cross cast across that manger!  But that is how it is when you serve God.  When, like Mary, you commit to being His slave – your life will never be the same again, predictable and comfortable.  There is no such thing as safe obedience. 

Mary and Elizabeth…powerless, little hope for a secure future…lives of dead ends.  And, suddenly….God!  That’s how it is when you’ve got something new swelling your insides.

For You Today

Sometimes that so-called dead end you face is the beginning of God’s highly-favored blessing!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day, and a most blessed and highly-favored Christmas celebration this weekend!

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: Andrea del Sarto [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Scott Hoezee, The Center for Excellence in Preaching 

Highly Favored

[i]

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.  How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.  For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.  He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.  His mighty arm has done tremendous things!  He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.  He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.  He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.  For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”  Luke 1:46-55^(NLT)

This story has Hallmark made-for-TV-movie written all over it!  An angel suddenly appears to a young teen and tells her “you’re pregnant, and, by the way, God did it”.  The teen is so frightened she runs off to seek comfort from her favorite aunt, and the meeting turns into a crescendo of praise for God that’s like a choreographed flash mob.  Mary’s song would make the Sound of Music’s Maria and the Von Trapp family singers proud!  Let’s unpack the story:

An Unexpected Visit

The angel’s greeting gets this story off to a strange start.  He calls  her favored.  My friend Julie always answers this way.  I ask, “How are you doing today?”  She says, “Blessed and highly favored”!  Well, it sure didn’t seem so to Mary; she reacted in two very conflicting ways – fear and faith. 

Mary’s Fear

Mary’s fear was understandable; she was only twelve or thirteen, and this was very confusing news.  Her future was planned by her parents to be married to Joseph; she’s told she’s pregnant.  What in the world will she tell Joseph?  Joseph won’t understand this.  And what about her Dad?  Oh man, my dad’s gonna kill me!

She has questions for Mr. Angel…hey, this isn’t fair!  Life is tough enough when you’re a kid – why me, God?

Mary’s Faith

But then Mary’s faith surfaced and she resolutely accepted what the angel told her.  She states the obvious, that she is the servant of God.  The KJV has the word handmaid; actually the word is doulē (δούλη), and is better translated “female slave”.  Mary committed herself to serve God without regard to her own will; she would be a slave, surrendered in faith!

What do we learn from Mary’s fear and faith?  Fear means you’re looking at the short term difficulties of circumstances.  Mary knew it  could be a hard road ahead with this unexplained pregnancy on her resume’.  But faith drives you to make the first step of obedience to honor God, in spite of the circumstances.

You’ve done that.  When your parents helped you learn to walk  you had to trust them enough take a first step.  It was a small step, and you were probably scared, hesitant; this was new.  You may have fallen – but you learned, and it became natural for you!

Abraham did that.  When God called him to leave his home place to take his little family on a journey where God would lead, he took the hardest step of obedience – the first one. 

For You Today

When God chooses you it’s liable to mean small, fearful beginnings and a blind step of faith, but if it leads to the land of God’s blessing, be the slave of the Lord!  He “highly favors” you!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

[i] Title image: Andrea del Sarto [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Fullness of Time

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.      Galatians 4:4-5 (KJV)

One day years ago on the way home from church I spotted a bumper sticker that simply said, "I HATE YOU". 

Christmas was God, finding a way to give a gift with a whisper that simply says, "I love you." 

What kind of gift is this child of the manger?

A PRECISE GIFT

Paul said that it was “in the fullness of time" that Jesus came into this world.  That expression points more to our need than our progress.  At the PRECISE moment of our greatest need, according to God's plan, Jesus entered time and space to be our gift. 

From an historical view, all the conditions for the reception of the gospel were in place.  Several important circumstances show how God was working to move mankind into a "ready" position. 

The conquests of Alexander the Great had spread the Greek language throughout the known world.  Thus, the path was paved for the spread of God's written word. 

The Roman Empire and its "law and order" made travel between cities safe.  Evangelists like Paul could spread the good news quickly. 

Pagan religion was at its' height, leaving people empty and "thirsty" for something that satisfied.

There are times I do not understand what the Father is doing.  Things happen in my life which cause me to question His care; yet He is moving me in the course of His plan. 

In preparing to give my son a surprise for his birthday, we had to keep him in the dark for a while.  Then, on that precise moment, when the surprise would be most effective, and good for him, we turned on the light!  God is moving history towards His own conclusion.  He is precise, and so was the gift of Jesus. 

I would have done it differently.  Had I been God, I'd have shown-up in person, called a meeting and said, "Ok, everyone who wants to be in my family - step over here."  And those who didn't - ZAP! - gone forever!  But God didn't consult me....He gently broke into history, on a bed of straw.  He lived and died, and rose again, and He said I could too! 

God knew PRECISELY what gift we needed.

A PREPARED GIFT

God sent His Son.  A literal translation would expand the meaning of this verse:  "God sent forth FROM HIMSELF His son."  This points to the fact that Jesus existed in heaven long before He was born on earth.  The fact that God is Father presupposes the existence of a son.  God knew we would need a sacrifice to pay the price for our sin.  Jesus became that sacrificially-prepared gift. 

The Bible (Hebrews 1.1-2) says:

"IN THE PAST GOD SPOKE TO OUR FOREFATHERS THROUGH THE PROPHETS AT MANY TIMES AND IN VARIOUS WAYS, BUT IN THESE LAST DAYS HE HAS SPOKEN TO US BY HIS SON, WHOM HE APPOINTED HEIR OF ALL THINGS, AND THROUGH WHOM HE MADE THE UNIVERSE."

That speaks of a pre-incarnate Jesus.  Before He became Mary's son, he was the creator of this earth.  In Revelation (13.8) Jesus is described as the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth."  Isn't that something?  You and I prepare Christmas lists - God did too!

A PERFECT GIFT

A little boy was looking for the "perfect Christmas gift" for his mother.  He asked the sales clerk to see some cookie jars.  At a counter with a large selection of jars, he carefully lifted and replaced each lid.  When he came to the last one he seemed dejected, and asked the clerk, "Don't you have any that don't make noise when you lift the lid?"

Jesus didn't make a lot of noise when He came the first time.  He came in an ordinary way ("born of a woman, born under law").  He was just like you and me in that sense, fully human.  He had to go through childhood like I did; and struggle with young adulthood, like I did; and die like I must, so He could save me like I can't. 

His whole purpose was to "redeem" us.  That word is from the marketplace, meaning to buy back something that was lost to another.  Jesus was the perfect gift, in that, He accomplished exactly that which was His purpose.     

A PERSONALIZED GIFT

Those who've accepted the gift have been redeemed, adopted.  Paul calls it "full rights of sons."  This points out the grisly fact that there is something wrong with each of us.  We are not natural sons of God.  We may be of His creation, but because of sin, we are not God's children. 

It takes adoption for a stranger to be part of the family.  Dr. Richard Selzer wrote a book entitled, "Mortal Lessons, Notes on the Art of Surgery."  He shares an experience that speaks so powerfully of how God has personalized the gift of Christ toward each of us...

I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face post-operative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish.  The tiny twig of a facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth has been severed. 

She will be thus from now on.  The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh, I promise you that!  Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek I had to cut the little nerve. 

Her young husband is in the room; he stands on the opposite side of the bed.  And together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, private.

“Who are they?”  I ask myself, “he and this wry-mouth I have made” gaze at and touch each other so generously. 

The young woman speaks, “Will my mouth always be like this?” she asks.”  “Yes,” I say, “it will; it’s because the nerve’s been cut.”

She nods, and is silent.  But the young man smiles, “I kind of like it,” he says; “It’s kind of cute.”

All at once I know who he is.  I understand; and I lower my gaze.  One is not bold in an encounter with God.  Unmindful, he bends to kiss the crooked mouth, and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show that the kiss still works.

The kiss does still work, beloved. 

Sin twisted everything we are.  It has mangled what God created.  Yet, in Christ, God has reached down to where we are - twisted homes, marriages severed like cut nerves.  He has reached down to touch lives that are crooked with the emptiness of life in darkness.  Like the husband accommodating his own lips to the scars of his wife, the Lord came to a twisted world. 

And He loved us. 

What shall we do?  Say thank you! 

That's all He's waiting for.