Do You Know The Value Of Christmas To The Jews?
Good Morning Friends,
One of the biggest hurdles to believe that the Bible is inspired, is the whole thinking around the incarnation of Jesus as the Word made flesh. The challenge is made more difficult when so many of the Jewish people rejected Jesus. The history part is easy but God’s story beyond time makes my head hurt and perhaps the only medication is to believe and have faith that we have a role to play though a small part in the return of Jesus. Today’s scripture from Isaiah helps some. The reality that the Jewish people are still around after all this time helps too. It all starts out with the general principle that God is the God of history and in it God created you and me and relationships with people and people groups and in and through those relationships has a covenant with us that offers a series of promises…hope. That we as Gentiles have a relationship with God through the Jewish Messiah is somehow powerful. Sure there is tension in this, but you see, God promises that we will not fear because the love of Jesus, the Word made flesh, casts out all fear. That is why God came into the world. It all hinges on the incarnation…the birth of Jesus…the one. We need look no further. He promises to redeem us and buy us out of slavery. He promises to call us by name, as Christians. He promises that He is our Father and we His children that we belong to Him and He is for us. He promises to be there in good times and bad as the Lord of our body, mind and spirit. And being the way, the truth, the life, our Savior, He promises to see us as precious throughout eternity, for as He lives, we live. Yes God loves His creation, He loves us, values us, so much that He gave His son to make good His promise, purchasing us at a price beyond imagination so that we might experience God. Know how special you are. Know that it is God who provides hope. Know that you did not have to do anything to be born but you can share the message of having been reborn. So this morning embrace the mystery of the unimaginable price paid so you might have a whole and lasting life. Know, in the light of these promises kept, your true worth. But there is more. Do You Know The Value Of Christmas To The Jews?
Scripture: When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
Psalm 91:15 (NRSV)
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Isaiah 43:1-7 (NRSV)
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
John 1:9-14 (NRSV)
So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
Romans 11:11 (NRSV)
And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14 (NRSV)
Message: Forgive me if the choice of scripture and my comments paints of replacement theology picture, for that is not the intent. I really have a desire to share some thoughts around our role in Jesus’s second coming more so than the first…For there is nothing we could have done to bring Jesus to earth the first time. Thankfully God loves us despite who we are, Jew or Gentile. And God loves us no matter what we feel and think and despite what we do too. However because we are part of His creation and He desires for us to trust in Him and believe, I think that the message of Christ draws us into a conversation about how we might be part of Jesus’ second coming. And this is a little confusing because most are not comfortable with Jesus coming back a second time. Friends, God became flesh to make us divine. God did the heavy lifting. Our role is to be blessed to see how the power of how words connect thoughts and emotions to the wisdom and Word made flesh in the love of Jesus…in the love of God who sent his son. The value of Christmas is Christ. And Christ’s message of love and peace is to be shared but also valued in such a way that it prompts others to be jealous for their lack of it.
Pray that this Christmas we appreciate what the incarnation means for us. Pray that we be a Merry Christmas. Pray we realize that God still loves the world. Pray we have a peace and joy that opens the hearts of others and prompts them to desire for themselves a belief in Jesus. Pray we thank our Jewish friends for our relationship with God though Jesus and the scripture we see as manifested in His life and his incarnation. Pray that this season we praise God because He is the origin and owner of our praise. Pray that we reflect this praise in word and deed. Pray that the praise be continual. Pray that we become a blessing all the time. Pray that our vision of God never be small, blurred or blind but magnified in our hearts. Pray for our peace. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray we are ok with Christ ruling in our hearts. Pray we rejoice in the Word made flesh. Pray we realize that the only sane thing we can do is to have a love in us to share.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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