Good Morning Friends,
People keep asking me if I am ready for Christmas, so I thought I would pose to you a related question that is not so caught up in the anxiousness of whether we will get all the shopping done before December 25th. The last few weeks I have been contemplating John the Baptist and his relevance for Advent. But today we begin to shift focus to Mary the mother of God. And I wonder how prepared Mary and Joseph were for that first Christmas. Some people think Mary had to have been a frightened little child. But I do not think so. For sure things were out of their normal order. Sometimes it is hard to think about other people when things get busy. And yet when we do, we gain peace that the season was made for, and people often overlook. It happened to Joseph and to Mary too. It is easy for things to get out of order. The orientation to time and place and order is something we consider in determining a person’s mental health and so too when it comes to our spiritual health, it is easy for things to get turned upside down and inside out. Love though sorts it out. For example, when Jesus became our Sabbath, we began not so much to look forward to a day of the week or an upcoming feast day. Christmas in July…Christmas in December…or Christmas in September, the month when Jesus was probably born, makes little difference. The date of our conception, the date of our birth, the date of our rebirth makes little difference if indeed we are continually being reborn, if indeed every day is Christmas. And there is something to be said in support of living in this moment. In this way time really never runs out. Here giving and receiving converge in a way that prepares us for the real spirit of Christmas. Love creates a new order of things. Friends, I do not know if I will be able to attend all the events I want to attend or meet everyone’s expectations this Christmas. But I do hope that I am ready. And yes, I realize it is more blessed to give than to receive, but if there is ever a time when we need to learn to accept, hear, sense, and gather, it is during Advent. So, I hope I am ready for the real spirit of Christmas to come and stay and I hope you also are prepared to receive something that lasts and brings the fullness of life to each of us. Love came at Christmas as a gift so we might know how to live. Light came at Christmas so we might see. Jesus demonstrated it so we too might follow. So, Are You Prepared To Love All Year Long?
Scriptures: The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” Then they shall live in their own land.
Jeremiah 23:5-8 (NRSV)
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 36:11-12 (NRSV)
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25 (NRSV)
Message: Well, I guess if we are really going to be ready for Christmas, we will have to understand what it is we are anticipating in the first place for it is a celebration of the first coming of God in the flesh and an anticipation of the second coming of the King of Creation as well. But the great hope for Israel and for us as well is the strong forgiveness of God given to us on a cross even more so than the hope in a crib. Maybe it is right to think of a righteous oak tree and the nature of the Davidic Branch. It is so much like the birth of Jesus more than a decorated Evergreen Christmas Tree. The prophet Jeremiah uses the image of a righteous Branch growing out of a felled tree. Just when the tree of David seems to be left without hope, without offspring, this Branch emerges to establish justice and righteousness in the world. At a time when it seemed that the kingdom of Judah was being cut to its very roots, there could be no greater reassurance. Interestingly today’s passage from Jeremiah was given originally during the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. And get this, Zedekiah, means My righteousness is the LORD. Now this is somewhat ironic since it is on record that Zedekiah did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet to hear God’s Word. So, we have a deliberate play on words, for the name of the rightful king in Jeremiah’s prophecy, the one who brings salvation, and a safe dwelling place for His people is the LORD our righteousness. This King is Jesus, and He becomes our righteousness – making us righteous – when we are humble enough to put our trust in Him. Here our very faith in Jesus is what makes us righteous. Here a little baby begins to change everything. And so, it is in this spirit that we set aside this time of the year to prepare our hearts for worship but also to receive the message of love that God has sent to us through His Son Jesus, so we might be prepared for the Second Advent. And here the life of Mary can be helpful to us. The New Testament scripture says that the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and call His name Emmanuel, which means with us the God. And to be sure the goal is to have God abide in us too in a miracle that affirms a virgin spiritual birth in us too. But there are those in the church today who want us to think that it is not necessary to believe in the virgin birth. The Hebrew word from Isaiah they say, could just as easily mean young woman. And that is true, but the full understanding of the word would then be, a young woman of marriageable age. Regardless, Matthew is clear that this woman is the woman. The meaning is emphatic, leading us away from any other mother than the virgin Mary, and any other god than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The young woman of Isaiah who would bear a son called Immanuel, God with us, was prophetic regardless not ultimately in King Ahaz’s queen bearing the good King Hezekiah, nor in the larger sense of Zion bearing the remnant, but in the stream of holy history of Mary bearing Jesus the Savior and of Jesus birthing of the Holy Spirit in us.
And So, we are to see with new eyes as a child. Eyes like those of my grandchildren, running around the house. For the first 300 years of Christianity there was no significant Christmas celebration. The date eventually chosen, fell during a time of several pagan holidays. Today 1725 years later we celebrate Christmas, but it has become in many ways a secular holiday. But do not fear, for the future of Christmas is in good hands. God’s plan is not finished with Jesus’ birth. Perhaps the sentiment we are to have been as Charles Shultz wrote down for Charlie Brown to question Lucy, “Tell me, do we have to love each other only at this season of the year? Why can’t we love each other all year long?” After all, is not each and every day a day that the Lord has made? Is not today the day that He gives us the opportunity to receive forgiveness of our sins, help in our present situations and hope for the future on the return of the King? It is not Christmas but a type of Christmas each day the sun comes up. I do not know how you feel or experience God. I do not know if you have jumped into the river or are standing on the bank under the shade trees eating fruit and waiting for the flood. When I jump in, God is like water pressing in on me wave upon wave like the sea on the shore, but also like stars in the sky that reflect in my eyes, like a hand pressed on flesh and it is peaceful and at the same time disquieting. Perhaps I have seen the Christmas season come and go too many times. It is a mystery of words sworn in secrecy and then revealed at Christmas. Unwrapped like a present that then forgotten as if all of it had never happened. A chronic historicist repeated in a rhythm of darkness and light. Have I forgotten something important? That is how I feel about the church after Christmas has come and gone. That is how I feel about this stuff of mystery. I desire it to be as clear as a bell and in tune with vibrating memories. But memories are not so clearly stored and packed away with the ornaments of life. Sure, the stars still shine unchanging for the most part on these winter nights. They tell a story that astrologers miss. And there should be no mystery about it at all. Words become incarnate in my mind and then in the world around me. The light presses in on my soul and I remember looking here as a child playing at being grown up and knowing. But it is what I knew even then in the Spirit of the moment that is pressed into my soul. Wondering how God will unseal the surprises of life I press on into the day. Tomorrow seems easy but today seems so difficult. Clues are everywhere, even in the food. Maybe we will remember as we prepare. Christmas is coming but what will come next?
Pray we are ready to celebrate the incarnation of Christ. Pray we live and trust in the promises of Christ’s Righteousness. Pray we expect God to be with us each and every day. Pray we learn from those closest to Jesus. Pray we are living in anticipation of the Righteous King who came and will come again. Pray with humility and hope we receive the gift of forgiveness before Jesus is again sent to complete the prophecy. Pray for restoration. Pray for salvation. Pray for resurrection. Pray we realize that it is really a joy to all nations that Christ was born, not as a great scientist, economist or entertainer but as one bringing what the world needed most… forgiveness, love, and insight. Pray therefore that forgiveness is offered, and love received this Christmas. Pray we realize that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the light of prophecy but also of the promise of love. Pray that we are prepared for both Advents. Pray that we bear witness to the miracle of love that He performs daily in our lives. Pray that we have faith and reason. Pray we love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls as a community of love. Pray we have the blessings of belief shared for those committed to following Jesus each day.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 