Christmas 1 – 29 December 2019 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for this meditation is written in the 2^nd Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 13 – 23:

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet,  “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 

Herod Kills the Children

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 

¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah, 

weeping and loud lamentation, 

Rachel weeping for her children; 

she refused to be comforted, because they ^care no more.” 

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. ²³ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Hark!  The herald angels sing!  Glory to the newborn King!  Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.  What our minds could never fathom, and our hearts could never dream, God has done.  The virgin bears an infant with virgin honour pure.  God takes on human flesh to live among us and to give us the gifts of life and salvation. ”Joy to the world!  The Lord has come!” It is truly “the most wonderful time of the year!” 

But, in the afterglow of Christmas, we are jarred back to the realization that there is little rest for those who are marked with the sign of the cross. All that God is and all that He represents is detested and disdained by the world and the devil. In the Gospel reading for this morning, Herod is intent on killing Jesus because he perceived Him to be a threat to his kingdom and power. We might say that, Herod, in this instance, is the devil incarnate, because he demonstrates the vile contempt of the devil for God’s Christ and for all of the children of the covenant. He spews his murderous hatred and leaves behind him a path of carnage and the anguished cries of mothers weeping for their sons.  

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

For over 1,600 years the Church has observed December 28th as the day of the “Holy Innocents.” The day commemorates the slaughter of the little boys that Herod ripped from their mother’s arms in a futile attempt to kill the Christ of God.  The day also presents a stark reminder that the Church must live in a militant state until the day of our Lord’s coming. There are battles to be fought, truth to be proclaimed, and pain and suffering to be endured. All under the providential care of the One whose life we adore and whose grace and mercy gives us resolve and strength to meet, with courage, each new and crafty assault of the evil foe.

As a church that is “pro-life,” the day of the “Holy Innocents” is also a good time for us to mourn and lament our own failures in allowing the atrocity of “abortion on demand” to be the law of the land in this country so blessed by God.  Daily in Australia, unborn children are being ripped from their mother’s womb under the guise of personal freedom and choice.  What can we say but God forgive us that our righteous cry has been insufficient to stop such a slaughter of the helpless.  God grant us the conviction, the resolve to never view human life so carelessly. God grant us the resolve to reach out to those who fear that they have no choice but to take the life of their unborn child. And God grant us the mercy and the compassion to speak words of forgiveness to those who have taken the life of their unborn child, and who, like Rachel weep because their child is no more.  

Children, of course, are the most defenceless, the most helpless among us. For that reason, God commends them to their parents who are to nurture them, to love them, to care for them, even to sacrifice for them. Beyond God’s charge to parents to tend to the physical needs of their children is His charge to give them new life in Christ through the water of Holy Baptism. The child, having been marked with the sign of the cross, is entrusted to his parents, who are to teach him about the grace of God given to him in his baptism and to remind him that, with the mark of baptism, he became an avowed enemy of the devil. It is also to teach him, that, though he is weak and helpless, he is nonetheless a formidable opponent in the good fight of faith, Christ, the Lord of the Church, giving him strength.

The Church too, has an obligation to nurture the newborn in their God given faith.  Fulfilling our charge, we lift the child up in prayer that he be strong in the fight.  

“Gracious Head, Your member own;

Shepherd, take Your lamb and feed it;

Prince of Peace, make here Your throne;

Way of Life, to heave lead it;

Precious vine, let nothing sever

From Your side this branch forever.” 

In Bethlehem the devil made his attack by carnal force.  Today he often makes his attack by stealth. Gathered around God’s Word this morning we are, no doubt, troubled by the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, particularly when it interrupts our celebration of Christmas. Questions no doubt arise. What if one of those children were mine? Wouldn’t I be asking God why He didn’t take the life of Herod instead of allowing him to take the life of my child? After all, at that moment, even God’s Son fled to Egypt to escape the devil’s fury! 

There is an expectation that ‘Ordained Clergy’ are supposed to have all the answers to life’s “whys.” And yet, human servants of God are not God. God’s will is beyond all human understanding. We can say, of course, that Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt and the weeping of Rachel were to fulfil prophecy. But that, of course, isn’t really a very satisfying answer for a mother who weep over the loss of her child. The fact is, absent faith and trust in the essential goodness and mercy of God, all of our “whys” wind up trying and condemning God for His perceived deficiencies.  Finally, what we do is commend the Holy Innocents to God’s loving arms, and though we don’t understand God allowing such a tragedy to happen, we know that He redeems even the most heinous of life’s tragedies for those who confess His holy name.  

And as always, we look for the message of hope and of grace in God’s actions.  As to Mary and Joseph having to flee to Egypt, remember, the Jews could relate to something God did long ago in Egypt.  In other words, in the Jewish mind, Egypt was a very significant place in terms of God’s dealing with His people. It was, of course, the place from which God delivered them by His mighty power from the oppressive rule of Pharaoh, another incarnation of the devil, if you will. It was in Egypt that God exposed all of the impotent efforts of the devil to destroy His faithful people. It was in Egypt that the Jews celebrated Passover on the night of their deliverance. It was in Egypt that they walked out of the gates of bondage into freedom.  

Egypt then is symbolic of God’s work of salvation. To invoke the name of Egypt is to invoke the faithfulness of God. It is to bring to bear Passover, deliverance, future and hope into the lives of those who weep and mourn. It is to remember that God redeems His people, His militant church, from the most appalling, the most painful of circumstances. To invoke the name of Egypt is a reminder that God takes the Rachel’s of this world, those who are weeping over unimaginable losses, and He holds them in His arms and dries their tears.

Mary and Joseph go back to the country of God’s deliverance, and Jesus emerges as “God’s Son” called out of Egypt. What that meant to the Jews of Jesus’ day, what it means to us today, is that Jesus story is our story.  

You and I are the sons and daughters that God has called out of Egypt! By God’s overwhelming grace and mercy, we are the chosen of God, cleansed in the water of baptism, washed with the crimson blood that flowed from Jesus’ hands, feet and brow. We are, in a sense, the “Holy Innocents.” The Rev Dr. Martin Luther wrote, “Just as the bridegroom possesses all that is his bride’s and she all that is his—for the two have all things in common because they are one flesh—so Christ and the church are one spirit,” Thus the blessed God and Father of mercies—granted to us every great and precious gift in Christ. Everything that Christ has is ours, graciously bestowed on us unworthy people out of God’s sheer mercy, although we have rather deserved wrath and condemnation in hell.  

God delivered His Son out of Egypt, the place of His other great deliverance of Israel. And thus, through Christ He delivers us and all of the Rachel’s of this world, whose weeping can only be taken away by His death and resurrection, by His giving meaning even to our profound losses. The virgin bears an infant with virgin honour pure. God takes on human flesh to live among us and to give us the gifts of life and salvation. And so, even in the midst of the devil’s assault, our hearts are filled with song and joy…”Joy to the world!  The Lord has come!” And in that, it is truly “the most wonderful time of the year!” In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

The peace and love of our Great triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

**A Sermon by Rev Alan Taylor: An inspiring and important message.

Christmas Day - 25 December 19 - Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 1^st Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 1 – 18:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Let us pray: Father guide the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts that we may hear your word of truth, for your Word is true. Amen

A lot of people don’t think of our gospel reading for this morning as a nativity story. It is a common Christmas reading, but these days it doesn’t seem to capture people’s imagination like the stories Luke and Matthew tell. The angel’s announcement to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah – the Roman census and the desperate journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem with Mary on a donkey - the search for a place to stay in Joseph’s ancestral home town, and the eventual realisation that they were going to have to bunk down with the animals - the birth of the baby so far from home, and his first crib in the animals’ feeding trough - the angel choir singing to the shepherds, and their journey to the manger to see the Saviour - the long journey of the wise men, probably arriving months later, and then the desperate flight of the holy family into Egypt to escape from King Herod’s death squads – this is fantastic storytelling, and it draws us in and grips our imaginations year by year.

For most people, John chapter one doesn’t have quite the same appeal. It reads more like a chapter from a philosophy book, factual, and a little complicated. My guess is that most churches will not read this passage over the Christmas season.

But I don’t think we’re doing John justice by ignoring his nativity account. You see, it’s a nativity story that starts a lot further back than Matthew or Luke. In fact, he goes as far back as you can possibly go, and certainly further back than he thought he was going:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

‘In the beginning’. When is that, precisely? Undoubtedly, John was thinking of the first sentence of the Book of Genesis: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’. Wow!! this nativity story of John’s has its’ origin way back in the time of creation. The two creation stories in Genesis one and two describe the beginnings of the universe in terms of life on this earth: the earth is created first, and then the sun and moon and stars are created to give it light and warmth. Most scientists think that the earth is about four and a half billion years old, and we human beings have lived on it for only a tiny fraction of its history. But our universe itself; how old is it? Well, of course, scientific consensus is changing all the time, but I think the current estimate puts it at about fourteen billion years, starting with a big bang that was prepared and timed to absolute perfection to create life as we know it.

Generally speaking, for us, Jesus is our New Testament saviour. Sure, there were prophecies, but our Jesus was born at Christmas some 2019 years ago.  But here in today’s nativity reading John is taking us back the very beginning, when God began to create the heavens, when God carefully planned that big bang fourteen billion years ago, or however long ago it may have been – in the beginning was the Word. In other words, even this far back, we still aren’t at the beginning of the Word himself. We can go as far back as we possibly can in the history of our universe, to a time when all that existed was God himself - and yet Christ (the same baby Jesus) was already there. ‘And the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. In some way far beyond our human understanding, he shares the very nature of God, but is somehow distinct from the Father as well. Our rational brain will never understand this, but John’s inspired Word invites us to cling to it in faith.

In the Genesis story, God starts to speak: ‘Then God said^{, (Gen. 1:3)} “Let there be light”, and there was light’. And so begins a whole series of ‘spoken commands’. ^(1:6) ‘And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters”’. ^(1:9) ‘And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”– and so on, and so on, a whole series of creative words, causing vegetation and plant life, birds and fish and animals, the sun and moon and stars, all leading up to the climax of creation. ^(1:26) ‘Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness”’.

This is the power beyond all human understanding. God’s very word has the power to bring creation into existence. Our humble words express the thoughts of our minds. But this is awesome; God has all the wonders of creation in his mind, but then he speaks it out, and it becomes real.

It is here in this nativity reading that John reveals that the Word of God was itself alive and active and personal. It wasn’t just a thing, like ‘the Force’ in Star Wars? It had a personality of its own. ^{(Jn 1:1)} “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

This is what John tells us ^{(John 1: 3-5)} “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”.

This ‘Word’, this ‘Logos’ in Greek, is Jesus himself. In an amazing way, far beyond our human understanding, He was himself the creative Word that brought everything into being. What John Is telling us is that Jesus is not just the New Testament Saviour that we know and study and worship and turn to for guidance and help; He is not just the instrument of our Salvation who washes us clean at our baptism and feeds us on His Body and Blood – as true and as powerful as this is.  Jesus was also involved in celestial black holes, in dinosaurs and all things prehistoric, in the majesty of the night sky and the beauty of the mountains. Paul sums this up in Colossians when he says, ^{(Colossians 1:15).} “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created”.

You see, here, John is establishing for us the identity of this baby in the manger. He isn’t just a great religious teacher or prophet, but the very Word of God himself, ^{(John 1:3)} “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.  That’s who Christmas is all about.

To add to that, little later on in the passage, comes what C.S. Lewis called ‘The Grand Miracle’:

^{(John 1:14)} “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”

This is the great descent – the One through whom absolutely everything in the universe was created now stoops down to enter his creation. He doesn’t do it like a Greek god, taking the form of a warrior or a beautiful woman; no, he becomes a tiny, helpless zygote, (a fertilised female egg), inside his mother Mary. He grows and eventually is born, but of course, like all babies, he’s totally helpless, totally dependent on his parents to keep him alive. ‘He emptied himself’, says Paul in Philippians – in other words, he laid aside his power and glory and became a true human being, sharing our lives and our struggles, to show us not only what God is like, but also what God designed human life to be like.

‘We have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth’. Jesus once said, ‘If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father’. If you have seen Clint Eastwood and his son, or Tom Hanks and his son standing side by side, you can get a human perspective of what Jesus meant when he said, ‘He who has seen me has seen the father’!” 

Even so, for us, it’s not immediately obvious that Jesus is the image of God. We think of an Old Testament God, one that even Moses could not look at, so full of power and majesty, so glorious!! But Jesus looks just like an ordinary human being. Yet John tells us in ^{(Jn 1:14)} “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.”. This is the glory we celebrate today, the one foretold in John 12: 28:   when Jesus prayed “Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

You see, in John’s gospel, the cross is the supreme example of the glory of Jesus. In other words, the glory of God is indestructible love – love that would rather die than hate. It’s not in power and majesty that we see the glory of God in Jesus: it’s in his way of life, doing the will of God even when it cost him his life. ^{(John 13:1)}“Having loved his own who were in the world’, says John, ‘he loved them to the end”.

This is what John’s nativity story is all about. Jesus Christ the unimaginable absolute power of all creation humbling himself, out of love, to take on the persona of a human being through the form of human birth, knowing that the only way to be true God to His people was to walk among them in true human form, be baptised with God as His witness, to teach and perform miracles and finally to be our substitute Passover Lamb and die an agonising death on the cross of redemption. If that were the end of it, we would be wasting our time; but the God/man Jesus who embraced death for our sake, rose from the grave and overcame the bonds of death also for us. Again, he presented himself in human form to His disciples. With their own eyes they saw the human face of the resurrected Jesus.

So we thank God this morning for the message of Christmas: that the Word of God didn’t stay safely in heaven, but chose to humble himself, to become weak and vulnerable, to enter human life in all its mess and ambiguity – and in that context, to live and die and rise again to save us. As for us, an important part of our Christmas celebration is to hear the call to live out this Christmas message; not just here surrounded by like-minded people, but out there, midst the mess and ambiguity of human life. As daunting as this may sound, we go forward as baptised Christians in the name of the one who is the light of all creation, the one whose Glory won us salvation and power over death, and “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace”.Friends in Christ our Christmas present from Jesus is an eternity of loving forgiveness and acceptance; but that is not the end of it. This baby born today, this man Jesus, this source of life and creation from the very beginning, has not only chosen to take our humble souls to himself for all eternity, he has also commissioned us to be his face in this fallen world, to bring all mankind into His kingdom ^{(Matt 28: 18 – 20)} “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  In His birth we are blessed, in His life we are blessed, in His death and resurrection we are eternally blessed. Blessed indeed, that we may be a blessings to all we encounter. Amen

The love and peace of our Great triune God that is beyond all human understanding, bless you richly this Christmastime that your joy may be complete. Amen 

Advent 4 – 22 December 2019 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 1^st Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 18 – 25:

 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. ¹⁹ Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

²³ “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” ²⁴ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵ but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

It is most important when reading the Scriptures that the context of the immediate text be taken into account, especially in regard to the ‘bigger picture’ and of course the culture.  However, the circumstance that Joseph faces in today’s Gospel is a universal circumstance within humanity.  We don’t need a lot of cultural context to empathise with Joseph.  Husbands and wives in every culture know how they would feel if they thought their spouses had been unfaithful.  Where cultural context will help is the way in which the culture dealt with this type of infidelity.

Joseph and Mary were betrothed.  That means that they were married … they were husband and wife … BUT they had not yet begun living together.  They did not yet have an intimate relationship.

Mary in all honesty and faithfulness told Joseph she was pregnant.  Mary was about to have a baby and Joseph knew for a fact that he was NOT the father.  Now it is very likely that Mary tried to explain that the baby was of the Holy Spirit … that the baby was the fulfillment of the prophesied coming of the Messiah.  I can imagine that Mary insisted that she had not been unfaithful to Joseph, but such words are hard to believe under the circumstances.  What would you do if you were Joseph?  How would you respond?

The law of Moses was fairly strict: ^{(Deuteronomy 22:23–24)} “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbour’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst”. Joseph had the right to force her to name the father of the child and have them both stoned.

Obviously, part of God’s plan for our salvation included choosing the right husband for Mary. We read that ^{(Matthew 1:19)} “her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly”. This is the response of a man who had love and compassion for his wife, but accepted that they could not be together.  He would quietly dissolve the marriage and the two of them would go their separate ways.

Here is a role model for our modern society; Joseph is what every Christian should be in not exposing the sins of others.  A popular commentary on the commandment against bearing false witness, tells us that not only should we avoid lying, but we should also explain things in the kindest way.  You see, in broadcasting the misdeeds of others, we bring condemnation upon ourselves.  Joseph determined to do what was right in the kindest possible way for Mary.

I can only imagine how hard it was for him to fall asleep that night.  However, the Bible tells us that he did sleep because it tells us that he had a dream.  An angel came to him in that dream.  The angel told Joseph that Mary was not hiding some dark secret.  The child growing within her was indeed from the Holy Spirit.  He was indeed the promised one, the Messiah.  The angel even told Joseph to name the child Jesus … a name that means the Lord saves.

The Holy Spirit then inspired Matthew to remind his readers that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy that we read in today’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah Chapter 7.  ^{(Matthew 1:22–23)} All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ²³“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke up, he acted on this new information. ^{(Matthew 1:24–25)} “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus”

The virgin birth is a hardship on everyone involved.  The community at large would not understand the working of the Holy Spirit.  They would accuse both Mary and Joseph of all kinds of sin.  Thirty years later, some of Jesus’ opponents would try to discredit His ministry by claiming that He was illegitimate.  The virgin birth was a burden.

At the same time, the virgin birth was necessary.  It was necessary because the person of Christ is both God and man.  Jesus Christ is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary.  If Jesus had been conceived in the normal way, He would be a mere man and nothing more.  His conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary points to His divine Father and His human mother.  Jesus Christ is one person with both a divine and human nature.

This dual nature of Christ is essential for our salvation.  Christ must be true man in order to take our place under the law and fulfil it perfectly.  He must also be true man in order to submit to the Good Friday cruelty of shame, suffering, and death.  Christ must also be God in order to fulfil the law to perfection.  He must be God so that His suffering and death would be sufficient redemption, not just for one person, but for all humanity.  He must be God in order to overcome death and the devil for us.  Jesus is the only one who is both divine and human.  Therefore, He is the only one who is our Saviour.

Since it was necessary for Christ to have God as Father and Mary as mother, then the virgin birth is also necessary.  This meant that it was necessary for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to bear the burden of the culture’s unjust condemnation.

Today’s Gospel shows us how God gave Joseph the strength and courage to endure this special burden.  God’s Word came to Joseph through the mouth of the angel so that Joseph was now able to take up his special vocation as guardian to Jesus and husband of Mary.

In the creed, we confess, “… conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary …” Too often we say those words on autopilot.  We don’t think about what these words mean.

Lives were turned upside down because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  Joseph almost divorced Mary.  Both Joseph and Mary had to endure the condemnation of the community.  Jesus had to endure accusations that His ministry was null and void because His parentage was doubtful.

At the same time, these words are necessary for our salvation.  These words tell us that Jesus is both God and man.  Because Jesus is both God and man, when Jesus died, God died.  Because Jesus is both God and man, His death paid for the sins of the entire world.  Because Jesus is both God and man, He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  Because Jesus is both God and man, a human being rules both heaven and earth.  Because Jesus is both God and man, His human body and blood are available on altars everywhere at the same time for us Christians to eat and to drink.  The Son of God took on our human flesh so that we may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom.

As we read today’s Gospel, it is a good thing to study Joseph as an example of the Christian’s struggle to protect the reputation of others.  However, the more important teaching of this reading is that Jesus must be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin because He is both God and man.  As the only one who is both 100 % God and 100 % man, He is the only one who is qualified to redeem us from our sins so that God can declare us righteous for His sake.  This is the gift that Jesus offers to you now as you hear this word. Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Advent 3 – 15 December 2019 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 11^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 2–15:

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ⁴ And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

⁷ As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. ⁹ What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is he of whom it is written, 

      “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, 

      who will prepare your way before you.’ 

¹¹ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. ¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, ¹⁴ and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears to hear, let him hear”.

Did you hear what the Divine Preacher had to say about John?  “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist”.  You heard today’s Gospel.  That is what Jesus had to say about John.  No one is greater.  You heard it yourself, straight from the mouth of Jesus.

Well … If John is so great, shouldn’t he be living the victorious Christian life?  If John is so great, shouldn’t he living the dream?  What is John doing in prison?

Today’s reading from the Gospel doesn’t include the reason John was in prison, but other parts of the Gospel fill in the details.  We learn that John was in prison because he spoke the truth to power.  In this case, the power was Herod Antipas the son of Herod the Great.  Herod Antipas had stolen the wife of his brother, Philip.  This was a clear case of adultery.  John the Baptist fearlessly and faithfully condemned Herod for this adultery.  So, Herod arrested John.

You really can’t blame John for having his doubts.  He had done what he was called to do.  He was already a prophet in his mother’s womb as he leapt for joy when Mary approached bearing Jesus in her womb.  He had baptised thousands, a baptism of repentance, in anticipation of the coming Messiah.  He had done everything he was called to do and yet, he ended up in jail.  You can’t blame him for looking back over his ministry and wondering if it was all worth it.

There are many who struggle with the idea that John had doubts.  John was the last of the Old Testament prophets; he was the Advent prophet; John preached with power.  John baptised the Lord and heard the voice from heaven and saw the Spirit descend as a dove.  Surely someone who had all these experiences wouldn’t crack under the pressure of doubt.  There has to be another answer.  Well, John may have had a special calling from God, but he was born of flesh and blood and was a much human as you and I and daily faced the challenges of our ‘Human Condition’. We can give witness to the fact that as baptised, confirmed Christians, there is never a time when our faith is very far from the edge of unbelief.  Satan never leaves us Christians alone, but each day he works harder to take us away from Christ.  John was no exception, there still are no exceptions. In Christ’s Church on earth, both the preacher and the hearer are not immune to unbelief.

We Christians know that life can become so miserable that, like Job, we are forced to ask ourselves if God really cares for us. Perhaps we go to the extreme and question whether God exists. John’s question was a little different. He sent his disciples to ask whether Jesus was the Christ: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  John, who had pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, toyed with the idea that he may have made a misidentification.  If Jesus was not the Christ predicted by the prophets, then John’s ministry was a total waste.

When John’s disciples came to Jesus, He answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.”  Go and tell John … Jesus understood John’s doubts.  He understood that John needed assurance.  Jesus appointed John’s disciples to be apostles … sent ones … ones who are specifically sent to bring their witness to John.  Jesus invited John’s disciples to witness His work and then take the proclamation of His work back to John.

Here is a very basic truth.  When we have doubts, Jesus says, “Hear what I have done.”  He sends people to proclaim the wonders He has done so that we can hear about them.  By this proclamation of His deeds, He sends the Holy Spirit to bear us up and strengthen us as we travel through this sinful world … especially as we travel through those darker times of doubt.

Jesus told John’s disciples to take two kinds of proclamation to John.  First there is the proclamation of the signs or credentials that Jesus is who He says He is.  The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up.  These signs are the fulfillment of prophecy.  In fact, we heard some of that prophecy in today’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah 35..  These signs clearly identify Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Secondly, these visible miracles are credentials that validate the authority to perform the most important miracle of all.  As Jesus Himself once said when He healed a paralytic, ^{[Matthew 9:6]} “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”  Jesus has the authority to forgive sins.  This miracle of forgiveness is more important than all the other miracles combined.  This is the miracle that the disciples will proclaim when they tell John that the poor have good news preached to them.  This is nothing other than Jesus telling the poor that He forgives their sins.

Here is the true antidote for doubt … the proclamation that Jesus forgives sins.  We may think that we can take comfort and certainty in the many supernatural attributes of God … His power, His knowledge, His wisdom, His holiness, and so forth, but that is not the case.  Without forgiveness, those other attributes only serve to terrify us.  If there is no forgiveness, then God’s holiness only sets Him apart from sinful people like us.  If there is no forgiveness, then God’s total knowledge reveals our every sin.  If there is no forgiveness, then God’s power is there to punish our sin.  Without forgiveness, God is simply the ultimate terror.

When there is forgiveness, then God is comfort and assurance.  When there is forgiveness, God’s holiness is for us.  When there is forgiveness, God’s knowledge serves us.  When there is forgiveness, God’s power protects us.  With forgiveness, God is the ultimate comfort.  He is the ultimate re-assurance.

Forgiveness does not come cheap.  The one who earns forgiveness must satisfy God’s justice and God’s justice requires the punishment of sin.  That is exactly what Jesus did.  Jesus took our sin into Himself.  Then, when God punished our sin, the punishment fell on Jesus and not on us.  When Jesus hung on the cross, He took our place as the target of God’s just punishment of sin.  This is nothing other than God’s perfect love enduring God’s perfect justice for us.  This is Jesus earning forgiveness for us.

Jesus put the finishing touches on the cure for doubt a few days after He died.  His friends placed His dead body in the tomb, but it did not stay there.  Instead, Jesus transformed His mortal body into immortality and rose from the dead.  His resurrection is the ultimate sign that Jesus will do exactly what He has promised to do.  He will return and raise us all to live with Him forever.

John did not see Jesus do any miracles, but he heard the proclamation of Jesus from his disciples.  They proclaimed the physical healing miracles of Jesus as His credentials.  Then they proclaimed the forgiveness of sins to John and the Holy Spirit removed his doubts.  Faith does not feed on miracles.  Many of Jesus’ opponents saw His miracles and refused to believe.  Faith feeds on the Gospel … the proclamation that Jesus forgives sins.

People do not die for something that they know is a lie.  Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people died proclaiming that they saw, touched, spoke with, ate with, and otherwise interacted with the living Lord after they knew he had died on the cross.  They proclaimed the forgiveness of sins earned by Jesus Christ in their lives and they proclaimed Him with their deaths.  Through these martyrs we receive the same proclamation of the forgiveness of sins that John received from his disciples.  This is the proclamation that cures our doubts; Jesus Christ forgives sins.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Advent 2 – 8 December 2019 – Year A

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 3^rd Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 1 – 12:
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

⁴ Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit worthy of repentance. ⁹ Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Let us pray: lord God heavenly father, as we meditate on your word this morning, grant us the wisdom to understand and the courage to act in faith, for we know that your word is true; we ask this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ . Amen

Just about everything we buy today comes with a warning. Some of them are necessary – like the warning to never mix bleach and vinegar, or you will end up with poisonous chlorine gas. Some would seem to a reasonable person to be unnecessary and ridiculous. Clothes irons warn us not to use while we are wearing the shirt or pants – even though I guess it would save time. My old chainsaw carried the warning: do not attempt to stop chain with hand – a mistake I suppose you only make once. Maybe the most common warning label we see is the one on coffee cups: caution, contents are hot – I hope so, that’s what I paid for. Why do so many products carry these seemingly unnecessary warning labels? Because someone, somewhere has actually harmed themselves by using the product in a manner it was not designed for – and paid the price for it. When we’re using irons and chainsaws and drinking coffee, we are free to ignore the warnings – but the only person we’re hurting is ourselves. This morning John the Baptist has an Advent Warning for us, and it too is one that we ignore at our own risk. 

For the people living in Israel in those days (the days when Jesus was growing up in Nazareth) John’s arrival and appearance were unusual and shocking. Not so much for what he did, but for what he didn’t do. He didn’t set up shop in Jerusalem, eat gourmet food, or wear fancy clothes that set him apart as one of the religious elite in Israel. He worked in the desert, wore camel’s skins and ate locusts and honey. Why? What message was he sending? Well, part of it was intended to remind the people that Isaiah wrote about this man coming 700 years earlier. But the other part was for nothing more than to point people’s attention away from himself and focus it on the more important thing: his message. 

John’s message, that’s the really shocking part: “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”. Repent! What does that mean? What is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind. It is a 180-degree change of direction. It means to look at things differently: rather than seeing things from our sinful, broken human point of view, we are to see things (especially ourselves) from God’s point of view. A synonym for repentance is conversion: from unbelief to faith, from a mind that hates God to a mind that loves God, from one dead in sin to one alive in Christ. The penitent person sees the error of their ways compared to God’s will; confesses that they deserve eternal death for their sins, and surrenders themselves to God’s mercy through Christ’s sacrificial death. Repentance is different from worldly regret and guilt because repentance is God’s work. This is not something we can do to ourselves. Repentance is the process God began when he drowned us in the water of Baptism and continues to work in us through his message of Law and Gospel. For Christians, this process continues every day of life until God finally lifts us from our sinful body; until that day we can be reunited with it in all perfection with Him.  

Theoretically, it doesn’t sound so bad, does it? It almost sounds like one of those unnecessary warnings. Who wouldn’t want to get back on good terms with God? We all have an inborn awareness of our sin. That desire to be right with God is why so many people went out to [John] from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. 

But not all of those in attendance were sincere: “when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. What’s the difference? Why did John baptise the rag-tag multitudes and then react so fiercely when the Jewish leaders showed up? 

John could see from their teaching and living that their hearts were not right. They were not ready to confess their sins, acknowledge their guilt, and receive John’s baptism for forgiveness. Don’t get the wrong idea, these were very devout men. Humanly speaking, they were the very best church members. They were willing to do anything it took to be right with God – fasting and washing and sacrificing – just as long as they didn’t have to admit their need, confess their sins, open their hearts to the piercing blade of the law and their ears to the saving message of the Gospel. Theirs was a totally superficial, self-centred religion. They imagined that God was pleased because of who they were and what they did, they didn’t think they were in any danger. They were Abraham’s descendants, and, therefore, immune from God’s wrath over sin. They didn’t see their deep need for a Saviour. To these men, who placed their faith in themselves, John was blunt: “the axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire”. 

The question for us is: do we need this kind direct, pointed preaching today? Note: the question is not do we want it but do we need it? Our gut reaction might be: no, we’re here after all, aren’t we? Just moments ago we confessed our sins and received forgiveness. We are fine with a calm, measured, non-accusing sermon that doesn’t ruffle too many feathers. We’re ok with fire and brimstone as long as it’s directed at the evils of the world, the sickness and depravity of our society, the dark and ugly sins of politicians and celebrities. We feel pretty good inside when we are led to think: well, compared to most people, I look pretty good, I don’t lead an outwardly, obviously sinful life, I’m Anglican – which means that our doctrine and practice are faithful to Scripture, I’m baptised and confirmed and active in the church – if anyone is safe from God’s wrath, it’s me. 

Do you see how easy it is to become a Pharisee? To underestimate our sin and overestimate our goodness. To make our worship more a matter of going through the motions and good behaviour than the kind of worship God really desires: ^{(Psalm 51:17)} “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart”. We know enough not to say it out loud, but don’t we sometimes begin to think that we deserve God’s grace now and will get a ticket into paradise when we die because of who we are and what we do? Whether we want to admit it or not, we too need John’s warning, and it needs to go deeper than our ears, it needs to pierce our hearts, because there is a Pharisee in each one of us. The warning for us today is this: God still does not accept man-made religion. There is no back door to heaven for people who want to find their own way in. If we imagine that we can have saving faith in Jesus and yet disagree with his teachings: about marriage, about creation, about the use of the Sacraments or the roles of men and women – then the only thing we have to look forward to is hearing: ^{(Matthew 7:22)} “sorry, I don’t know you”. 

If we think that God should be flattered that we’re here to listen to his Word, we need to understand that God doesn’t need us, he can make disciples out of stones if he so desires. If we think we can have a right relationship with God without ever being offended, without making the conscious effort to, with God’s help, amend our sinful lives, we need to hear that God’s axe is still ready to chop down dead, fruitless trees. 

Not much has changed in 2000 years. We are still sinners who have a Pharisaic tendency to want to justify ourselves, to save ourselves from God’s wrath. So yes, we too need to hear the clear, harsh, pointed preaching of the Law aimed at our hearts. Mine is the heart that needs to be crushed. I need be shown the depth of my sin. I need have my case for self-justification in God’s courtroom blown up and admit that I don’t meet his requirements. I need to hear John preaching the Law in all of its severity to my heart. And so do we all. This is not one of those warnings we can ignore as unnecessary. If we do, the only people we’re hurting is ourselves. 

But then the procrastinator in us comes out. One Bible commentator named him “professor Ja-But.” Yeah, but God wants to keep forgiving me and I want to keep sinning – so it’s a perfect arrangement. Yeah, but there will always be time to turn my life around when I’m older. Yeah, but God knows that I mean good even when I do evil. Yeah, but God wouldn’t really send anyone to hell, would he, after all ^{(1 John 4:8)} “God is love”. If professor Ja-But ever guides our thinking or influences our faith, then these words are for us: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire”. 

This is the urgency we face. This is why there is no time to waste, no excuses to be made. This is why it’s dangerous to think that we can always repent later or use God’s grace as a licence to sin. Jesus, whose way John was preparing, has come. He has accomplished his mission of salvation. He took our place under God’s law and lived a life of perfect obedience. He demonstrated perfect love for everyone, friends and foes alike, by not telling them what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to hear. He endured rejection from the very people he came to save. He did not complain when the rulers of Israel unjustly convicted and condemned him to death. He willingly took our place on a cursed cross and endured the hell our sins deserved. 

He demonstrated his power by crushing Satan’s skull under his foot and ripped the heart out of death by stepping out of the tomb. Everything that Jesus came to do – he did. All that’s left now is to “clear the threshing floor” of this world; to separate penitent believers from stubborn, impenitent unbelievers. Wherever God’s Word – his Law and Gospel – are proclaimed, that separation is taking place. Right here, right now, Jesus is busy gathering his wheat and burning up the chaff. 

The only question left is: how will we react? Will we confess our sins, will our repentance go deeper than our lips, will we openly and honestly admit that on our own we deserve nothing but God’s wrath? Will we drop all our ^{(Isaiah 64:6)} ‘salvation seeking good works and acknowledge them as filthy rags tainted by sin”?  If so, then John has good news for us: “the kingdom of heaven is near”. 

Pointing out sin was only the first half of John’s message, he did it so that he could follow up by pointing to Jesus: ^{(John 1:29)} “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. Jesus is as close to us as the words of absolution we heard earlier. He is as close to us as the body and blood he shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins which we receive in the Lord’s Supper. For when we admit that we are helpless to get to heaven on your own, our Saviour says: “Be calm, I’ve done it for you”. On the other hand, if we’re not yet ready to let the Law penetrate all the way to our heart. If we want to cling to the idea that we’re really not that bad. If we can’t bring ourselves to repent and change our life to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”, if we ignore John the Baptist’s warning, well, we’re only hurting ourselves. 

There are some warnings that we can afford to ignore, some we can even laugh at. This is not one of them. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”, John warns. Let us allow the Law to do its important, preparatory work on our hearts. Let it crush us by showing us who we truly are in God’s sight. Let it lead us to despair of our own works and drive us to trust Jesus’ perfect, substitutionary work. Then we will be well prepared to receive God’s Christmas Saviour and the real peace he brings. There’s no time to waste. Jesus came into this world to save sinners; Jesus came into this world to save us. We have his reassurance in the Gospel according to St John Chapter 3 Verse 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”. Amen. 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that us beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen