Epiphany of Our Lord – 3 January 2021 – Year B

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 1 – 12:

 

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from theeast came to Jerusalem, ² saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 

 ⁶   “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; 

for from you shall come a ruler 

who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” 

⁷ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” ⁹ After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

For 2,000 years, the story of the magi has intrigued us.  Who were these travellers from the east?  Where exactly in the East were they from?  What was their real motivation for traveling from a far land?  How many of these men were there?  (Three gifts does not mean three people.)  What about the light in the sky?  Was it an alignment of the planets that God arranged to point to Jesus?  Was it a super nova?  Was it a celestial miracle?  Was there one light or were there two lights, one to get the magi in the general vicinity and another to point out Jesus specifically?  Much to our frustration, the Bible answers none of these questions.

 

If the Bible tells us nothing about these questions, then what does it tell us?  One of the things we learn from the account of the wise men is that God welcomes Gentiles into His family.  This is especially important since many people believe that the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to write his Gospel from a Jewish perspective.

 

There are actually two representatives of the Gentiles in the account of the wise men coming to worship the Christ child.  First of all, the account mentions Herod the Great.  Herod was an incredibly paranoid and cruel ruler who even killed his own wives and sons when he thought they were plotting to take the throne.  One of the surprising facts about Herod was that he was not Jewish.  He was a Gentile politician who maneuvered himself into Caesar’s good graces so that Caesar appointed him king in Jerusalem.

 

The single most important policy of the Roman Empire was to maintain the peace within the empire.  Herod used a carrot and stick approach.  When he heard of an rebellion, he put it down quickly and with great brutality.  On the other hand Herod went so far as to start an eighty year plan to improve the temple in the hope that this would increase his popularity.  It didn’t work.  When Herod died, no one shed a tear.  Herod is the first gentile mentioned in this account.

 

After Matthew mentioned Herod, the Holy Spirit inspired him to tell about the magi.  We are told that the magi were from the “anatolé” being the New testament Greek for the land of the rising sun - the East.  We hear of magi in two other accounts in the Bible.  In both cases, the magi were high level advisors to royal families. Perhaps the most famous mage of all was Daniel.  After the Babylonians kidnapped him and brought him to Babylon, they learned that Daniel was ten times wiser than any other mage.  We know that Daniel was also a prophet of the true God.  It is possible that these magi were from Babylon and knew of Daniel’s teachings.  They may even have been disciples of the teachings of Daniel.  In any case, the magi are the other Gentiles in this account.

 

It is from the magi that we learn that Jesus is for Gentiles as well as Jews.  Already, at this early point in Jesus’ life, He is drawing Gentiles to Himself.  He is definitely drawing the magi, but He is also drawing Herod as well.  The magi believe in this child Saviour and worship Him.  Herod rejects his saviour and is afraid.  

 

Here we learn that there are two ways for all people.  There is the way that the Holy Spirit gives to us by faith.  Then there is the way of rejection.  Jesus described these ways in the Sermon on the Mount: ^{[Matthew 7:13–14]13} “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

 

The really sad and insane thing is that Herod had the word of God.  He assembled ^{[Matthew 2:4–6]} “all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ⁶“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”  Here is God’s very word spoken to Herod from the mouth of the scribe.  Herod actually believed the word as far as the birth place of the Christ,  but still, his goal in finding the Christ was destruction instead of worship.  As far as the Bible was concerned, Herod was into the ‘cafeteria’ plan.

 

There are many people who still treat the Bible like a cafeteria.  A food cafeteria offers many selections of food to you.  You examine the food and take the food you like and leave the rest behind.  Many people treat the Bible the same way.  When the Bible says something they want to hear, they take it and make it their own.  When the Bible says something that makes them uncomfortable, they say, “I disagree with that.”  People who pick and choose the parts of the Bible they will believe are on the ‘Biblical Cafeteria’ plan.

 

King Herod teaches us that taking the Bible on the cafeteria plan is a bad idea.  He was able to believe that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem, but rejected Jesus as his Saviour, and therefore it was OK to destroy the Christ.  He was quite ready to listen to God’s word and then twist it to his own diabolical purpose.

 

We, like King Herod, are often cafeteria Christians.  We like to feed on those parts of the Bible that tell us about God’s love, but then we skip those parts of the Bible that tell us about God’s justice.  We feast on the parts of the Bible that point out the speck in the other person’s eye, but we skip the parts that tell us about the beam in our own eye.  God gives us a well-balanced spiritual diet in His Word, but we want to skip the Brussels sprouts and other vegetables and just take the desert.

 

What parts of God’s Word make us uncomfortable?  What parts of God’s Word do we want to set aside?  Are there parts of God’s Word that we avoid because they make us feel guilty?  There are times when all of us have been like Herod taking the parts of the Bible that fit our agenda and ignoring the rest.  We are all guilty of taking the plain meaning of God’s Word and twisting it to our own will.  We are all guilty of skipping over the parts of God’s Word that make us uncomfortable.  When we do that, we are following in Herod’s footsteps.

 

The really sad thing about following in Herod’s footsteps is that we miss out in the same way that Herod missed out.  Herod had the opportunity to meet God in the flesh.  He had the opportunity to worship with the magi.  The God who drew the magi to their saviour by the star also extended an invitation to Herod.  The same God also extends an invitation to you and to me.  

 

God the Father extended that invitation in the person of His Son, the little child that the magi worshipped.  He sent His only Son from the heights of heaven to be born in our humanity.  As God in flesh and blood, He kept the law perfectly in our place.  As God in flesh and blood, He took our place on the cross where God punished Him for our sins.  This little child kept ALL the law, not just the parts that were pleasant.

 

We know that God’s Son finished His mission because death could not hold Him.  After He kept the law perfectly in our place – after He was obedient to the will of His Father – after He died on the cross and was laid in a tomb, He came back to life.  He rose from the dead.  His resurrection means that His invitation offers forgiveness, life, and salvation to all who will accept it.

 

The account of the magi traveling from the East teaches us that God’s invitation is for all people, Jew and Gentile alike.  This invitation was even for Herod.  Herod teaches us that we can reject this invitation and take the path that leads to eternal destruction.  The magi show us that God the Holy Spirit can work faith in anyone – He works the faith that lets us take Jesus up on His invitation.  He works the faith that can make anyone part of the family of God.

 

On this Sunday, we observe the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord.  Christmas celebrates God taking on human flesh.  It celebrates the birth of the God-man Christ Jesus.  Epiphany celebrates the announcement of that birth to the world and the invitation that the God-man Jesus Christ extends to all people.

 

Jesus invites us to believe ^{[1 Corinthians 15:3–4]} that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, [and] that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.  He sent the Holy Spirit to work that belief in us.  As the Holy Spirit once used the light of the star to draw the magi to their saviour, He now uses the light of God’s Word to draw us to that same saviour.  May this light of God’s Word continually strengthen us in the faith that leads to eternal life.  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

 

Christmas 1 - 27 December 2020 – Year B

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 Luke: Verses 22–40:

²² And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord,  “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord,  “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, ²⁸ he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 

 ²⁹  “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, 

according to your word. 

 ³⁰  for my eyes have seen your salvation 

 ³¹  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 

 ³²  a light for revelation to the Gentiles, 

and for glory to your people Israel.” 

³³ And his father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him. ³⁴ And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed ³⁵ (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

³⁶ And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, ³⁷ and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 

³⁹ And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.

The Law of Moses is fairly clear.  Concerning the first born, it states:

The Lord said to Moses, ^{(Exodus 13:1–2)} “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” 

 

When God freed the Children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, He sent the angel of death to slaughter the first born of every man and animal in the land of Egypt.  The angel of death only spared those households that had the sign of the blood of the lamb painted on their doorposts.  From that moment on, God claimed the firstborn of every man and animal.  As Mary’s firstborn, Jesus had to keep this law.  The law required Mary and Joseph to bring Jesus to the temple and consecrate Him to the Lord.

 

The law also spoke about mothers who had just given birth.  Concerning these mothers, it states:
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^{(Leviticus 12:1–4)} “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.” 

^{(Leviticus 12:6–8)} “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.” 

 

According to the law, mothers who had just given birth were basically unclean for forty days after giving birth to boys and eighty days after giving birth to girls.  At the end of that time they had to present themselves for purification.  This was a blessing in disguise.  You see, anyone who was unclean was forbidden from participating in the normal routine of the community.  For a woman, this included the normal household duties.  The indirect result was that she was forced to rest up for forty days, or eighty days in the case of a baby girl, before she could rejoin the community and resume her normal duties.

 

So, we have one reason for Joseph to take Jesus to the temple, and another reason take Mary to the temple.  The simple thing was to kill two birds with one stone … perform the presentation of the firstborn and the purification of the mother on the same day.  So it is that today’s Gospel informs us that Joseph brought Mary and Jesus to the temple in order to perform these rituals.

 

Now, let’s just stop right here and consider how weird this is.  Remember who this little child is.  This little child is the Word made flesh.  He is God incarnate.  This temple is His temple.  The sacrifices in this temple are made to Him.  Now, He is going to work through Joseph to place Himself under the law and keep it Himself.  In a way, the consecration of Jesus will be to Himself.

 

In addition to that, the temple itself is the place where God dwells with His people.  That means that the baby that Mary and Joseph carry into the stone temple is, in fact, the living temple of flesh and blood … Immanuel, God with Us.  So Mary and Joseph are bringing the living, breathing temple into the stone temple.  There are all kinds of amazing things happening as the infant Jesus enters His holy temple.

 

Then there are these two Old Testament saints waiting for Jesus … Simeon and Anna.  The Holy Spirit had given Simeon a special promise.  ^{(Luke 2:26)} “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ”. Anna was also ready for ^{(Luke 2:37)} “she did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.” 

 

People often wonder about the faithful who live at the time of Jesus.  The Old Testament Christians are saved by faith in the Christ who will come sometime in their future.  The New Testament Christians are saved by faith in the Christ who has already come in their past.  But what about the faithful people who lived between the time Jesus was born and the time He ascended.  What are they to believe?

 

Simeon and Anna provide one answer to that question.  The Holy Spirit guided Simeon into the temple at the exact right time so that he was waiting for Jesus when Mary and Joseph brought Him into the temple.  Anna was always in the temple, so that she was also ready when the Lord came.  These two remind us that God never abandons His people, but always preserves them in His salvation.

 

The reaction of Simeon to the presence of the Christ-child is marvellous.  Parents do not ordinarily allow strangers to take their babies from them.  Perhaps there was something special in Simeon’s face when he approached Mary and Joseph, or it may be that Mary and Joseph already knew Simeon from some other time.  At any rate, Jesus ended up in Simeon’s embrace.

 

Apparently Simeon knew exactly who he enfolded in his embrace.  As he looked down into the face of this infant, he prayed, not to the heavens, but to the baby in his arms, ^{(Luke 2:29–32)} “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” Simeon’s faith was in the baby who laid in his arms.

 

I imagine that Simeon was reluctant to give the infant back to Mary and Joseph, but as he did, he had a word for them as well.  ^{(Luke 2:34–35)}  “Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Even in this account from Jesus’ infancy, we already see God preparing Mary for the road ahead.  The Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of Simeon to begin preparing Mary for that day when she would look upon this son as He hung on a cross and paid for the sins of the world.  When the Virgin saw that her innocent Son had been condemned, it cut through her heart, especially his crucifixion.  And she was not the only one who had to see and experience the malice of the world.  The entire Christian Church at all times must have a broken heart as she observes the price God paid to redeem us from sin.

 

Anna also believed, for although we do not have her exact words, Luke provides a description of her activity as ^{(Luke 2:38)} “she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem”. She proclaimed this infant as the redeemer.

 

The events of today’s Gospel finally come to a close as Luke once again reminds us that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had done everything according to the law.  So we see that even as an infant when, from a human point of view, Jesus was absolutely helpless, God still worked through Joseph and Mary so that Jesus kept the law perfectly.  In this way, we see that Jesus was already our substitute under the law even though He was only a tiny baby.

 

When we combine this obedience with the piercing of the heart that Simeon spoke of, we see that the Gospel already teaches that Jesus will fulfill the law of God perfectly until His innocent sacrifice on the cross where He will totally redeem the entire world from sin.  So we see that even as an infant, the Lord was already on the path that led to the cross.

 

The church today joins Simeon and Anna as we too celebrate the coming of the Lord to His people.  We even join in Simeon’s song as we also have seen and even tasted the Lord’s salvation as He comes to us in His body and blood.  Just as the Holy Spirit worked in Simeon to bring him into the temple to see the Lord’s Salvation, so also the Lord has given us His sacrament so that we may also see the Lord’s salvation as we eat His body and drink His blood.  So it is that the Lord will always dwell with His people and give them His gifts.  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

 

 

Christmas Day – 25 December 2020 – Year B

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 1–14: 

 

 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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was john. ⁷He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ he was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

⁹ the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people didnot receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right tobecome children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

I don’t know about you, but one of the things that impresses me is when someone uses relatively simple things to make something that is very sophisticated.  In my 3 ½ years of living in South East Asia, I was continually impressed how the people especially in poorer rural regions use bamboo to create irrigation systems driven by water wheels, wind power and balance gates etc. to run the water through kilometres of bamboo drainage to the required area. The rural people of South East Asia are very impressive masters of improvisation.

 

The Gospel according to John is another thing that really impresses me because it uses simple words to proclaim some very profound theology.  For example: Of the 224 words that make up today’s Gospel, just over 200 of them are one syllable words.  Less than ten of them have more than two syllables.  Never the less, the Holy Spirit worked through John’s simple words to proclaim some very sophisticated theology.

 

John himself gives us the purpose for this writing near the end of his Gospel account: ^{(John 20:30–31)} “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. With these words, John proclaims that Jesus is the anointed one of God, He is God the Son, and there is a specific faith in Jesus that receives eternal life.

 

The beginning of this Gospel begins to fulfill this purpose with simple, elegant beauty.  Here we learn that there is a Word that is more than just simple information.  Here we learn that there is a Word that is a living, thinking being.  Here we learn of an eternal, living Word that has come to live with us. John was writing to the Greeks so he uses their own philosophical term as the starting point of his message. This word is “Logos” – “Logos” is understood by the Greeks as the Word of God; so John  uses the word “Logos” to connect the pre-incarnate Christ with the pre-existing Word.

 

^{(John 1:1)} ‘In the beginning was the Word” … It is not an accident that the first words of this Gospel account are, in essence, the same as the first words of Genesis.  This special Word that John tells us about is eternal.  In the beginning … before anything was created … this Word already existed.  The only way to BE in the beginning is to be eternal.  The only thing that existed at the beginning … before anything is created … is God.

 

Now, just in case this is not obvious, the proclamation continues: ^{(John 1:1–2)  “}In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God”. Here the account begins to develop the idea that this Word is not alone as God.  These first two verses inform us that this Word was with the one person of our Triune God, He actually was the second person of God, and, in addition, He was with the third person of God.  Here the text begins to show that God is three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)… AND this Word is one of those persons, God the Son.  Since God does not change, if this Word was God in the beginning, then He is still God today.

 

The proclamation then proceeds to tell us that this Word was intimately involved with the creative work of God. ^{(John 1:3)} “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made”. This verse informs us that this Word was totally involved in the creative process.  In fact, it says it twice.  All things were made through him really says it all, but just to emphasise the point, we also hear “without him was not any thing made that was made”.  the text powerfully drives home the point that when God created all things, He created them through this Word.

 

The next verse informs us that God not only created us through this Word, but He also maintains us through this Word.  ^{(John 1:4)} “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”. This text teaches us that our very life is tied up in this Word.  True life is in Him.  Then, by way of this true life, He gives us the light of intellect, reason, and wisdom.

 

Next, we learn that this Word has an enemy.  ^{(John 1:5)} “The light shines in the darkness …” Darkness is not a thing.  It is the absence of a thing.  Darkness is the absence of light.  If the Word, who is light is God, so then Darkness is the absence of light … the absence of the Word … the absence of God.  God creates.  The Darkness destroys.

 

Yet, in revealing this enemy, there is great hope.  ^{(John 1:5)  “}The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”. Light is more powerful than dark.  God is more powerful than evil.  In the end, the light of the Word will overpower the darkness of destruction.

 

Now that John has told us about the Word … that He is God with the two other persons of the Trinity … that He is the source of life and thought … that He is the light that drives out the darkness of evil.  Now that John has told us all these things, he tells us that this Word … this light came into the world. ^{(John 1:9)} “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world”.

 

As we learn about the Light coming into the world.  John reminds us of the sad state of the world.  ^{(John 1:10–11)“}He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him”. Because of the darkness of sin, the world, whose life was in Him, did not know Him.  Even the Jews, who had the light of the written Word, rejected Him.  He was a stranger to those who were created through Him.

 

Despite this general rejection, there were a few … a remnant … who received Him. ^{(John 1:12–13)} “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God”. John makes it very clear that no human activity whatsoever can make one into a child of God.  God and God alone comes to the sinner and converts that sinner into His child … an adopted brother or sister of the Word and a child of Almighty God.

 

Now that John has told us about the Word … Now that John has told us that the Word came into the world … He now tells us how He came.  ^{(John 1:14)} “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”. Here we learn that the eternal Word took on our human flesh.  He took on our human flesh in order to dwell with us … in order to be one of us.  The eternal Word … the Word who is God … the Word through whom all things were created … the Word through whom all things are maintained … the Word who conquered the darkness of evil … that Word loves us enough to become one of us.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, the eternal Word joins with a single human egg in the womb of the Virgin Mary so that God and man are now one Christ … our brother … our saviour.

 

^{(Hebrews 1:1–2)} “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son …”.  God communicated His love to us in the Word made flesh who dwelt among us.  It is by the flesh of this Word (Jesus Christ), that He conquers the darkness of sin and death.  For it is the flesh of this Word (Jesus Christ) that hung on the cross to purify you and me from the darkness of our sin.  It is the flesh of this Word (Jesus Christ) that rose from the dead to open the path to life for all who believe.  It is the flesh of this Word (Jesus Christ) that comes to us in the sacred bread and the wine as we eat His body and drink His blood at the altar rail as a freely given gift of grace for our eternal salvation.

 

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  That is what this day Christmas is all about.  The eternal Word … God … now lives in human flesh.  We celebrate the birth of a son to the Virgin Mary … a son who is God with us.  In that human flesh, Christ was born.  In that human flesh, Christ died.  In that human flesh, Christ rose.  In that human flesh, Christ now reigns at God’s right hand.  In that same human flesh, Christ will come to judge the living and the dead.

 

On that Last Day, when we look at our judge, we shall see our Saviour … our Saviour whose birth we celebrate on this day … Jesus … the God-man … the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.  On this day, we celebrate the birth of the one who gave His life that we might live and enjoy His presence forevermore.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God, that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus; born this Christmas day for our eternal salvation. Amen 

Advent 4 – 20 December 2020 – Year B

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 Luke: Verses 26 – 38:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 

³⁵ And the angel answered her,  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

 

One of the things that the great reformers had to deal with during the reformation was the role of the Virgin Mary in the church.  Even today, the place accorded to Mary in the official teaching and popular devotion of the Roman Catholic Church remains one of the major differences that separate it from other mainstream Christian denominations.

 

One of the questions the reformers asked was, “Is it right to call Mary the “Mother of God?”  One of the difficulties with this title is that many think it is elevating Mary above her station.  However, a little thought helps us understand that when we call Mary the “Mother of God,” we are actually acknowledging the special nature of Jesus who is both God and man.  If we acknowledge that Mary is the true mother of Jesus and if we acknowledge that Jesus is true God, then, by definition, Mary actually is the “Mother of God.”  When we say that Mary is the “Mother of God,” we are really not saying anything special about Mary.  We are, in fact, proclaiming that her son, Jesus Christ, is not only true man, but He is also true God.

 

This gives us the ability to say all kinds of things about Mary and Jesus that force us to think about who Jesus really is.  When we see Jesus dying on the cross, we see God dying on the cross.  When we recognise that Jesus, the Son of God, is fully human, we recognise that a human being is a member of the Triune God.

 

In today’s Gospel we heard the angel Gabriel tell Mary that she was to become the “Mother of God.”  Gabriel told her that her son would also be the Son of the Most High.  When Mary asked for more details, Gabriel provided them.

 

The Holy Spirit worked the miracle that would provide the DNA that was missing from Mary’s egg … the part that the husband normally provides.  At the instant the Holy Spirit did that, God the Son took up residence in the womb of the Virgin.  He took human flesh unto Himself.  From that moment on, the Christ would forever be both true God and true Man.

Think about that.  That little one cell egg that the Holy Spirit fertilised is God.  As that cell divided and matured, God would seek out and attach Himself to the wall of Mary’s womb.  The umbilical cord would form.  Mary’s body would provide nutrition and oxygen and expel waste and carbon dioxide back and forth from the sinful blood of Mary to the holy blood of God our saviour.  For nine months, Mary’s body sustained the body of God.  Think what an amazingly complex biological and spiritual process we describe with the simple words of the Creed … conceived by the Holy Spirit … born of the Virgin Mary.

 

Mary will forever be the “Mother of God,” but for nine months she was also the temple of God.  Again, we are not saying that Mary is some sort of supernatural being, nor are we saying that she is made of superior stuff compared to other women.  Instead, we are simply saying that for nine months God revealed His presence in her womb.  The temple is the temple because it is the place where God reveals His presence with His people.  Mary is the temple because God in the flesh was present within her.

 

Now, as spectacular as this all is, there is a real problem here for Mary.  From all outward appearances, this pregnancy will look like any other pregnancy.  That is the whole point.  The Son of God is to experience every aspect of human life as a full human.  The entire community will look at Mary and see a perfectly natural pregnancy.  That means that Joseph, her betrothed husband will see it as a normal pregnancy.  Mary’s parents will see it as a normal pregnancy.  How will she explain this to them?  “Joseph … Mom … Dad … this baby is from the ah … the ah … Holy Spirit.” At the very least, this pregnancy could destroy her reputation.  If she was publicly convicted of adultery, the penalty was death.

 

Why did God do this to Mary?  For that matter, why did the Son of God submit to taking human nature unto Himself?  Why go through all this inconvenience … this hardship … this shame?  Why submit to this biological and sociological mess?

 

In this miracle, we already see our salvation at work.  After all, the Bible tells us that Mary, like all human beings, was born in sin.  Like all human beings, she deserved eternal punishment.  The Holiness of God in her womb should have destroyed her sin and her along with it, but it did not.  Instead, God came to be with her to bless her.  The Holy Son of God had taken up His human flesh inside of her.  He had already taken His first step on the road to the cross.  The salvation He earned on the cross as both God and Man was already at work protecting Mary from the condemnation she deserved because of her sin.

 

The Lord did not come into human flesh merely to protect His mother from destruction, but He also came to protect you and me from destruction.  During this coming week, we will celebrate the human birth of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.  We will celebrate the fact that God and man come together in one person – Jesus the Christ – the Son of Mary – the saviour of the world.  His conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth of the Virgin are the beginning of His journey to save us. During His journey, He will live a life without sin, He will teach and heal, He will suffer, die, and be buried.  He will rise and ascend back to His Father in Heaven.  He will do all this so that He could come to us without punishing us for our sin.  He will do all this so He could be with us and we could be His favoured people.

 

Jesus’ journey will remove our sins from us so that they can be punished without punishing us.  As the little human egg that began to divide in the womb of the Virgin, Jesus already carried our sin.  Even though He will never sin in His entire life, the time will come when God will treat Him as the greatest sinner who ever lived.  The little human egg in the womb of the Virgin will grow up to suffer the forsakenness of God as He hangs from the cross.  The wrath of God over sin will pour out on Him so that it does not need to pour itself out on us.  Instead God can come to us with His mercy, grace, and love.  God can be with us and we will be His favoured people.

 

The justice of God will proclaim its satisfaction with this sacrifice.  The human body that began growing in the Virgin will rise out of the grave and ascend to the Father in Heaven.  From there He will come to all who believe in Him.  He will bring heaven to them.  He will be with them and they will be His favoured people. 

 

Gabriel uttered God’s message to Mary over two thousand years ago.  The promise in those words has come to pass.  The baby was born and Mary named Him Jesus just as Gabriel had said.  Jesus kept all the promises that God had made.  His life was perfect in every way.  Regardless, even though His life was perfect, He suffered the cruelty of death on a cross.  Because His death conquered sin, death could not hold Him and He rose from the dead just as He had promised.

 

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He made a promise.  ^{[Matthew 28:20]} “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  He continually comes to us and He is always with us.  If Gabriel were to appear to us this day, he could greet us with the same greeting that he gave to Mary.  He could say, “Greetings, O favoured people of God, the Lord is with you!”  This would not be just a polite greeting, but it would be a statement of fact.  For the facts are these: that little single-celled God in the womb of the Virgin grew up to make us people of God and for His sake, the Lord really is with us.  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