Epiphany of Our Lord – 3 January 2016 – Year C

Epiphany of Our Lord – 3 January 2016 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from 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.

The Visit of the Wise Men

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men¹ from the east came to Jerusalem, ² saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose² 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.

I have no idea what you think of Woody Allen, but today’s Gospel reminds me of something he said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” - I believe the original is an old Yiddish proverb “We plan, God laughs.” but you get the idea. I don’t know if Woody knew it or not, but his words agree with the Psalms: ^{[Psalm 33:10]} “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples”.  The Epiphany account of the magi very much demonstrates the truth in those words.  You see, the account of the visit of the magi shows God working very directly to change people’s plans.

I suppose we could take that all the way back to the visit that the angel Gabriel paid to a young virgin named Mary.  Mary did plan to have children … someday … after she married Joseph.  God had other plans. ^{[Isaiah 7:14]}  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. 

Then there is the place of the birth.  Did Mary plan to give birth to the child in Bethlehem?  God did. ^{[Micah 5:2]} “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days”.

Then there are the magi.  Who knows what they had planned when they noticed that there was a new light in the sky … a light unlike any light they had seen before … a light that caused them to set out in search of a newborn king.  They planned to find the king in Jerusalem, but He wasn’t there.

King Herod told the magi to look for the king in Bethlehem, but when the magi set out from Jerusalem, the star showed them the true location of the newborn king.  By now everyone expects the new born king to be in Bethlehem, but if we read the account carefully, it doesn’t really tell us where they found the child.  Maybe they found the child in Bethlehem, maybe they didn’t.  The Bible doesn’t say.

The magi planned to worship the new born king and then return to Herod, but God had other plans.  An angel appeared to them in a dream and warned them to return by another route.

Herod had plans.  Herod planned to rule indefinitely.  Herod murdered friend, family, and enemy alike in order to keep himself on the throne in Jerusalem.  He planned to murder the newborn king.  God had other plans. ^{[Matthew 2:13]} “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’.”  Herod’s plan failed.  Not only did he not murder the new born king, but he also died … and when he died no one mourned.

Joseph planned to marry Mary and then be the father of her children.  He didn’t plan to be the step dad of a child conceived by the Holy Spirit.  He probably never planned to do any international traveling either … much less to Egypt.

If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.  The entire account of the visit of the magi … indeed the entire historical content of the Bible constantly shows us that God’s plans always come to pass while man’s plans are very much subject to change.

Did Noah plan to build a floating zoo?  Did Joseph plan to get sold into slavery by his brothers and then become Pharaoh’s right hand man?  When Moses planned to deliver Israel from slavery, God sent him out into the desert for forty years.  Then, once Moses turned eighty and gave up on his plan to deliver Israel, God came to him in a burning bush.  Saul planned to travel to Damascus and arrest Christians, but God struck him to the ground in a bright light so that he became Paul the Apostle.  These are but a few examples of God changing people’s plans.

God inspired Isaiah to prophesy, ^{[Isaiah 55:8–9]} “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  We can be very, very glad that God changes plans.  We can be very, very glad that God’s plans for us are not what we expect.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they brought a curse on all of creation.  They expected punishment.  They ran and hid.  They did not expect God to promise a seed who would crush the serpent’s head.  I would have expected God to erase His creation and start over.  He didn’t do that. He sent a saviour, instead.  Instead of punishing His creation or erasing His creation, He redeemed His creation.

Even the way that the redeemer did the redeeming did not fit the expectations of man.  The people who had God’s promises … the people who should have known better … even these people expected a king of earthly power and glory.  Herod most certainly expected a king of power and glory.  That is the reason he was troubled.  If Herod had understood the true nature of the new born king … that His kingdom is not of this world … Herod wouldn’t have cared.

Man’s plans expect a redeemer who makes laws, not one who lives under the law, but the Bible tells us:^{[Galatians 4:4–5]} “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”. 

Man expects a redeemer of great power and wealth.  Never the less, God’s Word says, ^{[2 Corinthians 8:9]} “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich”. 

Although the prophets foretold the suffering servant of God, even Jesus’ disciples did not expect Jesus to suffer and die.  Even so God’s Word says, ^{[Galatians 3:13]} “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”

The resurrection did not fit the plans of the Pharisees and the chief priests for we read: ^{[Matthew 27:62–64]} “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’  Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”

The guards at Jesus’ tomb didn’t plan to see an angel, but God changed their plans. ^{[Matthew 28:2–6]} “An angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.  And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.  But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here, for he has risen, as he said”. 

If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.  Pagan philosophers from a foreign land come to worship the Christ child.  At the same time, the powerful in Jerusalem … the high priests … the scribes … the man on the throne … they haven’t got a clue.  The account of the magi visiting the Christ child once again shows us that our lives are subject to God’s plan … not ours.  As the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write: ^{[Philippians 2:13]} “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure”. 

Fortunately for us, it is God’s good pleasure for us to spend eternity with Him.  His plan is to work our salvation.  As the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write: ^{[Ephesians 1:4]} “He chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him”.  God’s plan of salvation for us has been in place since before He created the world.  It is that plan of salvation that was at work as He revealed the Saviour to the magi by way of the star.  It is that plan of salvation that is still at work in us as He reveals and gives that same salvation to us through His blessed, holy word and sacraments.  It is that plan of salvation that will one day take us from this valley of sorrows to live in His eternal presence in holiness and joy forever.  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 2015 – Year C

Christmas 1 – 27 December 2015 – Year C

Grace to you and peace from 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 41 - 52

Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. ^ When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ^ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ^ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

^ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ^But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

^ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

It’s interesting that the most important person in history has such a meagre biography.  He walked the earth for thirty-three years.  Four books record those events.  Of the 89 chapters of those books, only four devote themselves to the first 12 years of Jesus life.  Now, to be fair, the most important part of Jesus’ life were those years of His public ministry, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; but, still we it would be interesting to know more about Jesus’ early years.  I guess it’s because of our interest in Jesus’ teens that all kinds of books and shows, some more fictional than others, have been published to try to fill in the gaps.  Those gaps, however, won’t be filled in until we see Jesus with our own eyes in heaven. Until then, we must satisfy ourselves with what the Holy Spirit provides in His inspired account as written in the Biblical text. 

Today, we have before us, everything we know about Jesus teenage years; but what we have is incredible.  In these verses Jesus reminds us who He is.  He reminds us that He is – already at age 12, and since the moment of His conception – the perfect God-Man.  He reminds us that He is the perfect God-Man because He is our perfect substitute.

Most of us are reasonably familiar with this account.  Jesus’ parents, Joseph and Mary, take Him to Jerusalem for the Passover.  This is a significant trip that Luke writes about.  At this time Jesus was not yet experienced His bar mitzvah, (the Jewish equivalent of Christian confirmation), he was in the final legs of his ‘catechetical’ instruction.  He would have been going to Saturday School for some time now, learning the Scriptures, getting ready for His Bar Mitzvah.

At the end of the festival, Mary and Joseph head back to Nazareth with the caravan of travellers who had come for the festival.  During these journeys through the desert animals and people all walked together; the women usually in groups chatting as did the men; the young people all gathered together and talked and played together. Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with the other boys and they didn’t worry about Him until nightfall.  When they could not find him they panicked, they looked everywhere, finally after three days of frantic searching they found him back at the Temple, sitting at the feet of the Rabbis, listening, asking questions, and replying. 

As all Mums would know, Mary is angered and confused by His behaviour; she demands, “How could you do this to us son!?!?!?”  Jesus He replied, “Mum, didn’t you know that this is what I’d be doing, what I have to do; going about my Father’s business?”  Jesus He went home with them, the perfect little boy, for the next eighteen years.

Friends this is spectacular story of enlightening truths.  We see the boy who is God.  This is not a boy “learning to be God” or “discovering that He’s something special” or wondering “Why do I know these things?”  Teenager Jesus knows who He is and here reminds us why Christmas – Word and flesh becoming one – is such a big deal.

Jesus shows us His eagerness to be as one with His Father’s Word.  Jesus stayed behind, not to hang out with friends, not to wander the streets of Jerusalem, not to see that event or sight Mom and Dad said there wasn’t time to see.  He stayed behind to get into the Word.  He stayed behind to sit at the feet of Rabbis and teachers.  If your son or daughter went missing, how many of you would assume that they were with Christian minister talking theology?  How many confirmed teens are even eager to be in church much longer than they have to be?  Willing and eager to be in the Word, about His Father’s things, Jesus is the perfect graduate who was at the same time is the very God who understood it perfectly.  He mystified the crowds with the insight His questions displayed and the knowledge His answers imparted.  Jesus didn’t take over the class, but He was a participant extraordinaire.  The Scriptures He was taught were the Scriptures that He, through the Holy Spirit, inspired the prophets to write.  Jesus makes use of His divine nature on this occasion, perhaps to lead these Rabbis to a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and to help them focus their eyes rightly on Him as the Christ.

Whilst Jesus understood the Fifth Commandment, His earthly time on earth had its priority in the First Commandment and doing His Father’s will for all peoples.  He was the perfect child.  When Mary and Joseph find Him, He doesn’t make a scene.  He doesn’t roll His eyes at Mum and Dad.  He doesn’t mock them sarcastically.  Yet, He does rebuke them for forgetfulness – after all, angels told them that He was the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.  For this child, they’d gone into exile in Egypt.  Had their memories faded?  Were they taking His divine nature for granted?  Were they so used to His obeying the Fourth Commandment that they forgot about His divine mission having priority?  Jesus reminds them, “This is what I have to do first; this is why I took on flesh.”

And yet, when His parents came.  He went home obediently.  God in the flesh joyfully went home to Nazareth.  He obeyed them in everything.  He isn’t suddenly the boss.  What a radical reversal of our usual response?  We look forward to those moments when we can rub failure into the faces of our superiors – whether it’s Mums or Dads, pastors or teachers, or bosses.  Rather than quietly put ourselves under their leadership, our sinful nature desires to remind them of their failings whenever we can.  Jesus demonstrates that this is not the way for God in the flesh and in so doing reminds us that it is not the way for us either.

Friends in Christ, this is much more than just a good Biblical story. Through his text today St Luke is reminding us today that Jesus is the perfect God-Man.  We must remember that even at this time, this perfect teen was aware of His fate, to be the perfect substitute to die on a cross for our sins.  The story beginning at Christmas – the being born, the growing up, the gaining of wisdom, the obedience to all the commandments – was for our sake; for our eternal forgiveness and salvation. 

This child / man Jesus demonstrated that He is a member of our family, sharing our humanity.  He subjected Himself to all these things for one purpose, to bring all people salvation, to destroy the power of devil, to free us from the slavery of our sins and our fear of death.  He subjected Himself to these things so that at the cross He could be the perfect and faithful High Priest we needed, offering the sacrifice of Himself as atonement for our sins. This teenage boy in our text became all these things, and His sacrifice paid the price.  It did the job.  It redeemed us.  It ended the power of the devil.  It ended the hold that death has over us.  Because Jesus did what He had to do.  He is perfectly God and perfectly man in one Person.  That is what makes the Christmas season so special and joyful for all humankind. How blessed we are!  Amen

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

Christmas Day – 25 December 2015 – Year C

Christmas Day – 25 December 2015 – Year C

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

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

The Word Became Flesh

1   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. ⁴ In 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 did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become 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. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Christianity is called Christianity because it is all about Christ – who He is and what He has done for us.  All Christians know this.  The devils of hell know this as well.

Very often, the devil tries to deceive us by fiddling with the identity of the Christ.  He does not deny that Christ is the centre of Christianity.  Instead he offers up a variety of false Christs to be that centre.

Two false teachings about Christ have been particularly stubborn down through the centuries.  One false teaching tries to portray Christ as not fully human.  The other false teaching tries to portray Christ as not fully God. 

The first of these false teachings portrays a Christ who is simply God masquerading as a human being.  There are many variations on this false teaching that seem to fall between two extremes.  At one extreme we have false teachers who teach that Christ was never a human being at all.  At the other extreme we have false teachers who admit that Christ was human while he was here on this earth, but once he ascended into heaven, he dropped the human appearance just the way that an actor takes off makeup after the play is over.

The second of these false teachings is willing to admit that Jesus might be some sort of being that is superior to humanity.  They might even admit that Jesus had certain god-like qualities.  Never the less, they refuse to believe that Jesus is an eternal member of the Triune God Who is equal in majesty and glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Last evening, we read the Gospel account from Luke describing the human birth of the Saviour.  This account is part of the Biblical record that teaches us that Jesus became fully human in the womb of the Virgin Mary and that He is still human even as He reigns in eternity.

This Christmas Day we read the Gospel account according to John the Evangelist.  John is very much interested in showing us that the baby born to the Virgin is truly God the Son, a full and equal member of the Triune God.  To do this, John does not begin His Gospel account at the manger in Bethlehem.  Instead, he takes us clear back to creation.  He proclaims Jesus as the Word made flesh Who was intimately involved in the creation of all things.

Thus, it is no coincidence that the Gospel according to John and the First book of Moses both begin with the same phrase: ^{[Gen. 1:1; John 1:1]} “In the beginning …” John is taking us back to the account of creation according to Moses.

The first few verses of Genesis introduce us to the Triune God.  Already in verse two we hear ^{[Genesis 1:2b]} “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”  This verse introduces us to the Holy Spirit and teaches us that the one and only God is a community of persons.

Then in verse three we hear ^{[Genesis 1:3]} “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”  This verse shows us that God’s creative activity takes place through His Word, but there is something odd about this Word.  The Bible does not tell us that God had to create the Word before He spoke it.  The Word was already with God before creation.  Before creation, there was nothing except God.  So, however strange it sounds, the Word through which God created everything must be God.  So it is that, in the creation account, Moses speaks of God the speaker, God the Word, and God the Spirit.  As time went on, God revealed Himself more fully as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

So it is that the Holy Spirit inspired John to begin his Gospel account with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.”  John directs our focus to the very Word that Moses told of in the account of creation.  He reminds us that the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  Here John is already teaching us that God is a community of persons and that the Word is one of those persons.

The Holy Spirit then inspired John to illustrate how the Word was intimately involved in creation.  In fact, John speaks of the role of the Word in creation in two different ways just make sure that we get the point.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  This reading teaches us that the Word is not a created being.  Instead we learn that the Word is active in the creating process.  We learn that every person of the Triune God participates in the activities of God.  And we learn that the Word is one of those persons.

John has made it very clear that the Word is indeed God – fully equal to the other persons of the Godhead.  He has told us that the Word was not created, but always existed.  He has told us that the Word was active in the creation process.

Then, as we skip down to verse fourteen, we learn an amazing thing about the Word: “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 John is telling us that the Word who is fully God took on human flesh and lived among us on this earth.  Furthermore, John tells us that he and others have seen His glory.

Who is the Word who is both God and Man?  John the Evangelist tells us that John [the Baptist] bore witness about him.  Finally, John tells us the name of the Word: the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the Word who is both God and man.

So it is that the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to teach us that Jesus is a real man in real history.  He is the Son of Mary that the shepherds found in the manger.  The same Holy Spirit also inspired John to teach us that Jesus is the Word who is God from all eternity.  He is a fully equal person of the God head.  Jesus Christ both fully God and fully man.  But why is it so crucial that we know and believe that in the person of Jesus Christ, we have both God and man?

God the Father sent Jesus into this world in order to do battle for us and earn forgiveness for all our sins.  This battle is against a supernatural foe.  Jesus must be able to stand toe-to-toe with sin, death, and the devil.  Furthermore, His sacrifice had to be sufficient for all people.  If Jesus were only human, then the forces of evil would defeat Him, and even if Jesus could withstand the forces of evil as a mere human being, His sacrifice could only earn salvation for one other human being.  It would not be enough for the entire world.  Thus, a Saviour who was just a man could not earn salvation for the world.  Our Saviour must be God.

At the same time, the battle involves suffering and death.  The Saviour must be a substitute for those whom He wishes to save.  Our Saviour must be human in order to take our place under the law and keep it perfectly.  Our Saviour must be human in order to suffer and die to take the punishment of our sin onto Himself.

The true message of Christmas is that the warrior who will be our champion and fight for us has entered the battle via the womb of the Virgin Mary.  God has put on humanity to fight for humanity – to save humanity from sin and its guilt.  In the one person of Jesus Christ, God and man are brought together to live a perfect life, take our sins to the cross, and rise from the dead.  On this Christmas Day we celebrate a major milestone in Christ’s victory for us – the milestone of His human birth.

The little baby in the manger is the Almighty God who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.  The little baby in the manger is Christ our Saviour coming forth to conquer sin, death, and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He has risen from the dead, and lives and reigns to all eternity.  This is most certainly true.  Amen