The Innocent

 

The reading reflection for this week is Matthew 2:13-23 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%202%3A13-23&version=ESV

This is so sad a passage of scripture. It makes me pause and think. Death was the threat and death was carried out in such fierce crude fashion that the evil of this world seems to be predominate in this passage. 

But on second look, I hear the words of angelic voices from God sending Joseph, Mary and Jesus into Egypt, protecting Jesus for a later act of love that would overthrow and deny all power of the evil forces of, not only this world, but the spiritual world as well. There is a resurrection story in this passage as well as the demonic, evil story of Herod killing innocent children.

Egypt seems to bring forth a mystery in time. When I look to the powers of the pharaohs and the building of magnificent pyramids, there seems to be an intriguing wonder, a mystery. The very stories of the plagues and the acts of God along with the acts of the magicians of Egypt in duplicating the early plagues brings to mind mysteries.

There are even some early stories that Jesus went to Egypt to learn the trade of a magician.  A magician that could re-enact the miracles out of Egypt. I'm not sure of the age of Jesus at this time in Egypt, but this information seems to be a stretch for me to buy into. 

Anyway, from this passage, I hear angelic direction. When to go... where to go... when to return... where to return. All leading to a spiritual component in the life of Jesus and his family. And making me recall a sort of reverse story of a journey into and out of Egypt by Joseph and Moses.

I see a merciful God in that Jesus and family are saved from the present evil of Herod killing the babies in the suspected region of Jesus birth. Perhaps 20 to 25 children were killed just because a ruler had a fear that his power and prestige would be surpassed by an up and coming king. How egotistical and selfish!

But then I'm troubled that the Messiah and the spiritual powers of God would protect Jesus at the expense of the lives of babies in Israel. I can't imagine the cry of the mothers who lost their babies in Ramah. What is that about?

Isn't there a better way?

I can try to find some comfort in the idea that God sent Jesus on a mission that surpassed the lives of babies to bring salvation to all people. That God would fill the hearts with his Spirit and bring forth a resurrection story for Jew, and Gentile. That Jesus was sent to redeem those under the law to be adopted into God's family. But it all seems, for me, to be a rationalization of a horrible event that God permitted to take place in time and history, for a purpose that is beyond my human understanding.

So, I cry out to God... Why? Why is this world full of evil that you permit to happen? Why is there this struggle here in my time and place of war, hunger, poverty and death that you, God, permit to take place. Why? Why don't you take all of this away, and take it all away now?

And then I stop. I stop and think on my sin. I think on the Law and realize that I don't deserve salvation. What you created was perfect. What you created was paradise. You, God, didn't ruin it all. I did!

How many people have I killed in my heart? How many have I judged useless and good for the trash heap? How many people have I left hungry as I gorged myself in food and lavish living? How have I ignored the plight of my neighbor and refused to act to help? Should I go on?  I deserve to die a more cruel death than those innocent babies. I deserve death for the actions and the inactions of my life. You, God, didn't make me to be this way. I did all this on my own!

Yet, God, through the spiritual message of angels, saved the One who could make it all right. God saved Jesus not to teach him some cheap magician tricks in Egypt. God saved Jesus from death at that moment in history, in order that Jesus may complete God's saving act of saving me all the people of his perfect creation from sin, the devil, evil and death by taking our place. Jesus would take on the punishment that I deserve for my own sin, my sin, not Jesus' sin, but my sin! Jesus would take on my sin and die for me, and he died for you as well, that the death of those innocent babies would not be the final act of evil in their lives. Jesus death would be the final act of the death of the traps set by sin. And to show us what is to come for me and for you. Jesus arose from death to life everlasting, for you, for me, and for those babies, for whom we cry out for in Ramah.

Lord, I look to you. During this Christmas Season you have taken on flesh. You have blood pulsing through your veins of everlasting life that was dead, and now is alive. May your blood feed us and sustain us with everlasting life as we live to proclaim your power and glory to a world in sin, that your people may come to believe that you graciously give life eternal. Life beyond any act of evil rulers or the evil powers of the devil in this world and the spiritual realm so hard to fathom. Thank you for coming into our lives and saving us... today... tomorrow... and forever! Amen!!!

The Birth the Light the Beginning

Reflection on John 1:1-18 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201%3A1-18&version=ESV 

(Read it!)

Entertain me for a moment.

 In life I have had times of deep darkness. The darkness of sin, the darkness of covetousness, the darkness of indulgence, the darkness of death and pain. I’ve been in the presence of darkness and separation from God. You see, I like so many love the darkness. I’ve spent time  myself at the gross, darkness of the cross of Jesus, knowing, in my heart, that I put Jesus on that cross with my sinfulness.  I’m sinful and evil.  I’ve seen the darkness of death and hell in my life. Deep, deep darkness that I have brought upon myself. 

Yet in the midst of the darkest times, I came to realize the presence of God. I didn’t seek God, but rather God sought me. God hunted me down. God came out of time before me into my time. God broke into the midst of my darkness and hell to speak beyond my time, of a time in eternity. A time past, now, and forever into the future. God speaks in time and breaks through time and darkness to reveal the love and life he gives to all creation.

Jesus brought life into the world. Jesus brought life before the world and time, and during and after into eternity. Jesus is the source of all life and light. Jesus is the reflection of God’s glory. Light, Life, and Darkness are all spiritual realities. All exist. The Life of God enters history with the gift of eternal life into the present.

As God comes to me in the midst of my deep darkness, he freely pours his Light into me. God seeks to fill every crevice and space in my life with his Light. The Light is so intense, it sets off a fire in me that can’t be quenched. A fire that Christ daily feeds with the anointing oil of forgiveness and grace. God sweeps me up and overwhelms all senses of body and spirit.  Even the darkness of the cross cannot overcome the Light which radiantly shines forth upon the resurrection of Jesus and his gift of new life and new Light.

God is spirit, so God came to us to show himself. God shows himself to us as Word and Light. The Torah… the Living Word of God has come in Jesus.  And Jesus is born into time and space, God comes to me and to you.

Jesus’ light makes clear our human experience and destiny. Jesus born as God’s expression of himself to all people. God comes to tabernacle with his people and live with us as one of us.

And Jesus goes into time and space to reveal God’s eternal love on the cross. A Love full of grace and truth. Jesus brings God and man into a new relation.

Out of my darkness I take refuge in Jesus and live in the joy of his Light and the beautiful message he gives to me and to all who believe in him. God takes my senses from ear to eye. I can now hear and see through the darkness the Light of Christ. But seeing is different from believing. The abundance of God’s divine gift of Jesus, the Light, the Word, is never exhausted but is continually being renewed. Jesus made my fight against sin, death, the devil and eternal darkness, his fight. In Jesus battle, he frees me.

Daily God passes on some of his own nature and Light that I now come out of the darkness as something new and different and strange. I can’t change myself into what God wants me to be, but God changes me into what pleases God. 

And suddenly there is someone beside me. That someone is Jesus, God in flesh and Word and Light, bringing me through life to life.

This message of darkness, light, word and life is for all the world. It’s not just mine. But it’s a message born into space and time in Jesus this Christmas for all people to see, hear, feel and to believe.

My wish for this Christmas Season is that all who believe in God’s saving grace and love through Jesus may let some of his Light shine in and through. For the Light is the central glory to behold in Jesus coming.

Thanks be to God that Jesus has come and will come again. Merry Christmas, my friends! May God dwell with you and in you… today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen

Respond

 

Matthew 1:18-25 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/MAT.1.18-25.ESV --- read it! 

Joseph was a fine man, but as I read this passage of scripture, I realize it’s not really about Joseph. The passage seems to be a little bit about Mary, but not all that much either. The center of this passage, for me, is the action of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is active on Mary and on Joseph and on me as well today.

There are a few other readings for this 4th Sunday in Advent that point my thinking in this direction. 

Isaiah 7:10-17 helps me to see the Messiah or in the Gospel passage, the One to be named Jesus; as a sign from God. A sign for me to see and to recognize and to ponder and gaze to.

Psalm 24 caused me to cry with the psalmist, “May the King of glory come!” May the Messiah come to me this day, tomorrow and every day, to hear my confession, forgive me and send me out into this world to work his will in his way.

Also Romans 1:1-7 permits me to see Jesus declared to be the Son of God through whom we receive grace and love.

If you have time, read the above passages and jot down a note or two of what you hear God speak to you.

So, anyway… back to Matthew 1:18-25… my notes and reactions

• God is with us

• He will save his people

• Jesus is the Eternal Word

• Mary/Joseph are obedient to God

• God is now present in a new way

• God’s presence is with men now --- not in the Temple

• Joseph is “just” – he observes the Jewish Law

• Joseph could expose Mary or divorce Mary to save his own image with the people he lives around 

• Mary and Joseph were quick to heed the call of the moment

My take? What do I hear God saying to me?

There are times in my life that God has chosen to radically change me and the world that I live in today. There are times that God speaks through the mouth of other people and the actions of people that God places in my life. I have dreams and thoughts that perhaps angels have placed in my mind and my soul. 

Here, in the Gospel message, there is witness to the action of Mary and Joseph. Actions that the Holy Spirit has infused their lives with and the Spirit has invaded their souls with. I, like Mary and Joseph need to listen carefully, prayerfully respond to in times in haste, to be quick to notice the call of the moment and respond to God and to change my actions, my ways and my path. Respond to the unknown, knowing that God has granted me grace to live out new and changed ways of living in the sure, hope and trust that God’s plan is way beyond me and my own world.

God draws each of us out of ourselves and invites us in to live, even in our sinfulness, in the grace and freedom of the forgiveness of sin, so that God can accomplish something new and revealing about God. New to me, to you and to the world in which we live, but sure in the revelation of the fulfillment that God has planned for his people.

So, yes, respond to that call when you hear it, like Mary and Joseph, knowing that God’s action in you, and in this world is what the call is really about. Say yes, and do what you least expected you would do, in the trust and hope and knowledge that God’s will and call in your life will bring glory to God.

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus, come… to me… to this world… to all called through you… today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen

Change

 

There's a big change coming! A huge change! Read Matthew 11:2-15 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2011%3A2-15&version=ESV --- Read it!

I doubt all the time. Apparently John the Baptist and his followers had doubt also. This pointing to Jesus is a big Big BIg BIG change!

This was not just a change coming upon us from God, but a huge change in the ages from the beginnings of eternity. Here in this passage we have a change coming from the time of the Law and the Prophets, from which John the Baptist came, to an age of the of the Messiah, the day of the Lord Jesus, and the age of the End  times. 

So, when the people of John the Baptist's time went out to see John in the wilderness... what did they expect? What did they see in this John the Baptist? I mean John dressed in hairy clothing and eating a strange diet, living off of what God alone gives, wasn't exactly like the Evangelist in a suit on a stage screaming and dancing and singing. John the Baptist wasn't in a suit and tie or robes. John was living off of the land and wearing what he could find from the land. John wasn't a soft handed character, he was rugged and determined to fulfill the call God gave to him in passion and certainty. John certainly didn't waver or flip-flop around in what he had to say about the Messiah.

But now...  in this passage... John's voice does not cry from the desert. John's voice cry's from the dungeon, perhaps of prison. John's cry from the wilderness was about to be silenced in the dungeon. So, he doubted his very own word and needed to listen to THE WORD. 

This goes for me too. In the midst of my sinful doubt, I need to stop... to listen... to hear deeper meanings.

Jesus wasn't doing what John proclaimed he would do; at least not in John's mind, I think. Is Jesus the Messiah? John proclaimed the coming of God the Judge... God coming with the fire of Judgment on this sinful world and these sinful people that need to turn and to repent and face God. John was the one that identified the Messiah out in that wilderness. Was Jesus really the right guy? So, he doubted.

John could see the flames of the judgment of God, but not so much the quiet beginning of the good will of God. John could see God the Judge, but not so much God the Father. The ministry that Jesus tells John's disciples to report back on is a ministry of the Messiah of mercy, love and compassion.

Herein lies the BIG change. The BIG change of Law and Prophets, of which John comes from to a NEW age of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus makes the BIG BIG difference between the two ages as well as for you and me and all of God's children, between our personal changes of life and death.

The greatest of the past age, now fall in line with the least of this age. You see, the "Least" are not now greater because of what they have done or earned or obeyed... rather, now the "Least" are the greatest by the grace of God in Christ Jesus in this new age.

We live in an age that is a BIG change. Are we making God in an image that we want to see? Or will we live in the BIG change of a God that lives on his terms, not our terms. A new age with Jesus saving grace that would bring mercy, love, healing, and a salvation that reaches beyond all ages of the world.

God comes to save you and me and all his people. Keep me patient Lord Jesus. For as you declared to John the Baptist, in his doubt, as you declare to me in the midst of all of my doubts... you have come and will come again. You promise to come yet again... to judge. But, today in this age of my life may I turn to you and believe. I simply believe, trust and hope in you alone.

And then... and then... so majestically and wonderfully we will all gather around the throne of God and praise you into eternity. Praise the Lord!

Lord, in the midst of my doubt, forgive me, forgive all your people who look away, that we may all see Your age, and the BIG change of your acts of love mercy and salvation. Make us Listen! Listen for the deeper meanings and see it all the more clearly. Today... tomorrow... and forever. Come Lord Jesus, come! --- Amen

Repent! Change! Turn! Why not?

 I've seen this image many times before. I've seen not just an image, but the real thing while I worked at Armco Steel in years past. The reading from Matthew 3:1-12 (read it!) reminded me of my past. 

In the reading, John the Baptist is in the wilderness, baptizing, of course... duh! 

Even through the food that John lived on, he relied on food provided by God the Creator. It was food that God gave directly. Food that didn't need human intervention. Honey... from the bees... some say it was sweetness from pods naturally grown, and locust, well they don't need any human intervention either. John depended on life totally from God.

 John's life was God given towards a God ordained task. All of us are given life and God has a task for each and every one of us. 

John's task was to turn folks around. John declared in the midst of the wilderness, "Repent!" But why?

Well... if I just look at myself. I have so many reasons to repent. I can reflect on my daily life and see reasons to repent. I see things I've said and done that just ain't quite right. In fact, some of those things are downright wrong towards God and towards those people I encounter each day. So... I NEED to repent. I need to change my mind for the better. But how?

It's easy to look to my own sin and explain it away. I can rationalize my bad behavior. Christians do this all the time. They don't look to their own sin, they look to the sins of other people and judge the other person. I do that too much... way too much. So, I need to put away all that phony Church Man, or Church Lady stuff and look at myself. Look at my relationship with God and with those God gives to me and see first hand my sin. See my sin up close and disturbingly uncomfortable. See my failure to live the life God wants me to live. I need to repent!!!

But still, why?

John's God given task was to open the eyes of the people. People then and today. John's baptism of repentance was to wash us and turn us around. You see, John was pointing to Jesus the Messiah. John wants you and me to look to our past... repent... then turn to life in Christ. 

It's the only way. I can't make all of those things of which I repent right again. Only Jesus can. So John tells me that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

Whoa!!! Fire? Yep, fire. And thus comes my Armco Steel image.

You see, when I daily repent, when I daily turn to Jesus for new life and a new day, God turns up the heat a little bit. Each day, a little hotter. And finally when the crap from the metal rises to the top. God, through Jesus, scrapes all my junk and sin away. Jesus takes it away... I can't. 

Well guess what? Eventually all that crap on top will boil away and when Jesus looks into that pot of molten metal of myself, Jesus will begin to see himself more clearly in me.

Now that's an Advent of Jesus coming I didn't expect. Jesus coming to me in and through the forgiveness of sin, each and every day of my life. All due to Jesus taking away my sin.

So there you have it. Why does the pot of molten metal remind me of repentance? Because it's all about Jesus Advent, his coming into my world, into my life, into my very being.

Repent! Change! Turn! Why not?

Let Jesus scrape all that crap away and live your life today anew in him and for him and for all those God gives to you each day, in newness of life. God is all you need after all... just ask John.

God gives you life each day and gives you his task as well.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Thanks be to God, today, tomorrow, and forever.