Matthew 2:1-12

 Matthew 2.1-12

Missing the point is easier than we might think. In this passage we have Herod deep in darkness and evil. We have the Magi, wise and seeking. But we must not miss the Chief Priest and scribes, people who knew the scriptures. Herod was on bad terms with the Sanhedrin, nevertheless there were at least some leaders he could talk to for answers. They knew the scriptures, but did they recognize the Christ? The religious elites were so infected with the system of power and privilege that even though they could know where the Messiah would be born it made no personal difference for them. All they had was information that was only useful to curry favor and advance their cause. It did not draw them close to God.

From Jerusalem to Bethlehem was less than 5 miles. Verse 6 indicates that they were aware of the predictions, that they had the information concerning the facts of the Messiah’s birth. But they made no effort to find the Christ child for themselves. Were they unaware of Herod’s intent? They certainly knew his character. The religious institution, with its magnetism, pulled them so powerfully that they missed the Messiah. There were functions that had to be performed. There were meetings to attend. There were matters, important and trivial, that did not allow them to see the questions about the Christ as anything more than an academic pursuit.

May God grant us the grace that in our study of the Bible, our work in the faith community, our conversations about God, our frustrations and joys in congregations that we never miss our Lord. In our conversations with the Herods of our world may we never miss the Messiah.

Matthew 1:18-25

 Matthew 1.18-25

Matthew begins laying out a very careful argument that Jesus is the Messiah. First he does so with the genealogy that began this chapter now he turns to the connection of Joseph, Mary and the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Matthew moves from the natural, Joseph’s reaction to Mary’s pregnancy, to the supernatural, the revelation of what happened and who Jesus was to be.

There are two characteristics of Jesus that would be desirable in anyone’s life. First, he was a “righteous man”, a man who kept the law, who loved the law, a law-abiding man. The high priority in Jewish life for the Law was expressed in faithful conformity to the law, not just knowledge of it. Second, he was a kind man. He could have divorced Mary in public humiliation. In a small town that would have been very harsh and difficult for Mary. By all natural expectations that would be the very best that Mary might expect. Joseph’s willingness to radically adjust his life and expectation at the call of God was formed by his love for the Word of God and his kind heart.

It is worth noticing the “fear not” context in this passage. Typically, when an angel commands, “Fear not,” it is understood as, “Don’t be afraid of me,” but in this case the message is. “Don’t be afraid of the circumstances”. The angel says, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” This would not protect them from the social stigma. Joseph’s reputation as a “righteous man” would certainly take a hit. The external circumstances would not be made easier. It would, however, quiet the inner storm and when we are at peace with God and at peace within we are more able to deal with the conflicts of life.

"Lord, help me to Love the Word, Be Kind, and fear no circumstance. AMEN"

Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew 1:1-17

Matthew begins with a “book of the beginnings”. Jesus will be presented by Matthew as the new beginning or the new creation. The language in this passage is reflective of other ‘beginnings’ specifically Genesis 2:4 and 5:1. Matthew moves from Abraham to Jesus but notes critical mile markers or turning points. First is Abraham the true embodiment of what it means to be Jewish. Second is David the Great whose descendant would be called the “son of David”. This title will be a major Messianic title in the book of Mathew. Third the exile from which Israel would need a rescue. This picture of exile and rescue would find their ultimate fulfillment in the Christ. In these three cycles Matthew is more interested in communicating the great truth of who Jesus was and what He would do than providing a genealogical record.

The cycles have run their course and the time has come for the new beginning. The promise made to Abraham is finally being fulfilled, but in a most unexpected way. In the exile Israel came close to extinction. Israel that reached its zenith during the time of David and Solomon could not, during the age of the exile, be described as the sands of the seashore. And since the return from the exile Israel was little more than a backwater vassal state for empires. It was time for a turning, for a radical new direction. The promise to Abraham was being encapsulated in the Messiah. From the outside there may have been no indication that the time had come. The generations converge on Jesus, the years converge on Jesus and from the outside they appeared to be noteworthy only because they were so unremarkable.

The work-a-day could not know it was coming.

The political structure was unaware of what God was doing or what part it would play.

The people, with few exceptions, didn’t perceive that anything exceptional was happening.

We never know when God is about to do something remarkable. The great things of God are at work even if we do not see them at work. But we can live in such a way that when the movement of God is manifest we are ready to join in His great work.

Why keep Christmas?

With all the commercialization, gluttony, avarice and vice that has corrupted the celebration of Christmas is it still worth the trouble?  Maybe we ought to rename it commerce day, recognize that it is nothing more than an economic stimulus scheme and be done with “Christmas”.  Why keep Christmas?

We must keep Christmas so that we do not forget to remember.  What is at stake in remembrance is nothing less than the eternal destiny of our souls.  A fall from grace maybe difficult, but it is possible and from apostasy there is no return.  The very beginning is not the wrong action, not the indulgence in any of the seven deadly sins.  That is the midway point; that is the end of the beginning and the starting point of the end. 

The beginning of the beginning is in the forgetting.  Forgetting makes it easy for me to imagine grace as a license to sin.  Forgetting makes it easy to occasionally worship at the altar of lesser gods.  It allows me to replace loving obedience with dead ritual or think cold knowledge is a substitute to love God with my whole being.  In forgetting there is familiarity with God, but no longing for Him.

That is why I must make remembering the priority.  I must remember that I am called to love and serve, to faith and works.  I must remember that holiness is more than only the rejection of evil, but also the embracing and engagement of righteousness.  In remembering we are doubly protected, pulled away from the evil that lurks in the dark places of our heart, drawn toward the higher life our Father would see us live. 

That is why we need the rituals of remembrance.  That is why God gave to His chosen people seasons of feasting and days of fasting.  That is why we need moments and mementos of recall.  That is why we need a season to recall the waiting for and the occasion of the incarnation.  That is why we need a season to revisit the garden, the cross, and the empty tomb.  That is why I need the season of the church year and the morning moments with the Bible.  Not because I earn some merit of favor.  But so I don’t forget.

Better men than I have forgotten.  They forgot their place, their commitments their calling.  David forgot and the moment of passion cost him years of misery and a heart in agony.  Moses forgot and his moment of pride became jail bars through which he could see the Promised Land.  Gehazi forgot and he changed from prophet- -heir-apparent to leprous outcast.  Peter forgot and the sound of a rooster sent him crying into the night with the sound of his own curse ringing in his ear.

I am entirely fickle; it is easy for me to forget the challenge of the morning devotion before I have settled into the workday.  The only answer for such a capricious heart is reminders, daily, weekly, hourly-constant reminders.  

I need Christmas to help me remember.  Even in the gratuitous commercialism, the inanity of secular traditions and the blatant appeals to my base nature I need Christmas.  I need to remember that, “God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son.”

Do we want Christ or just Christmas?

In “the Great Divorce” C.S. Lewis tells of the ghost of an artist that has arrived in the valley of the shadow of life.  The artist’s ghost is struck by the beauty of the scene and has a great desire to paint what he sees.  In the following conversation the ghost and a person talk about how the artist lost his love for the ‘light’ and replaced it for the love of painting.  The person tells the ghost, “If you are interested in the country only for the sake of painting it you will never learn to see the country.”  Later the person tells the ghost that every poet, musician and artist is, “drawn away from the love of the thing he tells to love of the telling.  Till down in deep hell they cannot be interested in God at all, but in only what they say about Him.”

That is the danger that we face in the grandeur of Christmas. 

Christmas is the one time of year that a secular society seems most interested in the telling of the story of Christ.  Try as it might the symbols, stories, traditions, and rituals of Christmas point to the incarnation.  Everything points to the miracle of God eternal becoming fully human, being wrapped in cloth and placed in a feeding stall.  Efforts to debunk Christmas as myth always turn back to the fact that something happened that was beyond the realm of natural.  To attempt to replace Merry Christmas with Happy Holiday begs the question, “What are these Holy Days for which you wish me happiness?  Who and what make them holy?  What does it mean that these days are themselves holy? What does holy mean?”  Everything about Christmas points toward the manger.

As Christians we have to deal with the danger of loving the opportunity Christmas represents to the exclusion of the one we celebrate.   I consider myself a Christmas purest which can be a mistake for a Grinch.  I dislike the shallowness, commercialism, market exploitation and secularization of Christmas.  When in local ministry I worked very hard at leading the church to avail itself of the worship, evangelistic and discipleship occasion that was Christmas.  Beginning in September I began writing scripts, researching, and planning our Christmas Gala.  It became one of the things I loved most about our church year.  In retrospect, did I love the telling more than the hero of the story?  I wonder if creating the perfect event didn’t take precedent over the focus?  I look back with great fondness to the moments, but are they moments of worship or sentimental remembrance?

I hope your anticipation of the Christ and your celebration are wonderful and grand occasions.  But I also hope they pale in comparison to your encounter with the Christ.

It is only a matter of time!

When I was a kid waiting for Christmas was difficult.  I don’t know if it is our culture or my personality, something else or a combination of factors, but waiting was and is not a strong suit for me.  The waiting really began Monday after Thanksgiving weekend when I had to go back to school.  That morning on the way to school marked the beginning of the count down.  Let me confess, I like to learn I just hated school.  While waiting for Christmas the days in school really were a bore, but sooner or later Christmas would come and set me free from school.  I hated doing long division.  If a train left Chicago at 11:00 and another train left L.A. at 7:00 all that mattered was that they got to where they were going by Christmas.  I didn’t want spelling bees; they never asked me to spell “HAM”.  I didn’t want a history lesson about two guys walking from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.   I wanted Christmas.  The clocks at school during Christmas moved exceptionally slow. I was A.D.D. before A.D.D. was discovered.  I always felt we should have had a class dedicated to day dreaming-I was good at that.  I practiced a lot especially while waiting for Christmas.   I was never a good student and during December I was especially distracted and distract-able by something better that was just ahead.

Everyone came home at Christmas. Being the youngest in my family I was excited to see my brothers come home from college, one uncle home from the Navy, and another to park his 18 wheeler for a week.  While never destitute we were not a wealthy family and so meals were rarely sumptuous.  But Christmas was a season of feasting.  There seemed to be a near endless supply of fruit, candies, and big meals during the days around Christmas.  I remember my uncle bringing candy by the bags at Christmas, candy that came from the PX which some how made it special.

It was also when we would present the Christmas program at church.   Some time just after Halloween we would begin the preparation.  Some years it was a musical, others it was a drama, occasionally it was a live manger scene in front of the church.  Having a donkey or goat at church made the Christmas story real.  Compared with modern Christmas productions ours were very primitive and humble affairs, but we loved the moment and the fellowship with cake and hot chocolate afterwards. 

I can remember specific decorations I made almost 50 years ago out of computer punch cards, glitter, glue, and silver or gold paint.   I can remember caroling and taking cookies to the old folks home. I enjoyed getting presents, but I really liked making a list to whom I would give what.  I remember trying to decide what kind of stationary to buy my uncle (it had to be serious incase he needed to write the Pentagon).   Other than never having a white Christmas, I loved the whole Christmas holiday. 

All of which made the waiting harder and the preparation more fun.  These apparent opposites were true because it was just a matter of time till Christmas would be here.  The month from thanksgiving to Christmas always passed; it never failed.  That is one of the lessons of Advent.  By preparing to celebrate the first coming of Christ we are training for the second coming.  It is just a matter of time. 

Between now and the second coming things can be really bad.  We will face the slow decay of years and age.  We will go to funerals for loved ones. We will get sick and from one of those sicknesses we will one day be the guest of honor at a funeral.  The mind and the body will grow feeble.  We will watch a world around us crumble and fail.  We will even see nature groaning and complaining under the stress and distress of decay.  The picture is as gloomy as the outlook of an emo kid without a prom date.  But it is okay this is just school between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The second coming is like Christmas only more.  It is Super, Grand, Awesome Christmas; it is feasting of which Christmas dinner is a vague picture.  It is the reunion that is all joy and never followed by separation.  It is enjoying gifts prepared for us at the greatest cost and giving the gifts of love and worship.  The decoration and celebration of this annual special day is newspaper chains compared to the blazing grandeur of the coming. 

So, as you prepare for Christmas this year, do so with gusto and flair and wow.  But remember the true work of preparing for Christmas is to train and prepare for The Coming.  Super Christmas is just around the corner; I can hardly wait.