Isaiah 63:7–9 A short offering of praise, noting that the salvation of God’s people was only achieved through God, and that it came when they were at their most desperate. God pronounced them (the Israelites) as God’s beloved and was their source of strength when they were weak.
Psalm 148 Another, more effusive offering of praise. The author goes through a long list of everything—animate and inanimate—that should shout out to God in praise. It reads almost like the second creation story in Genesis. The point is that all things, both material and spiritual, are of God and owe their existence to God.
Hebrews 2:10–18 The first big claim in this text is that the sanctifier (Jesus) and the sanctified (us) are born of the same spiritual father (God). This is why Jesus considers us all brothers and sisters. The second is about what is achieved by Jesus’s suffering and death: an atonement for human sin.
Matthew 2:13–23 An angel tells Joseph in a dream to get his new family out of the area because of the planned assassination by King Herod. They stay in Egypt until Herod dies, which, the author notes, fulfils the prophecy that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt. Herod is so mad about their escape that he punishes the Israelites by killing all of their male babies younger than two. After Herod’s death, Joseph and his family return but avoid their home territory because of a ruler they fear. They settle in Nazareth, which fulfils the prophecy that the Messiah would be a Nazarene.
Horn—Ram or ox horns were symbols that represented power in ancient cultures like the one referred to in Psalm 148. It may suggest that all of this praise is spurred by a victory over an enemy or oppressor.
Archelaus—This governor’s full name was actually Herod Archelaus but was probably listed as “Archelaus” to avoid confusion with Herod the Great, who was his father, or Herod Antipas, his brother. Antipas was the ruler over the territory where Bethlehem was at the time of Jesus’s death, and Archelaus presided over Judea, to the south.
Ramah—A territory in ancient Israel occupied by the tribe descended from Abraham. It’s noted specifically in this Gospel because after King Herod orders the murder of babies throughout the region in an effort to kill this new Messiah, there is of course pervasive mourning over the devastating losses. This, the author notes, fulfils the prophecy stated by Jeremiah that there will be weeping from mothers in the land of Rachel, Benjamin’s mother.
It may seem kind of weird to be talking about Jesus’s suffering and death so soon after his birth. It certainly feeds the notion that Christians are pretty fixated on a suffering Christ. More on that Friday.
Why we’d be talking about Jesus’s death is explained a little bit more once we get to the Gospel, though, with Herod already trying to kill him before he’s hardly drawn a breath.
The Psalms and Isaiah texts present a theologically interesting take on God, one that some Christians would label as heretical. So of course we’re going to talk about it! This idea that all things, living and not, are of God and contained within God has echoes of what some might call a “panentheist” view of God. Whereas a pantheist way of thinking would be that God is in all things, panentheism says that all things are within God. The beautiful thing about this is that it eliminates this perceived division between the physical and metaphysical. It’s all contained within God’s holy embrace or, if you prefer, God’s holy womb.
What Child Is This?
What child is this
Who laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping
This, this is Christ the king
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste to bring him praise
The babe, the son of Mary
He lies in such a lowly place
Where ox and ass are feeding
The end of fear for all who hear
The silent word is speaking
This, this is Christ the king
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste to bring him praise
The babe, the son of Mary
So bring him incense
Gold and myrrh
Come peasant king to love him;
The king of kings salvation brings
Let loving hearts enthrone him
This, this is Christ the king
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste to bring him praise
The babe, the son of Mary
Raise, raise the song on high
The virgin sings her lullaby:
Joy, joy for Christ is born
The babe, the son of Mary
In the Old Testament, we find the idea that God enters into the sufferings of his people. “in all their afflictions, He was afflicted.” (Isa 63.9) The relation of God to the woes of the world is not that of a mere spectator. The New Testament goes further, and says that God is love. But that is not love which, in the presence of acute suffering, can stand outside and aloof. The doctrine that Christ is the image of the unseen God means that God does not stand outside. B. H. Streeter
Sorry no testimony this week but a counterpoint to tomorrow’s thought from J. Hudson Taylor.
Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to One who appointed him, and left us an example that we should follow.
To save man he became Man – not merely like man, but very man. In language, in costume, in everything unsinful, he made himself one with those he sought to benefit.
Had he been born a noble Roman rather than a Jew, he would perhaps have commanded more of a certain kind of respect; and he would assuredly have been spared much indignity. This however, was not his aim; he emptied himself.
Surely no follower of the meek and lowly Jesus will be likely to conclude that it is beneath the dignity of a Christian to seek identification with poor people, in the hope that he may see them washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Let us be followers of him.
If you struggle with the common Christian claim that Jesus suffered and died to make good for all of our sins, then here we are, faced with it in the Hebrews text. No sooner do we celebrate the fat, little, happy baby Jesus than we jump right to the bloody, horrible part. But it’s important to understand that all of Jesus’s life—birth included—is framed by death, or at least mortality. If we’re honest, all of our lives are framed by the same thing. Life is precious in large part because it is finite. While we do risk losing sight of the significance of Jesus’s life in focusing too much on his death, we can’t ignore its importance either.
We also have a long-running and insatiable need to find an answer for suffering. From the first book in the Bible, we’re presented with the correlation between our sins and our suffering. Adam will labour and Eve will endure labour (the childbirth kind) because they sought to know the mind of God. David and the Israelites determine that their many misfortunes are because they’ve screwed up in God’s eyes. So why do we suffer? One time-tested explanation is that we deserve it. While I don’t contest the idea that much of our suffering is brought upon ourselves, I will push back against the notion that God places suffering on us as a price we have to pay for offending God. Also, this exposes the problem of why Jesus, supposedly without sin, also had to suffer, just like us.
Kind of blows the whole “We suffer because God is punishing us” hypothesis out of the water, doesn’t it?
So rather than reframing our entire understanding of the entirety of Scripture as a collection of texts gathered from imperfect people, recording glimpses of their imperfect efforts to understand and explain a perfect God, we try to make a suffering Messiah make sense. In this scenario, Jesus suffered and underwent death—entirely undeserved—in order to take on the weight of our collective sin and conquer death. Seems neat, straightforward, and consistent with all of the rest of the texts, right?
But we need to look more closely at the words toward the end of the Hebrews text. Hebrews 2:17–18 specifically:
Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
It doesn’t actually seem to say here that Jesus’s blood, suffering, or death particularly satisfied God in any way. In fact, the only mention of God is regarding Jesus’s merciful and faithful service to the world for God. Yes, it does say that a sacrifice atones for our sins, but in the next verse it explains why that suffering was atoning.
Jesus was tested just like we are by both the prospect and the real experience of suffering. He would have been happy to take a pass on the whole agony-and-death thing; he said as much in the garden at Gethsemane. But although he was tempted to run away or fight back, he faced the threat head-on, refusing to waver in his commitment to living out his conviction that love was more important that even life itself. Jesus was tested and prevailed because he was unmoved in his commitment. Love would redeem him, and us, even in the face of the worst moments imaginable. Maybe then—just maybe—we’d get it. Yes, God/Jesus really meant all that stuff. It wasn’t just talk. It was actually enough to outweigh all of the pain of living and, even the prospect of death itself. The terrible beast was declawed, leaving something real but without power to be the Prime Mover in our existence.
Jesus finally knew it was possible and that the thing in which he placed all of his faith pulled him through. And now, thanks to him forging that path, he can show us how to get there. In doing so, Jesus’s life is no longer framed by his death. His grasp of the true fullness of what existence is, and that’s liberating.
Contact (movie 1997)
Thought I would end the year with an A to Z poem.
Although things are not perfect
Because of trial and pain
Continue in thanksgiving
Do not begin to blame
Even when the times are hard
Fierce winds are bound to blow
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know
Imagine life without His love
Joy would cease to be
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts to thee
Move out of “Camp Complaining"
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone
Quit looking at the future
Redeem the time at hand
Start every day with worship
To “thank" is a command
Until we see Him coming
Victorious in the sky
We'll run the race with gratitude
X-alting God most high
Yes, there'll be good times and yes, some will be bad,
But...
Zion waits in glory...where none are ever sad
God, help me look deeper, past the hurt and tragedy. I don't need to ignore the reality of pain, but help me recognise that there are paths through it, with your help. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment