Luke 2:1-20: You can relax, Christmas ISN'T over

Its two days after Christmas.  Women, and a few men, are exhaling, vowing to go nowhere near a kitchen for several days.  As enjoyable as Christmas is- the time with family, the meals, the exchanging of presents- we can’t help but feel a sense of relief when it is over.  And yet, is Christmas really over?  There might be a single day where we emphasize Jesus’ birth; His coming into our world, but that doesn’t mean that it should not be something we celebrate all year long.  That’s where the shepherds become important.  Luke actually spends as much time talking about the shepherds in the field, as he does Jesus in the manger.  Why?  Because how we respond to the good news of the incarnation goes a long way in determining whether Christmas is just another day for us, or whether it is something that shapes the way we live all year long. 

The first thing that the shepherds did is hear.  They heard that their salvation, our salvation, comes not from human might, but from God who has come to live among us.  Even in Jesus’ time, there was a temptation to see human might as the ultimate source of salvation.  Paullus Fabius Maximus, the proconsul (governor) of Asia, would say this about Caesar:

“(It is hard to tell) whether the birthday of the most divine Caesar is a matter of greater pleasure or benefit.  We could justly hold it to be equivalent to the beginning of all things...; and he has given a different aspect to the whole world, which blindly would have embraced its own destruction if Caesar had not been born for the common benefit of all.”

We hear the same thing now.  We are called to believe that the person in power, or the person trying to replace that person, will deliver us from all of our troubles.  Luke speaks to us a different gospel.  It isn’t one of human origins, but one whose good news begins with the divine.  You see, while Caesar might have ruled over the “known world”, Jesus is worshipped in every corner of the globe.  Caesar was worshipped as a god for decades, but Jesus has been praised as the Son of God for millennia. 

We hear that there will be salvation, and we also here that there will be peace.  Most importantly, we hear that the peace achieved by the Messiah will be for all.  One of the most famous prophecies dealing with the coming of this Messiah speaks of the ending of conflict, and the ushering in of an era of peace.    

“For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” - Isaiah 9:5-7

We should read “among those with whom he is pleased” as an inclusive term.  In some versions it is translated so as to almost imply that the gift of the Messiah is only for those with whom God is pleased.  But the idea in the original text is that God’s gift of a Messiah is evidence of His favor towards humankind.  In other words God favors the entire earth, with the birth of Jesus the Messiah. 

The second thing that the shepherds did is witness in two distinct ways.  First of all, they witnessed firsthand that God had indeed kept His promise.  The prophet Micah had spoken of the future birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem:

 “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.  Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.  And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.” - Micah 5:2-5

Now the shepherds knew that the word they heard from the angels was true.  It was not enough for them to hear about what God had done, they had to experience it for themselves before it could affect their faith.  Because they personally witnessed God’s goodness, revealed to them in the form of a manger, they were able to become witnesses themselves.  The shepherds, along with Anna, are the first evangelists.  The shepherds become to others, what the angels were to them, proclaimers of good news. 

Our journey is to go from being shepherds, to being angels.  Our word angel is derived from the word for “messenger”.  Once the shepherds experienced the newborn Son of God in a manger, they stopped being shepherds who had received the good news about Jesus Christ, and became angels who proclaimed the good news. 

Christmas may have passed, but the result of Christmas is as real every day of the year as it is on December 25^th.  Christ has come and lived among us.  May the good news that you hear lead you to the manger, not just in December, but throughout the year.  May what you experience there, lead you to become a messenger, an angel, boldly proclaiming the fact that our Messiah has been born.  May the sounding forth of that message bring the peace to our world that was inaugurated with the birth of Jesus Christ.   

Luke 1:39-56: Mary did you know?

It’s the time of year when we are reminded of the unexpected nature of God’s work in our world.  Perhaps nothing is more unexpected than the birth of the Messiah, in a manger, in a backwater town like Bethlehem.  When we read of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, when Mary was pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist, we are reminded by their words that God did not just make His appearance in our world in unexpected ways, but that His appearance was only the beginning of the unexpected. 

It is not overstatement to say that God comes in unexpected ways.  The very fact that God comes at all is a testimony to the graciously unexpected nature of God’s actions.  Even before Jesus was born, He began demonstrating His willingness to meet us where we are.  After all, according to social convention, it should have been Elizabeth who visited Mary.  Elizabeth says as much when she asks, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43)  And yet there she is, Mary at Elizabeth’s doorstep, with an unborn king in her womb.  As we see her standing there, it is a reminder of a Savior who makes house-calls, a reminder of the fact that the seat at God’s right-hand stood empty for some thirty-odd years as God demonstrated how far He was willing to go to meet us.  And when Christ displays the humility necessary to leave heaven, He humbles Himself entirely in that He forgoes not only the glory of heaven, but the luxuries of earth.  He is not born to a queen or a princess, but to an unwed virgin.  His first cries as He enters our world do not echo through the halls of a marble palace, but emanate from a manger, in the all but forgotten town of Bethlehem.  God comes in unexpected ways, through unexpected people, but most importantly, He comes.     

And when God does come in unexpected ways, through unexpected people, he continues to surprise us as He does unexpected things.  In a passage referred to as “the Magnificat”, Mary lifts her voice in praise to God, not just for the role she has been granted to play in the divine drama, but for the role that her Son will play.  She says things that we are quick to overlook or at least water-down, because they don’t sit well with our first-world mentality.  She states that God opposes the proud.  Why?  Because the proud insist on saving themselves, they insist on their own brand of self-attained righteousness.  In all Jesus’ run-ins with the Pharisees and with lawyers, what is at stake if not the source of human righteousness and sanctification?  She says that God opposes the powerful.  Who is it that puts Jesus on trial?  It might be the common man who shouts "crucify", but it’s the Jewish and Roman establishment, the council, Herod, and Pilate who sit in judgment.  The powers of this world stand opposed to a God who is willing to manifest Himself not only in power, but also in humility demonstrated by self-sacrificial love. Finally we hear from Mary that God opposes the rich.  This is the deepest cut to those of us who think we live modestly, but yet are rich when compared to our brothers and sisters around the globe.  It is startling the number of run-ins Jesus has with the rich.  He chastises the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), listens to the lament of the rich man who failed to help Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and causes the rich ruler to leave grief stricken, after he is unable to surrender his riches in order to follow Christ (Luke 18:18-30).  But that isn’t the end of the story.   

God does not simply oppose, He also looks…upon His humble servants.  He also shows mercy…to those who fear Him.  He also exalts…the humble.  He also feeds…the hungry and the poor. 

If we view the story of the manger through the eyes of Mary, it should cause us to change how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others.  Rather than striving so hard to place ourselves among the proud, the powerful, and the rich, maybe we should learn to be ok with being humble, fearful, and poor. 

God will do great things in our church, in our community, and in the world.  The question is, will we turn ourselves over to God, to be used as instruments to accomplish those things?  If we will, then like Mary, all generations will call us blessed.  

I Peter 4:12-19: what's in a name?

One of Peter’s themes in his first epistle is the reason for our suffering.  Suffering is a universal experience; it happens to us all in some form or fashion.  There is suffering whose cause is amoral.  Many diseases are not the cause of our own good or evil action, but the result of circumstance, genetics, or even just bad luck.  Peter is not talking about that type of suffering.  He’s talking about the type of suffering we bring on ourselves.  It can be the result of either our good, or our evil actions. 

Originally, the name “Christian” was most likely intended to be a slander.  Christ was reviled by most of the Roman world, or at least by those in the Roman world who had heard of Him.  What type of Christ, or Messiah, is crucified?  For that reason, followers of Christ were referred to as Christians, in an effort to identify them with someone who the world saw as a failed Messiah.  How does Peter tell them to respond to this slanderous title?  He tells them to wear it with pride.  What happens if we gladly accept such identification, and then go about doing good deeds in our community?  We need not be ashamed of such a title, and in fact the name Christian can bring glory to God if people associate our identity as Christians with good deeds.  Soon, people will forget the fact that the name was originally meant to be demeaning, and instead praise God for the good things happening in the community because of people called “Christians”.  We share in Christ’s sufferings, even if it those sufferings are as simple as being slandered a little.  If that is the case, then we also share in the pattern of His life, which includes His resurrection and glorification.  God’s glory should rest on us, because of the way we pattern our life after Christ, just as it rested on the Israelites in the Old Testament.  It might not take the form of a cloud or a pillar of fire, but it should be just as visible. 

When we decide to do good, even when it brings suffering into our life, we are placing our trust in God.  While pleading with God for deliverance, David would write “into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” (Psalm 31:5)  Even as he turns his fate over to God, David knows that redemption is already a reality.  The epitome of suffering, the cross, has Jesus echoing David’s words, making the prayer from scripture His own.  “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46)  Even when standing at death’s door, Jesus entrusted His spirit to God.  That faith was rewarded three days later when God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead.  Are we making the decision every day, whether in good times or bad, to pray that great prayer of faith, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”?  

I Peter 4:1-11: enduring a difficult present, for a brighter future

One of the reasons for Peter’s writing was to help a group of Christians persevere while under pressure from the world.  By its very nature, perseverance deals with the future.  If we are going to succeed in following Christ in the future, we cannot keep one foot in the past.  To put it simply, Peter tells us that we have wasted enough time already. 

It begs the question, “How exactly have you wasted time?”  All of us are guilty of being less than productive, sometimes even counter-productive.  Maybe some of the things in our past were detrimental to our spirit, and even our body.  Keep them in the past Peter warns us.  Maybe some of the things were not bad in and of themselves, but they consumed our life so as to drain us of all productivity.  Keep them in the past, Peter tells us.  We can’t go back and change all of our mistakes; we can’t redo the decisions where we could have exercised more wisdom.  All we can do, and this is no little thing, is make sure that the past does not spill over into the present, and then the future. 

Why should we care so much about changing the way we live, especially if the way we are living now is easier, and more fun than the way God wants us to live?  Again, Peter returns to the theme of the future.  What seems like the easiest path, the most fun path now, almost always leads to a difficult present and a future full of regret.  Maybe it’s the one-night-stand that was a lot of fun at the time, but that leads to chronic health problems or an unplanned pregnancy, or the college drinking binges that lead to a lifetime of alcoholism, or the extravagant living beyond your means that has you trapped now in a life of poverty.  Christians were left with difficult choices in Peter’s day.  While many of their persecutors lived a luxurious and powerful life until death, Christians often died in poverty, sometimes even violently at the hands of their accusers.  They were referred to as haters of humanity, accused of political disloyalty, and even of cannibalism (because of popular misunderstandings concerning the Lord’s Supper).  I am sure that many Christians asked themselves why they continued to put themselves at risk.  Why not make life easier and give up on faith?  Peter tells them why: The hope of a better future.    

Because we do hope for a better future, we remain clear-headed, and hard-working in the present.  It’s not that our works save us, but rather they are a testimony to our belief that what God has said is true, and that what he wills for the future will come to pass.  Peter roots this duty of the Christian in a devout and sincere prayer life.  Why?  Because in the words of Peter H. Davids,  “proper prayer is not an “opiate” or escape, but rather a function of clear vision and a seeking of even clearer vision from God.”  Prayer is the conduit through which we are reminded of God’s vision for the world.  Because of this we should be asking the question, “how much do we spend listening when we pray?”  Before we can speak and serve out of love as Peter instructs us, we must listen for God’s Spirit in prayer.  One of the ways we speak and serve in love is by showing hospitality.  Hospitality is mentioned explicitly five times in the NT (Romans 12:13; I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; Hebrews 13:2; I Peter 4:9).  Furthermore, it was used as a qualification for eldership, and for being enrolled as a widow in the Pastoral Epistles.  In other words, hospitality was an expectation, not an option for a Christian.  Notice Peter does not say “when the preacher speaks”, or “when the deacon serves”.  He casts the net broadly in terms of Christian proclamation and service, stating that “whoever speaks” and “whoever serves”, should do so in accordance with God’s will, and by God’s strength.  We are stewards of the gifts that we have received through the Spirit, to speak and to serve as Christ would serve.  We will be judged not by what gifts we have, but by how we use those gifts to transform the world around us.  

I Peter 3:18-22: Noah's wasn't the only ark

In the previous post, we saw how even in the midst of suffering, we are to “apologize”, or give a defense of our faith.  The reason for this is simple: Jesus Christ did the same thing.  Peter uses some very familiar stories to help us understand what it looks like when we find shelter in God’s grace during difficult times.  Specifically, he uses the story of the ark.  The story of Noah is parallel to the situation of the recipients of Peter’s letter.  They, like Noah and his family, are an oppressed minority.  The reason for the oppression they face is their faith in God, and the trust they have placed in God, that His word is true.  They are waiting for something that has not happened yet, and the waiting is taking its toll.

Consider the parallels between Noah, and the early Christian recipients of I Peter.  Notice the similarities between the ark, the flood, and the baptism that we receive when we begin our journey as Christians. 

-          God provided an ark so that Noah’s family might pass through the destructive waters safely. Similarly, God works through baptism, leading us safely by His grace through death, and out the other side, where we enter into the life promised us in Christ. 

-          We pass through the waters of baptism, of judgment, just as the ark passed through the waters of the flood. We arise unscathed, just as those in the ark came through the waters unscathed.

How exactly does this happen?  Oh, we understand roughly what it would have looked like for Noah to build a great big ark.  We can imagine his family being tossed about inside by the waves of the flood.  We can wonder how nerve-racking it would have been to hear rain on the roof, for forty straight days!  As incredible as the story is, we can envision it in some way, but what about baptism?  What does getting physically wet have to do with our spiritual lives?  It’s hard to comprehend how God’s grace is made manifest in a very physical act. 

The waters of baptism are not magical, any more than the ark was magical.  Sometimes because it’s easier to imagine, we forget about exactly how ridiculous the ark was at the time.  Picture it, Noah and his family out there day after day, week after week, month after month, building a huge boat nowhere close to water, when it had never even rained!!  Despite all the work that Noah put in, the ark was still a result of God’s grace.  He told Noah about the flood, and because Noah believed him, he acted accordingly.  Similarly, God tells us about the coming judgment.  We might think we are doing something by wading into that baptismal pool, but our physical acts of obedience are made possible only in light of the truth revealed to us by God.  Like Noah, we believe that what God tells us about the future is true.  The real question is, like Noah, do we trust God’s word enough to find shelter in His grace?   

I Peter 3:8-17: When's the last time you "apologized"?

If you’re anything like me, apologizing is one of the hardest things to do.  That mostly has to do with the fact that in apologizing, we are admitting that on some level, in some way, we bear guilt or responsibility for whatever has gone wrong.  However, Peter would tell us that apologizing is not just something we do when we are wrong.  Before we get to that however, a quick note on the suffering that is connected to the “apologizing” Peter encourages us to do. 

 

Peter uses part of a text from the Old Testament, to help focus the minds of his readers on the importance of enduring as a righteous people before God.  In Psalm 34, sandwiched in between an invitation to “taste and see that the Lord is good” and the ending where it speaks of the redemption the righteous find in God, there is a section that heavily implies that life will not always be a bed of roses for those who seek to do the right thing.  “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”  That would have been one of the next verses of that psalm had Peter continued quoting it.  Why didn’t Peter just quote it then?  Like any good teacher, I think Peter recognizes the value of helping his readers reach the answer on their own, so he leads them partially to it, and then hopes that in their mind they will hear the rest of the psalm.  It’s an old technique referred to as metalepsis, whereby an author, in our case Peter, quotes the beginning of a passage, hoping that the reader or listener will be brought to a remembrance of the entire thing.  If I said to you, “four-score and seven years ago”, what would you think of?  First of all, you would probably continue to envision the Gettsyburg address, and in your mind continue by thinking “our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.”  By just saying a few words, your mind has been flooded with not just all the ideas in Lincoln’s speech, but you also might have imagined the tall, slender figure of our sixteenth President, adorned with a stove-pipe hat, addressing the crowd gathered for the commemoration of the cemetery on that famous battlefield. 

Just a simple quote from a famous speech can send our mind into a state of deep reflection about our past as a nation.  Likewise, for people of faith a short quotation from a well-known psalm can invoke all the promises and reassurances that psalm has to offer.  The suffering endured because of righteousness is troubling, but not expected.  And because God expects it, He has made plans to deliver those who endure it.       

That’s why Peter tells us that we should always be ready to make a defense, or to explain the hope that is in us.  The Greek term for defense is apologia, which is the word from which our words apologetics and apology come.   This is a different type of apology than the kind we are used to though.  For too long, Christians have been doing the wrong type of apologizing.  We have presented ourselves with hat in hand to society, apologizing for the absolute truth of our claims.  We have apologized for the high moral standards that we strive to attain, and that we challenge others to pursue.  We even apologize for a God who dares to not conform Himself to what society feels He should be.  I think if we look back to our own history as a people of faith, we will find examples of apologies that are altogether different from the ones we have been offering.  They are more in line with what Peter encourages here in this passage, not awkward admissions of guilt or regret for daring to proclaim the truth about a God that makes society uncomfortable.  But rather, a passionate, and yet at the same time compassionate, defense of the truth concerning who God is.  One example from the past of such a defense is that of Apollonius. Apollonius’ was a Roman citizen whose talent had caused him to rise to the rank of senator.  He was accused of being a Christian before the Pretorian Prefect Perennius.  In his trial in front of the senate, instead of defending himself against the charges, he acknowledged them, and began an impassioned defense of the nature of the Christian faith.  As a result of his acknowledgement, Apollonius was condemned to death based on the law established by the Emperor Trajan.  He endured two trials, one by the Pretorian Prefect, and the other by a group of senators and jurists.  The whole trial was conducted in a very courteous manner.  The only interruptions were pleas by Apollonius’ colleagues to temper his remarks, as they were sealing his fate.  He was “digging his own grave” with his unapologetic apologia, but that made no difference to him however; for he was not afraid to die.  According to Apollonius, "there is waiting for me something better: eternal life, given to the person who has lived well on earth."  There is disagreement among the sources as to the exact nature of his death.  Some say that Apollonius died after having his legs crushed, others say he was decapitated.  Though we aren’t sure exactly how he died, we do know how he lived.  What a marvelous life it was. 

How many of us would have acted as Apollonius did?  My guess is that many of us would have done a different type of apologizing.  But here’s the thing, does the renouncing of our faith make the truth of who God is any less true?  I think Apollonius stood there and refused to recant because he believed with all his heart that Jesus was who he claimed to be.  I think he knew that suffering and death will come to us all, and if it’s going to come, better to endure it while maintaining our confession, that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord.  In the words of Peter, “it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.”

I Peter 3:1-7: faith in God=faithfulness to your wife

It is important when we come to the Bible that we realize that it is written in a certain context.  Does that mean that we can’t relate to it today?  Absolutely not!  What it does mean is that in order to properly understand what the Bible is telling us, we have to properly understand what it told its first readers.  This issue of context is seldom more critical than when dealing with sociological issues, especially those relating to gender.  To prove my point, I’d like to share with you a literary exert from the era when I Peter was written, that may help shed some light on how women were viewed in that culture:

“How can one reach agreement with a woman?’ ‘By recognizing,’ he replied, ‘that the female sex is bold, positively active for something which it desires, easily liable to change its mind because of poor reasoning powers, and of naturally weak constitution.  It is necessary to have dealings with them in a sound way, avoiding provocation which may lead to a quarrel.  Life prospers when the helmsman knows the goal to which he must make the passage.  Life is completely steered by invocation of God.” – Letter of Aristeas

I would agree that when dealing with women, it is sound advice to avoid provocation which may lead to a quarrel.  That is a tidbit of advice that is not unique to the above passage, and that stands the test of time.  Likewise, we would agree that life is completely steered by invocation of God.  However, we would disagree that women have poor reasoning powers.  The idea that women are inferior intellectually is a relic of a bygone era.  Too many of us have received our education from women to argue that they are in any way intellectually inferior.  As the percentage of those obtaining a higher education continues to tilt in favor of females, if anything the empirical evidence would argue the exact opposite.  But I digress…  

So if I Peter was written in an era whose view of women differs starkly from our own, what if anything can we learn from it regarding the marriage relationship?  Despite its “dated”, and some would say “antiquated” nature, there are some eternal truths that emanate from the text. 

First of all, we should not judge a book by its cover, or in this instance, a woman by her outward appearance.  How desperately do our little girls, our teenager girls, and our young women need to hear this?  In a society that judges us largely by our outward appearance, how important is it for us as a church to send a message to our young women, and young men, that clothes and physical beauty are far less important than what is in their hearts.  Only a little more than ten years removed from high school, I can tell you that the things I remember most about my classmates have nothing to do with their clothes, or even with their appearance.  Believe it or not, when looking at some of the photos from my reunion last year, there were some attractive girls from my class that I had forgotten existed.  My memory of my classmates from so many years ago is centered on the relationship I had with each one of them.  It focuses on shared experience, not what they wore, what they drove, or how they looked.  If the church doesn’t advocate for the surpassing value of judging others by their heart, and the content of their character, who will?

Second, we learn that wives should be honored and protected.  The very things that make them the weaker vessel physically are also the very things that make them a blessing to society, and a perfect match for their husbands.  I know it’s a faux pas to speak in terms of weakness and strength, especially when referring to how the genders relate to one another, but what we see related in I Peter is just one side of the coin.  Generally speaking, women might not be able to bench as much or run as fast as men, but that does not mean they don’t make a vital contribution every bit as important as men.  Why do you think Peter insists on husbands honoring and protecting them?      

Third, we are taught that women are co-heirs, or equals with men spiritually.  Women are not second-class Christians.  Furthermore, by giving them moral instructions motivated by a missionary outlook, Peter shows that they have a unique role to play in the church’s evangelistic efforts.  Anyone who has spent much time around a church knows that women do a large percentage of the work.  They not only function in the roles that have traditionally been ascribed to women, but they teach, preach, and witness to the love of Christ in ways seldom recognized, but always impactful.   

Finally, we learn that for husbands, our ability or inability to honor our wives will directly impact God’s willingness to hear our prayers.  We cannot display ingratitude by neglecting, dishonoring, or God-forbid abusing the wives that God has blessed us with, and then expect beneficial answers to our prayers.  Faith is not just mental assent to a certain belief, it is living our lives in such a way that we show to others the truth of what we believe.  If we can’t manifest faithfulness in our homes, what chance do we have of manifesting it in the world?

May my faith, and my gratitude to God, be displayed for all to see in the way that I honor the wife God has blessed me with.