December 30, 2007

Isaiah 63:7-9

I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, because of all that the LORD has done for us, and the great favor to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely”; and he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Hebrews 2:10-18

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham.

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.

Matthew 2:13-23

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, 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.”

Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

If we still had the Advent candles to light, there would be six candles now... the four advent candles, the Christ candle and finally a candle of praise... Praise for the love of God and all that he has done for us. This is the message of today... from Isaiah, we read of Isaiah beginning a retelling of all the noteworthy events in the history of the Hebrew people. This was during a time when the Babylonians had conquered the Northern territories after a long fight, and were camping on their doorsteps When their economy had deteriorated, and the enemy was ready to run over the, Isaiah says, “Let’s praise God for everything he has given us throughout our history and realize that God has blessed us because he loves us! It was not a messenger that God sent... it was his very own presence! This shows that He cares for us became he came himself!

And that is what the writer of Hebrews says; Jesus came from God -- he is everything that God is -- and yet because of God’s love, he gave up the heavenly glory and made himself like us in every way so that we would know that he loves us... He became flesh and blood -- He endured suffering . -- all to show us that God has not forgotten us, but cares about us and still loves us.

Even though we suffer, it does not mean God has turned his back on us. Part of being human means that we are subject to laws of cause and effect. When we do anything, there is an effect from what we do... even when we think we don’t do anything, not doing anything is sometimes making a choice -- we choose to not do anything. -- And any time we make a choice, we have eliminated some possibilities in or lives and opened up other possibilities which lead to certain consequences. Even the choices of those who lived before us have opened up certain consequences which we have to live by. Just like our children will have to live by the choices our government is making each day... choices to fight the symptoms of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and suppression here and around the world, rather than confront the underlying reasons for these problems. We live in a set of given conditions whether they have come from decisions by governments, by the choices of our ancestors and handed down to us through genetics, or whether we have chosen to live , eat and act in certain ways individually. These conditions are what we call “LIFE” -- And although it might seem that we are powerless to change these conditions, it is not impossible!

Look at the third scripture: Joseph lived in a condition of having a mad, and power hungry political leader who would kill to keep his hand on the strings of power. But because Joseph was willing to listen to a dream, he got up in the middle of the night and took Mary, the baby Jesus and himself to Egypt! A long trip for those days! Joseph could have simply stayed where he was, or ignored the warning... but he chose to act upon it. And Jesus was not killed as an infant, but grew up to be the savior of the world. And when Joseph was told to return to Israel, he could have chosen to go back to Bethlehem, 5 miles from Jerusalem, but instead, chose to go to Nazareth, far in the North, about 90 miles from the ruthlessness of Herod’s son. Small choices, but extremely important in this case.

God gives us directions as to the best decisions we can make. Usually we are not aware of God’s guidance... either we are not open to it, or we simply ignore it. But just because we don’t see it or are not aware of it, doesn’t mean that God does not provide it for us. God is here with us. He is present in our lives. Emmanuel. We should be praising God instead of ignoring Him... That is what we do after Christmas -- not get depressed, but filled with praise and glory for all He has done! Let this New Year be filled with praise and Glory of God!