Recognition!

Luke 2:36-52

So often we find ourselves wondering whether, if we had been in the throngs who heard Jesus speak, or we watched as he passed by, laden under a cross, would we recognize him for who he was? Or, would we be amongst those who disagreed with him, condemned him or just plain ignored him.

The scripture in Luke 2:36-52, speaks to us about recognition of the Christ on several levels. In this passage we see the old woman named Anna, who worshiped day and night at the temple but who had the heart to recognize the boy Jesus as the light who had come into the world. We witness the rabbis and teachers who listened to the pre-teen Jesus teach them, instead of the other way around and we are told that they were amazed! And finally, we see the earthly parents of Jesus, who were reminded that this child was not really theirs in the same way most children are.

A few years ago when I was searching for some Christian art I came across a print. The picture was possibly painted at the turn of the century judging by the clothing of the subjects. In it Jesus is strapped to a column of a neo-gothic building with large steps like those of a cathedral. Around him are people of all walks of life, including clergy – their eyes fixed upon other things as they go about their business. I was fascinated by this image. I noticed how busy everyone appears to be- rich and poor, men of faith and ordinary people. And there is Jesus, our savior, strapped to a pillar for our sins. No one is paying any attention to him. In essence, no one seems aware of what God has done for them. Everyone, including the faithful, are hurrying by the man on the pillar, caught up in their lives, like blind sheep. There is no recognition, even though it appears there should be.

Recently, as I was re-reading something Mother Theresa said when she spoke to the Nobel Committee upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, I was caught by her simple words as she said how joyous we should all be, because in this world-- we have Jesus with us. When she put this in the present tense, it stressed that Jesus is the risen Christ, alive and in our presence now. The words “here with us” remind us to recognize Him as standing beside us, at our table, in our home, in our car, in our work place, next to us at our computer, when we smile at one another, engage in friendship, when we hold out our hand to help, when we give encouragement, or laugh, when we notice the blue sky, or do a favor, when we say “ I love you.” Jesus-- with us a thousand times a day! Recognition!

Often Mother Theresa would also talk about how she saw the face of Jesus in all people, especially those she served. Those, of course, would be the people that she pulled out of the gutters of Calcutta. These were people often covered in filth and sores, most of whom were dying of disease—but she saw something else. She saw Jesus in them. When I read this for the first time, many years ago, I wondered what she meant by this. How could someone see Jesus in these suffering people? But in the years since then, after my own rebirth in Christ, I have come to understand that when you meet Christ in your heart everything changes. He illuminates possibilities that seemed like an oxymoron: Jesus, the perfect man, is found in the imperfect and in the wretched. For Mother Theresa, Jesus was present in the suffering and the wretched. She recognized him there. This recalls Christ’s words in Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” As you remember in the next passages they reply to the king by essentially saying “but Lord, when did we see you like this?” It is all about recognition!

Can we have the eyes of Anna? Instead, too often our human failings make us like the print, described earlier. Oblivious to Christ’s presence around us, we fail to see that He is truly with us- a living presence in this world. He is the beginning and the end. The savior of all humanity desires our hearts total recognition.

Laurie Erdman

Heaven and Earth

Luke 2:1-35

Christmas is a collision of the heavenly and the earthly. God comes to us, packaged as a baby. The shepherds meet an angel who invites them to visit Mary and Joseph and then witness the armies of heaven as they praise and worship God for this glorious work of salvation and mighty attack against the forces of evil. Mary and Joseph are so thankful for their healthy baby boy. Still, as they bask in these moments as parents, they are reminded at every turn that their child is unique with an incredible purpose.

Even the location of Jesus' birth is a miraculous collision of these two worlds. Caesar, wanting to increase his tax revenues, burdens the people with his decree that everyone should be counted in their ancestral town. Yet God uses this earthly decree to fulfill prophecy. The Messiah is born in Bethlehem, the City of David. But, more than that, this town, just a few miles outside Jerusalem, is the place where the lambs sacrificed at the Passover are raised. The shepherds who care for these lambs are the men who met with the angels and the first who are invited to come meet the true Passover Lamb.

And Simeon’s message to Mary and Joseph is also true for us. Jesus is both a stumbling block and a joy. He is a sign through whom God’s message of salvation is clear, although many have and do oppose him. The deepest thoughts of our hearts are revealed in how we respond to Jesus. This great collision of heaven and earth occurs in our hearts, as we admit our sin before God and are invited to lay our sin on our Savior, this Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

Praise and Prophecy

Luke 1:57-80

The "proper time" has come. Gabriel's words are being fulfilled. At the
birth of John, everyone rejoices with Elizabeth because of God's mercy.

At the naming ceremony, Elizabeth and Zechariah are in agreement - "His
name is John!" For nine months or more, Zechariah had communicated
with gestures and a writing tablet. I smile when I think of all the
relatives and neighbors gesturing back as though he couldn't hear.
Wait... maybe he really couldn't. If so, the final words he had heard,
as the incense of prayer rose to heaven, were those spoken by the angel
Gabriel.

Either way, deaf or not, he'd had a lot of time to ponder what had
happened while serving God in the Temple.

I believe that Zechariah's insistence on naming his child "John" shows
he now has a new level of dependence upon God, and a new depth of
worship. As soon as he can speak he begins praising God. He is so open
to the wonder of the grand event that is unfolding before him, that he
is filled with the Holy Spirit and his praise becomes prophecy.

The focus of Zechariah's words goes way beyond a father's joy over the
birth of his son, the fulfillment of his hopes for an heir. The greater
hope, the hope of all Israel, is being realized. John will be the
person foretold by Isaiah centuries before - the one to prepare the way
for the mighty Savior-King. The dawn is about to break as the Sun of
Righteousness comes into the world. John's task will be to call people
to repentance and holiness.

As an old man, Zechariah may not have lived to see John preaching in
the desert, nor Jesus announcing the good news about the Kingdom. But I
imagine him approaching death as Simeon did (tomorrow's reading),
departing in peace because he has glimpsed the Lord's salvation.

Deetje Wildes

Names

Angels.  Have you ever spent some time thinking about the role of the angels as found in the Biblical stories?  Have you personally had an experience in which you felt confident the Lord’s angel was involved?  The name JESUS which means SAVIOR.  For the most part, many of us give a name to our children “because we like the name, or, because of a friend or relative who has that name.  But in Biblical times, names were given which has special meaning.  Mary, the mother of Jesus.  What a fine young woman she must have been to have been selected by God for this wonderful privilege…becoming the mother of our Lord Jesus.  I’m looking forward to meeting her some day!  Verse 37  Nothing is impossible with God!  If that be so, then surely whatever we are facing this very day (no matter if it be difficult decisions, death, sadness, or any other thing), we can be confident if we but put that situation into His loving hands, can’t we?  Read verse 49 again.  Name some great and good things God has done in your life.

 

Donald E. Pardun

Too Good to be True?

Luke 1:1-25

And back we go to the start again.

Luke has always been my favorite of the gospels. Written as a letter to Theophilus, it's a highly-readable gospel, and usually the one I turn to when I just want to kick back with a good "story." Luke seems to add greater detail to the gospel story, wrote a sequel called "Acts," and even includes extra "bonus scenes" that the other three writers of the gospels left out -- one of which is the story we read today.

Zechariah, when visited by the angel Gabriel, responds to the news that he and Elizabeth will become parents by asking "How can I be sure this will happen?" This seems a little remarkable to me. Some people, even very righteous people, even priests who served in the temple, have their doubts.

But this wasn't just any messenger who delivered this news. This was an angel sent by God to deliver an answer to a long-uttered prayer, and Zechariah still expresses skepticism.

Similarly, we might wonder how the Israelites who followed Moses out of Egypt, who miraculously crossed the Red Sea, who were led by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, who had manna freshly delivered every morning, could still bow down to a golden calf.

There is something so frail and human about this tendency toward unbelief, even when (and perhaps especially when) what we are invited to believe is something so wonderful. Sometimes things that are too good are also true.

In his introduction, Luke tells Theophilus that he writes this account so that Theophilus "can be certain of the truth of everything [he was] taught." As we begin the gospel of Luke, let us put ourselves in the place of Theophilus, the recipient of this gospel account. Here is a letter, a message sent to us frail and doubting humans. May Luke's gospel help us become certain that everything we've been taught about Jesus is true.


Drew Clausen

Resurrection Risk

Mark 15:33-16:20

He took a risk.

Other translations say of Joseph of Arimathea in Mark 15:43 that he went boldly (NIV), that he gathered up courage (NAS) to go to Pilate and ask for the remains of an executed criminal (when the common practice was to throw such a body unburied out into some pauper's field).

I think took a risk captures it. The original language expression carries the sense of "bringing oneself to some brave conclusion".

What was the risk Joseph took? Well, quite a lot. He risked complete ostracization, bankruptcy of social standing and position. He risked being lambasted with ridicule for being so duped by a charlatan criminal. How could such an intelligent educated man be so taken-in?! By association with Jesus he could lose it all, and he had much to lose. Joseph was a wealthy man (Mt 27:57), and not only part of the 71-member Jewish supreme court, but prominent in it (v43).

So why does Joseph take such a risk?! Both Matthew and John tell us that Joseph was not merely sympathetic toward Jesus, he was a believer and follower of Him. Though, interestingly, before this time he had followed Jesus secretly because he feared the Jews (Jn 19:38). Before this crux he had loved Jesus, but had not been wont to go public with that loyalty, apparently for all he stood to lose.

So why risk now, when Jesus is dead?! Was his the risk of hopelessness, the wanton desperate act of a man with hope so demolished that whatever happened no longer mattered?! Was it the social-suicidal act of a person who had nothing more to live for? Is Joseph now moved from intimidation to risk-taker because of hopelessness?

Or is his risk inspired by just the contrary: an absolute, unqualified, all-self-invested Hope?! Does Joseph essentially become the character in one of Jesus' stories (Mt 13) -- the guy who uncovers the extraordinary Pearl, and then goes and sells out, everything he owns, to buy that field to have that Pearl?

I believe Joseph's risk is the latter. It is not the risk of desperation, but it is what we might call the "Resurrection Risk".

It is believing because of resurrection that a life given to worship, service, godliness, prayer, sacrifice, witness... is worth it. It is the risk that believes and goes forward knowing that in many eyes (cf I Cor. 15:12-19): my preaching is useless, my faith is futility, I am living a lie, I am no more forgiven than any, all is lost at death, and I am more pitiable than any other creature on earth. Because of resurrection, I know none of that is so. The Resurrection Risk is that risk that believes healing can come to the human mind, the body may mend, any disease may be dispensed, every prayer is heard, any people group may become His, any dead marriage can live, any stray child may yet be found, the hardest of hearts may melt, any sin may be forgiven and divinely forgotten.

And, it is not gullible optimism that makes me think the better and not the worse of Joseph's risk. It is the evidence.

It is that Joseph laid Jesus in his own tomb. A new unused tomb at that (one only a wealthy prominent man might procure and hold for his own noble exit from life). Why would Joseph put Jesus' body in his grave?!

Resurrection Risk.

This was Joseph's confession of hope: "Jesus has taken my place in death! Who needs a new unused tomb anyway?! I won't ultimately be needing it. It is plain to me now that place won't be my final chapter, but just the briefest intermission before I am on to better things."

"And besides, it's not like my tomb will be crowded with Jesus in it. I expect it in a couple days to be gloriously vacant."

"Today, living Jesus, let me live with Resurrection Risk."

PPaul

Crown of Thorns

Thorns are part of the original curse from Genesis 3:18.  The ground will produce thorns and thistles among the plants that are to be eaten.  Have you ever tried to pick or harvest anything that has thorns growing in them?  It is a sticky, prickly mess.  You have to watch where you step. Releasing a branch could propel a flurry of thorns into your arm or even your back!  The entire process of harvesting becomes a complicated process.

 

Thorns are also a curse when involved in “spiritual harvesting,” too.  In Mathew 13:7, Jesus uses thorns as a symbol in spiritual harvesting.  Like wise, the presence of thorns complicates the spiritual process of harvesting.

 

Jesus took those thorns, each painful prick a reminder of the curse of sin.  He wore the thorns as a symbolic crown and put to death it’s effect in our lives.  He has undone the effect of sin in the earth.  For this I am thankful.

 

Steve Louden