God’s Prerogative

Jonah 3:10-4:11; Matthew 20:1-16

Jonah was the most efficient prophet. Well once he actually started warning people and stopped trying to run from God.  Many of the other prophets never saw the people turn toward God, but Jonah did, and he was not happy about it.  Jonah wanted the people of Nineveh to suffer for their bad ways.  Jonah tells God, that he was aware “…that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”  It seems that Jonah wanted to determine who actually would receive such a wonderful God of mercy.

The Gospel parable is one of my favorites and when I say favorite, I mean difficult.  (And there are many I call favorite.)  This is one though that I was trying to teach to a group of fourth graders over a decade ago when I was their Sunday School Teacher.  That spring we were learning about parables and I had it organized so we would end the spring semester with this parable.  I told the class that I award those that brought their Bible to class.  I had a chart with their names and each week I checked not only their attendance but if they had their Bible.  Well the girls did the task remarkably well each week.  The boys, including the pastor’s twins, were not doing so well.  They all remembered the first week, but it was clear after a few weeks they had given up. 

So it came time to give out the reward, and I did it before the lesson on the parable.  I said I had prizes also for those that brought their Bible once, as each child did remember at least once.  I gave the boys a small nice gift each, and they said “thank you.”  Then it was the girls turn (why the response was clearly marked by gender, I do not know and honestly don’t care), they received the same gift as each boy, and they said “thank you.”  I was expected grumbling from the girls and teasing from the boys over this “injustice.” However, there was none.  I went through the lesson about the parable, and eventually one of the girls did say, “Like we all got the same gift even though some didn’t bring their Bibles.” I learned children seem to understand the message better.

It was not unlike the children’s moment prior to this sermon, while some kids were asked to do something for their candy, they all got candy and did not grumble.  For when the children saw the candy bowl they knew they would all get candy.  Adults need to realize when we see God we all receive grace, equally.

Yet I know it is difficult sometimes to keep that realization of God’s grace before us.  We as adults will take it too legalistically, and therefore reject it fully in areas where life is unfair or feel guilty for feeling that way.  We may simply apply the grace to the transhistorical salvation we know as heaven, and forget that people who are hungry today need salvation from hungry.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that our salvation has to do with helping those that are not able to help themselves.  Yet we see people abusing the system, I know I do, and I feel awful for even having that thought.  I try to help them but I have a lot to learn from the children.  Life isn’t fair but grace abounds.

I remember reading an article by Eugene Peterson, where he talks about brining his daughter to visit in a nursing home.  In one room there was a patient with Alzheimer's who repeated a story to the girl over and over again.  When they were in the car he apologized to his daughter, and she said something to the effect, “that is who she is.” Eugene shares that he learned about pastoral visitation from his daughter.

This scripture is easy when we simply analyze it.  Yes God’s grace is for everyone, even if they confess on the death bed.  And God’s grace of life today is for everyone, so we support and help charities, but it gets difficult when we see people with nicer cars at the food bank than our own.  This is where we become more like Jonah.  Perhaps not as bad, but we desire to hide from God’s compassion or we take no joy in seeing it.  I believe it happens to us all because we are not as keen as children to hear who God is through these scriptures.  We approach it as if it is a law, “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” We squash our own feelings about working so hard for our food, for our church, because we feel guilty about being like Jonah.

As James Alison challenges us, we must be ready to relax into orthodoxy.  He suggests it is like listening to a conversation where you have a hard time hearing, lets take the bedside of someone with dementia.  If you try to listen carefully only to the words and what she is saying you tense up more and miss most of the meaning.  If you begin to relax you may not even hear every word but you get the meaning. 

We need to learn from the children and relax into this wonderful grace.  Then we will know we too deserve it when we feel the world is unfair. Thus we will know God and all receive grace, equally.

Nothing More—Nothing Less

Matthew 16: 13-20

Peter correctly answers the question Jesus poses. Jesus says you are correct, but you did not know it yourself, “flesh and blood” did not revel it to you rather the Living God had, The Father.  This is called the “Good Confession,” and it is essential.  As Disciples of Christ, we say, “No Creed but Christ,” we say we have no creed.  It is not that we reject creeds, but we reject creeds as a litmus test for fellowship.  As it is stated in the first principle of the identity statement of the CC(DOC):

We confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world, requiring nothing more - and nothing less - as a basis of our life together.

We start fellowship with a belief in Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, we need nothing more or nothing less to bring us together as Church, which Jesus told Peter He would start with him, and this confession and handed him the keys.

Now Peter stated the correct answer, as Jesus made quite clear, the answer we depend on for our life together.  Yet Peter did not understand his confession completely.  First off a few verses later Matthew reports that Peter tries to rebuke Jesus’ passion prophesy, and Jesus said “get behind me Satan.”  Peter claims he would follow Jesus and yet he denies Him three times.  Peter was a first century Jewish man and thus his idea of the Messiah was influenced by that reality.  The idea of the Messiah  was to free the land from the Romans.  They believed the Messiah would provide a victory, a military, and social victory for for the Jewish people.  I find it quite evident that Peter must have had that hope with the sword on him, the sword he drew on the night of Jesus’ arrest, which Jesus rebukes and heals the victim.  This is why Jesus said, “Shhhhhh!!!” about Him being the Messiah, Jesus realized that Peter did not get it, Peter had the correct revelation, but the true revelation would come through the flesh and blood on the cross and the resurrected man who told us “Peace.”

Peter had to be open to being wrong.  Even after Jesus cooked him breakfast on the beach and asked him if he loved Him three times and told him to tend and feed His sheep, Peter still had to be open to being wrong.  He believed the keys were about keeping people out, not to open the gates, as Peter was concerned about believers following the laws of the Torah, until God send him visions that made him realize:

Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. (Acts 10:34-36)

The key is that Peter was open to the joy of being wrong, a term I borrow from James Alison.  This is not a joy of being lost or a joy of hurting others.

The best example of the joy of being wrong I can think of was a time I was driving the three hour commute from my seminary during my first year.  I have many times I was wrong, but this one I believe can help you understand the joy of being wrong.  See I told my friend I thought I was interested in a woman, but I was convinced that I should not pursue her.  I was convinced she was not interested (later to learn she did not pick up on flirting well).  I was convinced I was right.  Half way home, I decided to ring her, I was open and hopeful.  She answered, “who is this"?” but by the end of the conversation we had a date planned and rest is history, as we have been married for six years.  That is the great joy of being wrong.

We do not expect young people who are just baptized to fully understand their good confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God.  We expect them to continue their education to continue to disciple.  All of us need to be like Peter and be open to being wrong, even looking for the joy of being wrong.  For Peter it started with the Good Confession and ended up opening the Kingdom of Heaven to everyone. 

We simply need Christ, nothing more—nothing less, to begin our life together as Christians and we need to be open to learn and change what we think we know the Messiah is.  We could be wrong and that can be full of Joy.

Don’t Worry, Strive…

Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus knew that there were famines and droughts from the history recorded in the Old Testament, not to mention His own experience.  Thus Jesus knew that there are times when there is not enough food for birds, or enough water for lilies to bloom.  It is clear that Jesus is not saying we should not set our alarms for the next day’s work, or not to plan for retirement.  Rather Jesus is telling us not to worry, and specifically in relationship with His statement of serving two masters.  If one chooses to serve wealth the worry will be inevitable, but if  you serve God you will not need to worry. 

This metaphor Jesus uses of the the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, speak to us about following Jesus in three ways.  The first being of ecology, that is how the earth operates.  Clearly God created a world where the animals and plants depend on each other to survive, therefore they actually depend on God.  Even in Jesus’ day people were beginning to be separated from the natural world, and today we are even more separated from the reality of how God’s creation is good and provides for itself.  We should see in this metaphor that we need to appreciate the wonderful miracle of this world as we work for the Kingdom of Heaven.

The second way this metaphor speaks to us it that of equality.  It relates to the first, in that we are to see the interconnectedness of humanity as we observe in nature.  For we know there are some people that do not know where their next meal is coming from and Jesus knew that also, as he included in a parable:

And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” (Matthew 20: 6-7)

This is a reality for people throughout history and continues today.  They don’t even have the luxury of the same type of worry people with wealth would worry, they simply live as lilies and birds, dependent on God’s Grace.  Those of us with some time, wealth, and ability become the Body of Christ for these people that live not knowing what tomorrow’s troubles is as they need to met today’s. 

The third aspect is the greatest and that is of celebration.  That if we do follow God (not wealth) we are to be taken care of just as the beautiful flowers and birds.  I generally start my sermon preparation on Tuesday, but because of a funeral on Wednesday, I had to prepare for, I did not start until after the funeral was complete and some other important work was done.  Late in the afternoon, I had the idea I would go home and rest, but realized I was going to be in a meeting all day on Thursday (it was on my calendar but it was not on my mind).  I then got another cup of coffee (thank God for “dancing goats”).  Read the scripture two times when two friends arrived at my door.  I could feel the anxiety mounting as I considered sending these two away, who obviously wanted to talk and ask questions.  I then glanced down at my open bible and saw verse 34 whish was  highlighted from a previous time: 

‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

I then thought, I should be here now with these friends.  I then asked them to help with the sermon.  I told them that there were still some flowers in the sanctuary from the funeral, and if they could go and observe them and tell me about them.  They ran to see the flowers and ran back to tell me something about the arrangements.  I should probably tell you that these two friends were young children.  “They smell good,” “I like the purple one" etc.  Then flowers and pieces were taken to my desk for decorations.  I then realized that children do not worry about tomorrow.  They may ask what is for dinner or what is next, but I have observed they often ask again for they forget.  Then the scripture that was part of the service earlier that day was put on my heart by the Holy Spirit. 

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’And he laid his hands on them and went on his way. (Matthew 19:13-15)

Jesus tells us to be like children to inherit the Kingdom.  Children appreciate the wonderful nature that is Creation.  Children love and do not worry about tomorrow.  Children celebrate when they know love.  Paul says it well in Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let us go out in the world serving only Christ.  Not worrying but striving for God’s Kingdom, like the children who made a beautiful arrangement on my desk with broken flowers and pedals. 

 

 

Special note to Hare, Douglas in “Matthew” edition of Interpretation.  John Knox Press 1993

Snow, Seeds, & Soil.

Feb. 11 in The Durant Daily Democrat
At Durant Main Street & Community Theatre’s Dinner Theatre Monday Night at Roma’s, I heard an old but powerful idiom during the performance: “A mighty oak tree was once a nut that just held its ground.” Before I go on I must compliment everyone that made this night out tremendously entertaining and fun. So if you were not there, I am sorry you missed it, and I encourage you to be at one of the numerous performing arts events in town.
However, I am not writing this to persuade you about the importance of art in culture, but because of the small nut that lies below the snow and ice-covered earth. This past Sunday, my wife sung the hymn by Natalie Sleeth and the first verse goes “In the Bulb Is a Flower; in the seed, and apple tree; in cocoons, a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.” We know as we look out at the cold and seemingly dead landscape, life waits beneath the ground for the season of spring.
Jesus tells us the parable of seeds, according to the 13^th chapter of Matthew. The first seeds were eaten by birds, some fell among the rocks and were scorched, some grew among the thorns that choked them “Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (verse 8). This parable speaks to us on many levels, and I suspect that many of you concentrate on the importance of the soil, for I usually do the same. It is clear that throwing seeds on the roadway, among the rocks, or among the thorns will not produce much yield. This is the most important lesson, I believe, of this parable, thus I am always trying to tend to the “soil” as much as I am planting “seeds.” Today, though, I noticed something that the hymn I quoted above makes clear, “God alone can see.” Each of the seeds planted in the good soil as per Jesus’ parable does not yield the same amount, as verse 8 clearly states. Clearly even when the seeds are in the same soil, there will be different outcomes and that is for God alone to see. Jesus even explains the parable in full in the next part of chapter 13 and states in verse 23 “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Clearly there is no perfect formula.
We must continue to nourish seeds in the best possible soil. We know resurrection moments happen when we do that, as when someone gives their life to Christ. As Christians we are continually sharing the Good News with our friends and hopefully strangers, so they may get their roots in the good soil and turn toward the SON. We then must remember that once growing with and/or toward Jesus, their yield is in God’s domain, not ours. We can help with the soil, but God is in charge of the growth. This is a difficult part of discipleship, remembering that God is truly the only gardener and we are simply other seeds in His garden.

Low Salt Area

Matthew 5:13-20
We have to follow the law even greater than the Pharisees and Scribes?  That seems quite difficult since they were the experts in the Jewish Law, the Torah.  Jesus says He came to fulfill the law not abolish it, so we need to explore what is the law according to the Rabbi Jesus.  The best example would be in the Gospel of Luke when a young lawyer tests Jesus on the law.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ (Luke 10:25-28)

The lawyer answers with the Shema with an additional caveat of loving your “neighbor as yourself,” which is confirmed by Jesus as being the right answer.  Of course the young lawyer is not satisfied with this, and asks who is his neighbor, which is when Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan.  Making it clear our neighbor is not simply the person who lives next door.

There is this children’s book about two boys living in Jerusalem.  One Jewish and one Muslim, who were both feeding the same stray white cat.  Both had been raised on the rules of their religious tradition, and both thought the other was not their neighbor, until the day they both worrying about the cat who had been missing for a while.  When they went looking for the cat and  met each other, they followed the rules of their society and fought (specifically over whose cat the stray was).  They followed the cat to a litter of kittens as a rare snowfall began concerned about her freezing.  They realized that she wants peace and they worked together for their love of the cat.  The book is called “Snow in Jerusalem” and is truly a oversimplification of peace in the Middle East.  Or is it?  The boys realized that love took precedent over the rules they had learned.  They saw how the snow fell, as we noticed this week in Durant, on everything.  Reminding me of Jesus’ saying in the end of this chapter five of Matthew:

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The boys realize that the snow represents the Grace of God that falls upon everyone, so we are to love everyone as God does.  That is the real law.  It is not simply about the rules.

So what about this salt?  It is a very strong metaphor that is understood when you explore how it was used in Old Testament.  How the first believers would have understood salt as a religious metaphor.  First of all culturally, one would say in the first century, “sharing salt” to refer to table fellowship.  That is certainly powerful for Christians, whose worship centers around a holy feast.  In Leviticus 2:13, “  You shall not omit from your grain-offerings the salt of the covenant with your God; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” Which tells us to specifically to put salt in all offerings, because as the first half of the text says, it is a metaphor for the covenant itself.  The next piece of scripture I have us turn to is Numbers 18: 19, “All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the Lord I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord for you and your descendants as well.” Again telling us that salt is a sign of the everlasting covenant.  And a very powerful sign of the covenant.  We have been iced over the whole week and we have not had salt to through out on the roads to melt the ice.  Up north we would call it a Low Salt Area, which you would see signs for such areas around reservoirs.  Salt is so strong it  contaminates the water supply, and I have known of houses whose wells are no longer good to drink from because of the salt that is put down on the roadway.  This idea of salt being so powerful is also found in 2 Kings 2: 19-22

Now the people of the city said to Elisha, ‘The location of this city is good, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.’He said, ‘Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw the salt into it, and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.’ So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

Now we know that salt is seen as very powerful and even purifying, a symbol of table fellowship, and the Covenant, the Law.

Jesus says to the believers who were listening to him on the mountain, “You are the salt of the earth”  You are the very powerful purifying, table fellowship that is the covenant.  You are the Law.  You are the law as He teaches and fulfills which is love of God and of humanity, our neighbor.  We are not to lose our saltiness but to permeate the world and change it.  To be a light for the true covenant that is embodied by Jesus’ love that He went to the cross for all of us, leaving us to be the church the body of Christ, the fulfillment of the Law, SALT.

Go out in the world as salt demonstrating this love and flavoring the earthly world with Heaven’s law.

The Great Commission Begins

Matthew 4: 12-23

When I was in High School, my friends and I would “hang-out” in the library.  This was in part because we were generally nerds either on the debate team or National Honor Society, or both.  For fun we would scour the microfilms and microfiche for interesting articles or pictures.  It was our internet.  We would debate and make games on various information and thus for fun we would debate the meaning of certain words.  We would look them up in the various dictionaries and determine who had a better grasp of the meaning of the word in question.  I can clearly remember the time we were looking in the “W’s” and I saw the definition for woman.  I know we were not looking up the meaning of that word, for even though we certainly did not understand women, we were smart enough to know the dictionary would be of no value to us to understand.  What I did notice was the small “n” and small “v” in the definition.  I knew that woman was a noun, but I had never thought of the word as a verb.  I then looked around the library and realized it was womaned by great librarians.  (It is true that not every dictionary has woman as a verb, but it is clear that it was once a verb, meaning “to equip or staff with women” or “to put into the company of a woman” as per Dictionary.com)  The point of this, is not about inclusive language, but that a word can mean something to us today, and we lost part of the meaning, and specifically in this case a tense.

Today’s word is μαθητεύω (Matheteuo).  Which in the ancient Greek was a verb, yet it is often translated as a noun.  The word is disciple as a verb, or “to make disciples.” In today’s scripture, we learn of Jesus’ first call of His disciples, near the sea of Galilee.  This is actually really where the Great Commission begins, with Jesus’ preaching, teaching, and healing, and at the crossroads of Israel and the Gentile nations.  This was not understood in entirety until the resurrection, when Jesus asks his followers to go back to Galilee and He gives them the Great Commission.  Matthew 28: 16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

They and thus we were told to do exactly this, and we see the term make disciples and miss that it really is a verb.  Even in English the word disciple is a verb and a noun.  The noun is someone that follows the teachings of someone, generally assumed Jesus, capitalized it means a member of our denomination, but the verb tense is considered archaic and means to teach.  Thus the above highlighted text should just say “disciple” or “teach,” for the “make disciples” hints that the goal is to make more nouns and not do the verb.  Hope that makes some sense.

Let us return to the fishing metaphor Jesus used when He called the first disciples.  When one fishes even for a living it is about getting fish, but there is a lot of knowledge and preparation that must be mastered to allow for the full nets.  This is hinted at in the scripture, first of all that James and John sat with their father, implying that they learned the vocation of fishing from him, and they sat their mending their nets.  This reminds me of the adage, “watch the pennies and the dollars will follow.”  A good fisherman would know that there is a lot of preparation, knowledge, patience, and skill, to be awarded with the fish.  Even today when we successfully accomplish something that we did with preparation, knowledge, patience, and skill, we rightly thank God. 

When we try to fulfill the Great Commission we must remember that the first Disciples were told they would be fishing for people, and as fishermen, would understand the metaphor as the work they would do for God to provide the outcome.  The word, μαθητεύω, should be a verb to us and let the noun be for God.  Just as when I lower someone into the baptismal waters, it is God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus, who baptizes, not I the pastor, I am just there doing.  We are to teach, to disciple and as any good teachers will tell you when you teach you learn, and God will make disciples.

Baptismal Witness

Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17

The Jordon River defines Israel.  I do not simply mean geographically.  Just as Noah and seven other from his family were saved by God, the Hebrews were saved through the Red Sea as we know, and completed when the people were delivered through the Jordon River led by Joshua.  The Promised Land was was acquired by military victory.  The salvation was completed through violence.  I do not believe God desired this type of salvation, rather God wanted the Chosen People to follow God, alone, but humanity could not comprehend God’s salvation.  The Hebrew scriptures are full of God’s compassion as well as the victories over the inhabitants of the land west of the Jordon River.  Their salvation was defined by that river, in that, those promised that land were saved by the one true God. 

Peter and all the disciples, too were confused about salvation as they also awaited for a Messiah that would save them from the oppression of Rome.  They truly thought Jesus came simply for those of Israel.  That was the question for first century followers of Christ, “Could non-Jews, gentiles, be saved?” (Not if Jews would be saved?) Paul is clear on that of course the gentiles could receive salvation, but Peter and James, among others, believed at first, as good Jewish men, that Jesus came to the Chosen People and one had to follow Jewish Law to accept the Messiah and His salvation.  This conflict is hinted at through out the New Testament, and Jesus often pushes the envelope to include those outside the Jewish people, the most famous is the story of the Good Samaritan.  Yet I share with you the story of the Canaanite Woman were even Jesus seems to suggest (at first) that He came only for the Jews, Matthew 15:21-28:

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

Clearly it was an issue that some believed Jesus came to the “lost sheep of Israel,” and had to be convinced that Jesus brought salvation to all.  This sermon that Peter preached (Acts 10) was the culmination of answering that very question, who could be saved.  The greatest voice Peter listened to, was that of God’s through his visions and sending him to the centurion Cornelius’ home (Acts 10).  Peter realized Jesus did not come only for the Jews, but for all humanity.  Thus Peter says, “God shows no partiality…He is Lord of All.”  We know Jesus came and made it clear that salvation was available for the whole world.

John the Baptist was baptizing people in the first century, and there were other Jewish sects that did that same, for various reasons.  John baptized preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  Jesus did not need to repent or be washed clean of sin, for He has no sin, but He asked to be baptized.  This was to change the meaning of this rite and the river.  No longer would it be simply a washing of sin, but a reflection and commitment that we participate in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which opens salvation to all.  Matthew writes, “suddenly the heaven was opened to Him.”  Thus salvation was no longer about being rescued in the earthly sense, but rescued from sin.  Peter understood what baptism is for us and writes in 1 Peter 3:18-22

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

No longer would the Jordon River define the chosen people, no longer would it be a boundary, rather it becomes the heart of salvation.  Both sides of the river could be freed by Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Salvation came from this sacrifice that came with no retaliation.  Thus Salvation was made known without violence.  Victory was gained when the heaven was opened to us through our Lord Jesus death and resurrection, and our baptism is a witness to this salvation.

Gifts of Prophecy

Matthew 2: 1-15

Christmas gifts are wonderful to give and receive.  And in my home our boy who is just two still does not expect or understand gifts.  He enjoyed many of the new items, including a shirt box and a empty tube.  In my family we receive and exchange Christmas tree ornaments each year.  It is wonderful to look at our tree each year and remember and recollect on the pass years.  Some especially from my childhood are slipping from my memory and/or are physically deteriorating.    My first ornament that started the tradition was given to me when I was but six months old.  It is a small glass bird, but I have no memory of that gift, save the memories of being told about it by my mother.  I recall she went out in the snow on Christmas Eve to get this special gift that started this Christmas tradition that now spans three generations. 

The Magi brought three gifts to Jesus.  Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, are gifts one would present a king.  Gold is of course very valuable, but so were the special resins, Myrrh being more valuable then gold at times in the ancient world, because of its scarcity.  The child Jesus I assume enjoyed playing with the boxes more then the gifts themselves, if not for Him acting like all other toddlers, but because the gifts were way too valuable for a family of meager means.  A family that would need to finance an extended stay in Egypt.  Once he was old enough to understand, I imagine His parents shared the story of the wonderful visit of the foreign Magi, and Joseph’s dream to save the family from Herod’s infanticide.

Jesus must have known He was Divine, yet being also fully human I know He must have pondered these gifts.  Why would they bring gifts for a king to a child of meager means?  Why were they foreigners who knew of His heavenly kingship?  And why Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?  Of course Gold, was a valued metal as it is still today, and both incenses were of great value, but of course these foreigners from the East would bring treasures from their land that was not native to Israel.  It would had been strange enough for this poor family to have Gold and frankincense, but it was the myrrh that certainly seemed the most prophetic.   

In learning the Jewish religion, Jesus would be exposed to the Torah.  Within the tradition God was present in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple, and to anoint the altar and the priests there is a recipe for holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:33).   The recipe includes other ingredients especially cinnamon and oil, but the text begins with liquid myrrh, thus concentrated, and verse 32 states, “It shall not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, and you shall make no other like it in composition; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you.”  This is interesting first of all because Jesus is the “anointed one,” the Christ (in Greek).  And why does God tell Moses to have this anointing perfume created?  This was to anoint the priests and the altar for the worship of God, and as specifically mentioned in verse 10 of Chapter 30, for the yearly rite of atonement.  This is the pivotal point.  Jesus will fulfill the law, the Torah.  It will not be a yearly rite, rather one horrific sacrifice of this anointed one, and atonement becomes communicable through the resurrection of the Christ.

Joseph hears God in a dream to save the child from death, as it was not simply Jesus’ mission to die, but to love, heal, and preach the good news.  Knowing full well that humanity would reject this perfect love with violence.  Herod’s fear and distrust that lead to lying and infanticide foreshadows, Jesus’ passion.  Rejected by His own people and the powers and violently killed, the young boys whose sins were that of babes were slaughtered by the King that should have protected them.  The Magi foretold that this child was not simply the King of Israel, but the King of the entire world. 

Can you imagine being a child that ponders these strange gifts, reserved for earthly kings?  Coming across the recipe for the anointing perfume and knowing it relates to not simply the yearly atonement but something even more profound and important.  A one time atonement for all, even beyond the Jordon and to the ends of the earth.  And perhaps while in Egypt learning that myrrh was a primary ingredient in preparing their dead, Jesus knew that people and powers would react like Herod.  However, as the King of Kings, as the anointed one, atonement would be achieved through His blood, and known by the resurrection.  Like a star that shows us the way.