Presented are a series of Christmas meditations from December 25 to the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Christmas Day

Christmas Day

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.  John 1:14

John describes Jesus as God’s creative, life-giving and light-giving word that has come to earth in human form. Jesus is the wisdom and power of God which created the world and sustains it who assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. Jesus became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother. From the time of the Apostles the Christian faith has insisted on the incarnation of God’s Son “who has come in the flesh.” (1 John 4:2)

Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great early church fathers (330-395 AD) wrote:    

        Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?    

Christians never cease proclaiming anew the wonder of the Incarnation. The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. The Son of God ...worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin.

If we are going to behold the glory of God we will do it through Jesus Christ. Jesus became the partaker of our humanity so we could be partakers of his divinity (2 Peter 1:4). God's purpose for us, even from the beginning of his creation, is that we would be fully united with Him When Jesus comes God is made known as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By our being united in Jesus, God becomes our Father and we become his sons and daughters. Do you thank the Father for sending his only begotten Son to redeem you and to share with you his glory?

"Almighty God and Father of light, your eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the night. Open our hearts to receive his life and increase our vision with the rising of dawn, that our lives may be filled with his glory and his peace.”

1st Monday after Christmas

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.  John 1:14

In the Roman empire censuses were taken every fourteen years for assessing taxation and ascertaining who were eligible for compulsory military service.  Joseph and Mary traveled eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. This was a most inconvenient time and a physical ordeal for Mary since her baby was due any day now! And as luck would have it, Bethlehem was overcrowded.  They had to settle for the most primitive of accommodations –  an open stall for animals. Why would the Messiah have to be born in such pitiable conditions and in total obscurity? God's ways are different from our ways.  He, the Most Exalted One, condescends for the sake of the lowly and the oppressed.  The Lord descended not in pomp and majesty befitting a King, but in meekness and lowliness to show us the way of perfect love.  The only room for Jesus was the cross he came to bear for our sins. In Jesus lowly birth we see the foreshadowing of the greatest sacrifice God would make for our sake when his only begotten Son willingly embraced death on the cross for our salvation.

Mary and Joseph were both from the line of David, King of Israel. Jesus's birth in Bethlehem fulfilled the prophecy that the Messiah would descend from David and be born in David's city, Bethlehem (Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:1-2; Micah 5:2-4). Why did the angels announce the birth of the new-born King of Israel to shepherds, rather than to the Jewish populace at large or to the leaders of Israel?  God chose to come in lowliness to show his loving-kindness and power to those who were humble of heart and ready to receive him.  Does the Lord find an eager welcome in your heart and home?

Why did God’s Son, the Word of God, become flesh (cf. John 1)? The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God our Father.  God loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).  The Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).  The Word appeared to take away sins (1 John 3:5).  The Word became flesh that we might know and experience the love of God.  God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).  For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

 There is a great paradox in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Son of God taking on human flesh that we might be clothed in his divinity.  Scripture says "he became poor that we might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9) – rich not in material things which pass away, but rich in the things that last – eternal life and happiness with the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Incarnation is the mystery of this wonderful exchange:  "O marvelous exchange!  Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin.  We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity."  (Antiphon I of Evening Prayer for January 1st)

"Lord our God, with the birth of your Son, your glory breaks on the world. As we celebrate his first coming, give us a foretaste of the joy that you will grant us when the fulness of his glory has filled the earth."

-taken from Daily Reading & Meditation by Don Schwager

1st Tuesday after Christmas

CHRISTMAS
            
            Your voice speaks:
            
            Little child out of Eternity, now will I sing to thy mother! The song shall be fair as dawn-tinted snow.
            
            Rejoice Mary Virgin, daughter of my earth, sister of my soul, rejoice, O joy of my joy!
            
            I am as one who wanders through the night, but you are a house under stars.
            
            I am a thirsty cup, but you are God's open sea.
            
            Rejoice Mary Virgin, blessed are those who call you blessed, never more shall child of man lose hope.
            
            I am one love for all, I shall never cease from saying: one of you has been exalted by the Lord.
            
            Rejoice Mary Virgin, wings of my earth, crown of my soul, rejoice joy of my joy!
            
            Blessed are those who call you blessed.
         

-a poem by Gertrude von le Fort

1st Wednesday after Christmas

THE NATIVITY
                
                (Thirteenth Century)
                
                (Attributed to Iacoponus, the author of Stabat Mater Dolorosa)
                
                Full of beauty stood the Mother
                By the manger blest o'er other,
                Where the Little One she lays;
                For her inmost soul's elation,
                In its fervid jubilation,
                Thrills with ecstasy of praise.
                
                O what glad, what rapturous feeling
                Filled that blessed Mother, kneeling
                By the Sole-Begotten One!
                How, her heart with laughter bounding,
                She beheld the work astounding,
                Saw his birth, the glorious Son.
                
                Who is he, that sight who beareth,
                Nor Christ's Mother's solace shareth
                In her bosom as he lay:
                Who is he, that would not render
                Tend'rest love for love so tender,
                Love, with that dear Babe at play?
                
                For the trespass of her nation
                She with oxen saw his station
                Subjected to cold and woe:
                Saw her sweetest Offspring's wailing,
                Wise men him with worship hailing,
                In the stable, mean and low.
                
                Jesus lying in the manger,
                Heavenly armies sang the Stranger,
                In the great joy bearing part;
                Stood the Old Man with the Maiden,
                No words speaking, only laden
                With this wonder in their heart.
                
                Mother, fount of love still flowing,
                Let me, with thy rapture glowing,
                Learn to sympathize with thee.
                Let me raise my heart's devotion,
                Up to Christ with pure emotion,
                That accepted I may be.
                
                Mother, let me win this blessing,
                Let his sorrow's deep impressing
                In my heart engraved remain;
                Since thy Son, from heaven descending,
                Deigned to bear the manger's lending,
                O divide with me this pain.
                
                Keep my heart its gladness bringing,
                To my Jesus ever clinging,
                Long as this my life shall last;
                Love like that shine own love, give it,
                On my little Child to rivet,
                Till this exile shall be past.
                Let me share shine own affliction,
                Let me suffer no rejection
                Of my purpose fixed and fast.
                
                Virgin, peerless of condition,
                Be not wroth with my petition.
                Let me clasp thy little Son:
                Let me bear that Child so glorious,
                Him, whose birth, o'er death victorious,
                Will'd that life for man was won.
                
                Let me, satiate with my pleasure,
                Feel the rapture of thy treasure
                Leaping for that joy intense;
                
                That, inflam'd by such communion,
                Through the marvel of that union,
                I may thrill in every sense
                
                All that love this stable truly,
                And the shepherds watching duly,
                Tarry there the livelong night;
                Pray that by thy Son's dear merit,
                His elected may inherit
                Their own country's endless light.
                
                Translated by Dr. Neale

1st Thursday after Christmas

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Have you ever considered the significance of the name of Jesus? Indeed His full title is Jesus Christ. Most people just think that Christ is Jesus surname.
                
                The name of Jesus Christ is a declaration of who He is and what He has accomplished. Take Isaiah 9:6 for example. Five clear truths are established about our Lord: Wonderful; Counselor; The mighty God; The everlasting Father; The Prince of Peace.
                
                Take a while to meditate on the above five declarations about our Lord.
                
                He is Wonderful. This talks about His ability and desire to do amazing and incredible acts on our behalf.
                
                He is our Counselor, leading us and guiding us into depths of truth and love.
                
                He is the mighty God, the ever-present and all knowing. There is absolutely nothing impossible for Him.
                
                He is the everlasting Father; to Him there is no end and no beginning.
                
                He is the Prince of peace, bringing an instant halt to all the works of darkness and establishing peace within our hearts and souls.
                
                Now, when Jesus came to earth God had to wrap all those powerful attributes and names into one powerful name. That name is - JESUS CHRIST
                
                When you mention the name Jesus Christ you are calling upon all the names mentioned in Isaiah 9:6. The name of Jesus Christ is much higher than any other name on earth. Philippians says

    

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

When you consider the name of Jesus Christ in the light of Isaiah 9:6 you will begin to understand its significance. Jesus Christ is the short for all the power in the names mentioned in Isaiah 9:6.
                
                No wonder why Peter talking in Acts 3 said

    

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer -- at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
                    
                    Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. Acts 3:1-7

Peter knew the power resident in the name of Jesus Christ. He called upon the power in the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ is both Lord and Christ

    

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:36

God made Jesus Lord. All the attributes, power and authority as expressed in Isaiah 9:6 belong to Jesus. Jesus Christ is more than a mere name. It is an expression of who Jesus is.
                
                God also made Jesus the Christ. Christ means anointed one. Jesus is anointed by God to meet all your needs. He is equipped for that very purpose. Christ is not Jesus last name; it is His God-given title. The name speaks of His ministry. The name gives us access to the power of God.
                
                The name of Jesus Christ contains everything you will ever need. Calling upon that name in the knowledge of all the authority and power it contains will force every other name (that means situation, condition and force) to bow. They must bow to the Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace who has been anointed by God.
            
            -adapted from The Name

1st Friday after Christmas

The Shepherd's Response
                        Now the shepherds have a choice

"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." Luke 2:15-18

How incredibly blessed these unnamed shepherds were to hear the multitude of heavenly host declare the glory of God and the gospel of Christ! This majestic revelation was an unexpected explosion of grace. God interrupted their night with a glorious proclamation about a Savior. How is it that such a display should be presented to but a few unnamed shepherds? Isn't such a wonderful announcement, made through such an unearthly testimony, worthy of a wider audience? O, but it does have a wider audience, an audience that even includes me; I observe it in the Gospel of Luke. While the testimony of a multitude of heavenly hosts is spectacular, the testimony of God's Word is far greater. In His Word God reveals the same message to me, 2000 years later, as He did for the shepherds that Holy night.
                    
                    What did the shepherds do when they heard this testimony? They went straight away, with haste, to see this child they had heard about. They had not planned on traveling into Bethlehem that night, but hearing of the birth of the Messiah they wanted nothing more than to see Him right away. And after finding and beholding the child, they began to make known all the statements they had been told. They told it to everyone they met, such that all who heard wondered about these things. Finally, when this night of nights was over, they did not stop glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen.
                    
                    O my soul - be like one of these shepherds. When God reveals Himself, listen. Open your eyes to how He has revealed Himself so richly in His Word. When you hear the testimony of the Lord then go straight away to setting your eyes on Jesus. Behold your God and be amazed. Rejoice, worship, and delight yourself in the glory of the Lord. Then make known the statements you have heard. Speak of what you’re told, giving glory and praise to God
                    
                -adapted from http://www.consideringchrist.org/page240.html

1st Saturday after Christmas

What's the significance of a name?

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21
                        
                        For the Jewish people the giving of a name had great importance. When a name was given it represented what that person should be in the future. An unknown name meant that someone could not be completely known. To not acknowledge someone's name meant both denial of the person, destruction of their personality, and change in their destiny. A person's name expressed the reality of his or her being at its deepest level. A Jewish child was named at the time of circumcision, eight days after birth. This rite was instituted by God as an outward sign to single out those who belonged to the chosen people. It was a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham and his posterity.
                        
                        In fulfillment of this precept, Mary's newborn child is given the name Jesus on the eighth day according to the Jewish custom. Joseph and Mary gave the name Jesus because that is the name given by God's messenger before Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb. This name signifies Jesus' identity and his mission. The literal Hebrew means the Lord saves. Since God alone can forgive sins, it is God who, in Jesus his eternal Son made man will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). In the birth and naming of this child we see the wondrous design and plan of God in giving us a Savior who would bring us grace, mercy, and freedom from the power of sin and the fear of death.

The name Jesus signifies that the very name of God is present in the person of his Son who became man for our salvation. Peter the Apostle exclaimed that there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved (Acts 2:12). In the name of Jesus demons flee, cripples walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised. His name is exalted far above every other name (Philippians 2:9-11). The name Jesus is at the heart of all Christian prayer. It is through and in Jesus that we pray to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians have died with one word on the lips, the name of Jesus. Do you exalt the name of Jesus and pray with confidence in his name?
                        
                        "Lord Jesus Christ, I exalt your name above every other name. For in you I have pardon, mercy, grace and victory over sin and death. You humbled yourself for my sake and for the sake of all sinners by sharing in our humanity and by dying on the cross. Help me to always praise your holy name and to live for your greater glory."
                    
                    -adapted from http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/luke221.htm

1st Sunday after Christmas

Simeon's Farewell to the World Pt 1

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
                            
                            "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."  Luke 2:21-40

Sometimes in unusual cases of coincidence, with the help of God's word, we can penetrate through to God's meaning.
                            
                            There is such a coincidence here in Luke 1 and 2. Why is it that Elizabeth, Zechariah (John the Baptist's parents), Simeon and Anna are all very old? Why did God ordain that the parents of the last prophet be aged and that the parents of the Messiah be young? Why are the two witnesses Simeon and Anna on the point of death when they see Jesus and testify to him? The question arises not just out of incidental curiosity but because Luke himself seems to stress their age. He makes it explicit in each case (1:7; 2:29,36f).
                            
                            There are two clues that suggest a reason for this. First, in all four cases these old people are pictured as very devout and godly saints. In the case of Elizabeth and Zechariah Luke stressed that they walked in all the commandments of the law and were righteous before God (1:6). In the case of Simeon and Anna Luke stressed that they were devout Temple goers and cherished the hope of the O.T. prophets. Simeon, he says, is "looking for the consolation of Israel" (2:25). And Anna is "looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (2:38). In other words these were model O.T. saints who kept the law of Moses and looked with eagerness toward the hope of the prophets.

The second clue for why it's old people who welcome Jesus into the world comes from Luke 16:16, where Jesus says, "The law and the prophets were until John, since then the gospel of the Kingdom of God is preached. . . " Luke is the only gospel writer that records this saying of Jesus and so we can see that this was significant for him. Up until John the Baptist's coming the word and the rule of God had been proclaimed through the law and the prophets, but now with the arrival of Jesus, the King and his forerunner John, the word and rule of God is proclaimed and encountered in a new way. Jesus is the Word; Jesus is the King; the long awaited Kingdom has now arrived (at least partially). For those who believe in Jesus a tremendous shift occurs: no longer do we live merely in the era of promise with the law and the prophets awaiting the consolation of Israel. Now we live in the era of fulfillment when the Kingdom of God is preached as present and powerful, albeit not yet consummated.
                        
                            - adapted fromhttp://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/80/122880p.html

2nd Monday after Christmas

Simeon's Farewell to the World Pt2

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
                                
                                "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."  Luke 2:21

Luke is illustrating two things by showing us these four aged OT saints, Elizabeth and Zechariah and Simeon and Anna. First I think he wants us to see that an era is drawing to a close, the era of the law and the prophets. He shows us this by depicting the best representatives of that era as aged and at the point of death. They are passing away just like the era of the law and the prophets. The second thing Luke wants to illustrate is that there is no conflict between the law and the prophets and the new age of the Messiah. He shows this by depicting the most devout people under the old era as the most receptive to the new era. Elizabeth and Zechariah and Simeon and Anna do not become resentful and angry that the Messiah has come, not even that he will be a "light for revelation to the Gentiles." They rejoice that the new has come.
                                
                                So Luke prepares us for important issues to come: with Jesus comes a new age and a new message among the Jewish people: the aged era of the law and prophets is passing away, behold the new has come. Nevertheless Jesus did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to complete them, fulfill them by purchasing the redemption they offered and living the life they commanded. Therefore, all the true saints of the Old Testament faith will welcome Jesus with open arms because he fits perfectly as the goal or climax of their faith. But the hypocrites will reject and persecute him.
                                
                                Both of these things were important for Theophilus, to whom Luke was writing, to understand. As a Roman official he knew that the spreading religion of the Christians was causing disruption in every synagogue it came to. Riots broke out and there were beatings and disputes. Therefore, what could he conclude but that the Christians were just another sect distorting the ancient and respected Jewish religion which had the sanction and protection of the Roman government? So Luke had to get across to Theophilus that the tumult caused by the Christian message among the Jews in every city was not because it distorted or rejected the Jewish faith. On the contrary, the best Jewish saints rejoiced at its coming. There were other reasons which became clear as the gospel progresses for why Jesus was rejected and his people persecuted by the Jews.
                                
                                Luke is very eager to dispel the notion from Theophilus' head that Christianity is disruptive to peace and order. This may be part of the answer to a question that arises in Luke 2:39 where it says, "And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city, Nazareth." The question is why Luke omits the slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem by Herod and the flight to Egypt by Mary and Joseph and Jesus before returning to Nazareth. There are three possible answers. One is that he never heard of those events. I find that hard to believe since he knows so much else about the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and seems to have gotten some of his information from Mary. A second answer is that the point of the sentence in v. 39 is not that they went back to Galilee right away but that they fulfilled all the requirements of the law before leaving Jerusalem. 

- adapted fromhttp://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/80/122880p.html

2nd Tuesday after Christmas

Simeon's Farewell to the World Pt 3

And inspired by the Spirit he (Simeon) came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
                                    
                                    "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel." 

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
                                    
                                    "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:21

The angel had said, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Now Simeon, a man of great faith in God's consolation, sees Jesus and is ready to die in peace. And his peace is not because he has a naive notion that the Messiah will bring only joy and prosperity to his people. He knows that Jesus will be spoken against, some will fall because of him. His peace is in the assurance that God keeps his word (he has seen the Messiah "according to thy word") and somehow beyond all the conflict to come salvation will prevail.
                                    
                                    Most of what Simeon says about Jesus is an application to him of prophesies from Isaiah. Isaiah 52:10 says, "The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." Simeon says, "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation which Thou hast prepared in the presence of all the peoples. What was only implicit in the song of Zechariah, namely that the beneficiaries of God's salvation are not Jews only but also Gentiles. This now becomes explicit in the song of Simeon. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who comes to bring glory to Israel, but the mercy shown to Israel over swells the banks of Israel and brings revelation to all the nations.

Isaiah described the mission of the Messiah like this: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (49:6; cf. 42:6). Isaiah implies that it would be a dishonor to God's servant-Messiah if he did not give him more to do than simply restore the glory of an oppressed and sinful Israel. That's too light a thing.

So Simeon, following Isaiah, assigns two tasks to Jesus (this little baby!). As the light of the world he brings revelation to the nations and glory to Israel. That means that he will reveal the true God and the true way of salvation to the Gentiles who, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:18, "are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart." In Isaiah 42:6,7 God puts it like this: "I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other." Therefore, the mission of Jesus to the nations is to open their eyes to who is truly God and to bring back glory to Him which has been given to all sorts of created things (Romans 1:20-25; 15:9-12).
                                    
                                    And to Israel Jesus brings glory. "All Israel" means the nation as a whole at some future time when Jesus banishes ungodliness from Jacob and forgives their sins. They will be saved just like anyone else and will join the one people of God. This will be the fulfillment of Simeon's prophesy that Jesus will be a light "for glory to Thy people Israel."

- adapted fromhttp://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/80/122880p.html

2nd Wednesday after Christmas

Anna's Farewell to the World

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38

What do you hope for? The hope which God places in our heart is the desire for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness. Hope grows with prayer and age. Anna was pre-eminently a woman of great hope and expectation that God would fulfill all his promises. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she was found daily in the house of the Lord, attending to the Lord in prayer and speaking prophetically to others about the Lord's promise to send a redeemer. She is a model of godliness to all believers as we advance in age. Advancing age and the disappointments of life can easily make us cynical and hopeless if we do not have our hope placed rightly. Anna's hope in God and his promises grew with age! She never ceased to worship God in faith and to pray with hope. Her hope and faith in God's promises fueled her indomitable zeal and fervor in prayer and service of God's people. How do we grow in hope? By placing our trust in the promises of Jesus Christ and relying not on our own strength, but on the grace and help of the Holy Spirit. Does your hope and fervor for God grow with age?

"Lord, may I never cease to hope in you and to trust in your promises. Inflame my zeal for your kingdom and increase my love for prayer, that I may never cease to give you praise and worship".

- taken from http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/luke236.htm

2nd Thursday after Christmas

SEARCH OF THE WISE
Matthew 2:1-11

The story of the wise men is one of the best loved stories of Christmas. It has a lot of embellishments. We don't know how many of these men came. We don't know if they walked, rode horses, or walked all the way. All Matthew records is that "In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born King?" (Matthew 2:1-2). We don't even know what countries they came from: Iran, Arabia, Afghanistan, India, Tibet? We don't know if they were Magi, Astrologers, Wise Men, Prophets or Priests, In the Middle Ages names were invented for them, Melchior, Gaspar, Balthazzar. But we love the story because it is a powerful image of faith.

You see faith is a search. Faith is a direction of movement. It is not the result of a proof. There is no mathematical or even scientific certainty. It begins with a vision, a hope of finding what is supremely important. But what is interesting in their story is that they already had the gifts with them. Gifts that expressed what they were looking for. If they found it, this is what they wanted to give.

Gold is a suitable gift for royalty, and they told Herod that they were looking for a child who was born to be King. Faith is looking for a Kingdom. Earthly rulers promise much, but they eventually fail us. Already Herod the Great had decided on murder. Any who might threaten his power had to be eliminated. We love our own country, but we know it has intolerable faults. It is not suited for eternal life.

Frankincense is used in worship. In the law of Moses it was written, "When anyone presents a grain offering to the LORD, the offering shall be of choice flour; the worshiper shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it" (Leviticus 2:1). Frankincense was part of the sacred incense that pictured the prayers of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:22-36). So our spiritual search includes looking for the one that we can worship, adore, pray to with confidence.

Myrrh was an ingredient of a perfume used by lovers. In the Song of Solomon the girl says "My beloved is a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts." But myrrh was also used as a burial spice. It was put in Jesus burial shroud. It suggested that the best of human love inevitably had to end with death. There must be something more that God has in mind.

The search of the wise men ended when they found a King who was willing to enter our life as a baby. And your search ends when it dawns on you that the baby you will be celebrating over Christmas is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He reigns among the nations, and welcomes you to serve in his Kingdom.

2nd Friday after Christmas

"But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel."     Matthew 2:19-21

Like all godly parents, Joseph and Mary raised the child Jesus in the fear and wisdom of the Lord. Joseph was given a unique task as the guardian and protector of Mary and of Jesus. What can we learn from the example and witness of Joseph? Joseph is a man of God, a man of unquestioning obedience and willing service. He is a man of prayer and a man of God's word. Through faith he recognized the hand of God in the mystery of the Incarnation— the Son of God taking flesh as the son of Mary. Joseph is a man of action, diligent in the care of his family and ready to do the Lord's bidding. Joseph fearlessly set aside his own plans when God called him to "take to the road" and to leave his familiar surroundings— his home, friends and relatives, and the security of his livelihood in order to pursue a hidden mission God entrusted to him as the guardian of the newborn King. God has a plan for each of us. With the plan God gives grace and the assurance of his guiding hand and care. Do you trust Him for his plan for your life? Are you willing to sacrifice your own plans for God's plan? Are you willing to give God unquestioning service and to pursue whatever mission he gives you?

"Lord, make me a faithful servant and guardian of your truth and your word. Help me to obey you willingly, like Joseph, with unquestioning trust and with joyful hope."

- taken from http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/matt2v19.htm

2nd Saturday after Christmas

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

An ancient feast day of the Christian Church, its roots are found in only one Gospel, Matthew 2: 13-23. It commemorates the massacre of all male children less than two years of age in the town of Bethlehem in the period just after Jesus’ birth. To the Church, it has represented a feastday to honor "all innocent victims", in all times, and all places. This year, I ask you to consider it as THE Feast of the Abused Child for Christian people everywhere.

Let us look more closely at this tragic event in human history. Herod, the last Hashmona’ean ruler, descendant of Mattathias, the leader whose courage against forced idolatry lights up the Books of the Maccabees, and led to the Jewish celebration of Chanukah (parallel in time to Christmas), was a frightened man. Like all bullies, there slept within his Unconscious both the "King Baby", the self-fantasied omnipotent child who wanted ALL power and ALL glory, and the terrified toddler who knew he was not all-powerful. He was terrified by the Magis’ story, and feared being supplanted by the infant King of whom they had spoken. Refusing to risk the loss of his temporal power, he ordered all the male infants of less than two years in that region destroyed.

Josephus recorded the massacre as history, and contemporary archeology in the region in Israel is beginning to support this event as fact. It happened. What does it mean for us?

Christmas spotlights Birth and Life. It shows us how, although it takes nine months, and chapters and chapters of Gospel, to create, nurture and extol Life, Evil and Death can be done in minutes. In Jesus’ and his parents’ escape, it shows us how close Life came to not being, at all.

We can easily see how precious was the human life of Jesus. Can we also see and feel how precious were those innocent lives as well? Although it is proper to have special reverence for the Holy Infancy of Jesus, I ask you to consider: Is not every infancy an holy infancy, and every infant a holy infant? Certainly each is an innocent infant, and shares in that innocence with Jesus. Who knows what humanity lost, what lives these lost babies might have led, how they might have helped their people find the Lord, what glory they might have given to God, how they might have served or from what they might have saved their people, and others?

The massacre spotlights for us the human helplessness into which Jesus was willing to be born. He came to us as truly dependent upon the ’foresight, caring and action of his human parents as any newborn does. The Lord of the Worlds became helpless for us. The massacre shows us how helpless he was, and against what forces.

I spoke of this as The Feast of the Abused Child. Most newspapers would have you believe that abuse is usually the work of strangers, outsiders, "THEY" and "THEM". The Hebrews too, looked to Rome for perpetration of the worst offenses against them. But we know that most abuse happens in the home, done by family members, by those the child trusts. So here, too, The Perpetrator was none other than Herod, the King and Father of his nation, a Hebrew, and "one of the family". Allied to Rome but not a Rome, he ordered this heinous deed not under orders from Rome, but under his own evil will. Like all acts of abuse, the massacre was an act of force, arising from feared or anticipated helplessness seeking the power to hold the terror off. As in all abuse, the victims were innocent.

I suggest that the infants died because of human fear and human power lust and human sin--Herod’s most specifically, in this case, and those of his soldiers, as well.

Where was God? I believe He was in those children, as I believe He is in every child, and every human being who has not shut him out--and perhaps even in those, though they know Him not. He is the God who was slain, and He was slain long before Calvary.

He was and is and will be GOD WITH US. I believe that He was slain with each child at Bethlehem. Furthermore, because He lives today, I believe He is battered with each child who is battered. When someone incests a child, Jesus is incested. When someone rapes a man or a woman, Jesus too is raped. Why does He allow this? My Lord is One of Infinite Power, but my Lord has boundaries. He has given us free will. He does not step over the line. That is the crime of the abuser. He is not one of those.

So when Christmas Eve comes, and we celebrate that the Baby Jesus is born, let us thank God for all the loving, nurturing homes, and churches, schools and hospitals, for anyplace where life is awaited with joy, cared for and cared about.

Then let us remember those not so blessed. Let us learn. Let us become informed about them. Then let us become their community of caring. So we shall truly celebrate the Holy Infant, as He dwells in every child, and in every one of us as well. So we shall heal the world.

-adapted from http://jmahoney.com/HOLYINFANT.html

Epiphany Sunday