Tag: advent

Delivery and Deliverance (Isaiah 66:7-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

Before she was in labor
    she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
    she delivered a son.
Who has heard of such a thing?
    Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
    Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor
    she delivered her children.
Shall I open the womb and not deliver?
    says the Lord;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?
    says your God.

Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
    all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
    all you who mourn over her—
that you may nurse and be satisfied
    from her consoling breast,
that you may drink deeply with delight
    from her glorious bosom. (New Revised Standard Version)

Conception. Happiness. Wondering. Uncomfortable. Preparation. Pain. More pain. Delivery. Exhaustion. Joy. Celebration. New life. Bringing children into this world is a process. And its hard work.

Feeding. Pooping. Sleeping. Exhaustion. More feeding. Lots more pooping. Thank God, more sleeping. Still exhausted. So, when does the mother ever get to eat, go to the bathroom by herself, and sleep? Maybe tomorrow, or maybe in another life….

Despite all of this, there are still words which keep mothers (and fathers) going: Satisfaction. Delight. Awe. Praise. Love. Hope. Faith. Yes, faith. Lots of faith. So much faith that it’s as if the parent puts all their weight on it, and leans into it, perhaps more out of sheer necessity than anything else.

The Christian season of Advent has been growing over the past weeks. It is now large and very ready for Christmas Day and the celebration of the Christmas season (the 12 days from December 25 to the Day of Epiphany on January 6).

But we aren’t quite there yet. There is still the anticipation of birth. The Christ child is coming.

It’s quite something to imagine that God would be so humble as to become humiliated. What a wonder it is, that there is such a thing as an incarnation, that Jesus entered this world as both a human baby and a divine king.

God came to this world for us, on our behalf, to redeem, renew, and restore lost humanity. That’s a lot of love. If you think about it, the mother’s incredible love had to come from somewhere.

Love is what sustains the world. So, love must be nurtured. The feelings of it are not always there within us.

Yet, if we will continually seek to maintain the godliness which is love inside of us, we can find ourselves being little incarnations of Jesus walking about this earth providing succor, without any withholding or hatred.

To love is to love. Without conditions. To love a friend but hate an enemy is to cancel out the love. It must be all love, or it isn’t love, at all.

The person, group, organization, institution, community, or church in a miserable and wretched state is in need of restoration. That is, they are in a great need of receiving love and giving love.

If they have responsibilities toward others, and have been neglectful, they must come to the breast of God. And those who did not receive their due justice and fair recompense must also come.

Advent is more than a season in the year to recognize. And Christ’s incarnation is much more than a doctrine to believe. Advent and incarnation are powerful realities which we must live into.

The good news of this season is that God intervenes effectively to do good for those who are faithful. It’s a newness as sudden and as wonderful as the birth of a baby. The Lord does away with barrenness and hopelessness, and brings new life.

It is this good news that brings out joy. Where once there was mourning and sadness, there is now satisfaction, comfort, and consolation. God is the One who brings it about.

Therefore, it is helpful to remember and recall the words of Jesus to his disciples:

Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. (John 16:20-22, NRSV)

The joy and celebration of this first advent will lead to a second advent, the return of Christ. The peace and satisfaction we may enjoy now is only here in part. The fullness of peace will be ushered in at the end of time.

This is the sort of tension that we must continually maintain, holding together in both hands our sorrow and joy, disappointment and hope, hardship and love, at the same time, all the time, until that day when there is not only a delivery, but a deliverance from all evil.

Lord God, we adore you because you have come to us in the past.
You have spoken to us in the Law of Israel.
You have challenged us in the words of the prophets.
You have shown us in Jesus what you are really like.

Lord God, we adore you because you still come to us now.
You come to us through other people and their love and concern for us.
You come to us through people who need our help.
You come to us as we worship you with others.

Lord God, we adore you because you will come to us at the end.
You will be with us at the hour of death.
You will still reign supreme when all human institutions fail.
You will still be God when our history has run its course.

We welcome you, the God who comes.
Come to us now in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christ Is Effective (Hebrews 10:10-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Orthodox icon of Jesus Christ

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

“This is the covenant I will make with them
    after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
    I will remember no more.”

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. (New International Version)

We are reminded in this Advent season of the Christian Year, that the coming of Christ had a purpose: Offering himself for all of the guilt and shame of the world.

Through the incarnation of Christ, God entered the world in order to deliver all creation from the power of evil, to give freedom from sin, death, and hell, so that people could come to God.

The old sacrificial system of Levitical priests offering sacrifices was good, but it was not effective. Jesus, as both priest and offering, is infinitely better. Christ’s offering was so superior that it was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

Jesus Christ was willing to do the work of offering himself, and was the perfect person to do it. No other could have done it.

The perfect sacrifice, offered by the perfect priest, was precisely what humanity needed. And that offering was so effective that it still lasts. The sacrifice of Christ has permanence.

In the Christian religious tradition, Jesus is the logical, reasonable, and promised way of reversing the curse upon humanity and doing away with sin forever.

The person and work of Christ is both a simple project to understand, as well as so complex that we will spend an eternity exploring Jesus and his ministry.

So, let’s make sure to maintain the tension of a message everyone can understand, as well as a message so deep and wide that we need to keep discovering how it continues to unfold, even up to this day and beyond.

The priest in the old covenant made daily offerings. The sacrifices were a reminder of guilt; none of them could take away sins. But Christ made one offering that potently took care of the sin issue once and for all.

By sitting down at the right hand of God, the symbolism tells us that the redemptive work of Christ is finished.

The offerings of the Levitical priests in the old system were repeated because they were insufficient to take away human shame. But Jesus “endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

The author of Hebrews tells us that the once-for-all offering of Jesus made the worshiper perfect. It makes sense that a perfect Savior offered a perfect sacrifice, with the effect of making perfect those who are coming to God.

“Perfect” does not mean that the worshiper is now completely without sin, as if an instant moral and ethical perfection occurred. The author was not communicating that Christians are completely unblemished, pure, and never error in their ways.

Rather, the Book of Hebrews has the message that we can come to God without any obstacles. Worshipers are now in a situation where they can engage in the project of Christian maturity without any hindrances to access with God.

Even death will not stop the believer from coming to God. Death, hell, and sin have been conquered by Christ’s offering of himself. We can now spiritually grow, instead of spiritually wither. The way is open to God.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV)

In Christ, we have shed our human weakness and have obtained an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:16)

The “perfection” or maturity and full realization of God’s promises in Christ will culminate at the end of the age. So, it is theologically (doctrine of God) and anthropologically (doctrine of humanity) appropriate to say that we are perfect and not yet perfect.

Put a different way, in the context of soteriology (doctrine of salvation), we have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. The Cross of Christ has secured perfect deliverance for us.

Yet, we must live into that deliverance, which is what we call “sanctification” or the process of being made holy, pure, and mature as Christians.

And we will not be completely free of the world’s evil machinations, our own sinful proclivities, and the devil’s stratagems against us until the second advent when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.

For now, we are in the process of being made perfect. We struggle daily with the tension between good and bad, right and wrong, justice and injustice.

Its as if the offering of Jesus, the Cross of Christ, made the largest splash in history, with ripples still extending out in all directions into the past and the future that keep making significant waves.

Eventually, there will be serenity, reconciliation, and harmony across the earth. But until then, we can have peace now, knowing that where there is forgiveness of sins, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Thank you, Jesus. Praise the Lord.

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

An Advent Message of Suffering and Deliverance (Micah 4:8-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The Prophet Micah Exhorts the Israelites, by Gustave Doré, 1866

As for you, Jerusalem,
    the citadel of God’s people,
your royal might and power
    will come back to you again.
The kingship will be restored
    to my precious Jerusalem.

But why are you now screaming in terror?
    Have you no king to lead you?
Have your wise people all died?
    Pain has gripped you like a woman in childbirth.
Writhe and groan like a woman in labor,
    you people of Jerusalem,
for now you must leave this city
    to live in the open country.
You will soon be sent in exile
    to distant Babylon.
But the Lord will rescue you there;
    he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.

Now many nations have gathered against you.
    “Let her be desecrated,” they say.
    “Let us see the destruction of Jerusalem.”
But they do not know the Lord’s thoughts
    or understand his plan.
These nations don’t know
    that he is gathering them together
to be beaten and trampled
    like sheaves of grain on a threshing floor.
“Rise up and crush the nations, O Jerusalem!”
    says the Lord.
“For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves,
    so you can trample many nations to pieces.
You will present their stolen riches to the Lord,
    their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.” (New Living Translation)

A lot of people don’t understand much about the Bible, especially many parts of what some call the Old or First Testament of it. It seems to them like it’s all either nonsense or gobbledygook.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I have read the entire Bible not once, but hundreds of times. And there are still many places within Holy Scripture which are an enigma to me.

Part of the reason the Bible can seem so difficult is that, at times, the perspective being written about is so expansive, so large, and so wide that it nearly defies human comprehension.

The Bible reveals a God who is so transcendent that the Lord is able to see the past, the present, and the future all at once, because God is actually above everything, including time.

None of this talk on my part is meant to discourage anyone from reading scripture. Rather, it’s meant to encourage you to keep on reading it, listening to it, talking about it, and exploring its contents.

Instead of a being an impossible puzzle we cannot put together, the Bible is, instead, a deep treasure trove of knowledge, wisdom, and insight into the human condition and the human purpose for being on this earth.

The reason the biblical prophets came along – and included into the canon of Holy Scripture – is that they called people back to their original purpose for being here in the first place.

In every prophetic book, the culture, the society, the religion, and the politics of a people had strayed so far from their reason for existing, that it took what seems to us as extreme language in order to get them back on track.

There were some cases so bad that the prophet’s message to people was inevitable doom. And yet, even then, there was a nugget of grace, showing us that no matter how terrible things may get, the arm of God is not too short to pull the faithful from the brink of annihilation.

Examining the Book of Micah, there is nothing easy about it. The prophet wrote at a time when Assyrian power was dominate, and about to swallow up the northern kingdom of Israel. Yet, he spoke directly to Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah.

Much like a woman in labor and about to give birth, Jerusalem’s cry of suffering will be transformed into a cry of deliverance and freedom.

But we aren’t talking about something that will happen in a few days or even a few years; the prophet was giving the people a panoramic sweep of centuries.

Eventually, the Babylonians come, take the people out of the city into exile to Babylon. It is a cry of pain. Micah was speaking about events which would not occur for another two hundred years.

Yet, at the same time, Micah was talking about his own present generation of people in Israel and Judah. What the people were doing, at that time, was leading to a future of great pain. And there would be a great crying out for salvation from it.

Injustice always creates a state of distress for some, while the ones perpetrating the unjust ways become wealthy on the backs of others who are miserable.

Babylon represented both the place of punishment and of liberation. Out of the exilic darkness, a new age bursts into the light.

Born into a time where many people were longing for God’s deliverance, centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem, after the exile and return to Judea, and after the days of the Maccabees, Jesus subversively entered human history.

Despite all of the human sin, the degradation and oppression of others, the injustice and abuse extant in the world, grace comes in the shape of a baby; mercy enters the world in the form of a child.

The God whom all things depend upon, became dependent, needing a mother to clean him up after a filled first-century diaper. Few people knew at the time that this little baby would be the one to clean up a massive spiritual and metaphorical diaper, full of the world’s nasty stinky injustice.

Presently, it is clear that the nations do not know they will be beaten and trampled – that all who are now in power will be answering to that subversive child born two millennia ago.

Each life may be a mere speck in the scope of history, and yet, at the same time, each life is precious enough to warrant attention from the One who stands above all time.

How you live makes a difference. How you are, matters.

God of both judgment and grace, we pray for all nations, that they may live in unity, peace, and concord; and that all people may know justice, and enjoy perfect freedom. Embrace the most vulnerable members of our society; end the growing disparity between the rich and poor; and grant us courage to strive for economic justice, so that all might know your mercy, and not your wrath. Amen.

Third Sunday of Advent – The Ministry of John the Baptist (Luke 3:7-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
St. John the Baptist Preaching, by Giovanni Battista Gaulli (1639-1709)

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. (New Revised Standard Version)

John’s ministry was meant to be one of preparing people for the Lord’s coming. His understanding of that preparation may seem odd, even harsh, to us.

Yet, John believed that the coming of the Lord meant that Judgment Day was at hand. So, his words are consistent with that sort of theological understanding.

What John did not see at the time – nor anyone else, for that matter – was that the coming of the Lord was happening in two advents, and not just one.

The first advent, or coming, was the incarnation and earthly life of Jesus. This first coming is not yet the time for judgment. The second advent, however, will be all about judgment for both the living and the dead.

That reality, however, doesn’t mean John’s feisty words have no meaning for us. In fact, they have more meaning than ever, because the judgment he foresaw is still yet to come.

We need to hear John’s words, and have the ears to receive those words, because we are in a world that seems ripe for divine judgment.

Repentance – a change of mind and heart that leads to a new life of active justice (not judgment) – is the appropriate preparation for us in this current Advent season.

Amongst the crowds who gathered around John, some recognized how they had fallen short of loving God and neighbor. Some had a profound sense of failing to live faithfully. Others were overwhelmed and came to see and hear the Baptist preach.

Above all, however, John had a warning to the people about relying on their privilege as Jews. It isn’t pedigree that gets anyone anywhere in God’s kingdom.

Instead of putting faith in something like ethnicity or religious beliefs, people ought to be putting their efforts into living a good, right, and just life.

For us today, nobody can rely on special privileges either. It has always been humanity’s responsibility and obligation to love, not hate; serve, not always looking to be served; and showing mercy, not revenge.

The axe comes in many forms, yet it consistently exists to cut off something. Far too many persons, during this time of year, and especially in this season, feel cut off from family or friends. Many sense they are cut off from light, or sanity, as if the world is a surreal place filled with clowns and oligarchs who care nothing for others.

There’s a lot of suffering going on. And any threats of axes and separation are already a reality for too many persons. So, what are we to do with all these icky and unwanted thoughts, feelings, and situations?

John said to the crowd that they were to bear fruit that is worthy of repentance. That is a very biblically language-based way of saying that, for God’s sake, we had better start practicing forgiveness, and see one another from a different angle.

We need a changed viewpoint that leads to a changed heart and life.

There must be a new, or renewed, relationship with God.

If there is doubt about what to do, the answer lies within the problem:

  • For the money-hungry, don’t be greedy, but learn to give away resources
  • For those in authority, don’t abuse power through extortion, but learn to give it away, along with your wages
  • For those who talk a good line, don’t manipulate others, but learn to give your hands and feet to working for a better world, and for your neighbor next door

Learning how to change and be different in this season of Advent is the very best way of preparing to receive the Christ child at Christmas.

One greater than John is coming, with something better than anyone can imagine. It is the gift of a different baptism – fire and spirit – that breathes the power of God into everything it touches.

The axe may be at the root of the tree. There may already be plenty of separation and disconnection. But this year doesn’t have to end in disaster or destruction or disappointment.

You and I, along with everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, can experience deliverance from evil, and freedom to be the people we were always meant to be.

O God of the lost and the displaced, you promise restoration and wholeness through the power of Jesus Christ. Give us faith to live joyfully, sustained by your promises, as we eagerly await the day when they will be fulfilled for all the world to see; through the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.