Tag: jesus christ

Law and Gospel (Galatians 3:6-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Nativity by He Qi

The Scriptures say that God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith. And so, you should understand that everyone who has faith is a child of Abraham. Long ago the Scriptures said God would accept the Gentiles because of their faith. This is why God told Abraham the good news that all nations would be blessed because of him. This means everyone who has faith will share in the blessings given to Abraham because of his faith.

Anyone who tries to please God by obeying the Law is under a curse. The Scriptures say, “Everyone who doesn’t obey everything in the Law is under a curse.” No one can please God by obeying the Law. The Scriptures also say, “The people God accepts because of their faith will live.”

The Law isn’t based on faith. It promises life only to people who obey its commands. But Christ rescued us from the Law’s curse, when he became a curse in our place. This is because the Scriptures say that anyone who is nailed to a tree is under a curse. And because of what Jesus Christ has done, the blessing promised to Abraham was taken to the Gentiles. This happened so that by faith we would be given the promised Holy Spirit. (Contemporary English Version)

We are just a day away from the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Eve, the night Christians everywhere observe the birth of Christ.

And just two days from now Christians throughout the world will have a grand celebration of Christ’s incarnation – God breaking into this old fallen world to be with us and redeem us.

Many will be show up at a church worship service on that day, perhaps especially because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, in the year of 2022. All might be in the same place; yet they’re there for different reasons.

Some come to the worship service because that’s what they have done every Sunday throughout the year – and they wouldn’t think of being anywhere else.

Others choose to be a part of the gathering because they enjoy the specialness of the day, the beauty of the celebration, and the traditions which surround it all.

There are also those who show up because the season has been hard; while others may bask in the joy of Christmas, they’re just looking for something positive to get them through for a while.

Ethiopian Orthodox icon of the Nativity of the Lord

And then there are those who enter the day for none of the previous mentioned reasons. No, they simply show up because they feel it is their duty to do so, or at the least, because they might receive some special spiritual Brownie points from God. In other words, they gather with the rest with the sheer motivation of Law.

Such an approach illustrates the “curse” of the Law. The Law itself is not bad. But if the rest of the equation isn’t factored into life, Law becomes a hard taskmaster and keeps the law-keeper in a terrible bondage without any delight to go with the duty.

People also need Gospel, the good news which fulfills all the requirements and demands of Law. Law is good, but by itself, apart from Gospel, it becomes an insidious tool of evil.

Whereas Law focuses solely on what we do, Gospel homes in on why we do it.

Law bosses us around and tells us what to do. Gospel frees us to embrace the spirit of Law to love God and neighbor.

It doesn’t take faith to obey the rules and regulations of Law. Gospel, however, can only be realized, internalized, and lived by faith.

It takes faith to receive grace and forgiveness – and to give it. Faith requires an acceptance of spiritual realities. It is the key to tapping into the power of love in the universe.

By faith, people throughout history, like Abraham, have listened with spiritual ears to the God of all. They step out, not merely because of Law, but because they rely on divine promises. Such faith enables them to wait patiently for the coming of eternal forces to take permanent residence on earth. Law can’t do that; only Gospel can.

Faith in the Bible is a complete trust in God, in who God is and what God has done. Because God has demonstrated faithfulness through steadfast love, people are gifted with faith to know the Lord and exhibit love through good works. 

God Is with Us by Hanna Varghese

In Christianity, the height of faith is to place one’s life completely in God’s hands, believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.” (Matthew 17:20, CEV)

The size of faith isn’t the issue – it’s in whom that faith is placed. The littlest of faith in Jesus can have massive results, whereas the biggest of faith in someone who cannot get you to where you need to go, is useless.

Outward rituals and observance of Law have their place; but they don’t deliver anyone from sin, death, or hell. Only faith can do that.

If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others. (Galatians 5:6, CEV)

It’s one thing to be kind and love others during a holiday season; it’s quite another thing to have that be your default character throughout the entire year. Love for a season comes merely from Law. But Love for a lifetime grows from the rich soil of the Gospel.

And it’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ which we celebrate and give thanks.

Gracious God, we thank you for sending your Son. Even before we loved you, you loved us and gave us the gift of faith. Help us to love one another and to see all people in the same way you do – to love them even when they don’t love us back. Enable us by your Spirit to show continual love throughout the entire year, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Mary’s Song of Praise (Luke 1:46b-55)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Magnificat, a woodcut by Sr. Mary Grace Thul

Mary said,

“My heart praises the Lord;
    my soul is glad because of God my Savior,
    for he has remembered me, his lowly servant!
From now on all people will call me happy,
    because of the great things the Mighty God has done for me.
His name is holy;
    from one generation to another
    he shows mercy to those who honor him.
He has stretched out his mighty arm
    and scattered the proud with all their plans.
He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones,
    and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away with empty hands.
He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors,
    and has come to the help of his servant Israel.
He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham
    and to all his descendants forever!” (Good News Translation)

It strikes me that Mary, instead of being full of worry and afraid of the future, and as an unmarried teen with child, is full of the Spirit and faith. Mary neither complained nor fretted for the nine months of her pregnancy; she praised God and was clear-headed about the grace shown to her.

Mary’s canticle gives us insight into the mystery of the incarnation: God chooses the weak, those of low esteem, and the powerless.

Mary was rather ordinary. She had no wealth. She possessed nothing which would cause anyone to pick her out of a crowd. Yet, she is the one chosen by God. And her wonderful response to grace demonstrated that there is so much more to any person than what we can see with our eyes and perceive through our earthly glasses of high positions and strength of personalities.

The mother of Jesus had the wisdom to discern that her situation typified the Lord’s egalitarian work of leveling the field. Mary’s pregnancy normalized the needs of all people. Her son, the Deliverer, would carry this understanding into his own life and ministry – declaring good news to the poor, comforting the brokenhearted, proclaiming freedom for captives, telling those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

Mary’s is the kind of song that has been sung by people of faith throughout the ages. It’s not only a song of faith but a declaration of resistance, in defiance of all evil powers which ignore the poor, such as Mary.

It was not a completely new sort of song; it’s in harmony with songs that other faithful followers of the Lord have sung in past generations.

Moses and Miriam sang a song to the Lord of freedom from powerful Egyptian bondage and oppression:

“I will sing to the Lord, because he has won a glorious victory;
    he has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.
The Lord is my strong defender;
    he is the one who has saved me.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will sing about his greatness.
The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.” (Exodus 15:1-3, 21, GNT)

Hannah, unable to conceive and have children, endured a long stretch of affliction from her rival – that is, until the Lord stepped in and opened her womb:

“No one is holy like the Lord;
    there is none like him,
    no protector like our God.
Stop your loud boasting;
    silence your proud words.
For the Lord is a God who knows,
    and he judges all that people do.
The bows of strong soldiers are broken,
    but the weak grow strong.
The people who once were well fed
    now hire themselves out to get food,
    but the hungry are hungry no more.
The childless wife has borne seven children,
    but the mother of many is left with none.
The Lord kills and restores to life;
    he sends people to the world of the dead
    and brings them back again.
He makes some people poor and others rich;
    he humbles some and makes others great.
He lifts the poor from the dust
    and raises the needy from their misery.
He makes them companions of princes
    and puts them in places of honor.
The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord;
    on them he has built the world. (1 Samuel 2:2-8, GNT)

Stained glass window of Hannah offering her son Samuel to the Lord by Phil Watkins

The psalmist declares his song about the Lord who turns the tables on the unfortunate and brings them privilege:

He always keeps his promises;
    he judges in favor of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free
    and gives sight to the blind.
He lifts those who have fallen;
    he loves his righteous people.
He protects the strangers who live in our land;
    he helps widows and orphans,
    but takes the wicked to their ruin. (Psalm 146:6b-9, GNT)

God’s people throughout history have faced oppression. And, when in the teeth of that adversity, they have sung God’s songs of resistance against the evil powers of this world.

Along with Holy Scripture, let us also in these days of Advent just before Christmas Day, sing our traditional songs of resistance, deliverance, and hope:

“Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”

By Charles Wesley

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

“It Came upon the Midnight Clear” (vs.3-4)

By Edmund Sears

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (vs.1, 4, 6)

By J.M. Neale

O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave.

O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light.

Christ came to stand against sin, death, and the power of the Devil.

God is full of grace, mercy, and power to the powerless and the needy. The Lord has our backs. Perhaps if we all, both individually and corporately, continually used our words to identify and declare the great things God has done we would realize the consistent blessing of the Lord. 

As we near the night of our Lord’s birth, take some time to reflect on the ways God has been good to you in this Advent season, and like Mary, offer praise for each act of mercy. Mary exhibited no helplessness but had her heart calibrated to detect the grace of God when it was present – and to resist the injustice of this world.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 1:1-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Jesus Christ by Liviu Dumitrescu, 2017

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. (New International Version)

Jonathan Roumie as Jesus in the series “The Chosen”

You might be saying to yourself, “Really? You’re doing a reflection on this, a genealogy? Are you kidding?”

Why? Because all of Holy Scripture drips with grace, including genealogies.

The gospel of grace is the good news of Jesus; and, through the genealogy, we have the opportunity to understand and appreciate Christ better.

At the heart of Matthew’s gospel is a presentation of Jesus and Christ’s teaching which centers on the kingdom of God. Jesus is the King who fulfills all Old Testament promises. The genealogy is more than a chronicle of Christ’s lineage; it is a theological statement that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the anointed King of Israel, and the Savior of the world.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the Christ. The name “Jesus” means “God is salvation.” And “Christ” means “anointed one” (king). The name “Jesus Christ” communicates his person and his mission; he is the sovereign king who brings deliverance. 

Matthew, throughout his Gospel, takes pain to convey that Jesus is the King over an ethical kingdom of righteousness, and not a political kingdom. Therefore, Jesus is unlike King Herod or any other earthly king who seeks to have power and serve his own interests. Instead, Jesus uses his authority to serve others through love and grace; he doesn’t make subjects by coercion.

Jesus is the son of David 

Matthew establishes Christ’s pedigree by saying that Jesus was not some new kid on the block; he was anticipated for centuries. Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant given to King David by God:

When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up a descendant of yours after you, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingship. He is the one who will build me a temple, and I will establish his throne forever. I will become his father and he will become my son, and I’ll never withdraw my faithful love from him as I did from the one before you. I’ll install him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever. (1 Chronicles 17:11-14, CEB)

Jesus is a king in the same line and spirit of David. For example, when David became king, he didn’t immediately set out to annihilate all of the previous king’s (Saul) sons. That’s often how kings did it back then. Instead, David used his power to scan the land and show kindness to them. (2 Samuel 9:1-16)

Jesus is the son of Abraham

Matthew also establishes Christ’s pedigree as the rightful king of the universe by saying that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant given to Abraham:

I will make you a great nation,
I will bless you.
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you, I will curse.
Through you every family on earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3, GW)                 

Abraham was called by God because of sheer grace. There was nothing special about Abraham, other than the fact that God called him out of a pagan land to create a people for God’s own possession. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise; all nations are blessed by coming to Christ the Lord and King.

From Abraham to David

Matthew made a statement about God through the genealogy: the Lord is merciful and full of grace. Grace is seen in the inclusion of four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. 

The use of genealogy was a conventional form in the ancient world for establishing the credibility of a king’s right to rule. What was highly unconventional was including women. Matthew purposefully included them for two reasons:

  1. Women are central to the kingdom of God and play a pivotal role in the New Covenant.
  2. The women in the genealogy are Gentiles and were all notorious for their sexual exploits. 

Matthew highlighted a gospel of grace. No matter your gender, race, or even sordid past, the kingdom message is for everyone and is not an exclusive club. 

God is acting to redeem and reconcile the world. The gospel is not bound in any way by scandal, race, or gender. Jesus is the Savior and uses whomever he wants to extend his gospel of grace. 

From Solomon to the Exile

The men listed in this part of the genealogy are all kings; most of them not very good kings; and many of them downright evil. Because of this, God’s wrath was aroused, and the people were expelled from the land for following the unrighteous kings. 

However, grace overcomes everything. God’s purposes are still providentially accomplished despite human failure and sin. The lineage of Jesus was neither cut off nor thwarted because of powerful men who went in the wrong direction. In the end, God’s promises prevail.

Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10, NIV)

From the Exile to Christ

God is faithful, despite human unfaithfulness. Even though the people didn’t listen to the prophets during the reign of the earthly kings, the Lord quietly preserved a remnant who carried on the kingdom ethic. 

“I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” (Jeremiah 23:3, NRSV)

Instead of extermination, God sent a Savior to settle the sin issue once for all. God’s grace and providence reign supreme in the universe.

Jesus is the Promised King

Matthew’s genealogy is presented with 3 sets of 14. The number 14 is symbolic: the name “David” has three consonants in Hebrew, and the number value of that name is 4+6+4=14. By modern standards, this doesn’t make much sense. However, by ancient standards, this was a conventional use of genealogy. And so, Matthew’s original readers got the point that David is the center of the genealogy; and Jesus is the promised king to come. It’s a creative way of pointing to Jesus, which connected to people accustomed to using numerology for making arguments.

It’s good to think about avenues of communication that speak to the people we want to reach. For example, in raising three girls, playing tea party with dolls was a way to love them and have a conversation on their level.  

In other words, we must ask: How do I need to change in order to reach the people I want to reach? (and not how others need to conform to what I’m doing).

Conclusion

God acted in history by sending Jesus, who is the rightful king of the universe. Christ is the Anointed One, sent to restore people to God. He is our peace, and our hope. To walk in the footsteps of Jesus is to walk in grace, not self-serving, but looking to use what has been given us to live as God’s subjects in the kingdom. 

May we make our own theological statement of who God is by the manner in which we live and speak, truly having Jesus at the center of all we do and say.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Blessing (Genesis 17:15-22)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
By American artist Julie Lonneman

God said to Abraham, “Don’t call your wife by the name Sarai anymore. Instead, her name is Sarah [Princess]. I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become a mother of nations, and kings will come from her.” Immediately, Abraham bowed with his face touching the ground. He laughed as he thought to himself, “Can a son be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, have a child?” Then Abraham said to God, “Why not let Ishmael be my heir?”

God replied, “No! Your wife Sarah will give you a son, and you will name him Isaac [He Laughs]. I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants. I have heard your request about Ishmael. Yes, I will bless him, make him fertile, and increase the number of his descendants. He will be the father of 12 princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will make my promise to Isaac. Sarah will give birth to him at this time next year.” When God finished speaking with Abraham, he left him. (God’s Word Translation)

Life can only be lived with faith. We all believe in something, in someone. It’s just a matter of what or whom we place our faith in. Whomever we direct our faith, that is where we give our allegiance and obedience.

As for Abraham and his wife Sarah, they had their faith in the God who called them from Ur of the Chaldees. They demonstrated their belief by doing exactly what the Lord said to do – they went West to the land God would show them. (Genesis 12:1-5)

Abraham and Sarah listened to God and acted accordingly.

I don’t want to cross over into TMI territory (Too Much Information) yet I want us to consider what had to take place when the Lord tells the old couple they will have a baby next year. Here’s where the faith and action comes in: It is highly unlikely that a 100-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman were sexually active. But the Lord essentially told them to get going on conceiving a child. So, they did!

I can’t speak for Abraham and Sarah, but I know as a grandfather that I am really glad I don’t have to raise kids anymore. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it, at my age, so I’ve got to believe it crossed their minds, too. Maybe that’s why Abraham sort of pleaded with God to let Ishmael be the son of promise; the reality of being responsible for a newborn was maybe the last thing on old Abe’s mind.

But faith they had, as the New Testament attests:

Even when Sarah was too old to have children, she had faith that God would do what he had promised, and she had a son. Her husband Abraham was almost dead, but he became the ancestor of many people. In fact, there are as many of them as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. (Hebrews 11:11-12, CEV)

Genuine belief results in decisive action. At Abraham and Sarah’s age, sex may likely have seemed a safety hazard. Yet, they were submissive to God’s plan that divine promises would come through Isaac – who was indeed born the next year, just as the Lord said.

Abraham and Sarah by Marc Chagall, 1956

All this is consistent with the names “Abraham” and “Sarah.” Names were (and still are in most of the world) important identifiers of personal character – particularly toward what sort of person one would become.

God made a name change for the old couple. “Abram,” meaning “exalted father,” was changed to “Abraham,” “father of many nations.” “Sarai” was altered to “Sarah,” yet both names have the same meaning: “Princess.” (Genesis 17:3-8, 15-16)

The change of names was meant to communicate the promise of divine blessing from God for the future. All the world will be blessed through the covenant made with Abraham. Sarah’s alteration of name, though only in form and not substance, brought to the fore that Sarah, too, had a special purpose along with her husband in blessing the world.

Today, this blessing is still unfolding. Throughout all history, since the time of Abraham and Sarah over four millennia ago (c.2100 B.C.E.), the divine ripples of God’s covenant with them have moved across the earth.

Their progeny, through Isaac, the son of the promise, the Jewish people, continue to exist as arguably the most resilient group on the planet. We, especially Christians and Muslims, owe a great debt to the Jews for persevering in faith for such a long stretch of time. They have much to teach us, if we have ears to hear and hearts receptive.

Since the time of Christ, the blessing has extended well beyond the physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah:

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised [Jews] or also for the uncircumcised [Gentiles]? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 

So then, Abraham is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised….

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:9-12, 16-25, NIV)

May you know the depth and breadth of your faith, that it stretches far beyond this time and place. And may the blessing of God almighty – Father, Son, and Spirit – be upon you and remain with you, now and forever. Amen.