The price of loving!
Commentary
Now come the bills! Christmas is a time of exhilarating gift giving. Not only are those close to us showered with as much as we can give them, but even total strangers feel the generosity which the season, with its sentiments of caring, and thoughts about the needs of others, generates. It feels good to respond whole-heartedly, doesn't it? You bet it does! But loving, and giving, and caring about, all have their costs. And for most of us just what those costs are doesn't really get tallied until the flush of the holidays is over and the tab for our generosity arrives in the mail. That can be sobering.
Loving, caring, giving, can be expensive for God, too! The first two lessons tick off the various "items" included in that endeavor for the Lord, with the price list attached. Isaiah lists "affliction," "redemption," and "carrying them all the days of old," as the tab God picked up for his love for his people. None of those activities came easy or cheap.
The gospel text recounts the price Joseph and Mary, in addition to the Child, paid for their love of God and the world he had enlisted them to help him save. Exile, the long and dangerous journeys, the rebuilding of a home and livelihood back in Nazareth, all took their toll. Nothing in the drama of salvation came at "fire-sale" prices.
Christmas needs to be seen for what it is, not as a fairy tale off of some ad creator's story board! It is an age-old endeavor, painfully worked out, and painfully paid for, by God and those who join his band of "message-spreaders." There is joy in it, of course, as anyone who has shared the "good news" about what God gave us at Christmas, and witnessed the change it can make in a life, can attest. But it is not inexpensive! What is more, the costs for it keep coming in as long as the gift-giving goes on ... hopefully until the last "needer" of that Gift accepts it.
Christmas is not a season of giving that ends once the presents are unwrapped, and the paper and ribbons have been stashed in a garbage bag. Although that happened last week, today the gift-giving is still going on ... and you are invited to join the throng God needs to help him complete his rounds of humanity before time runs out!
OUTLINE I
The price of loving!
Isaiah 63:7-9
A. vv. 7-8. Look at the list of blockbuster words used in Isaiah's description of what is involved in God's redemption of humanity. They read like a primer for a course in theology or Biblical exegesis. "Recount," Hebrew zachar, means "count on the fingers, tick-off the list of things God in his love has done to demonstrate his caring." The people of the Book understood that responses to some, be it God or another human being, are built on what that individual does to you. We do not live in a vacuum. Love, dedication, appreciation and trust need action to serve as their building blocks. God has provided them. What we need to do is recount them, "one by one."
"Steadfast love," Hebrew hesed, is a hard word to translate into any language. Its basic sense is to clutch something or someone so hard that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to pry them off! It is translated variously in the Old Testament texts, ranging from "steadfast love," to "covenant loyalty," to "unending love," to "steadfastness." What it conveys in every instance when it refers to God is that his commitment is "forever." Hence, though all other things die or wear out, his love "never ends," as Paul reminded the church at Corinth.
"Mercy," Hebrew racham, is a feminine term that gets its meaning from the part of the anatomy where it is located. The rechem is the womb. It is the place where the mother first feels the movement of her baby. The "flutter of wings," then the "kicks," are preludes to the first sign of the infant she has carried but could not see face to face until birth. That feeling in the "pit of his being" is one God has for each of his "birthlings!" Nothing can be more tender or indelible for the Bearer of that person than that.
"Savior," Hebrew moshiyah, refers to "one who has been anointed with oil." It is applied both to mortals, such kings, and some prophets, who had that done to them when they assumed office, and will be to the Deliverer who will come in the final days."
"Affliction," Hebrew tzar/tzarar, means to "bind, tie-up, feel cramps." It describes the inner knot-up in the stomach that comes when you have to watch someone you cherish endure agony.
"Love," Hebrew ahav, is derived from a root that means "to do something that another needs or wants, to serve another, to provide for another who is so much the object of your affection and attention that their welfare comes before your own." This Biblical term is never equivalent to "like!" It always involves action in behalf of the one "loved." Love is done, not simply felt.
"Pity," Hebrew hamal, is derived from a verb which describes a person who wants to share the load of another who is in extremis. It includes the willingness of that onlooker to take the burden on himself/herself. Hence, it is a "compassion" so deep that it is willing to change places with the sufferer.
B. v. 8. God is not only a romantic, but an incurable optimist. "Surely they are my people...." The Lord not only made Eve for Adam because he felt it was "not good for the man to be alone," but I am convinced that he made human beings because he could not stand to be alone, either! Throughout the Bible, God longs for his people, even when they are taking no thought of him. He cannot believe that they will "deal falsely" with him. And when they do, he becomes the eternal Pursuer and humanity the persistent runner-away. Even when they betray him, the Lord goes looking for them in the Garden of Eden, and later tries to woo them to him in a stable in Bethlehem ... sending angels to deliver the invitations for that attempt. How does the One with the incalculable memory keep that up? How blessed we are that he does!
C. v. 9: God, as the Lover, also is the bearer. The theme of the parent, the mother, carrying the child nestled in her arms, too tired to walk, or to young to do so, is front and center here again. When they hurt, he hurts. What loving parent does not understand that? He lifted them up, and at times his people were "a load!" And he carried them "all the days of old." Even when they thought they were making it on their own, the steps they took that they counted "easy" were so only because a lift was being supplied by a hand they were too busy and preoccupied to notice. Now that Christmas is "over" for some because the gifts they liked are beginning to become old hat, and the ones they couldn't stand have been returned to the seller, maybe it is time already, to recount the blessings "Immanuel" has brought us. They cost him more than "an arm and a leg." They eventually cost the life of the Babe in the manger.
OUTLINE II
From slaves to sons!
Galatians 4:4-7
A. vv. 4-7. "Tempus Fugit," "Time Flies." Not only are those Latin words engraved on many of our grandfather clocks, but they seem to be tattooed on our lives. The older we get the faster the flight becomes! But when you are waiting for a specific time to arrive, minutes stretch into hours. We wish we could get behind the hands of the clock and push them forward.
On this Sunday after Christmas Paul reminds us that the time has come for the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah. Meeting all of the "requirements" prophecy had laid out for the event, "born under the law," his gift has been to change "slaves" into "sons." In the ancient Near East the adoption ceremony used to make that happen was simple and direct. In the presence of witnesses the "prospective parent" said to the servant he wanted to elevate to "family status" and to a position of heir, "You are my child!" The "prospective child" answered, "You are my father!" With those words it was done. In Hebrew the declarations were even shorter. "Beni atah! ... My son!" "Avi atah! ... My father!" In the church it is much the same, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!"
When the time is "fully come" God does what it takes to change from slaves into children those who would be outsiders forever left to themselves. The One who longs to be "Abba! Father!" has brought the time of "waiting" to an end.
OUTLINE III
Do you believe in angels?
Matthew 2:13-23
A. vv. 13-14. Angels are all over this passage. One of them warns Joseph in a dream that he has to get the Infant out of harm's way. Years later, we aren't told how many, another angel comes to inform Joseph that it is safe to take the child and his mother home again. Are angels only "dream creatures?" Are they "fantasies" that fluttered around in the imaginations of the naive in "Bible times?" Those who have trouble accepting them as real beings who were sent by God from one "sphere" into another to do his work, so much of the Bible will have to be reworked and discarded that what is left may make for a "Fully Revised Sophisticated and Acceptable Version," about the length of the average comic book.
"Angel," in Greek angelos, in Hebrew malach, refers to a being sent by another to be an emissary. It usually is reserved in the Biblical texts for other-than-humans who are dispatched by God to deliver a message for him, or to provide protection for someone, or in some rare instances to destroy. In the Old Testament they often are mistaken for human beings because they do not have wings, and obviously speak the language of the mortals with whom they have to deal. It is only after the Exile that angels are given names, and wings begin to appear. At first those wings are on the feet of the messengers of the Greek religions, as they are on Mercury. In Persia they are on the backs of the heavenly messengers. In both faiths they "sprouted" to enable the emissary to accomplish their task quickly, and traverse from one region of the created order to the other.
In the scriptures, angels are a separate order of beings. Human beings, including babies, do not become angels when they die. But God sees to it that he has them on and when he needs them, as he did when Herod tried to dispose of the Gift the Lord had sent to Bethlehem! Who knows, the time may come when you will have one stepping into your life, too!
B. vv. 16-18. The Baby the shepherds saw must have made for one of the most cherished moments of their lives. Not so for the mothers in the very city where he was born. For them the occasion would not be forgotten either. His coming meant the death of their infant sons, if Herod's troops could find them. We forget too easily that God's attempts to bless are resisted by those who may be threatened in one way or another by a change in the order of things. Sometimes we will go to gruesome lengths to stay in control, or retain privilege, or horde a double share of the world's resources, or keep in place prejudices and barriers, regardless of what even the Lord may want.
C. vv. 19-23. But, eventually, God will have his way. The motto of the true go-getter is, "The improbable we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer!" God puts even the best of them to shame! When he chooses to act what he has in mind becomes fact! The Baby will live to accomplish his mission, Herods or Pilates notwithstanding. How unfortunate for them, and so many others like them, that the Gift sent for them, too, was rejected. But the angels came to help keep the possibility alive for as many as would accept it.
Loving, caring, giving, can be expensive for God, too! The first two lessons tick off the various "items" included in that endeavor for the Lord, with the price list attached. Isaiah lists "affliction," "redemption," and "carrying them all the days of old," as the tab God picked up for his love for his people. None of those activities came easy or cheap.
The gospel text recounts the price Joseph and Mary, in addition to the Child, paid for their love of God and the world he had enlisted them to help him save. Exile, the long and dangerous journeys, the rebuilding of a home and livelihood back in Nazareth, all took their toll. Nothing in the drama of salvation came at "fire-sale" prices.
Christmas needs to be seen for what it is, not as a fairy tale off of some ad creator's story board! It is an age-old endeavor, painfully worked out, and painfully paid for, by God and those who join his band of "message-spreaders." There is joy in it, of course, as anyone who has shared the "good news" about what God gave us at Christmas, and witnessed the change it can make in a life, can attest. But it is not inexpensive! What is more, the costs for it keep coming in as long as the gift-giving goes on ... hopefully until the last "needer" of that Gift accepts it.
Christmas is not a season of giving that ends once the presents are unwrapped, and the paper and ribbons have been stashed in a garbage bag. Although that happened last week, today the gift-giving is still going on ... and you are invited to join the throng God needs to help him complete his rounds of humanity before time runs out!
OUTLINE I
The price of loving!
Isaiah 63:7-9
A. vv. 7-8. Look at the list of blockbuster words used in Isaiah's description of what is involved in God's redemption of humanity. They read like a primer for a course in theology or Biblical exegesis. "Recount," Hebrew zachar, means "count on the fingers, tick-off the list of things God in his love has done to demonstrate his caring." The people of the Book understood that responses to some, be it God or another human being, are built on what that individual does to you. We do not live in a vacuum. Love, dedication, appreciation and trust need action to serve as their building blocks. God has provided them. What we need to do is recount them, "one by one."
"Steadfast love," Hebrew hesed, is a hard word to translate into any language. Its basic sense is to clutch something or someone so hard that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to pry them off! It is translated variously in the Old Testament texts, ranging from "steadfast love," to "covenant loyalty," to "unending love," to "steadfastness." What it conveys in every instance when it refers to God is that his commitment is "forever." Hence, though all other things die or wear out, his love "never ends," as Paul reminded the church at Corinth.
"Mercy," Hebrew racham, is a feminine term that gets its meaning from the part of the anatomy where it is located. The rechem is the womb. It is the place where the mother first feels the movement of her baby. The "flutter of wings," then the "kicks," are preludes to the first sign of the infant she has carried but could not see face to face until birth. That feeling in the "pit of his being" is one God has for each of his "birthlings!" Nothing can be more tender or indelible for the Bearer of that person than that.
"Savior," Hebrew moshiyah, refers to "one who has been anointed with oil." It is applied both to mortals, such kings, and some prophets, who had that done to them when they assumed office, and will be to the Deliverer who will come in the final days."
"Affliction," Hebrew tzar/tzarar, means to "bind, tie-up, feel cramps." It describes the inner knot-up in the stomach that comes when you have to watch someone you cherish endure agony.
"Love," Hebrew ahav, is derived from a root that means "to do something that another needs or wants, to serve another, to provide for another who is so much the object of your affection and attention that their welfare comes before your own." This Biblical term is never equivalent to "like!" It always involves action in behalf of the one "loved." Love is done, not simply felt.
"Pity," Hebrew hamal, is derived from a verb which describes a person who wants to share the load of another who is in extremis. It includes the willingness of that onlooker to take the burden on himself/herself. Hence, it is a "compassion" so deep that it is willing to change places with the sufferer.
B. v. 8. God is not only a romantic, but an incurable optimist. "Surely they are my people...." The Lord not only made Eve for Adam because he felt it was "not good for the man to be alone," but I am convinced that he made human beings because he could not stand to be alone, either! Throughout the Bible, God longs for his people, even when they are taking no thought of him. He cannot believe that they will "deal falsely" with him. And when they do, he becomes the eternal Pursuer and humanity the persistent runner-away. Even when they betray him, the Lord goes looking for them in the Garden of Eden, and later tries to woo them to him in a stable in Bethlehem ... sending angels to deliver the invitations for that attempt. How does the One with the incalculable memory keep that up? How blessed we are that he does!
C. v. 9: God, as the Lover, also is the bearer. The theme of the parent, the mother, carrying the child nestled in her arms, too tired to walk, or to young to do so, is front and center here again. When they hurt, he hurts. What loving parent does not understand that? He lifted them up, and at times his people were "a load!" And he carried them "all the days of old." Even when they thought they were making it on their own, the steps they took that they counted "easy" were so only because a lift was being supplied by a hand they were too busy and preoccupied to notice. Now that Christmas is "over" for some because the gifts they liked are beginning to become old hat, and the ones they couldn't stand have been returned to the seller, maybe it is time already, to recount the blessings "Immanuel" has brought us. They cost him more than "an arm and a leg." They eventually cost the life of the Babe in the manger.
OUTLINE II
From slaves to sons!
Galatians 4:4-7
A. vv. 4-7. "Tempus Fugit," "Time Flies." Not only are those Latin words engraved on many of our grandfather clocks, but they seem to be tattooed on our lives. The older we get the faster the flight becomes! But when you are waiting for a specific time to arrive, minutes stretch into hours. We wish we could get behind the hands of the clock and push them forward.
On this Sunday after Christmas Paul reminds us that the time has come for the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah. Meeting all of the "requirements" prophecy had laid out for the event, "born under the law," his gift has been to change "slaves" into "sons." In the ancient Near East the adoption ceremony used to make that happen was simple and direct. In the presence of witnesses the "prospective parent" said to the servant he wanted to elevate to "family status" and to a position of heir, "You are my child!" The "prospective child" answered, "You are my father!" With those words it was done. In Hebrew the declarations were even shorter. "Beni atah! ... My son!" "Avi atah! ... My father!" In the church it is much the same, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!"
When the time is "fully come" God does what it takes to change from slaves into children those who would be outsiders forever left to themselves. The One who longs to be "Abba! Father!" has brought the time of "waiting" to an end.
OUTLINE III
Do you believe in angels?
Matthew 2:13-23
A. vv. 13-14. Angels are all over this passage. One of them warns Joseph in a dream that he has to get the Infant out of harm's way. Years later, we aren't told how many, another angel comes to inform Joseph that it is safe to take the child and his mother home again. Are angels only "dream creatures?" Are they "fantasies" that fluttered around in the imaginations of the naive in "Bible times?" Those who have trouble accepting them as real beings who were sent by God from one "sphere" into another to do his work, so much of the Bible will have to be reworked and discarded that what is left may make for a "Fully Revised Sophisticated and Acceptable Version," about the length of the average comic book.
"Angel," in Greek angelos, in Hebrew malach, refers to a being sent by another to be an emissary. It usually is reserved in the Biblical texts for other-than-humans who are dispatched by God to deliver a message for him, or to provide protection for someone, or in some rare instances to destroy. In the Old Testament they often are mistaken for human beings because they do not have wings, and obviously speak the language of the mortals with whom they have to deal. It is only after the Exile that angels are given names, and wings begin to appear. At first those wings are on the feet of the messengers of the Greek religions, as they are on Mercury. In Persia they are on the backs of the heavenly messengers. In both faiths they "sprouted" to enable the emissary to accomplish their task quickly, and traverse from one region of the created order to the other.
In the scriptures, angels are a separate order of beings. Human beings, including babies, do not become angels when they die. But God sees to it that he has them on and when he needs them, as he did when Herod tried to dispose of the Gift the Lord had sent to Bethlehem! Who knows, the time may come when you will have one stepping into your life, too!
B. vv. 16-18. The Baby the shepherds saw must have made for one of the most cherished moments of their lives. Not so for the mothers in the very city where he was born. For them the occasion would not be forgotten either. His coming meant the death of their infant sons, if Herod's troops could find them. We forget too easily that God's attempts to bless are resisted by those who may be threatened in one way or another by a change in the order of things. Sometimes we will go to gruesome lengths to stay in control, or retain privilege, or horde a double share of the world's resources, or keep in place prejudices and barriers, regardless of what even the Lord may want.
C. vv. 19-23. But, eventually, God will have his way. The motto of the true go-getter is, "The improbable we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer!" God puts even the best of them to shame! When he chooses to act what he has in mind becomes fact! The Baby will live to accomplish his mission, Herods or Pilates notwithstanding. How unfortunate for them, and so many others like them, that the Gift sent for them, too, was rejected. But the angels came to help keep the possibility alive for as many as would accept it.
