The real world
Commentary
Object:
For some the story of Christmas is a fantasy set in an idealized world where pregnant women get to ride donkeys and prophets look into a deep future divorced from the day’s realities. It’s a world defined by the lyrics of Christmas carols and the illustrations on Christmas cards. But the real world is far more interesting and exciting -- and the birth of Jesus takes place in that real world, where desperate situations demand even more than in peaceful times that we act righteously according to God’s word, with the expectation that God’s good will shall be accomplished in our own life’s struggles.
Isaiah’s prophecy is sent in a real political world, in which a failed king who ignored God’s advice now reaps the bitter consequences, as do his people, yet amid the smoke and rubble the prophet stands tall and announces that God has not given up, and that unto us hope is born in the person of a child.
Titus lives in the real world, and so does the apostle Paul, who sends him a letter advising him that in the midst of hardships it is even more imperative to lead godly lives.
And in a world where a distant imperial power can move people around like pieces on a chessboard, where shepherds who don’t own their own sheep are reviled because of their economic misfortune, and where a young woman has had to walk three days to arrive at her husband’s hometown in order to be registered for tax purposes, a child is born who is everything Isaiah foresaw, and to announce his birth God sends angels not to emperors, kings, or religious authorities, but to those poor, ornery shepherds.
And it all happens in the real world!
Isaiah 9:2-7
One of the reasons the newly crowned King James I of England commissioned a new translation of the scriptures (which became known in our country as the King James Version) was because he disliked the marginal notes in the very popular Geneva Bible. One of those notes stated that God installed kings and God could replace kings, a thought James I abhorred.
But Isaiah doesn’t shy away from announcing the fall of kings. In Isaiah 7 King Ahaz refused the advice given from God through the prophet. Now, in chapter 9, Ahaz has suffered defeat after defeat. The Assyrians conquered Israel, the Northern Kingdom. Ruler after ruler followed until the final destruction in 722 BC.
Nevertheless, under God’s inspiration Isaiah announced the birth of a new king who would embody the qualities expected of a descendant of David. Isaiah 9:4 looks to a time when this political chaos has been dispelled. The people who have walked through the darkness of this tumultuous time will see a great light! This is a king with a new and different style of leadership. He will need a name that reflects his qualities: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Titus 2:11-14
“Titus was converted at some point in Paul’s ministry, and is referred to as ‘his child.’ He was also something of a trophy that Paul displayed to the Gentile world, bragging that Titus, though Gentile in birth, was not required to be circumcised when he joined the faith (Galatians 2:1-3). Paul trusted him, and appointed him to lead the church in Crete, where he was also assigned the task of collecting a love offering to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem”(from Frank Ramirez, The Household of God, pp. 19-20).
In this passage Paul makes it clear that it is God who has taken the initiative in reaching out to us, instructing us, and sharing his grace with us. This passage speaks to some of the essentials of faith. Our response is to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.” The training Paul speaks of is a temporary thing. The word is derived from the time a freeborn child is temporarily under the tutelage of a slave, who has the right to discipline him for disobedience. But when the child comes of age that authority is no longer necessary. Nor will it be for us as Christians when we are ready.
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
It’s hard to imagine now, but the network executives who commissioned the half-century old classic A Charlie Brown Christmas believed they had a turkey on their hands. Their marketers told them the final product was awful. The storyline was thin, the music was forgettable, and the scene where Linus recites the Christmas story from Luke ought to be cut. In the end they let the cartoon special alone because they figured they’d show it once and everyone would forget about it.
How wrong they were. The show is a classic. Vince Guaraldi’s music is part of everyone’s personal soundtrack. And the scene where Linus recites from Luke’s gospel demonstrates just how powerful this story is even after 2,000 years.
It was no less powerful when Luke first wrote down his account. He begins by telling us who was emperor in Rome and who was the governor of the Syria province, and then he tosses them out of the tale. They may be at the center of imperial power, but they’re not important to God’s story! A pregnant Palestinian teenager, whose story would be hard to swallow in any age, and her fiancé travel three days to his home village near Jerusalem in order to fulfill the prophecy about where the Messiah would be born. There was no room at the inn, but likely there was room at the home of Bethlehem residents who were originally from Nazareth and who probably housed the young couple along with others from their hometown. Like many homes of the era it was a one-room structure in which the valuable animals slept on the lower part of the floor while up just a few inches on the other side the people slept. The woman goes into birth at the worst possible time, but there’s no stopping a baby. The birth announcement is given by angels not to political or religious authorities, but to shepherds -- who thanks to a recent debt crisis had probably gone bankrupt and now watched other people’s sheep. Once their profession was honored and kings were compared to shepherds -- but now shepherds were pretty much the least trusted people, and it was to such as these that the angels appeared!
You can see how this story could be filmed as a real world story. What the story truly is can be described as a triumph! God’s triumph, but also the triumph of humans and their choices -- Mary who said yes, Joseph who said no to shaming Mary, shepherds who obeyed the angels and proclaimed the good news of the gospel for the first time, and so on.
In the real world we have to make choices. But in the real world there is also the grace of God. All will be well.
Isaiah’s prophecy is sent in a real political world, in which a failed king who ignored God’s advice now reaps the bitter consequences, as do his people, yet amid the smoke and rubble the prophet stands tall and announces that God has not given up, and that unto us hope is born in the person of a child.
Titus lives in the real world, and so does the apostle Paul, who sends him a letter advising him that in the midst of hardships it is even more imperative to lead godly lives.
And in a world where a distant imperial power can move people around like pieces on a chessboard, where shepherds who don’t own their own sheep are reviled because of their economic misfortune, and where a young woman has had to walk three days to arrive at her husband’s hometown in order to be registered for tax purposes, a child is born who is everything Isaiah foresaw, and to announce his birth God sends angels not to emperors, kings, or religious authorities, but to those poor, ornery shepherds.
And it all happens in the real world!
Isaiah 9:2-7
One of the reasons the newly crowned King James I of England commissioned a new translation of the scriptures (which became known in our country as the King James Version) was because he disliked the marginal notes in the very popular Geneva Bible. One of those notes stated that God installed kings and God could replace kings, a thought James I abhorred.
But Isaiah doesn’t shy away from announcing the fall of kings. In Isaiah 7 King Ahaz refused the advice given from God through the prophet. Now, in chapter 9, Ahaz has suffered defeat after defeat. The Assyrians conquered Israel, the Northern Kingdom. Ruler after ruler followed until the final destruction in 722 BC.
Nevertheless, under God’s inspiration Isaiah announced the birth of a new king who would embody the qualities expected of a descendant of David. Isaiah 9:4 looks to a time when this political chaos has been dispelled. The people who have walked through the darkness of this tumultuous time will see a great light! This is a king with a new and different style of leadership. He will need a name that reflects his qualities: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Titus 2:11-14
“Titus was converted at some point in Paul’s ministry, and is referred to as ‘his child.’ He was also something of a trophy that Paul displayed to the Gentile world, bragging that Titus, though Gentile in birth, was not required to be circumcised when he joined the faith (Galatians 2:1-3). Paul trusted him, and appointed him to lead the church in Crete, where he was also assigned the task of collecting a love offering to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem”(from Frank Ramirez, The Household of God, pp. 19-20).
In this passage Paul makes it clear that it is God who has taken the initiative in reaching out to us, instructing us, and sharing his grace with us. This passage speaks to some of the essentials of faith. Our response is to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.” The training Paul speaks of is a temporary thing. The word is derived from the time a freeborn child is temporarily under the tutelage of a slave, who has the right to discipline him for disobedience. But when the child comes of age that authority is no longer necessary. Nor will it be for us as Christians when we are ready.
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
It’s hard to imagine now, but the network executives who commissioned the half-century old classic A Charlie Brown Christmas believed they had a turkey on their hands. Their marketers told them the final product was awful. The storyline was thin, the music was forgettable, and the scene where Linus recites the Christmas story from Luke ought to be cut. In the end they let the cartoon special alone because they figured they’d show it once and everyone would forget about it.
How wrong they were. The show is a classic. Vince Guaraldi’s music is part of everyone’s personal soundtrack. And the scene where Linus recites from Luke’s gospel demonstrates just how powerful this story is even after 2,000 years.
It was no less powerful when Luke first wrote down his account. He begins by telling us who was emperor in Rome and who was the governor of the Syria province, and then he tosses them out of the tale. They may be at the center of imperial power, but they’re not important to God’s story! A pregnant Palestinian teenager, whose story would be hard to swallow in any age, and her fiancé travel three days to his home village near Jerusalem in order to fulfill the prophecy about where the Messiah would be born. There was no room at the inn, but likely there was room at the home of Bethlehem residents who were originally from Nazareth and who probably housed the young couple along with others from their hometown. Like many homes of the era it was a one-room structure in which the valuable animals slept on the lower part of the floor while up just a few inches on the other side the people slept. The woman goes into birth at the worst possible time, but there’s no stopping a baby. The birth announcement is given by angels not to political or religious authorities, but to shepherds -- who thanks to a recent debt crisis had probably gone bankrupt and now watched other people’s sheep. Once their profession was honored and kings were compared to shepherds -- but now shepherds were pretty much the least trusted people, and it was to such as these that the angels appeared!
You can see how this story could be filmed as a real world story. What the story truly is can be described as a triumph! God’s triumph, but also the triumph of humans and their choices -- Mary who said yes, Joseph who said no to shaming Mary, shepherds who obeyed the angels and proclaimed the good news of the gospel for the first time, and so on.
In the real world we have to make choices. But in the real world there is also the grace of God. All will be well.
