A time to receive
Commentary
There are no more shopping days until Christmas. For most people the news comes as quite a relief. But for others, those who find some special kick in buying gifts for others, the news may come with a blow.
Perhaps you have noticed or learned over the years that the more discerning shoppers set out on their shopping adventures with a set of criteria in mind for buying gifts: what a person needs, something to enjoy all through the year, something to challenge loved ones and help them grow, or something that fits the person to a "T." So it is that the favorite aunt who keeps the thermostat at a frugal 62 degrees gets the heavy sweater with a shawl collar -- because that's what she needs. What someone will enjoy all through the year may turn out to be, for the homemaker, a subscription to a gourmet magazine as a gift from her son. What will challenge loved ones becomes a new edition of Trivial Pursuit or a wooden puzzle that's virtually impossible to put back together. Something that will enable someone to grow appears, for the teenager who spends days absorbed by the sounds of rock, as a book on Mozart, and for the teen who attacks food like a velociraptor, it is the book on etiquette. Something that just suits the recipient to a "T" is often the gift introduced by saying, "I was walking through the department store and I saw this gift that had your name on it. It's really you."
Giving gifts at Christmas becomes a joy and a challenge, and we are reminded at every turn of the apostle Paul's words as he quotes Jesus, saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." But I'm beginning to wonder if Christmas really is the time to focus on that saying, or if at this time of the year we shouldn't first and foremost concentrate on receiving.
Isaiah 9:2-7
This passage marks yet another of what is traditionally considered a Messianic prophecy. However, we need to ask at the outset if the passage predicts the arrival of a future king or if it celebrates the birth of a child at the present time. In order to come to some conclusion on this question we need to look back a few chapters in Isaiah.
If we turn to chapters 6 through 8 of Isaiah, we have what might very well be called Isaiah's memoirs. Beginning with chapter 6 we have the well-known story of Isaiah's call to be a prophet, an incident that seems to have taken place about 733-734 B.C. In 733 B.C. the famous Syro-Ephraimite alliance was destroyed by the powerful Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria, who effectively brought down the kings of Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel. It appears that the Syro-Ephraimite alliance has ended by God's hand. The Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom has taken place, and Zebulun and Naphtali have been devastated.
Isaiah 9 begins with a reference to the people who are in gloom in Zebulun and Naphtali, the first two provinces to be overrun by Tiglath-pileser. The phrase "In the latter time" which is now introduced refers to the day of the Lord and sets the context for the lyrical poem that follows in verse 2.
People who once were in darkness now have a light shining upon them. What is the light? In verse 3 we again have a translation problem. While the line in the RSV reads: "You have increased the nation; you have magnified the joy," with only a few corrections of the Hebrew we can restore the parallelism so the lines would now read: "You have increased the joy; you have magnified the rejoicing."
God has broken the rod of the oppressor as on the Day of Midian (Judges 6-7), a reference to the battle in which the Lord caused self-destructive panic among the enemy so that they fled. All this is a description of a Holy War which is fought by God, where God is victorious, and the victory leads to kingship. In the case of our passage from Isaiah, the king is a child. Could this be a child who has just been born? Is this a child of royalty? Has the Davidic king just announced that a child will be heir to the throne? Or is this the coronation of a Davidic king who becomes "the son of God" (see Psalm 2:7, a coronation Psalm, "You are my son; today I have given you birth"). At any rate, what happens here is that the faithfulness of God is proclaimed and with it the victory of God by which God's own reign is established on earth.
What follows next are all the throne names given to this king: wonder of a counselor (cf. Isaiah 29:14; Psalm 77:12; 88:12; 89:6); Mighty God (usually used of YHWH; cf. Isaiah 10:21; Psalm 24:8; Jeremiah 32:18; this phrase is also used to describe the Davidic king at Psalm 45:6); Everlasting Father (used only here in the Old Testament); Prince of Peace (cf. Judges 6:24 where "YHWH is peace" is the story of Gideon). We must ask ourselves: Is having all these titles good or bad? What has happened over the years to those who have stood for peace? What has happened to the likes of Mohandas Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin, Anwar Sadat, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and of course, Jesus -- the Prince of Peace. So often, too often, the very people who stand for peace are murdered by the very people who stand for hatred. Our verse from Isaiah is part of God's promise that there would be peacemakers.
This passage is one that is filled with joy as it celebrates the ultimate reign of God's peace. Even though it may be denied us on earth, and even though peace might not be possible among nations and among competing factions of people, God's ultimate peace is promised. And the peace we experience on Christmas Eve, fleeting as it is, is the eschatological promise that God holds out for us all. So the key words are these: a child is born; a son is given.
Titus 2:11-14
The authorship of this letter, as well as the other pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy), has been debated frequently over the years. According to arguments put forth in the nineteenth century, the letter was written by some unknown author about the year A.D. 100. Those who favor Paul's authorship of Titus note the experiences that we know belong to Paul and the early church's acceptance of these letters as authentic. However one wishes to view the authorship of the pastoral epistles, the letter to Titus addresses those issues of false teaching and doctrine that Paul had confronted in his earlier letters written in the fifties.
This letter, written to a man named Titus, is directed to the legate or leader of the church on the island of Crete. According to Titus 1:4, the recipient was converted by Paul. There is a Titus mentioned in Galatians 2:1ff who was a companion of Paul and Barnabas at the Council of Jerusalem, and we learn there that he had been a pagan before his conversion to Christianity. It was Titus who was sent by Paul to Corinth and who later rejoined Paul in Macedonia and then was sent back to Corinth. According to 2 Corinthians 7:6-7 it was Titus who brought about a much-needed and much-desired reconciliation between Paul and the congregation in Corinth. With this historical background it comes as no surprise that Paul addresses this letter "To Titus, my loyal child in the faith." There is a problem, however, in Crete, and Paul needs Titus to rectify the situation.
Paul's feelings for the people of Crete are made clear in Titus 1:10-16. Paul even quotes a Cretan, Epimenides of the sixth century B.C., indicating the nature of the people living on the island. Lest there be any doubt about Paul's view of the immoral and insubordinate Cretans, he uses scathing words, describing them as "detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work" (1:16). It is in this most difficult situation that Titus is to effect some change and to minister among the people.
Against all that is wrong with the Cretans, Paul is moved to tell Titus what instruction the Cretans need, and so he proceeds to describe the new life the people are to lead. The great "why" for this new behavior lies in the text for this day.
At Titus 2:11-14 Paul discourses briefly on the reason for the behavior that is required of the people of God. It is not that their behavior will change God's mind or bring about salvation. Their behavior is required because God has already acted. God has already appeared, bringing salvation (2:11) in the work of Christ. How the people are to live "in the meantime" -- that is, between the time of Jesus and his return ("the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ") -- is described in terms of lives that are "self-controlled, upright, and godly" (2:12).
What a contrast these lives are to the lifestyle of the Cretans. For Paul, at least in this letter to Titus, the work of Christ takes on a dual purpose: to "redeem us from all iniquity" and to "purify for himself a people of his own" (see also 1 Peter 2:9-12). The reference to Christ who "gave himself for us" is a reference to the sacrificial death of Christ (Galatians 1:4; 2:20).
If one were to summarize this passage from Titus, we might say that the appearance of Christ calls us to renounce the ways of the world while at the same time to live in the present age lives that are appropriate to our faith and expectant of the glory of God to come.
Luke 2:1-20
The precise historical context for this passage is unclear and difficult to determine. Roman records indicate that the first Roman census took place about the year A.D. 6. However, Quirinius began his position about A.D. 6-7, and the "first" census after that date took place in A.D. 14. In any case, during this time, the Caesar was Augustus, whose birthday on September 23 was celebrated as the "beginning of the good news through him for the world."
Putting history aside for the moment, we turn instead to the emphasis of Luke's passage. His concern is giving, God's giving, evident even in the announcement to the shepherds who kept watch over their flocks in the fields and heard the message that is "given." In no uncertain terms, the birth of Jesus is seen not as a historical accident, but as the plan of God to give graciously God's own son who will ultimately be our Messiah. Jesus the Savior has been born and given to us. He has come not simply to be a king or the Messiah, but he has come with a purpose: to save us from ourselves, from Satan, and from all the forces that would keep us away from God.
The birth of Jesus the Savior happens in the town of Bethlehem (v. 4), the "city of David." While David's family tree was rooted in the town of Bethlehem, the "city of David" in the Old Testament is Jerusalem. Sometimes explained as "the house of bread," Bethlehem, as with so many other cities in ancient times, could have been the designation of the home of a deity (cf. Beth Anat, Beth Shemesh, Beth Shean).
When Mary wraps the babe in swaddling cloths the image that is called to mind is the image at Job 38:9 where God, at the time of creation, caring for the sea "made clouds its garment and thick darkness its (swaddling) cloth." In the apocryphal book of the Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom describes her own origin and birth, then says, "I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths." That Jesus is portrayed in the New Testament as Wisdom is clear at Matthew 11:28-30 and 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30.
At the moment of Jesus' birth, Mary lays the newborn infant in a manger. If we look at Job 39:3 we find God putting Job in his place, asking the human if the wild ox is willing to serve him and "will he spend the night at your crib?" The implied answer is "No!" but he will spend the night at the crib of God. Again at Isaiah 1:3, as the prophet delivers a judgment speech against Jerusalem, he announces that while "the ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib," Israel does not know such things. The two passages together indicate that God does own a manger, and the animals have enough sense to realize whose it is.
After recounting the birth, Luke moves to its announcement to the shepherds. An angel comes to stand among them and say, "I bring you good tidings." In non-theological usage the word euaggelizomai is used either for the act of a herald in announcing victory from the field of battle (see 2 Samuel 18:19-33) or that of a messenger announcing the birth of a baby (Jeremiah 20:15). In either case, the announcement marks the beginning of a new time. At this new time, however, the angel proclaims the news of Jesus' birth to a peasant teenager. And the announcement is shared not among the high class or religious but among shepherds who were considered outcasts and who by no stretch of the imagination were considered people of culture. From all the time they spent with the sheep, the shepherds themselves smelled like animals and were not welcome company in most any circle. It was to them that angels lifted their voices in praise and sang: "To you is born this day...." Imagine that, a message for all humanity sung first to a miserable lot of shepherds, a message sung to the lowliest of common folks.
The message from the angel is made "today." For Luke the word is loaded. It means so much more than simply "this particular day on the calendar." The word "today" rings throughout Luke's gospel as a bell signaling the start of God's new time. For Luke, "today" spells the start of the Day of the Lord, that long-expected and long-anticipated eschatological day when God would make all things new. Jesus will use the word "today" when he preaches in the synagogue at Nazareth and says, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). It will appear again at 5:26; 19:5, 9; 22:43.
What more can we say about this passage? That within the context of human history and against all human claims to be good news for the world, God causes Jesus to be born in humble surroundings as the beginning of a new time for all people. Jesus' birth marks the beginning of God's new day, of that "latter time" referred to by so many prophets, of the eschaton. It is no wonder the angels say "TODAY is born." It's the beginning of the new time.
So it is that there is perhaps no other season of the church year that is more human and more earthy than the Christmas season. That Jesus isn't born an angel but a human being is just one piece of evidence. That Jesus comes to us as one of us knowing all our frailties, our dilemmas, our stress, and even our grief only points more clearly to the beauty of this gift -- that Jesus is sent to be one of us.
What a creative shopper God proved to be at the first Christmas. What pondering God must have done in order to give such a gift as this.
God's gift TO YOU and to me is one that has us written all over it. The gift is a human child, born very much the way you and I were born -- after nine months of pregnancy we came out of our mother's womb. Head, shoulders, torso, arms, legs, feet. Mary and Joseph must have wondered for all those months of pregnancy what this child conceived by the Holy Spirit would look like, and lo and behold, he looked like any other baby. He was truly one of us! That's the gift: God became one of us. John's Gospel puts it like this: AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.
God undoubtedly asked another question related to the criteria for proper gift giving. WHAT CAN I GIVE THEM THAT THEY NEED? God must have thought again about the history of humankind from the afternoon of the first day. He must have gone through all the pain of realizing once again that the human beings he made have never been faithful to him. God must have agonized over the realization that we never seem to acknowledge God as our creator by living lives that demonstrate who God is and who we are. And so he gave the gift that we need: TO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR.
Through this baby, who one day when he's "thirty something" will die on a cross for the sake of our sins, God gives us what we need. On that cross will die with him all the forces that keep us from God, all the powers that would separate us from our Creator. And so the humanity that God created and went away like the Prodigal Son can be part of his family once again. It is the gift of salvation, the gift of forgiveness, and it's a gift we desperately need.
And like the gift of a subscription to wonderful recipes, God must have asked how this gift might last all through the year. How could I make this gift of my human Son, the gift in which I provide forgiveness, go on and on?
FOR TO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR WHO IS THE MESSIAH, THE LORD. Christ is the Lord, the Scriptures tell us, because he is the one who was raised from the dead. Because he is alive, he is able to be with us, as he promised, "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
God presents the Christmas gift that has our names written all over it. It affirms who we are. It gives us what we need, and it is a gift that goes on and on. His gift challenges us to grow into the creatures God wants us to be, to become more and more like the gift itself: to be Christ-minded. To love one another as he loved us.
Christmas is a time for receiving the incomparable gift that God gives. Listen again to the words from that beloved Christmas carol:
How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming; But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 9:2-7 (Christmas Eve)
Our Christmas celebrations are associated with light. In our gospel lesson from Luke, there is the glory of the Lord shining on the shepherds, or in Matthew, the light of the star guides the Wise Men. We have the light of our Advent candles and lights on our Christmas trees. The outside of our houses or our city decorations sometimes are festooned with lights. Everywhere we employ special lights to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. And that is fitting for our Old Testament text, for from it we hear that those of us who have walked in darkness -- those of us who have known the gloom and the "deep darkness" of our sinful and suffering world -- are delivered by Christ into a world of light, which is a symbol throughout the Bible for God's deliverance.
Originally, this text had nothing to do with Christmas and Christ, however. As we can see in verse 1, Isaiah composed it as a comforting proclamation for the inhabitants of northern Israel, in which the districts of Naphtali and Zebulon were included. Those Galilean territories had been conquered by the Assyrian ruler, Tiglath-pileser I in 733-732 B.C. and incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. They had been subjected to the "yoke" of slavery to Assyria. But when Hezekiah (727-698 B.C.) ascended the throne of Judah, Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would free the Galilean territories from their subjection to Assyria, reunite them with the southern kingdom, and bring in an everlasting realm of freedom and peace. Thus, this poem was probably composed for the coronation ceremony of Hezekiah.
The passage divides into three parts. Verses 2-3 tell of joy that has been given to the Israelites by God, a joy comparable to that found in the celebrations of an abundant harvest or military victory. (Most scholars emend verse 3a to read, "Thou hast brought them abundant joy" to preserve the parallelism.) But the reason for the joy is not immediately given. That is spelled out in three following sentences that begin with the important little Hebrew word ki, "for."
First, in verse 4, the people are joyful because they have been freed from their Assyrian conquerors. The oppression of Assyria's "yoke," like a yoke worn by a beast of burden, has been removed; the "staff" and "rod" with which slaves were beaten have been broken, and God has won a victory over Assyria comparable to that of Gideon's complete and lasting victory over the Midianites (Judges chapters 6-8).
Second, in verse 5, all the garments and accouterments of war have been burned up after God's victory, and cannot be used again. A universal peace is being prepared.
But third and climactically, in verse 6, a new ruler has ascended the throne of Judah. Isaiah frequently employs names to encapsule his message (cf. 8:1-3), and that is true here, too. The new ruler is called "Wonderful Counselor." That is, unlike those kings who have followed bad advice, this king will share in the wisdom given by God (cf. 11:2) and will be able to put his plans into effect -- in the scriptures, to know is also to be able to do.
The king will have the name "Mighty God," which is sometimes used of military heroes, but here it signifies the ruler's power for peaceful rule and his godlike character. He will have the name "Everlasting Father," which refers not to his continued existence, but to his endless care for his people. And the king will be a "Prince of Peace," sovereign over a universal realm of shalom, which signifies not only cessation from war but also fullness of life.
Then the announcement reaches its climax. This ruler will be a Davidic king, whose rule or dynasty will never end. But his reign will be established, not by force and conquest, but by the moral qualities of justice and righteousness (cf. 11:3-5). That is, his rule will exhibit God's order for society and his fulfillment of God's will. And all of this will be given by God's actions, whose zeal for his purpose will establish it.
Isaiah is therefore announcing to the northern Israelites that Hezekiah's reign will not only bring the defeat of the Assyrian Empire and Israel's freedom, but will also usher in a realm of universal shalom.
Sadly, Isaiah's hopes for Israel were disappointed. The inhabitants of the north were totally overrun by the Assyrians in 722-721 B.C. They were deported into Assyrian exile, their territories were turned over to foreigners, and they were lost forever to history. Similarly, Hezekiah himself remained a vassal to Assyria until his revolt in 701 B.C. But Judah's attempts at freedom were crushed, she lost much of her territory, and Hezekiah was made a virtual prisoner in Jerusalem, to be followed on the throne by his son Manasseh, who simply acceded to Assyrian demands and filled Judah's society with idolatry, syncretism, and corruption.
Was Isaiah's prophecy then false and were his hopes for a Davidic Messiah then in vain? If that were the case, we would not have this text preserved in the Old Testament. These words were words of the Lord given to the prophet, and God always keeps his Word. This promise of a coming Davidic ruler, who would match Isaiah's wondrous description of him, was preserved in Israel and kept for the future, because Israel knew and expected that a Messiah like this would come. But he would come in God's good time -- not when human beings wished him to come, but when God so willed. Not we ourselves, but God is the Lord of our lives and history, and he works his own ways.
So it is, in the fullness of God's time, that we celebrate the birth of this Davidic ruler, this Messiah, that God promised through Isaiah long ago. And this Messiah, Jesus Christ, is indeed the One who rules in the wisdom and might of God, who cares for us like a Father forever, and who will establish his reign of peace throughout the earth by his justice and righteousness.
Isaiah says that brings the light of God's deliverance to all of us -- to us who sometimes think that we dwell and walk in nothing but darkness. Will you therefore trust that -- that Christ will give light to your life if you but open your heart to his rule and let him direct your paths? If you will -- if you will -- then you too can have great joy and celebration at this Christmastime.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 52:7-10 (Christmas Day)
"My way is hid from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God" (Isaiah 40:27). Thus did captive Israel mourn in Babylonian exile in the latter half of the sixth century B.C. But such mourning is not confined to any time period. There are a lot of people who, in this sacred season, would secretly say, "My way is hid from the Lord," -- persons who are alone or despairing or suffering, who feel that God is nowhere near them -- and Christmas can even exacerbate the feeling.
But Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) announced good news to those despairing exiles, the good news that we find in our text for the day. Lift up your voice and sing for joy, he told his captive people, for God has not forgotten you; he is coming to redeem you, to buy you back, out of your subjugation (v. 9). Do you not see him coming? Behold! There! The Lord God comes in might and mercy, to "feed his flock like a shepherd" and to "gather the lambs in his arms" (Isaiah 40:11). He will save you in the sight of all of the nations (52:10) and lead you back to your own country. And so our text is followed by the command, "Depart, depart, go out thence ... for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (vv. 11-12).
That is the message that is given us too on this Christmas Day -- that God has not forgotten us and that we need not despair. Rather, the God of might and mercy has taken human flesh in the incarnation of his Son, and now he comes to each one of us to redeem us from our captivity to whatever suffering or sin we know, and to lead us back to return to life and joy and singing.
We find in our Old Testament passage the first use of the word "gospel," "good news," announced by an evangel, a messenger of good news (v. 7), and Second Isaiah borrows an ancient custom to set forth that joyous message.
When a new king was crowned in Israel and ascended to his throne, messengers were sent throughout the land to announce the beginning of his reign. "So and so reigns," they would proclaim, and that was always a cause for fresh hope and gladness, because it meant that a new era had begun and that perhaps life in the nation would be better than it had been in the past. Second Isaiah could therefore proclaim, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet" of those messengers who bring the good news (v. 7).
But the prophet put a new twist on that traditional custom. He does not announce that some human king has ascended to the throne. Rather he says, "Your God reigns!" The Lord God is sovereign. He rules over all of human life. That is indeed the gospel good news, and that is in truth the joyful message of this Christmas Day. In the birth of his Son at Bethlehem, God reigns, God is king over life, his is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
For the Israelites in Babylonian captivity, that meant that the mighty rulers of the Babylonian Empire were no longer in charge of their lives. Rather there was a greater One, a Ruler incomparably in power, for whom the nations were like a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15), One who could bring princes to nought, and make the rulers of the earth as nothing (40:23), and so One who could free the exiles from the grasp of a foreign nation. The prophecy proved true, of course. Babylonia fell to Cyrus of Persia in 539 B.C., and Cyrus became the Lord's instrument to release the Israelites to return to Palestine (cf. Isaiah 45:1, 13).
Given the power of that merciful God, do you not know that he reigns in our lives and in your individual life also? He still rules over the world of nations. We sometimes think that our futures are determined solely by the powers of this world -- by the politicians, the military, the multinational corporations -- and we carry around the secret fear that they can at any time decree death for us and our world. But no. "Your God reigns," and the course of history is in his hand, and he is still at work, using rulers, shaping events, disposing of tyrants to move history along toward the goal of his kingdom.
And that Ruler of the world, that Sovereign over the nations, is the One who is incarnated for us in the birth of his Son at Bethlehem. King Herod could not dispose of him after he was born, could he? And the Roman Empire could not kill him forever on a cross. Nor have any of his enemies ever been able to erase his name or saving power from history. His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5), because he is the Lord, and our God reigns in him.
Our God, yours and mine, also reigns over each of our lives. I suppose each of us carries around in our hearts the memory of a sinful past -- of wrong we committed, of weakness or failure, of some terribly human evil. And the burden of our trespass against God or neighbor sometimes hovers over us like a menacing shadow. But do you think that the Lord who commands the nations and brings forth the stars every night can be helpless in the face of our sin? That he is powerless to erase the evil in our hearts and lives? No. "Comfort, comfort my people," says our sovereign God, for our "iniquity is pardoned" (Isaiah 40:1) through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And his power can wipe out our past and give us a totally new beginning, transforming us into new creatures by the work of his Spirit in us. Your God reigns in your life, good Christians, and he comes to you at this Christmastime.
As for our suffering, our pain, our sorrow, that Shepherd who feeds his flock and gathers the lambs in his arms -- that good Shepherd who carries us in his bosom and gently leads those that are with young (Isaiah 40:11) -- rules over each one of our days in tenderness and mercy and comfort. He never deserts us in our tribulation, but says to us, "Fear not ... When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God ... Your Savior" (Isaiah 43:1-3). And so he not only abides with us and strengthens us, but he also defeats the power of the death that we and our loved ones face, and we now know that beyond the grave, there is his joyful life everlasting.
Your God reigns -- over the world, over sin, over suffering, over death. Yes, that is indeed good news. That is gospel. And that is true because our Lord Jesus Christ has been born at Bethlehem.
Perhaps you have noticed or learned over the years that the more discerning shoppers set out on their shopping adventures with a set of criteria in mind for buying gifts: what a person needs, something to enjoy all through the year, something to challenge loved ones and help them grow, or something that fits the person to a "T." So it is that the favorite aunt who keeps the thermostat at a frugal 62 degrees gets the heavy sweater with a shawl collar -- because that's what she needs. What someone will enjoy all through the year may turn out to be, for the homemaker, a subscription to a gourmet magazine as a gift from her son. What will challenge loved ones becomes a new edition of Trivial Pursuit or a wooden puzzle that's virtually impossible to put back together. Something that will enable someone to grow appears, for the teenager who spends days absorbed by the sounds of rock, as a book on Mozart, and for the teen who attacks food like a velociraptor, it is the book on etiquette. Something that just suits the recipient to a "T" is often the gift introduced by saying, "I was walking through the department store and I saw this gift that had your name on it. It's really you."
Giving gifts at Christmas becomes a joy and a challenge, and we are reminded at every turn of the apostle Paul's words as he quotes Jesus, saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." But I'm beginning to wonder if Christmas really is the time to focus on that saying, or if at this time of the year we shouldn't first and foremost concentrate on receiving.
Isaiah 9:2-7
This passage marks yet another of what is traditionally considered a Messianic prophecy. However, we need to ask at the outset if the passage predicts the arrival of a future king or if it celebrates the birth of a child at the present time. In order to come to some conclusion on this question we need to look back a few chapters in Isaiah.
If we turn to chapters 6 through 8 of Isaiah, we have what might very well be called Isaiah's memoirs. Beginning with chapter 6 we have the well-known story of Isaiah's call to be a prophet, an incident that seems to have taken place about 733-734 B.C. In 733 B.C. the famous Syro-Ephraimite alliance was destroyed by the powerful Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria, who effectively brought down the kings of Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel. It appears that the Syro-Ephraimite alliance has ended by God's hand. The Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom has taken place, and Zebulun and Naphtali have been devastated.
Isaiah 9 begins with a reference to the people who are in gloom in Zebulun and Naphtali, the first two provinces to be overrun by Tiglath-pileser. The phrase "In the latter time" which is now introduced refers to the day of the Lord and sets the context for the lyrical poem that follows in verse 2.
People who once were in darkness now have a light shining upon them. What is the light? In verse 3 we again have a translation problem. While the line in the RSV reads: "You have increased the nation; you have magnified the joy," with only a few corrections of the Hebrew we can restore the parallelism so the lines would now read: "You have increased the joy; you have magnified the rejoicing."
God has broken the rod of the oppressor as on the Day of Midian (Judges 6-7), a reference to the battle in which the Lord caused self-destructive panic among the enemy so that they fled. All this is a description of a Holy War which is fought by God, where God is victorious, and the victory leads to kingship. In the case of our passage from Isaiah, the king is a child. Could this be a child who has just been born? Is this a child of royalty? Has the Davidic king just announced that a child will be heir to the throne? Or is this the coronation of a Davidic king who becomes "the son of God" (see Psalm 2:7, a coronation Psalm, "You are my son; today I have given you birth"). At any rate, what happens here is that the faithfulness of God is proclaimed and with it the victory of God by which God's own reign is established on earth.
What follows next are all the throne names given to this king: wonder of a counselor (cf. Isaiah 29:14; Psalm 77:12; 88:12; 89:6); Mighty God (usually used of YHWH; cf. Isaiah 10:21; Psalm 24:8; Jeremiah 32:18; this phrase is also used to describe the Davidic king at Psalm 45:6); Everlasting Father (used only here in the Old Testament); Prince of Peace (cf. Judges 6:24 where "YHWH is peace" is the story of Gideon). We must ask ourselves: Is having all these titles good or bad? What has happened over the years to those who have stood for peace? What has happened to the likes of Mohandas Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin, Anwar Sadat, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and of course, Jesus -- the Prince of Peace. So often, too often, the very people who stand for peace are murdered by the very people who stand for hatred. Our verse from Isaiah is part of God's promise that there would be peacemakers.
This passage is one that is filled with joy as it celebrates the ultimate reign of God's peace. Even though it may be denied us on earth, and even though peace might not be possible among nations and among competing factions of people, God's ultimate peace is promised. And the peace we experience on Christmas Eve, fleeting as it is, is the eschatological promise that God holds out for us all. So the key words are these: a child is born; a son is given.
Titus 2:11-14
The authorship of this letter, as well as the other pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy), has been debated frequently over the years. According to arguments put forth in the nineteenth century, the letter was written by some unknown author about the year A.D. 100. Those who favor Paul's authorship of Titus note the experiences that we know belong to Paul and the early church's acceptance of these letters as authentic. However one wishes to view the authorship of the pastoral epistles, the letter to Titus addresses those issues of false teaching and doctrine that Paul had confronted in his earlier letters written in the fifties.
This letter, written to a man named Titus, is directed to the legate or leader of the church on the island of Crete. According to Titus 1:4, the recipient was converted by Paul. There is a Titus mentioned in Galatians 2:1ff who was a companion of Paul and Barnabas at the Council of Jerusalem, and we learn there that he had been a pagan before his conversion to Christianity. It was Titus who was sent by Paul to Corinth and who later rejoined Paul in Macedonia and then was sent back to Corinth. According to 2 Corinthians 7:6-7 it was Titus who brought about a much-needed and much-desired reconciliation between Paul and the congregation in Corinth. With this historical background it comes as no surprise that Paul addresses this letter "To Titus, my loyal child in the faith." There is a problem, however, in Crete, and Paul needs Titus to rectify the situation.
Paul's feelings for the people of Crete are made clear in Titus 1:10-16. Paul even quotes a Cretan, Epimenides of the sixth century B.C., indicating the nature of the people living on the island. Lest there be any doubt about Paul's view of the immoral and insubordinate Cretans, he uses scathing words, describing them as "detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work" (1:16). It is in this most difficult situation that Titus is to effect some change and to minister among the people.
Against all that is wrong with the Cretans, Paul is moved to tell Titus what instruction the Cretans need, and so he proceeds to describe the new life the people are to lead. The great "why" for this new behavior lies in the text for this day.
At Titus 2:11-14 Paul discourses briefly on the reason for the behavior that is required of the people of God. It is not that their behavior will change God's mind or bring about salvation. Their behavior is required because God has already acted. God has already appeared, bringing salvation (2:11) in the work of Christ. How the people are to live "in the meantime" -- that is, between the time of Jesus and his return ("the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ") -- is described in terms of lives that are "self-controlled, upright, and godly" (2:12).
What a contrast these lives are to the lifestyle of the Cretans. For Paul, at least in this letter to Titus, the work of Christ takes on a dual purpose: to "redeem us from all iniquity" and to "purify for himself a people of his own" (see also 1 Peter 2:9-12). The reference to Christ who "gave himself for us" is a reference to the sacrificial death of Christ (Galatians 1:4; 2:20).
If one were to summarize this passage from Titus, we might say that the appearance of Christ calls us to renounce the ways of the world while at the same time to live in the present age lives that are appropriate to our faith and expectant of the glory of God to come.
Luke 2:1-20
The precise historical context for this passage is unclear and difficult to determine. Roman records indicate that the first Roman census took place about the year A.D. 6. However, Quirinius began his position about A.D. 6-7, and the "first" census after that date took place in A.D. 14. In any case, during this time, the Caesar was Augustus, whose birthday on September 23 was celebrated as the "beginning of the good news through him for the world."
Putting history aside for the moment, we turn instead to the emphasis of Luke's passage. His concern is giving, God's giving, evident even in the announcement to the shepherds who kept watch over their flocks in the fields and heard the message that is "given." In no uncertain terms, the birth of Jesus is seen not as a historical accident, but as the plan of God to give graciously God's own son who will ultimately be our Messiah. Jesus the Savior has been born and given to us. He has come not simply to be a king or the Messiah, but he has come with a purpose: to save us from ourselves, from Satan, and from all the forces that would keep us away from God.
The birth of Jesus the Savior happens in the town of Bethlehem (v. 4), the "city of David." While David's family tree was rooted in the town of Bethlehem, the "city of David" in the Old Testament is Jerusalem. Sometimes explained as "the house of bread," Bethlehem, as with so many other cities in ancient times, could have been the designation of the home of a deity (cf. Beth Anat, Beth Shemesh, Beth Shean).
When Mary wraps the babe in swaddling cloths the image that is called to mind is the image at Job 38:9 where God, at the time of creation, caring for the sea "made clouds its garment and thick darkness its (swaddling) cloth." In the apocryphal book of the Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom describes her own origin and birth, then says, "I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths." That Jesus is portrayed in the New Testament as Wisdom is clear at Matthew 11:28-30 and 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30.
At the moment of Jesus' birth, Mary lays the newborn infant in a manger. If we look at Job 39:3 we find God putting Job in his place, asking the human if the wild ox is willing to serve him and "will he spend the night at your crib?" The implied answer is "No!" but he will spend the night at the crib of God. Again at Isaiah 1:3, as the prophet delivers a judgment speech against Jerusalem, he announces that while "the ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib," Israel does not know such things. The two passages together indicate that God does own a manger, and the animals have enough sense to realize whose it is.
After recounting the birth, Luke moves to its announcement to the shepherds. An angel comes to stand among them and say, "I bring you good tidings." In non-theological usage the word euaggelizomai is used either for the act of a herald in announcing victory from the field of battle (see 2 Samuel 18:19-33) or that of a messenger announcing the birth of a baby (Jeremiah 20:15). In either case, the announcement marks the beginning of a new time. At this new time, however, the angel proclaims the news of Jesus' birth to a peasant teenager. And the announcement is shared not among the high class or religious but among shepherds who were considered outcasts and who by no stretch of the imagination were considered people of culture. From all the time they spent with the sheep, the shepherds themselves smelled like animals and were not welcome company in most any circle. It was to them that angels lifted their voices in praise and sang: "To you is born this day...." Imagine that, a message for all humanity sung first to a miserable lot of shepherds, a message sung to the lowliest of common folks.
The message from the angel is made "today." For Luke the word is loaded. It means so much more than simply "this particular day on the calendar." The word "today" rings throughout Luke's gospel as a bell signaling the start of God's new time. For Luke, "today" spells the start of the Day of the Lord, that long-expected and long-anticipated eschatological day when God would make all things new. Jesus will use the word "today" when he preaches in the synagogue at Nazareth and says, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). It will appear again at 5:26; 19:5, 9; 22:43.
What more can we say about this passage? That within the context of human history and against all human claims to be good news for the world, God causes Jesus to be born in humble surroundings as the beginning of a new time for all people. Jesus' birth marks the beginning of God's new day, of that "latter time" referred to by so many prophets, of the eschaton. It is no wonder the angels say "TODAY is born." It's the beginning of the new time.
So it is that there is perhaps no other season of the church year that is more human and more earthy than the Christmas season. That Jesus isn't born an angel but a human being is just one piece of evidence. That Jesus comes to us as one of us knowing all our frailties, our dilemmas, our stress, and even our grief only points more clearly to the beauty of this gift -- that Jesus is sent to be one of us.
What a creative shopper God proved to be at the first Christmas. What pondering God must have done in order to give such a gift as this.
God's gift TO YOU and to me is one that has us written all over it. The gift is a human child, born very much the way you and I were born -- after nine months of pregnancy we came out of our mother's womb. Head, shoulders, torso, arms, legs, feet. Mary and Joseph must have wondered for all those months of pregnancy what this child conceived by the Holy Spirit would look like, and lo and behold, he looked like any other baby. He was truly one of us! That's the gift: God became one of us. John's Gospel puts it like this: AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US.
God undoubtedly asked another question related to the criteria for proper gift giving. WHAT CAN I GIVE THEM THAT THEY NEED? God must have thought again about the history of humankind from the afternoon of the first day. He must have gone through all the pain of realizing once again that the human beings he made have never been faithful to him. God must have agonized over the realization that we never seem to acknowledge God as our creator by living lives that demonstrate who God is and who we are. And so he gave the gift that we need: TO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR.
Through this baby, who one day when he's "thirty something" will die on a cross for the sake of our sins, God gives us what we need. On that cross will die with him all the forces that keep us from God, all the powers that would separate us from our Creator. And so the humanity that God created and went away like the Prodigal Son can be part of his family once again. It is the gift of salvation, the gift of forgiveness, and it's a gift we desperately need.
And like the gift of a subscription to wonderful recipes, God must have asked how this gift might last all through the year. How could I make this gift of my human Son, the gift in which I provide forgiveness, go on and on?
FOR TO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR WHO IS THE MESSIAH, THE LORD. Christ is the Lord, the Scriptures tell us, because he is the one who was raised from the dead. Because he is alive, he is able to be with us, as he promised, "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
God presents the Christmas gift that has our names written all over it. It affirms who we are. It gives us what we need, and it is a gift that goes on and on. His gift challenges us to grow into the creatures God wants us to be, to become more and more like the gift itself: to be Christ-minded. To love one another as he loved us.
Christmas is a time for receiving the incomparable gift that God gives. Listen again to the words from that beloved Christmas carol:
How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming; But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 9:2-7 (Christmas Eve)
Our Christmas celebrations are associated with light. In our gospel lesson from Luke, there is the glory of the Lord shining on the shepherds, or in Matthew, the light of the star guides the Wise Men. We have the light of our Advent candles and lights on our Christmas trees. The outside of our houses or our city decorations sometimes are festooned with lights. Everywhere we employ special lights to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. And that is fitting for our Old Testament text, for from it we hear that those of us who have walked in darkness -- those of us who have known the gloom and the "deep darkness" of our sinful and suffering world -- are delivered by Christ into a world of light, which is a symbol throughout the Bible for God's deliverance.
Originally, this text had nothing to do with Christmas and Christ, however. As we can see in verse 1, Isaiah composed it as a comforting proclamation for the inhabitants of northern Israel, in which the districts of Naphtali and Zebulon were included. Those Galilean territories had been conquered by the Assyrian ruler, Tiglath-pileser I in 733-732 B.C. and incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. They had been subjected to the "yoke" of slavery to Assyria. But when Hezekiah (727-698 B.C.) ascended the throne of Judah, Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would free the Galilean territories from their subjection to Assyria, reunite them with the southern kingdom, and bring in an everlasting realm of freedom and peace. Thus, this poem was probably composed for the coronation ceremony of Hezekiah.
The passage divides into three parts. Verses 2-3 tell of joy that has been given to the Israelites by God, a joy comparable to that found in the celebrations of an abundant harvest or military victory. (Most scholars emend verse 3a to read, "Thou hast brought them abundant joy" to preserve the parallelism.) But the reason for the joy is not immediately given. That is spelled out in three following sentences that begin with the important little Hebrew word ki, "for."
First, in verse 4, the people are joyful because they have been freed from their Assyrian conquerors. The oppression of Assyria's "yoke," like a yoke worn by a beast of burden, has been removed; the "staff" and "rod" with which slaves were beaten have been broken, and God has won a victory over Assyria comparable to that of Gideon's complete and lasting victory over the Midianites (Judges chapters 6-8).
Second, in verse 5, all the garments and accouterments of war have been burned up after God's victory, and cannot be used again. A universal peace is being prepared.
But third and climactically, in verse 6, a new ruler has ascended the throne of Judah. Isaiah frequently employs names to encapsule his message (cf. 8:1-3), and that is true here, too. The new ruler is called "Wonderful Counselor." That is, unlike those kings who have followed bad advice, this king will share in the wisdom given by God (cf. 11:2) and will be able to put his plans into effect -- in the scriptures, to know is also to be able to do.
The king will have the name "Mighty God," which is sometimes used of military heroes, but here it signifies the ruler's power for peaceful rule and his godlike character. He will have the name "Everlasting Father," which refers not to his continued existence, but to his endless care for his people. And the king will be a "Prince of Peace," sovereign over a universal realm of shalom, which signifies not only cessation from war but also fullness of life.
Then the announcement reaches its climax. This ruler will be a Davidic king, whose rule or dynasty will never end. But his reign will be established, not by force and conquest, but by the moral qualities of justice and righteousness (cf. 11:3-5). That is, his rule will exhibit God's order for society and his fulfillment of God's will. And all of this will be given by God's actions, whose zeal for his purpose will establish it.
Isaiah is therefore announcing to the northern Israelites that Hezekiah's reign will not only bring the defeat of the Assyrian Empire and Israel's freedom, but will also usher in a realm of universal shalom.
Sadly, Isaiah's hopes for Israel were disappointed. The inhabitants of the north were totally overrun by the Assyrians in 722-721 B.C. They were deported into Assyrian exile, their territories were turned over to foreigners, and they were lost forever to history. Similarly, Hezekiah himself remained a vassal to Assyria until his revolt in 701 B.C. But Judah's attempts at freedom were crushed, she lost much of her territory, and Hezekiah was made a virtual prisoner in Jerusalem, to be followed on the throne by his son Manasseh, who simply acceded to Assyrian demands and filled Judah's society with idolatry, syncretism, and corruption.
Was Isaiah's prophecy then false and were his hopes for a Davidic Messiah then in vain? If that were the case, we would not have this text preserved in the Old Testament. These words were words of the Lord given to the prophet, and God always keeps his Word. This promise of a coming Davidic ruler, who would match Isaiah's wondrous description of him, was preserved in Israel and kept for the future, because Israel knew and expected that a Messiah like this would come. But he would come in God's good time -- not when human beings wished him to come, but when God so willed. Not we ourselves, but God is the Lord of our lives and history, and he works his own ways.
So it is, in the fullness of God's time, that we celebrate the birth of this Davidic ruler, this Messiah, that God promised through Isaiah long ago. And this Messiah, Jesus Christ, is indeed the One who rules in the wisdom and might of God, who cares for us like a Father forever, and who will establish his reign of peace throughout the earth by his justice and righteousness.
Isaiah says that brings the light of God's deliverance to all of us -- to us who sometimes think that we dwell and walk in nothing but darkness. Will you therefore trust that -- that Christ will give light to your life if you but open your heart to his rule and let him direct your paths? If you will -- if you will -- then you too can have great joy and celebration at this Christmastime.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 52:7-10 (Christmas Day)
"My way is hid from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God" (Isaiah 40:27). Thus did captive Israel mourn in Babylonian exile in the latter half of the sixth century B.C. But such mourning is not confined to any time period. There are a lot of people who, in this sacred season, would secretly say, "My way is hid from the Lord," -- persons who are alone or despairing or suffering, who feel that God is nowhere near them -- and Christmas can even exacerbate the feeling.
But Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) announced good news to those despairing exiles, the good news that we find in our text for the day. Lift up your voice and sing for joy, he told his captive people, for God has not forgotten you; he is coming to redeem you, to buy you back, out of your subjugation (v. 9). Do you not see him coming? Behold! There! The Lord God comes in might and mercy, to "feed his flock like a shepherd" and to "gather the lambs in his arms" (Isaiah 40:11). He will save you in the sight of all of the nations (52:10) and lead you back to your own country. And so our text is followed by the command, "Depart, depart, go out thence ... for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (vv. 11-12).
That is the message that is given us too on this Christmas Day -- that God has not forgotten us and that we need not despair. Rather, the God of might and mercy has taken human flesh in the incarnation of his Son, and now he comes to each one of us to redeem us from our captivity to whatever suffering or sin we know, and to lead us back to return to life and joy and singing.
We find in our Old Testament passage the first use of the word "gospel," "good news," announced by an evangel, a messenger of good news (v. 7), and Second Isaiah borrows an ancient custom to set forth that joyous message.
When a new king was crowned in Israel and ascended to his throne, messengers were sent throughout the land to announce the beginning of his reign. "So and so reigns," they would proclaim, and that was always a cause for fresh hope and gladness, because it meant that a new era had begun and that perhaps life in the nation would be better than it had been in the past. Second Isaiah could therefore proclaim, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet" of those messengers who bring the good news (v. 7).
But the prophet put a new twist on that traditional custom. He does not announce that some human king has ascended to the throne. Rather he says, "Your God reigns!" The Lord God is sovereign. He rules over all of human life. That is indeed the gospel good news, and that is in truth the joyful message of this Christmas Day. In the birth of his Son at Bethlehem, God reigns, God is king over life, his is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
For the Israelites in Babylonian captivity, that meant that the mighty rulers of the Babylonian Empire were no longer in charge of their lives. Rather there was a greater One, a Ruler incomparably in power, for whom the nations were like a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15), One who could bring princes to nought, and make the rulers of the earth as nothing (40:23), and so One who could free the exiles from the grasp of a foreign nation. The prophecy proved true, of course. Babylonia fell to Cyrus of Persia in 539 B.C., and Cyrus became the Lord's instrument to release the Israelites to return to Palestine (cf. Isaiah 45:1, 13).
Given the power of that merciful God, do you not know that he reigns in our lives and in your individual life also? He still rules over the world of nations. We sometimes think that our futures are determined solely by the powers of this world -- by the politicians, the military, the multinational corporations -- and we carry around the secret fear that they can at any time decree death for us and our world. But no. "Your God reigns," and the course of history is in his hand, and he is still at work, using rulers, shaping events, disposing of tyrants to move history along toward the goal of his kingdom.
And that Ruler of the world, that Sovereign over the nations, is the One who is incarnated for us in the birth of his Son at Bethlehem. King Herod could not dispose of him after he was born, could he? And the Roman Empire could not kill him forever on a cross. Nor have any of his enemies ever been able to erase his name or saving power from history. His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5), because he is the Lord, and our God reigns in him.
Our God, yours and mine, also reigns over each of our lives. I suppose each of us carries around in our hearts the memory of a sinful past -- of wrong we committed, of weakness or failure, of some terribly human evil. And the burden of our trespass against God or neighbor sometimes hovers over us like a menacing shadow. But do you think that the Lord who commands the nations and brings forth the stars every night can be helpless in the face of our sin? That he is powerless to erase the evil in our hearts and lives? No. "Comfort, comfort my people," says our sovereign God, for our "iniquity is pardoned" (Isaiah 40:1) through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And his power can wipe out our past and give us a totally new beginning, transforming us into new creatures by the work of his Spirit in us. Your God reigns in your life, good Christians, and he comes to you at this Christmastime.
As for our suffering, our pain, our sorrow, that Shepherd who feeds his flock and gathers the lambs in his arms -- that good Shepherd who carries us in his bosom and gently leads those that are with young (Isaiah 40:11) -- rules over each one of our days in tenderness and mercy and comfort. He never deserts us in our tribulation, but says to us, "Fear not ... When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God ... Your Savior" (Isaiah 43:1-3). And so he not only abides with us and strengthens us, but he also defeats the power of the death that we and our loved ones face, and we now know that beyond the grave, there is his joyful life everlasting.
Your God reigns -- over the world, over sin, over suffering, over death. Yes, that is indeed good news. That is gospel. And that is true because our Lord Jesus Christ has been born at Bethlehem.
