It was a rainy day about a week before Christmas in Atlanta, when the world was swathed in soggy shades of gray. I was in the middle of my Christmas funk. It's not that I don't like the season, but after a while, the season doesn't seem to like me. I was in a round of church parties and school events. It had been a week since I had a single night off.
I had always hoped for a Norman Rockwell Christmas, with snow, carolers, festive people and glowing smiles. But no Christmas in my entire life has fully lived up to my expectations. I have never seen a snowy Christmas. Instead, they are always cold and soggy like this one or dry and sunny, witih a dry, brown winter landscape. That momnt of quiet we all seeom to yearn for at the end of the year, escapes us. Replaced instead by social pressures and frantic shopping. It's business in high gear at the end of the year, which makes us think that the whole world is one giant treadmill. Sometimes, I feel I am like the guy at the gym who turns up the treadmill too high, and has to run as hard as he can to keep brom being slung off. One day, the Christmas machine, and the whole society t supports will come crashing down on our ears. We cannot keep this up foreve.
this particular day, I was trying to finish my last bit of shopping with my last bit of money. I awas at K-Mart walking the aisles of the Christmas section.
Have you ever heard the word kitsch? It refers to the kind of cheap junk which is neither valueaboe, useful, or even tasteful. Chrstmas is kitchy season, to be sure. The aisle of K Mart Christmas department are covered with it. It thought about all those people whose livelihood depends upon selling junk we neither need nor want.
One particular kitschy ornament caught my eye. It was a plastic Christmas bell, made in Hong Kong. There was a plastic ball attached to a white string. It was mostly white with red and green paint badly painted on the top part. I pulled the string on it, and it began to pay "Silent Night" as badly as I had ever heard it play.
The tone was off, the timing was off, and it was barely recognizable. But you could hear the tune, nevertheless. They words came back to me.
Silent Night Holy Night All is celm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother nd child. Holy Infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.
Tears welled up in my eyes. I don't know why. I had heard th song so many times before in this frantic season, but somehow I had not heard it.
You wonder where Christmas is, in the middle of the hectic holidays/ Its right there, in the core of our souls. In It's never left, but hides underneath all the glitter and junk of the season. Secular holiday songs ad parties can never fully wipe it out. Commericalism cannot hide it forever. It's there, buried under the pile like a seed ready to spout.
Heavenly peace. It's there. You may not see it or feel it but it's there, deep down underneath it all. God's love in human form. All it takes is a little imagination and a change of attitude to see it. If we look at the outer Christmas, it's a wasteful, commercial mess. But if we look behind it, we see the love of the Father, the sacrifice of he Son, and the touch of the Holy Spirit.
Christmas is what we make it. It's We shoose the Christmas we will have, just as we choose the lives we live all year. We can focus on love or we can focus on obligation and anxiety. Love prevails under the weight of the world, in the silent night of love.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
A Christmas Blessing
This is Christmas Eve Eve. Tomorrow the festivities begin in earnest. The kids will be here in the morning, and they will be super excited. Two of my daughters will be here overnight. There will be food and presents and laughing, no doubt.
But none of this is the best thing about Christmas. The thing that excites me most is the quiet of it. Quiet moments in a Christmas Eve service. A starry sky, Christmas lights twinkling on a hunred lawns, sold, still winter weather. Sometimes, I feel that if I listen a little harder, I can hear a baby cry and angels sing.
This Christmas Eve, I'm going to be working at Hope Inc. in the morning. We'll be handing out food and money to the people who really need it. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas eve than that.
This year is tough for a lot of my family and church friends. One has lost a mother this week. Another has lost a grandmother. Two of my friends are looking for jobs. Still another is temporarily blinded, and can only hear Christmas. My parents are spending the first Christmas away from their home since he had to move into an apartment. My mother-in-law is just out of the hospital and can barely take care of herself, let alone do the preparations she usually does.
What Do we need for Christmas? Nothing. Nothing at all but the grace of God. Seeing those who are in deep need, I realize that I am already full. Two daughters are engaged. We all have jobs. We are all relatively healthy. God has blessed us so much that we can shower one another with more presents than we need. If I have any more health, wealth, and blessing, I will burst. This Christmas, if I need anything, it is to get my eyes off myself and onto those who really have needs.
I don't know who will read this, but if you really need something, may God grant you your deepest desires. Better yet, may God bless you with the gift of not desiring what we do not need, and make us content with what we have. Love, grace, and the beauty of the world is a far greater gift than we can eve imagine.
But none of this is the best thing about Christmas. The thing that excites me most is the quiet of it. Quiet moments in a Christmas Eve service. A starry sky, Christmas lights twinkling on a hunred lawns, sold, still winter weather. Sometimes, I feel that if I listen a little harder, I can hear a baby cry and angels sing.
This Christmas Eve, I'm going to be working at Hope Inc. in the morning. We'll be handing out food and money to the people who really need it. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas eve than that.
This year is tough for a lot of my family and church friends. One has lost a mother this week. Another has lost a grandmother. Two of my friends are looking for jobs. Still another is temporarily blinded, and can only hear Christmas. My parents are spending the first Christmas away from their home since he had to move into an apartment. My mother-in-law is just out of the hospital and can barely take care of herself, let alone do the preparations she usually does.
What Do we need for Christmas? Nothing. Nothing at all but the grace of God. Seeing those who are in deep need, I realize that I am already full. Two daughters are engaged. We all have jobs. We are all relatively healthy. God has blessed us so much that we can shower one another with more presents than we need. If I have any more health, wealth, and blessing, I will burst. This Christmas, if I need anything, it is to get my eyes off myself and onto those who really have needs.
I don't know who will read this, but if you really need something, may God grant you your deepest desires. Better yet, may God bless you with the gift of not desiring what we do not need, and make us content with what we have. Love, grace, and the beauty of the world is a far greater gift than we can eve imagine.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Mary's Faith
Most people think that ministers are paragons of faith. This is often not the case. Ministers, like everyone else, have moments of doubt. There is a skeptic inside of all of us trying to get out.
It is not having doubt that causes trouble, it is acting upon them. Faith is not so much an emotion as an intention. Faith is a choice to follow God, whether or not it always makes sense to our mortal minds to do so.
Nor all faith is the same, however. I classify faith into three categories. The first is belief--intellectual assent to a proposition. We may believe in flying saucers or Bigfoot, capitalism or Christianity without it making one bit of difference. This is a spectator faith, requiring no action or intention. A belief costs us nothing
Then there is tentative faith. This is the faith we must act upon. This faith costs us something
There is a famous story about the tightrope walker the Great Wallenda. He walked across Niagra falls on a tightrope. When e reached the other side, he picked up a chair and said “How many of you believe that I can carry this chair across the falls with me?” Every hand went up. Then Wallenda challenged them. “Very well, who is willing to get into the chair?” No one volunteered.
Faith is being willing to get into the chair. It is the willingness to put or lives, our time, and our money where our mouth is.
. But tentative faith is shaky, since it involves the will without necessarily changing our emotions.
Suppose you go to the amusement park and get on the roller coaster. You have faith that the roller coaster will hold you. But that does not guarantee you will enjoy the experience. Our sense of panic can ruin the ride, even when we are willing to take it.
But there is a faith that beyond doubt, a faith we call certainty. It is a faith that involves the emotions, will, an intellect. There is no complexity in it, but is a simple, childlike trust.
This kind of faith is not natural. It is supernatural. It comes from the Holy Spirit, not from human invention. God places certainty in our hearts, we do not put it there ourselves.
This is the certainty of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Consider the situation that Mary was in at the beginning of the New Testament. She was a young girl, probably no more than fourteen years old. Yet she already had the certainty of faith.
Let’s look at Luke 1:26-28.
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Put yourself in Mary’s sandals. How would you react? She was scared, no doubt. The Bible says she was “greatly troubled.”
But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
How would you respond, if you were given a similar message? My initial response would be skepticism. How do I know this is an angel? How do I know this is not someone’s practical joke? Worse, it might also be a sign that I was losing my mind. That would be worse than being the butt of a joke. Even worse, it was possible that this was not a good angel. Not all angelic visitors are from God. How do I know this is an angel, or a lying demon from hell?
Suppose we could somehow get over our skepticism. Then we are in danger of an even worse trap--pride. Why was she highly favored? What had she done to deserve such an honor?
Catholics and Protestants disagree on the subject of Mary. Catholics think this favor fell on Mary as a reward for what she had done. They commonly teach that Mary was immaculately conceived, that she did not sin. But the Bible does not back his up. There is no hint in the Bible that this fourteen year old girl was more virtuous than others.
The gift of the messiah did not came as a reward, but as a burden. She faced the ridicule of the town. Her parents sent her off to live with relatives. Joseph almost divorced her. She had received a hard, cruel gift from God.
God does not choose the smartest or the holiest to do His will. He chooses whom he wishes. The faith to work miracles does not come by seeking it. It is a gift. Mary had this certainty of faith, because God planted that faith in her heart.
Mary’s second question is understandable. “How can this be, since I knw n man.?”
It was a simple, humble question, but there is no doubt in it. Contrast this with people like Moses and Peter. When Jesus washed Peter’s feet, Peter’s reaction was “Not so, Lord.” When Moses met God at the burning bush, Moses questioned God’s judgment in choosing him. But Mary does not question. She merely asks how it can be. 34-37
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
ary did not question God’s ability. She merely questioned his means. She never doubted that, if God said it, it would happen.
We ask the question “how” of God often. But we do it for other reasons than Mary. We want to know how so we can believe. We want to know how so we can be certain. But knowing how does not necessarily bring certainty. If we understood all the mysteries of creation, would it convince us that God created the heavens and the earth? It think not. We do not understand so we can believe. We believe in order that we might understand. That is what Mary did.
Mary’s response is simple, childlike certainty.
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."
Faith like this is not natural. It is supernatural. God gives us certainty when we need it. God gives this kind of faith when it is called for. When we need it, God will provide it.
How do you suppose her friends and relatives would react if they knew that Mary was to be he mother of God? I would imagine they would burst into laughter. They would say “Mary? The priest’s daughter. Are you crazy? She’s no different than we are.”
But God can change an ordinary person into an extraordinary person with a wave of His hand. He can and will bestow extraordinary faith on all of us.
In Corey Ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place, she relates the story of how she once asked her father about faith. The Ten Booms were Christians in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. They were attempting to smuggle Jews out of the country. As such, they faced death every day. She asked her father if he thought she had the faith to face death, if the time arose. Her father replied “When we take a train trip, when do I give you the ticket?”
“Just before we leave, otherwise I might lose it.”
‘God does the same thing. He gives us the faith we need just before we need it.”
Mary truly needed the faith. She had to explain to her parents and Joseph why she was pregnant. She had to face the suspicious townspeople. But none of this seems to bother Mary once she made up her mind to believe.
Mary was asked to believe an extraordinary thing. But whenever God requires of us extraordinary faith, He also gives us extraordinary proof.. Her cousin Elizabeth was also miraculously pregnant. Her baby leapt in her womb as Mary approached. Joseph also had a dream and an angel visitation. A star appeared at his birth, along with wise men and shepherds. At every step where Mary might have wavered, God provided another extraordinary proof of his mercy and existence.
Mary faced God’s burdensome blessing with faith and certainty.
What about you? Are you certain?
Many people believe in Christmas. That is, they believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that He was the Son of God. But this belief costs us nothing. It requires no effort on our part to believe in a Jesus that everyone we know also believes.
Some of us have faith, but a struggling faith. We believe and are trying to build our lives upon that belief. We ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” We confess our sins, and trust He hears us. But if we were called upon to put our lives on the line, we do not know what we would do. Could we face whatever God brings upon us and say “I am God’s servant, be it done with me whatever He wills.”
But do we have certainty? That requires a tougher faith--based not on the mind but the heart. That faith must be given by the Holy Spirit.
You don’t have to figure out Christmas. You only have to trust Jesus. He has the power to give freedom and strength in the middle of the harshest challenges.
Step out on the faith you have, and God will give you the faith you need.
It is not having doubt that causes trouble, it is acting upon them. Faith is not so much an emotion as an intention. Faith is a choice to follow God, whether or not it always makes sense to our mortal minds to do so.
Nor all faith is the same, however. I classify faith into three categories. The first is belief--intellectual assent to a proposition. We may believe in flying saucers or Bigfoot, capitalism or Christianity without it making one bit of difference. This is a spectator faith, requiring no action or intention. A belief costs us nothing
Then there is tentative faith. This is the faith we must act upon. This faith costs us something
There is a famous story about the tightrope walker the Great Wallenda. He walked across Niagra falls on a tightrope. When e reached the other side, he picked up a chair and said “How many of you believe that I can carry this chair across the falls with me?” Every hand went up. Then Wallenda challenged them. “Very well, who is willing to get into the chair?” No one volunteered.
Faith is being willing to get into the chair. It is the willingness to put or lives, our time, and our money where our mouth is.
. But tentative faith is shaky, since it involves the will without necessarily changing our emotions.
Suppose you go to the amusement park and get on the roller coaster. You have faith that the roller coaster will hold you. But that does not guarantee you will enjoy the experience. Our sense of panic can ruin the ride, even when we are willing to take it.
But there is a faith that beyond doubt, a faith we call certainty. It is a faith that involves the emotions, will, an intellect. There is no complexity in it, but is a simple, childlike trust.
This kind of faith is not natural. It is supernatural. It comes from the Holy Spirit, not from human invention. God places certainty in our hearts, we do not put it there ourselves.
This is the certainty of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Consider the situation that Mary was in at the beginning of the New Testament. She was a young girl, probably no more than fourteen years old. Yet she already had the certainty of faith.
Let’s look at Luke 1:26-28.
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Put yourself in Mary’s sandals. How would you react? She was scared, no doubt. The Bible says she was “greatly troubled.”
But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
How would you respond, if you were given a similar message? My initial response would be skepticism. How do I know this is an angel? How do I know this is not someone’s practical joke? Worse, it might also be a sign that I was losing my mind. That would be worse than being the butt of a joke. Even worse, it was possible that this was not a good angel. Not all angelic visitors are from God. How do I know this is an angel, or a lying demon from hell?
Suppose we could somehow get over our skepticism. Then we are in danger of an even worse trap--pride. Why was she highly favored? What had she done to deserve such an honor?
Catholics and Protestants disagree on the subject of Mary. Catholics think this favor fell on Mary as a reward for what she had done. They commonly teach that Mary was immaculately conceived, that she did not sin. But the Bible does not back his up. There is no hint in the Bible that this fourteen year old girl was more virtuous than others.
The gift of the messiah did not came as a reward, but as a burden. She faced the ridicule of the town. Her parents sent her off to live with relatives. Joseph almost divorced her. She had received a hard, cruel gift from God.
God does not choose the smartest or the holiest to do His will. He chooses whom he wishes. The faith to work miracles does not come by seeking it. It is a gift. Mary had this certainty of faith, because God planted that faith in her heart.
Mary’s second question is understandable. “How can this be, since I knw n man.?”
It was a simple, humble question, but there is no doubt in it. Contrast this with people like Moses and Peter. When Jesus washed Peter’s feet, Peter’s reaction was “Not so, Lord.” When Moses met God at the burning bush, Moses questioned God’s judgment in choosing him. But Mary does not question. She merely asks how it can be. 34-37
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
ary did not question God’s ability. She merely questioned his means. She never doubted that, if God said it, it would happen.
We ask the question “how” of God often. But we do it for other reasons than Mary. We want to know how so we can believe. We want to know how so we can be certain. But knowing how does not necessarily bring certainty. If we understood all the mysteries of creation, would it convince us that God created the heavens and the earth? It think not. We do not understand so we can believe. We believe in order that we might understand. That is what Mary did.
Mary’s response is simple, childlike certainty.
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."
Faith like this is not natural. It is supernatural. God gives us certainty when we need it. God gives this kind of faith when it is called for. When we need it, God will provide it.
How do you suppose her friends and relatives would react if they knew that Mary was to be he mother of God? I would imagine they would burst into laughter. They would say “Mary? The priest’s daughter. Are you crazy? She’s no different than we are.”
But God can change an ordinary person into an extraordinary person with a wave of His hand. He can and will bestow extraordinary faith on all of us.
In Corey Ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place, she relates the story of how she once asked her father about faith. The Ten Booms were Christians in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. They were attempting to smuggle Jews out of the country. As such, they faced death every day. She asked her father if he thought she had the faith to face death, if the time arose. Her father replied “When we take a train trip, when do I give you the ticket?”
“Just before we leave, otherwise I might lose it.”
‘God does the same thing. He gives us the faith we need just before we need it.”
Mary truly needed the faith. She had to explain to her parents and Joseph why she was pregnant. She had to face the suspicious townspeople. But none of this seems to bother Mary once she made up her mind to believe.
Mary was asked to believe an extraordinary thing. But whenever God requires of us extraordinary faith, He also gives us extraordinary proof.. Her cousin Elizabeth was also miraculously pregnant. Her baby leapt in her womb as Mary approached. Joseph also had a dream and an angel visitation. A star appeared at his birth, along with wise men and shepherds. At every step where Mary might have wavered, God provided another extraordinary proof of his mercy and existence.
Mary faced God’s burdensome blessing with faith and certainty.
What about you? Are you certain?
Many people believe in Christmas. That is, they believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that He was the Son of God. But this belief costs us nothing. It requires no effort on our part to believe in a Jesus that everyone we know also believes.
Some of us have faith, but a struggling faith. We believe and are trying to build our lives upon that belief. We ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” We confess our sins, and trust He hears us. But if we were called upon to put our lives on the line, we do not know what we would do. Could we face whatever God brings upon us and say “I am God’s servant, be it done with me whatever He wills.”
But do we have certainty? That requires a tougher faith--based not on the mind but the heart. That faith must be given by the Holy Spirit.
You don’t have to figure out Christmas. You only have to trust Jesus. He has the power to give freedom and strength in the middle of the harshest challenges.
Step out on the faith you have, and God will give you the faith you need.
The Man Who Saw the Future
This morning, I’d like to introduce you to one of the most remarkable men in the Bible—the prophet Isaiah.
If anyone deserved to be considered a prophet, it was Isaiah. He was an elegant prophet, a great writer and a scholar, a friend of priests and kings, but also a man who God gave the gift of precognition. He saw the future as clearly as we see our own day. He was a true prophet, in every sense of the word.
Isaiah lived in a time of great danger. The Assyrians had destroyed the Northern kingdom of Israel and almost destroyed the kingdom of Judah. Sennacharib, kind of Ninevah, had conquered most of the country, and surrounded what was left of the Judean army in Jerusalem. He surrounded the city with siege engines, catapults, archers, and 186,000 soldiers. Isaiah sat with good king Hezekiah, trapped behind the city walls.
Isaiah was not worried, though. He had seen the future. God was on their side. Isaiah knew with certainty that they would win.
How could he possibly have known that? All the evidence was to the contrary. They were far outnumbered by superior forces.
Historians say “It was a lucky guess. Besides,” they say “ What he said was written down after the event. Isaiah probably made it up later.”
But Isaiah was right and they were wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
After the war was over, there was a great celebration of victory. Then countries from all over the world came to congratulate them. Among the nations who sent emissaries was the king of Babylon. (We read about this in Isaiah 39.) King Hezekiah was honored to see them. It gave him an opportunity to show off his rebuilt country. He showed them everything.
3 Then Isaiah asked the king "What did those men say, and where did they come from?"
"From a distant land," Hezekiah replied. "They came to me from Babylon."
Isaiah answered.
"Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
How could he have known that? Again historians would argue that those words were added later. Or, that Isaiah was simply smart enough to know that these emissaries were merely sizing them up for future conquest.
But they are wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
King Hezekiah was too happy to worry about it. Besides, like most of us he only heard what he wanted to here.
8 "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my lifetime."
Then Isaiah wrot the second section of his book. It is a prophecy to the people who survive in Babylon, three hundred years later, when his prophecy was fulfilled. It contains names of people who had not yet been born.
Now, how could a man write a book for people who would not be born for three hundred years, naming names and places?
Historians say he didn’t. He didn’t’ because (they say) he couldn’t. It must be someone else who wrote these words, someone they call Second Isaiah. It would be an impossible miracle for Isaiah to have written it.
But they are wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
Then, in the middle of this book, this so-called “second Isaiah,” he goes even farther in to the future, almost five hundred years more. In order to comfort those people who were not yet born, he tells them of future events in chapter 53. In a far-away time, God would sent a Suffering Servant to earth. He had spoken of him before, back in chapter 9 of his first book. He had called Him “wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, the prince of peace.” He would be wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities. He would be beaten and lashed until the blood poured out of his back. All this would be done for our cleansing. By His stripes we would be healed. He described the death of this Suffering Servant.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living;for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
Historians dispute this, of course. They suggest that this chapter is misinterpreted. Others have suggested that they were actually added later, in Jesus’ time by another writer, a so-called third Isaiah. After all, it would be an impossible miracle for Isaiah to have known something that happened eight hundred years after he was born. To believe differently would be to believe in a miracle.
But they are wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
Wouldn’t it be great to have Isaiah’s abilities to see into the future? Think of how you could use it. We could win the lottery or play the stock market. But what Isaiah uses his gift to change people’s perception of the present. When we know we are going to win, we can enjoy that victory, even when enduring present problems. Think about how happy you could be if, during labor, you could knew that your baby would be healthy. Think of how useful it would be to know while you’re looking for a job, that you’re going to get a good one. It’s like playing with your presents before you even open them, and still having the fun of unwrapping.
That’s called faith.
Faith is borrowing on future joys to endure present suffering. Faith is what keeps us going in the dark. Faith is what keeps us going through the tough times when there seems to be no way out.It is the gift of knowledge that everything will be all right.
Is this really possible? Of course it is. A child has it on Christmas Eve. A bride has it on her wedding day. We have it when we stand on the promises of God.
Christmas is all about faith. On the winter solstice, December 21, is the shortest day of the year. It is a dark, miserable day. But we are not disheartened by it. December 22 will be a little bit longer Every day afterward will be little brighter. We are brighter when we know the night will pass.
The first Christmas was not much of an event. Aside from the shepherds and wise men, no one knew what was happening. A baby born in a manger would hardly make the papers. Most of the world slumbered through it, alone in the dark. But it was the start of a miracle.
It’s not their fault they slept. They sleep because they do not hear. Many hear, but do not understand. Many understand, but do not believe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
It’s all there in Isaiah 40, as well as many other places.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
The people were conquered twice because of their sins—first by Assyria, and then by Babylon. Even so, there is comfort. There is always an end to disaster. There is never an end to His mercy.
In order to have faith, there must be righteousness. Isaiah writes
3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD ;
make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Sin puts mountains between us and faith. It makes us impossible for us to see God’s plan. We all know instinctively that when we do something wrong, God is not going to like it. But what we forget is this. He may not always like what we do, but he never stops loving us.
Jesus takes down those mountains between us and God and makes them into plains. He straightens the path between us and God, not for us to come to God, but for Him to come to us. If we are so broken that we cannot walk, God will come looking for us.
In order to have faith, we must have one who is worthy trust. He can save not only us, but the whole world with us . Isaiah writes.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
What is God’s glory? It is His reputation, his fame, his influence, shining not only through space but also time. Isaiah saw his glory from hundreds of years in the past. We see it from thousands of years into the future. The birth of Jesus still warms our hearts today.
Isaiah saw the future. Now it’s your turn. Where do you see your future with God? Jesus came so that you could have a future. His death and resurrection bought you a place in the eternal heavens. Our celebration of Christmas is just an eternal reminder of the coming victory of Christ.
There are some who doubt this, of course. They only see gloom, doom and disaster. But they do not know the miraculous power of God.
They are wrong. We are right, because we have heard what God says.
If anyone deserved to be considered a prophet, it was Isaiah. He was an elegant prophet, a great writer and a scholar, a friend of priests and kings, but also a man who God gave the gift of precognition. He saw the future as clearly as we see our own day. He was a true prophet, in every sense of the word.
Isaiah lived in a time of great danger. The Assyrians had destroyed the Northern kingdom of Israel and almost destroyed the kingdom of Judah. Sennacharib, kind of Ninevah, had conquered most of the country, and surrounded what was left of the Judean army in Jerusalem. He surrounded the city with siege engines, catapults, archers, and 186,000 soldiers. Isaiah sat with good king Hezekiah, trapped behind the city walls.
Isaiah was not worried, though. He had seen the future. God was on their side. Isaiah knew with certainty that they would win.
How could he possibly have known that? All the evidence was to the contrary. They were far outnumbered by superior forces.
Historians say “It was a lucky guess. Besides,” they say “ What he said was written down after the event. Isaiah probably made it up later.”
But Isaiah was right and they were wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
After the war was over, there was a great celebration of victory. Then countries from all over the world came to congratulate them. Among the nations who sent emissaries was the king of Babylon. (We read about this in Isaiah 39.) King Hezekiah was honored to see them. It gave him an opportunity to show off his rebuilt country. He showed them everything.
3 Then Isaiah asked the king "What did those men say, and where did they come from?"
"From a distant land," Hezekiah replied. "They came to me from Babylon."
Isaiah answered.
"Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
How could he have known that? Again historians would argue that those words were added later. Or, that Isaiah was simply smart enough to know that these emissaries were merely sizing them up for future conquest.
But they are wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
King Hezekiah was too happy to worry about it. Besides, like most of us he only heard what he wanted to here.
8 "The word of the LORD you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my lifetime."
Then Isaiah wrot the second section of his book. It is a prophecy to the people who survive in Babylon, three hundred years later, when his prophecy was fulfilled. It contains names of people who had not yet been born.
Now, how could a man write a book for people who would not be born for three hundred years, naming names and places?
Historians say he didn’t. He didn’t’ because (they say) he couldn’t. It must be someone else who wrote these words, someone they call Second Isaiah. It would be an impossible miracle for Isaiah to have written it.
But they are wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
Then, in the middle of this book, this so-called “second Isaiah,” he goes even farther in to the future, almost five hundred years more. In order to comfort those people who were not yet born, he tells them of future events in chapter 53. In a far-away time, God would sent a Suffering Servant to earth. He had spoken of him before, back in chapter 9 of his first book. He had called Him “wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, the prince of peace.” He would be wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities. He would be beaten and lashed until the blood poured out of his back. All this would be done for our cleansing. By His stripes we would be healed. He described the death of this Suffering Servant.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living;for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
Historians dispute this, of course. They suggest that this chapter is misinterpreted. Others have suggested that they were actually added later, in Jesus’ time by another writer, a so-called third Isaiah. After all, it would be an impossible miracle for Isaiah to have known something that happened eight hundred years after he was born. To believe differently would be to believe in a miracle.
But they are wrong. Isaiah knew the future, because he knew what God had said.
Wouldn’t it be great to have Isaiah’s abilities to see into the future? Think of how you could use it. We could win the lottery or play the stock market. But what Isaiah uses his gift to change people’s perception of the present. When we know we are going to win, we can enjoy that victory, even when enduring present problems. Think about how happy you could be if, during labor, you could knew that your baby would be healthy. Think of how useful it would be to know while you’re looking for a job, that you’re going to get a good one. It’s like playing with your presents before you even open them, and still having the fun of unwrapping.
That’s called faith.
Faith is borrowing on future joys to endure present suffering. Faith is what keeps us going in the dark. Faith is what keeps us going through the tough times when there seems to be no way out.It is the gift of knowledge that everything will be all right.
Is this really possible? Of course it is. A child has it on Christmas Eve. A bride has it on her wedding day. We have it when we stand on the promises of God.
Christmas is all about faith. On the winter solstice, December 21, is the shortest day of the year. It is a dark, miserable day. But we are not disheartened by it. December 22 will be a little bit longer Every day afterward will be little brighter. We are brighter when we know the night will pass.
The first Christmas was not much of an event. Aside from the shepherds and wise men, no one knew what was happening. A baby born in a manger would hardly make the papers. Most of the world slumbered through it, alone in the dark. But it was the start of a miracle.
It’s not their fault they slept. They sleep because they do not hear. Many hear, but do not understand. Many understand, but do not believe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
It’s all there in Isaiah 40, as well as many other places.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
The people were conquered twice because of their sins—first by Assyria, and then by Babylon. Even so, there is comfort. There is always an end to disaster. There is never an end to His mercy.
In order to have faith, there must be righteousness. Isaiah writes
3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD ;
make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Sin puts mountains between us and faith. It makes us impossible for us to see God’s plan. We all know instinctively that when we do something wrong, God is not going to like it. But what we forget is this. He may not always like what we do, but he never stops loving us.
Jesus takes down those mountains between us and God and makes them into plains. He straightens the path between us and God, not for us to come to God, but for Him to come to us. If we are so broken that we cannot walk, God will come looking for us.
In order to have faith, we must have one who is worthy trust. He can save not only us, but the whole world with us . Isaiah writes.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
What is God’s glory? It is His reputation, his fame, his influence, shining not only through space but also time. Isaiah saw his glory from hundreds of years in the past. We see it from thousands of years into the future. The birth of Jesus still warms our hearts today.
Isaiah saw the future. Now it’s your turn. Where do you see your future with God? Jesus came so that you could have a future. His death and resurrection bought you a place in the eternal heavens. Our celebration of Christmas is just an eternal reminder of the coming victory of Christ.
There are some who doubt this, of course. They only see gloom, doom and disaster. But they do not know the miraculous power of God.
They are wrong. We are right, because we have heard what God says.
Silent Night
On an old Saturday Night Live sketch, Father Guido Sarducci suggested that we should have "big" Christmas and "little" Christmas Every other year we should have a merry "little" Christmas, without all the presence, decoratons, etc. It's not a bad idea, really. Once, I'd like to get through the holidays with my checkbook, diet, and sanity intact.
It's not that I hate Christmas, I dont. It just that Christmas gets buried under a pile of wrapping and tinsel every year, until it becomes hard to find it.
What's Chrismtas for, anyway.
At it's core, Christmas is a spiritual exercise. It's an opportunity to get closer to God by meditating on th comng of the Messiah.
Christmas is the fulcrum f hstory. Its the moment when everything changed. The miracle of s it that it reminds us that every moment could be a new moment of changing Jesus can enter into any waking mmen, and transform us.
It begins in silence. Then there was a baby's cry. No one recognized what was happening at first, but soon they did. Wide-eyed shepherds appeared ut of nowhere with a fantastic story of angels. Oriental mystics appeared, babbling about a star. Then there was more silence, silence for a long time, before all heaven broke loose.
I seek out the quiet moments of life. There seem to be so few of them. I am listening for that baby to cry again. I am waiting for the moment when the Kingdom of God comes in my life and my world.
If only Christmas were the moment it was meant to be, a moment for quiet listening and hearng.
This year, I've enjoyed listening to a Christmas album by Sting. I head him speak about it on NPR one morning. Though I'm sure he's not a Christian, he said something that stuck in my mind. He said that the winter season was a moment for reflection. The cold weather drives us into ourselves, helping to remind us of the possibilities that there are.
I would rather think that Christmas reminds us of the possibilities that God can bring forth.
If only it could be this and not an excuse for indulgence. God, give me a silent night again!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Daily Affirmations
Today, I will remember that I am forgiven
Today I will remember that I am beautiful in God's eyes.
Today I will remember that I am already loved enough
Today I will remember to give others my honesty and my friendship
Today I will remember the shortness of life
Today I will remember the privilege of living this moment
Today I will remember to be thankful to God for every moment
Today I will remember the holy sensuality of praise
Today I will remember I can do all Through Christ
Today I will remember that I can trust
And in trusting hope
And in hoping know
And in knowing rejoice.
Today I will remember that I am beautiful in God's eyes.
Today I will remember that I am already loved enough
Today I will remember to give others my honesty and my friendship
Today I will remember the shortness of life
Today I will remember the privilege of living this moment
Today I will remember to be thankful to God for every moment
Today I will remember the holy sensuality of praise
Today I will remember I can do all Through Christ
Today I will remember that I can trust
And in trusting hope
And in hoping know
And in knowing rejoice.
Advent: From Darkness to Dawn
We have Christmas exactly backwards. Consider how we celebrate our modern Christmas. It starts when we get past Thanksgiving. It is a time of parties, good cheer, and feasting, lasting for at least the entire month of December. Then sometime around New Year, we take down the decorations. About that time, we realize that we’ve been overly indulgent. We go on diets, join health clubs, and make New Year’s Resolutions to do better next year.
This is the total reverse of how Christmas was celebrated for nineteen hundred years. For most of the history of the church, December was a month of fasting, not feasting.
But the Victorian Christmases of Scrooge and Dickens happened after December 25. The Twelve Days of Christmas started on Christmas day and ended on the Feast of the Three Kings, on January 6. Christmas did not come until after Advent.
The Advent season was solemn and soul-searching, like Lent. During that time, people refrained from worldly pleasures, not indulged in them.
No one ever believed that Jesus’ birthday was actually December 25. It was a date chosen by the church to begin the liturgical drama of the year. December 21 is the darkest day of the year. The birth of Jesus afterward symbolizes the dawning of the light.
We know what Christmas is supposed to mean, but we often fail to feel it. We are so taken up with shopping and partying to experience this transition from darkness to light. We do not appreciate the light, because we do not know the darkness. To us it is a time for merriment. If we are going to understand the light of Christmas, we have to understand that darkness first.
When my family was younger, we made an annual pilgrimage to see Joy’s parents in Michigan. It was a thirteen to twenty-four hour drive, depending upon where we lived. Early on we discovered that the easiest way to travel with small children was to travel overnight. So before the trips, I would sleep as much as I could. Then armed with coffee, protein, and caffeine pills I would stay awake all night, until Joy woke up at dawn and relieved my driving.
Between six and midnight was easy. Then as one o’clock came it became harder to stay awake.. By two in the morning, the dark seemed to close in around me. The world shrank to a small tube of light on an abandoned road, with no one but truckers and policemen on the road. I would gulp more coffee and keep going.
By four in the morning, the coffee was wearing off. I had used up all the tricks I knew to stay awake. I was thinking that this whole trip was a foolish idea. Sometimes, I would consier whether or not to turn off the road and rest. It was too late to check into a hotel, but I did not know if I could make it.
Then, about four thirty or five in the morning, I saw something that woke me up again--a faint lightening of the eastern sky. It wasn’t much, but it enough to remind me that the night was coming to an end and the dawn was coming.
This is what the Nativity was—the coming of the light. It wasn’t much at first, a baby in a manger, a star in the sky, but it was enough to start us rejoicing. The night had an end to it, and the dawn was coming.
The darkness fell in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve committed the first sin, and ever since we’ve gotten steadily worse. The forbidden fruit in one generation led to murder in the next. Murder led to conquest. Conquest led to genocide. Men became haters of God and followers of a lie. But since the beginning of the darkness, there was always a glimmer of hope. In Genesis 3:15 God said. “And I shall put an enmity between your seed and her seed, and you shall bruise his heel, but he shall crush your head.” A savior—a seed of woman alone—would come and destroy the works of the devil. So wherever there was darkness there was hope.
Hope--what a frail word! When we say hope, we really mean wishes. “I hope to be married someday.” “I hope I win the lottery.” But Biblical hope is much, much stronger than that. It is a certainty of future deliverance. It is not a wish—it is the firm belief in something better coming.
Without hope, we do nothing. Who would work at a job if he did not hope for a paycheck? Who would practice the piano if he did not hope to get better at it? Hope is a very necessary element of our endurance of suffering.
Hope is the Christmas present that Jesus brings to us.
In the NIV version of the Old Testament, the word “hope” appears ninety-two times. The first reference is in Ruth 1:12, when Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi admits there is no hope for her to have more children. The second reference is I Chronicles 29, is from King David. He saysto say that our lives on earth are like a shadow, having no hope. Both references are to hope that we do not have. We cannot reverse time. We are all going to die.
The first positive reference to hope is in Ezra 10:2 Ezra condemns the people of Israel for marrying into foreign families and practicing idolatry. Then Ezra tells them that there is still hope, if they are able to keep the Law of God.
What a faint “hope” that is! The Law contains six hundred and twenty-five ordinances. It is impossible to keep it all. Yet according to Ezra, it was their only hope.
So in the early part of the Old Testament, references to hope are few and far between. But then we come to a book that is full of hope. The word is used eighteen times, one sixth of all the references in the Bible. Surprisingly, the most hope is the book of Job.
Job is one of the most depressing books in the Bible. It is about a wealthy, righteous man who had everything. Then everything in his life falls aparte. Even his very flesh is cursed. For forty-three chapters he and his friends lament his fate, and try to make sense out of what has happened. It is a very dark book indeed. Yet sprinkled about it are jewels of hope, like stars in the dark night sky. Here is are a couple of examples.
Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job has faith in God. Even if God kills him, he will not give up. He knows that God will vindicate him in the end.
Job 19:25-27 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him, with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
Ezra’s only hope was that people would obey the law. Job knew better. Even the most righteous man is a sinner sometimes. Even if you never sinned, your world can still fall unexpectedly on top of you.
My volunteer work at Hope, Inc. has been an eye-opener about the nature of human suffering. I meet Jobs in there every time I go. Like Job’s comforters, many people I speak with who do not go there think that those who do suffer because of their sins. Many do. If people practiced temperance and chastity a full half of the people who go for emergency assistance would not need it. But these are not all the people who need help. They are not even half. Many suffer, not because of their own choices, but because they are victims of neglect and abuse. Many women are stuck with children by men who abandoned their families, for example. A far larger group are people who are there because of an act of God. They have lost their jobs due to a bad economy, they have had a serious illness or accident, or they are so depressed due to serious loss that they live in a permanent state of confusion and depression
Job did nothing to deserve his fate. He obeyed the Law, as Ezra suggested, yet things did not go well with him. He had every reason to wallow in grief and depression. Job wailed and complained bitterly.
Even so, Job’s faith held. He still believed that God’s help was on the way. He believed that God was good even when what he did appeared to be bad. His faith did not depend upon his perception of what God did, but in his relationship with God. If God killed him, God would still be good. One day, his Redeemer would arrive.
Job saw that glimmer of light in the eastern sky. Somewhere in heaven was a person who would redeem him. When he finally came to earth, then we would understand why we have to suffer. We would see that God is still good in the midst of suffering.
We say that Christmas time is for children. Nonsense! Children may have a good time at Christmas, but they are mostly incapable of understanding it. Most adults are clueless, too. Only a person like Job, who lost everything, has a chance to understand the real purpose of Christ’s coming. It is not until we fully grasp the darkness that we know the light.
Isaiah spoke prophetically of the coming of Jesus in Isaiah 9:2-7
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
. . .
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We all walk in some kind of darkness. For some, it is the threat of lost jobs or lost security. For others, it is illness. For others, it is grief. For others, it is obsession and addiction. For others, it is depression. For many people, it is just the general feeling of guilt for our sins.
For those who suffer like Job, there is a redeemer. Job did not know his name. But he knew that he lived. He anticipated His coming, like we look for the dawn.
We know His name. We know all about how he came—we just don’t understand it. We fail to see how a baby in Bethlehem can help us cope with grief, temptation, poverty, and rejection. Job understood the meaning of the cross better than we do. His redeemer lived. He didn’t say he would live, but that he lived now. Christmas is the birth of one who is our friend forever.
We learned this in Bible School. But it is not until we go through he crucible of suffering that we understand what it means to know the close, intimate presence of the Lord.
This is the meaning of Christmas. It is Emmanuel—God with us. Whatever dark road we travel, there is always a glimmer of light, the light of Christ, shining through.
This is the total reverse of how Christmas was celebrated for nineteen hundred years. For most of the history of the church, December was a month of fasting, not feasting.
But the Victorian Christmases of Scrooge and Dickens happened after December 25. The Twelve Days of Christmas started on Christmas day and ended on the Feast of the Three Kings, on January 6. Christmas did not come until after Advent.
The Advent season was solemn and soul-searching, like Lent. During that time, people refrained from worldly pleasures, not indulged in them.
No one ever believed that Jesus’ birthday was actually December 25. It was a date chosen by the church to begin the liturgical drama of the year. December 21 is the darkest day of the year. The birth of Jesus afterward symbolizes the dawning of the light.
We know what Christmas is supposed to mean, but we often fail to feel it. We are so taken up with shopping and partying to experience this transition from darkness to light. We do not appreciate the light, because we do not know the darkness. To us it is a time for merriment. If we are going to understand the light of Christmas, we have to understand that darkness first.
When my family was younger, we made an annual pilgrimage to see Joy’s parents in Michigan. It was a thirteen to twenty-four hour drive, depending upon where we lived. Early on we discovered that the easiest way to travel with small children was to travel overnight. So before the trips, I would sleep as much as I could. Then armed with coffee, protein, and caffeine pills I would stay awake all night, until Joy woke up at dawn and relieved my driving.
Between six and midnight was easy. Then as one o’clock came it became harder to stay awake.. By two in the morning, the dark seemed to close in around me. The world shrank to a small tube of light on an abandoned road, with no one but truckers and policemen on the road. I would gulp more coffee and keep going.
By four in the morning, the coffee was wearing off. I had used up all the tricks I knew to stay awake. I was thinking that this whole trip was a foolish idea. Sometimes, I would consier whether or not to turn off the road and rest. It was too late to check into a hotel, but I did not know if I could make it.
Then, about four thirty or five in the morning, I saw something that woke me up again--a faint lightening of the eastern sky. It wasn’t much, but it enough to remind me that the night was coming to an end and the dawn was coming.
This is what the Nativity was—the coming of the light. It wasn’t much at first, a baby in a manger, a star in the sky, but it was enough to start us rejoicing. The night had an end to it, and the dawn was coming.
The darkness fell in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve committed the first sin, and ever since we’ve gotten steadily worse. The forbidden fruit in one generation led to murder in the next. Murder led to conquest. Conquest led to genocide. Men became haters of God and followers of a lie. But since the beginning of the darkness, there was always a glimmer of hope. In Genesis 3:15 God said. “And I shall put an enmity between your seed and her seed, and you shall bruise his heel, but he shall crush your head.” A savior—a seed of woman alone—would come and destroy the works of the devil. So wherever there was darkness there was hope.
Hope--what a frail word! When we say hope, we really mean wishes. “I hope to be married someday.” “I hope I win the lottery.” But Biblical hope is much, much stronger than that. It is a certainty of future deliverance. It is not a wish—it is the firm belief in something better coming.
Without hope, we do nothing. Who would work at a job if he did not hope for a paycheck? Who would practice the piano if he did not hope to get better at it? Hope is a very necessary element of our endurance of suffering.
Hope is the Christmas present that Jesus brings to us.
In the NIV version of the Old Testament, the word “hope” appears ninety-two times. The first reference is in Ruth 1:12, when Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi admits there is no hope for her to have more children. The second reference is I Chronicles 29, is from King David. He saysto say that our lives on earth are like a shadow, having no hope. Both references are to hope that we do not have. We cannot reverse time. We are all going to die.
The first positive reference to hope is in Ezra 10:2 Ezra condemns the people of Israel for marrying into foreign families and practicing idolatry. Then Ezra tells them that there is still hope, if they are able to keep the Law of God.
What a faint “hope” that is! The Law contains six hundred and twenty-five ordinances. It is impossible to keep it all. Yet according to Ezra, it was their only hope.
So in the early part of the Old Testament, references to hope are few and far between. But then we come to a book that is full of hope. The word is used eighteen times, one sixth of all the references in the Bible. Surprisingly, the most hope is the book of Job.
Job is one of the most depressing books in the Bible. It is about a wealthy, righteous man who had everything. Then everything in his life falls aparte. Even his very flesh is cursed. For forty-three chapters he and his friends lament his fate, and try to make sense out of what has happened. It is a very dark book indeed. Yet sprinkled about it are jewels of hope, like stars in the dark night sky. Here is are a couple of examples.
Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job has faith in God. Even if God kills him, he will not give up. He knows that God will vindicate him in the end.
Job 19:25-27 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him, with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
Ezra’s only hope was that people would obey the law. Job knew better. Even the most righteous man is a sinner sometimes. Even if you never sinned, your world can still fall unexpectedly on top of you.
My volunteer work at Hope, Inc. has been an eye-opener about the nature of human suffering. I meet Jobs in there every time I go. Like Job’s comforters, many people I speak with who do not go there think that those who do suffer because of their sins. Many do. If people practiced temperance and chastity a full half of the people who go for emergency assistance would not need it. But these are not all the people who need help. They are not even half. Many suffer, not because of their own choices, but because they are victims of neglect and abuse. Many women are stuck with children by men who abandoned their families, for example. A far larger group are people who are there because of an act of God. They have lost their jobs due to a bad economy, they have had a serious illness or accident, or they are so depressed due to serious loss that they live in a permanent state of confusion and depression
Job did nothing to deserve his fate. He obeyed the Law, as Ezra suggested, yet things did not go well with him. He had every reason to wallow in grief and depression. Job wailed and complained bitterly.
Even so, Job’s faith held. He still believed that God’s help was on the way. He believed that God was good even when what he did appeared to be bad. His faith did not depend upon his perception of what God did, but in his relationship with God. If God killed him, God would still be good. One day, his Redeemer would arrive.
Job saw that glimmer of light in the eastern sky. Somewhere in heaven was a person who would redeem him. When he finally came to earth, then we would understand why we have to suffer. We would see that God is still good in the midst of suffering.
We say that Christmas time is for children. Nonsense! Children may have a good time at Christmas, but they are mostly incapable of understanding it. Most adults are clueless, too. Only a person like Job, who lost everything, has a chance to understand the real purpose of Christ’s coming. It is not until we fully grasp the darkness that we know the light.
Isaiah spoke prophetically of the coming of Jesus in Isaiah 9:2-7
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
. . .
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We all walk in some kind of darkness. For some, it is the threat of lost jobs or lost security. For others, it is illness. For others, it is grief. For others, it is obsession and addiction. For others, it is depression. For many people, it is just the general feeling of guilt for our sins.
For those who suffer like Job, there is a redeemer. Job did not know his name. But he knew that he lived. He anticipated His coming, like we look for the dawn.
We know His name. We know all about how he came—we just don’t understand it. We fail to see how a baby in Bethlehem can help us cope with grief, temptation, poverty, and rejection. Job understood the meaning of the cross better than we do. His redeemer lived. He didn’t say he would live, but that he lived now. Christmas is the birth of one who is our friend forever.
We learned this in Bible School. But it is not until we go through he crucible of suffering that we understand what it means to know the close, intimate presence of the Lord.
This is the meaning of Christmas. It is Emmanuel—God with us. Whatever dark road we travel, there is always a glimmer of light, the light of Christ, shining through.
The City and the Vine
Jonah 4
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.
He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home?
That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?" Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.
Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.
But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.
When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
When I was a little boy and I used to watch westerns on TV, I asked my father how to tell who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. “It’s easy,” he told me, “The good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black hats. The Indians are always bad guys, unless it’s Tonto.”
That simplified things. When my friends and I played cowboys we always knew how to tell one another apart. If we wore a white hat, we were the good guy and were supposed to win, and if we wore a black hat, then we were supposed to lose. The Indians were also supposed to lose.
That simplified things Good guys, white had. Black hats and Indians, bad guys. We also knew how good guys were supposed to behave. The good guys didn’t smoke, cuss or drink. As for the bad guys—well, they were just there to be shot.
In the Sixties things changed. Movies became more naturalistic and nihilistic. Cowboys stopped wearing white hats and black hats. They stopped having heroes, too, in the old sense of the word. Sometimes the good guys did bad things. But mostly, like in those old Clint Eastwood westerns, you could still tell. Then they made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Bonnie and Clyde. In those movies, the heroes were the bad guys, and the bad guys were good guys.
Sometimes I long for those simple days of yesteryear when we could tell who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. But it was never that simple. There never were good guys and bad guys. There were just guys, frail and fallible, but sometimes capable of goodness.
A man came up to Jesus and started by saying “Good master—.” Jesus stopped him. “Why do you call me good? There is no one good but God.” Right there, Jesus had him. There are no good guys, except one. God is good, the rest of us are only sometimes good.
When Jonah was a little boy, what do you supposed he and his friends played? Israelites and Philistines? Judeans and Ninevites? Jonah grew up thinking that he had the world all figured out. The good guys were his people. The Ninevites were the bad guys. And we all know that the Ninevites were there only to get stabbed by the Israelites. It was a simple childhood world, good and bad were easy to discover.
But God messed it up for Jonah. God told Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites. Preach to the Ninevites? Did the Lone Ranger ever preach to Butch Cavendish? Did Gary Cooper preach to Lee Van Cleef? No, they shot them or locked them in the calaboose. That’s what bad guys are for. Jonah was convinced that the Ninevites were not worth saving.
That was why he ran from God. But then God got him thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish. Then he had him vomited up on the shores of—of all places—Ninevah.
So (Jonah thought) God must have a different plan. He wanted him to go to Nineveh and tell them off. Yes, that had to be the plan. They deserved a good tongue-lashing.
But that was not God’s plan. God really did want to save the Ninevites.
Jonah built a booth on the east side of Nineveh, along the Tigris River. He built a shelter and settled back to watch when God rained down fire and brimstone on the Ninevites.
But God disappointed him again. The bad guys repented. The black hats put on white hats and became good guys. Jonah did not like this. If the Ninevites are the good guys, what does that make Jonah--The bad guy?
So now God had to correct the prophet. He did it a living parable.
God made a vine grow around Jonah. Now a vine doesn’t seem like much, but In Iraq the temperature there reaches over 120 degrees. A vine can make the difference between life and death.
Jonah took it as a sign. If God let a vine grow up to protect him, then he must be the good guy after all! After all, God would not work a miracle for the bad guy.
But the next night, a worm ate the vine. A Then a howling wind came. Most likely, this
was a desert sandstorm, where the wind can tear the paint off of a house. Imagine what it would do to a plant!
Jonah complained bitterly that it was better to live than to die. Three times Jonah mentioned dying. Did he have a death wish? He did not want to live in a world so unstable that Ninevites could become bad guys.
God asked him could he have compassion for a stupid plant, and let a city of a hundred and twenty thousand souls, not to mention their animals die. These people needed God’s love and mercy.
Life is not a television show. The sufferings we inflict on others are real. But God’s mercy is also real.
We talk a lot about evangelism in the church. We talk a lot about charity and mercy, too. But to tell the truth, I am not sure we want it. I am convinced that most of the time the church doesn’t care about the lost.
If we idealize the lost, we can get a certain sentimental feeling about them. But when we see the lost up close, they often repel us. They curse, drink, practice sexual immorality, use drugs, and act hateful. But so are we, if we are honest. We all act like the lost sometimes. It’s just that we don’t want to be around those who have no manners. We’ve been told since we were children to avoid such people. But God told us otherwise. He told us to go preach the gospel to everyone, not just the good people, but the bad ones as well. To God, there are not good guys or bad guys but people who need his grace.
So we are all Jonah’s in a way. We have been called to go to people we don’t like and tell them about Jesus. It’s the only way they will hear. God doesn’t want us to just go to good guys. He wants us to go to that neighbor we can’t stand, and that kid who is no good. He wants us to let them know that Jesus can change their lives, whether they wear a white hat or a black hat. Like Jonah, most of us would rather be swallowed by a whale than to do that.
But this is God’s hard mercy, that He loves the unlovable. He does not discriminate. He offers his Grace to any who will receive. He our only hope , and the hope of the whole world.
Did it work for Jonah? Well, he had to report what happened himself. There is also a legend about Jonah that suggests a possible outcome. In Mosul, Iraq, there is a mosque on the east side of town, just across the Tigris from the old sight of Nineveh. The Mosque is called the Nabi Yunis, the prophet Jonah. Beside it is a large building which is called Jonah’s tomb. Of course like it is? If Jonah were buried there, it would suggest that Jonah spent the rest of his life among the Ninevites. That would mean that Jonah finally did obey the call of God, and devoted himself to the people he hated the most. Jesus died to save the Ninevites. He also died to save Jonah, too.
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