December 31, 2015

Thursday: “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son’” (Mark 12:6; NIV).

            The story of Jesus emphasizes time and again that He is God’s Son. Before He’s born, the angel says that He will be called Son of the Most High; at His Baptism and Transfiguration, the Father declares, “This is my beloved Son.” The centurion at the foot of the cross mutters, “Surely this was the Son of God.”

            You could write a book about what it means that Jesus is the Son of God, but for today let’s just leave it at this: there existed a special relationship between Jesus and the Father, a bond of affection. And fathers do not easily give up their beloved sons. I remember holding my child for the first time and having an incredible sense of fear lest something should happen to that beautiful gift.

            Yet, the Father faced that fear and gave His Son into death for us. Imagine the price the Father was willing to pay to save a rebellious people…

December 30, 2015

Wednesday: “(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”)” (Luke 2:23; NIV).

            The notion of the firstborn gains even more weight when we consider Israel’s history, especially the Passover. Yesterday, I quoted the Lord’s saying in Exodus 4 that Israel was His firstborn son, and in that context He was actually threatening the Pharaoh of Egypt with the tragedy that would occur at the Passover, namely, that every firstborn in Egypt would die because Pharaoh had so oppressed God’s firstborn Israel.

            The exception was the firstborns of faithful Israelites who painted their doorposts with lamb’s blood as the Lord demanded. Those firstborns became holy to the Lord. Their lives, spared in the great disaster belonged to the Lord. In Moses’ law there was a stipulation for redeeming them from such dedication. (Their place was taken by the tribe of Levi.)

            Interestingly, Luke says that Jesus was presented, but he never mentions an offering to redeem Him. Presumably, Mary (like Hannah, Samuel’s mother) gave Jesus back to the Lord, dedicated Him uniquely to the Lord’s service—or, at least, we’re meant to imagine that possibility.

            That fits, that Jesus would be uniquely dedicated to the Lord. This weekend, we’ll hear about the boy Jesus in the temple and His devotion to the Lord will come up. And, of course, Jesus’ acceptance of the cross reflects His dedication to the Lord and His purposes to the very end.

December 29, 2015

Tuesday: Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son’” (Exodus 4:21-23; NIV).

            “Israel is my firstborn son.” In ancient Israel, being the firstborn was a big deal. The firstborn took over as the patriarch and leader of the family. He received a double portion of the inheritance. His branch of the family tree was influential. And here was Israel’s God affirming Israel’s special place within His plans.

            There’s nothing wrong with affirming one’s special place. Truth be told, Israel’s God regularly honored Israel in this way. On Mt. Sinai, just a few chapters after today’s verse, He called them His ‘treasured possession.’ We Christians affirm this all the time, whenever we personalize the Gospel: God loves me.

            No, the trouble comes in when a special place becomes an exclusive place. Israel was God’s firstborn, not His only child. The remainder of humanity was also beloved by Him. Israel’s task was to take on the firstborn’s responsibility for the family, that is, to look out for the interests of all humanity. Too often, Israel fell into thinking that God loved them and only them.

            May the Lord save us Christians from such thinking! May He constantly remind us that we are a light to the world!

December 28, 2015

Monday: When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (Luke 2:22; NIV).

            It strikes a modern reader as downright silly that a woman would need to be purified after childbirth. It’s no exaggeration to say that modern people tend to think about childbearing as just about the most holy thing we can imagine. After all, mothers give life. What a miracle! (I am, of course, a father, not a mother. I understand the biological manner in which I contributed to the life of my children and that my part was necessary. However, I didn’t bear the children the same way my wife did. Even the language hints at the differences: men sire; women bear. Something profound exists between a mother and her baby.)

            Be that as it may, the law of Moses declared that childbirth made a woman ritually unclean. Probably that scruple had to do with the discharge of bloody liquid during delivery, which would have seemed like the mother was losing part of her life to bring her child into the world. And “losing life” seems to be a common factor in making things ‘unclean.’

            So, Mary had to be purified for giving life to the One who would always be clean, without the stain of sin in Him.

            In some way, that looks forward to Jesus’ own life. He would always be clean, sinless. Yet He would undergo a baptism of repentance for forgiveness and He would submit to sin’s penalty—that is, death, a death He didn’t deserve—and He would do this for us.

December 23, 2015

Wednesday: O Emmanuel, our king and our Lord, the anointed for the nations and their Savior: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

            The final O Antiphon for Advent focuses our attention exactly where it needs to be. We sometimes tend to think of Christmas as Jesus’ birthday, and, as a simple way to understand the event, I suppose that’s alright. Yet the Scripture would draw us to a deeper reality. He is the Word of God, co-existent with the Father from eternity, chooses to take on human flesh and to dwell among us as one of us. That is so different than the other religions of the world. In ancient Greek mythology, the gods might assume the form of humans for a while to work their mischief. The same thing is seen in some Hindu myths. In other religions, say, for example, Islam  the gods are so far different that they remain ‘on high.’ But we are Christians because the creator God chose to become Emmanuel, the God who is with us, in the person of His Son. He didn’t simply dwell among us for a while; He took our very nature onto Himself to redeem that nature and in so doing honored our nature more than it has been honored since He Himself made us in His image on the sixth day. Now, we look forward to the Day of Restoration, when our full humanity will be restored and we will be as He is.

(I write these devotions to bring the gap between the Sundays, to keep us focused on God's Word when we are not all together. Tomorrow and Friday are holidays with opportunities to hear God's Word corporately. Therefore, no devotions until Monday. )

December 22, 2015

Tuesday: O King of the nations, the ruler they long for, the cornerstone uniting all people: Come and save us all, whom you formed out of clay.

            Do you suppose the nations know that they are longing for a ruler, the king of nations? I suspect that most of them don’t. I suspect that, at least among the rulers of those nations, they find the notion of another king deeply threatening.

            I think of King Herod, moved to rage, when the Magi came looking for the one who was born king of the Jews, and I think of Psalm 2, with its declaration that nations rage against the Lord and His anointed.

            On the other hand, those who are ruled might very well long for a different ruler, a just, wise ruler, who would not line his own pockets or protect his own power.

            As long as this fallen age endures, Christians will live a duel existence: on the one hand, toiling under the unjust, oppressive powers of this fallen world, and, on the other hand, by the Spirit, living freely under the gracious rule of the Prince of Peace.