Joy to the World... Matthew 2. 1-12 with Isaiah 60. 1-6 and Revelation 21. 1-2, 22-24; 22. 1-2

Isaiah 60 promises that "The glory of the Lord shall shine upon you... the wealth of the nations shall come to you; camels from Midian and Ephah; people from Sheba, bringing gold and frankincense." (Isaiah 60. 1,2,6). Who is he speaking to? Jerusalem, Zion (v. 10-14).  Several hundred years later gentile star-gazing Arabs arrive in Jerusalem (for Matthew's readers living in Palestine, the East meant East of the Jordan - i.e. Arabia). And they bring gold, frankincense and myrrh with them across the Jordan ; but the gold isn't for Jerusalem: it's for the new-born king. It was all a bit embarrassing. Until they arrived, Herod didn't even know a king had been born!

The Wise men are not interested in Jerusalem. They are looking for the one born King of the Jews. As soon as they find out from Herod (who has asked his Bible experts) that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, that's where they wanted to be.  Their gifts were for the child King, not the city. They were interested in a person, not a place: indeed, people are always more important than places. And this Person is always more important than the place or any place. This child is always more important than any city.

It is through this child, found not in a palace in Jerusalem but in a ragged wee one roomed cottage in Bethlehem, with the place for the animals at one end of the living room, that God's purpose for the city is going to be worked out. Jerusalem is a city that has a unique place in God's purposes. At the end of time we are told there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) and the New Jerusalem is called the "Bride of the Lamb" (Revelation 21. 2, 9) and the Lamb is Jesus. Truly the wise men, led by the star right to the place where Jesus was laid, were in the presence of the greatest King ever. This is the King whose Kingdom will envelope all other Kingdoms.

So the Wise men rejoice with exceedingly great joy.  It doesn't come much more joyful than that, does it?  And in their joy they fall on their faces, and worship the child.  Here they are, outsiders, gentiles, stargazers. But they have been "Welcomed in to the courts of the king!"

Joy was very much part of the Christmas story:

• John the Baptist's birth would bring joy. (Lk 1. 14)
• Elisabeth spoke out blessings, when the Baby in her womb leaped for joy. (Lk 1. 42ff)
• Mary sang out "my Spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour". (Lk 1. 47)
• The shepherds were given news of Joy. (Lk 2. 10)
• They went home praising God (Lk 2. 20)
• Simeon blessed God. (Lk 2. 28ff)
• Anna thanked god.   (Lk 2. 38)

Maybe we need to recover a sense of Joy. This Christmas story is about a welcome for us, outsiders, sinners, messed up people. And God has saved us, rescued us and revealed his amazing love to us.

They then they open their gifts.  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Yes, I know the song about "We, three kings of orient are."  Gold for a King; Frankincense for God, Myrrh for suffering and death. Jesus is King; he is God; he is our sacrifice, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  But for these Arabs they simply were bringing the best from their own country. Gold was mined in Arabia; frankincense and Myrrh are resins drawn from trees that grow in the southern reaches of the Arabian Peninsula.  This was the best that they could bring, from the resources available to them. Maybe there was something prophetic about the things they brought. But it may be that the immediate result of their gifts was not prophetic but simply provision: giving this poor couple the resources they needed to make the journey they were soon going to have to make.

Because when they had given their gifts, the Arab star-gazers hurried away. One or more of them had had a dream warning them not to go back to King Herod. So they went the long way round, back across the Jordan to their own country. Their world, like our world, was messy. It wasn't all plain sailing. Even the Child king had those who hated him and who wanted rid of him.  The world of the wise men is not that different from the world we live in.

And like these Arabs,

• We are welcome, just as we are although we are outsiders.  
• God can take what we bring, from the place where we are, and use it in prophecy and in provision. Jesus is King; he is God; he is our sacrifice.  But he accepts what we are, and what we offer.  HE can take what we are, and what we offer, and make it prophetic; he can make is useful to provide for people's needs.  Maybe some of the thins we do will be prophetic. They will speak into people's lives, with the words of god.  Maybe some of what we do will simply be a matter of meeting people 's needs. That's OK.  Let's be open to the possibility of both.
• And we can welcome outsiders, too, and let them meet the Christ child.  

And as we come, and as we bring what we have to bring to Jesus, we don't just bring people to Jesus, we bring them to the New Jerusalem.  We bring them to the fulfilment of all things, for all time, when the purposes of God are all rolled up in a way that we can only imagine.  The image of the New Jerusalem is complex. The city is both made of people and full of people.  God isn't just planning for a renewed city made of bricks and mortar or sapphires, emeralds, amethysts and pearls. He's planning for a city built of and built for precious people. He's planning for a city where all the nations will bring their gifts: no-one will be an outsider. No-one will do other than surrender all they are to Jesus. And he's planning a city were all the nations will find healing.

Gentiles, Arabs, outsiders, star-gazers.

Joy to the World!


© Gilmour Lilly December 2011

Luke 1. 39-56 - Mary's Song (Advent 2, 2011)

I wonder what Mary was feeling as she went off to visit Elisabeth in the hill country?  The angel Gabriel had told her she was to have a son called Jesus, who would be the Messiah and saviour of the world. Maybe she could feel the earliest stirrings of her pregnancy, in her body. She had God's word in her mind: attendance at the synagogue and participation in family worship meant she was soaked in the Old testament scriptures (her song, as yet unsung, is almost completely made up of Old Testament quotes: it's even structured like one of the psalms with parallelism, one line repeating what the previous line said) But still she doesn't sing.  Maybe it was too much for her to process. Maybe she didn't know what to do with this. But then, in the secure presence of an older woman, childless up to that point but now six months pregnant, she is able to get her head around it all. When that older woman believes her, honours her, and encourages her (v 42-45) her spirit is set free: she can sing!

The Kingdom, and You... 
Mary sings about the promises God has made - promises for her and promises for the world. It begins in her own experience, (the Lord has looked at, noticed and cared about a lowly person like me) but it very quickly moves on to see her experience as the first fruits of the upside down kingdom of God impacting the earth. Her song isn't just about herself; it is about the Kingdom that is coming with the coming birth of the Messiah.  The Kingdom incorporates our experience, what God does in our lives. We are always challenged and called to encounter the Kingdom of God in the things that happen to us.

The Kingdom and the King... 
He who is mighty has done great things.  Mary rattles off three important truths about God.

1. He who is mighty: literally meaning he who has the power, he who is able. (cf. v 37 "nothing is impossible for God". Our God, the King, is the God of the impossible, the God of possibilities.
2. His Name is holy. He is totally other. The word doesn't so much mean morally holy, as separate, different, exalted. Holy and awesome is His name. (Ps 111.9)
3. He is merciful.  (Mercy implies compassion to the unfortunate, and also covenant love: it is the "Steadfast love of the Lord that never ceases" (Lam 3. 22) 

That all adds up to a pretty good summary of who God is and what God is like. The way the Kingdom is will be a reflection of he way the king is. In the Kingdom, we are engaged in a wonderful journey of discovery, a journey into the character of the King himself.

The Upside-down Kingdom. 
This Kingdom of God involves a number of reverses. It brings salvation to broken lives, sick bodies and minds and communities.  Things are turned upside down when the kingdom of God touches earth.

• v. 51 Scattering His enemies: Salvation also involves judgement.
• v. 52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones.  Literally dynasties are removed, swept away like rubbish when someone is tidying the house.  And he has exalted to a place of prosperity the humble, the lowly. (cf v 48)
• v. 53 He has filled the hungry (not only physical hunger but those suffering want in every way) with good things...   and sent the rich away empty.

The Kingdom involves the forgiveness of sin, the healing of disease, the reconciliation of enemies and the liberation of the oppressed.  It's about turning the world upside down. It's a great reversal of the injustices we see in the world around us today. Yes, that happens in the spiritual realms. But it also happens in the practical realm of economics and politics. "The kingdom of God... bringing the ordinary life of mankind into line with the will of God." (Marshall) But wait a minute...

Kingdom faith
Mary says all this in the past tense. He has scattered his enemies; he has brought down the mighty and exalted the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. (v. 51-54) It doesn't look like this reversal has happened. But Mary already knows herself to be pregnant with Jesus, pregnant with the Kingdom of God. God has already done something absolutely amazing. He has taken decisive action already.  Mary sees the results that will follow from Jesus' mission as an accomplished fact already, just as certain as the historically recorded events of God's actions in the Old Testament "God has already taken decisive action in the promised sending of his son and she foresees as an accomplished fact the results that will follow his mission" (G B Caird)

That was faith.   And faith is hopeful... Elisabeth said "Blessed is she who has believed...(v 45)  Luke later recorded how someone got all sentimental with Jesus and said "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you"(11. 27f.)  But Elisabeth isn't sentimental.  She says, "Blessed is she who believed. The Kingdom community is a community of faith; and it is a community of hope. We look forward to the fulfilment of God's plan, the final triumph of Gods Kingdom, as certain as the events of recorded and documented history.  That is faith. And it enables us to be hopeful.

"Hope" by George Frederick Watts.  Public Domain

 The Victorian painter G F Watts painted this picture called "Hope". Pastor J A Wright, Jr (who gained notoriety as Barack Obama's outspoken Pastor) was deeply moved when he attended a lecture on the work. He describes it thus:  "Hope - with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity to make music and praise God ..." And in the midst of a tough world, like Mary, we carry the Kingdom of God within us, and we dare to sing the song of the Kingdom, as an accomplished reality, even if we have only one string left.

The Kingdom community. 
And like Mary we do that in community: the last line of Mary's poem says God has remembered his mercy (again: compassion and covenant, keeping his promises) to Israel his servant-lad v. 54f.  There is a kingdom community.  God has always chosen to work through a relationship with a covenant community of people.  And that community - today the Church - is a sign of hope, a sign of the certain coming of the Kingdom of God. It is the community of courage, that dares to say, "this Kingdom has triumphed". And it is the community of encouragement, where we can help other people to sing.  We can equip other people as we honour them, believe in them, and encourage them: what a joy and privilege to watch other people begin to sing!

 © Gilmour Lilly December 2011