A Cosmic Viewpoint

As I have been writing these notes, and “living” in the world of Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, I have been totally caught up in all the anticipation of Jesus’ coming into the world. It reminds me of the excitement of the days before Christmas that I experienced as a child. But in these notes we’re not quite ready for Luke’s Christmas story. There are two other gospel stories to look at first.

Wilderness

Jesus faces hunger, thirst, loneliness, torment, and temptation as a sign of the Father’s love, as a result of the Spirit’s leading, as a consequence of his humble obedience to the Father’s will. The wilderness is God’s idea.

Finding a Safe Place

I went through a time in my life when I had been hurt so deeply by the people of God that I was ready to jump ship. There was no one whom I could trust. Who of us has not encountered times like these when we feel like we’re up against a wall due to people, circumstances or challenges that seek to defeat and destroy us? None of us are immune.

One of These Things…

My boys loved Sesame Street. Thus, I have watched a lot of Sesame Street shows. One of my favorite songs was the song that helped children group things. Perhaps you know it? “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong. Can you tell me which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?”

Hypocrisy

Jesus minced no words when addressing Pharisees and religious teachers. Calling them “show-offs” and “blind leaders,” he blasted them for false teaching. He also confronted them for their legalism, specifically, paying tithes to God from their herb gardens while failing to teach and practice spiritual truths such as mercy, faithfulness, and justice.

Christ called the spiritual leaders to accountability for their hypocrisy.

Abomination that Causes Desolation

In his masterpiece work on the history of Jerusalem, Simon Montefiore describes the destruction of Herod’s Temple in AD 70 in gruesome detail. He says this about the arrival of the Romans, under Emperor Vespasian’s son Titus, at the Holy of Holies: “Titus, unable to stop the fire and surely relieved at the prospect of final victory, proceeded through the burning Temple until he came to the Holy of Holies.

The Great Cover-Up

People will go to great lengths to avoid the truth. The truth may be personal, as when someone points out a character flaw in us and we invent a score of reasons as to why the issue we have been confronted with is not valid. Perhaps it is a criticism of one of our children and we are incensed at what has been said even though deep down we know there is some truth in the evaluation.

The Commandments of Love

The law came with Moses. Grace and truth came with the Messiah. Yet Jesus himself not only brought grace and truth, he was the fulfillment of the law. He did not abolish it, he completed it.

We are not damned for our inability to keep the commandments in the Old Testament.

When the Truth Hurts

To us a “fool” is a silly person; in the Old Testament a fool was someone who turned away from God, rejected his wisdom and chose not to follow him. You wouldn’t expect godly talk from a person like that. But still less would you expect a ruler to lie.

A Deadly Diet

Every sensible person agrees that gossip is a bad thing. You don’t even have to be especially wise to come to that conclusion! It’s rarely completely truthful, almost always skewed and sometimes utterly false. Gossip always delights in whatever is salacious, demeaning, vulgar. Good news about someone is never called gossip – the news of a person’s success or promotion might be a rumor, if we are not certain of it, but gossip embellishes nasty little tales of failure or degradation or corrupt behavior, making the most of the worst.