Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
The past couple of days we have been talking about what it means to be a slave to sin. Jesus has made the case that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. It seems to me that the concept of being a slave to sin has a lot of ramifications. One of the most obvious ramifications of being a slave is that a person no longer has the freedom do what they think is right. A slave must do what he or she is told to do, there really is no choice.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
By the time this discussion between Jesus and the Jews happens, Jesus is well known as one who speaks his mind and backs up what he says with amazing miracles. The culture at that time included a large number of slaves, people who were servants of someone. How they came to be servants or slaves varied greatly. Some were born into slavery, some were conquered peoples. Some actually came into hard times and sold themselves into slavery as a means of staying alive. Regardless of how they came to be in the service of someone else, a slave was not part of the family.
Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
Prior to this Jesus says, “…everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Well, that would have to include everyone except Jesus. While Jesus is very careful about not confronting people directly in situations like this, he clearly means that everyone on the planet is a slave to sin, and technically has no place in God’s family. Unlike the slaves, the son cannot not be part of the family.
Continue reading “Slave or Son?”
Our last post was about the arrival of the Magi and the discussion question led us to ponder about the memories of the Pharisees. Many of them would have been between the ages of twenty to forty years old when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and when the Magi cause such a disturbance in Israel with their announcement that they were here to honor the newborn king. As we jump back into the Gospel of John we find Jesus arguing with those same Pharisees who were in Jerusalem thirty-some years earlier when the Magi caused such a stir.
Continue reading “Time Warp – Happy New Year!”
In our Christmas tradition, there are twelve days of Christmas starting with December 25th and ending on January 6th, the day that the Magi were thought to arrive with their gifts for the newly born King.
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
Have you ever noticed that sometimes people write IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS to make a point? Sometimes we get in the habit of putting an exclamation point after every sentence! Oftentimes, we abuse such things!!! Until they lose their meaning all together!!!!!
Continue reading “Exclamation Point!”
The power and majesty of God’s angels must be something to see because they always begin their message with, “Do not be afraid…” In this encounter the message is:
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
The fact that Jesus has been born in a stable and is lying in a manger becomes a “sign” to the shepherds. In effect, the angel’s message is that the verification of what we have told you about the Messiah will be the unusual sight of a baby in among the sheep in the barn.
Continue reading “The Sign”
We normally compress a lot of things into what is the traditional Christmas nativity story, yet the timeline of the story itself plays out over several years. Luke begins nine months to a year before the birth of Christ with the angel visiting Zechariah to announce that he would have a son. Then, about nine months before the birth of Jesus (which is three months before John the Baptist is born) the angel Gabriel visits Mary. Sometime later Joseph is visited by an angel and then they receive the news that they need to travel to Bethlehem for the census. Finally, they arrive in Bethlehem just in time to give birth to Jesus. Shortly after that …
Continue reading “More Angels”
Birthdays are a time for celebrating life, and this birthday for Jesus is no different. Even though his life will bring him suffering and pain on our behalf, we still celebrate his arrival with great joy and gladness, worshipful music, and the giving of gifts.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Somehow being merry on this special day seems out of place from a worldly perspective. After all the young couple had been forced to travel well over 70 miles on foot and by donkey. When they arrived at Bethlehem from Nazareth there was no place to stay.
Continue reading “Merry Christmas!”
Centuries ago before Israel had even entered Canaan as a nation they were near the end of their forty years in the desert, They were camped in the plains of Moab near Jericho and there were so many people in the camp that they appeared to cover the face of the earth. There were so many people in Israel that they could not all be seen from one of the hillsides that surrounded them. The king of Moab hired a seer named Balaam to place a curse on Israel for him. Instead, Balaam blessed Israel and prophesied over her. At one point he says:
Continue reading “Planning”