C, The First Sunday after Christmas - Luke 2:41-52 "A Lost Child"

Mary and Joseph are in great distress as they search for Jesus.  After three days they feared the worst but expected the best.  Anyone who has lost a child knows the feeling that washes over oneself when a child goes missing.

The story of the twelve-year-old Jesus missing as the family returns from the Passover feast, could be the original script for the Christmas movie franchise, Home Alone.  The extended family leaves to go on holidays with much chaos and confusion only to leave the youngest child behind.  The mother only realises when they have taken off and are high in the sky.

But it’s not little Kevin who’s been left behind, but Jesus.  And he’s not the youngest, but the oldest, Mary’s first-born son.   Yet every parent knows the feeling when the realisation hits home when a minor is missing.

Separation anxiety is bad enough when parent and child are split up on the first day of school, moving out of home, or marrying and making their own way in the world.  We’ve heard about Hannah making a linen robe for her little boy, Samuel, seeing him only once a year as he serves with Eli in the temple.  Imagine that, seeing your little child once a year!

But that would  be a blessing for those who don’t know their child’s location.  How much worse is it when a child’s whereabouts is not known?  The mind races!  Have they been taken?  Are they alive? Where are they?  One fears the worst!

And then there’s the relief when one sets eyes on the child safe and sound.  Along with the joy of the lost being found, there’s also chastisement, especially if the child has wandered off of their own accord.  Measures are put in  place to protect the minor from going missing again.

Then there are those who have lost children in death.  December twenty-eight is the remembrance for the Holy Innocents, the children martyred by Herod in his rage to rid himself of the rival Christ-child King.  Unimaginable is the grief of those who’ve lost a child, seemingly before their time!  Children are expected to bury their parents, not the other way around.  This would have to be one of the worst things a parent has to confront.

But there is relief for Mary and Joseph.  When Jesus is found he says, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49 ESV)  Here Jesus mentions his Father, but it’s not Joseph.  In fact, Mary is the only parent mentioned by name.  Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus said to them.  Yet Mary remembered and pondered Jesus words, passing them onto Luke at some stage in the future for him to record it in his gospel account.

We know Jesus was not the natural born son of Joseph.  He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit when Gabriel, the archangel spoke to Mary.  Not naming Joseph can be viewed as a deliberate exclusion by Luke, the gospel’s author.  The boy Jesus, naming God as his Father and not his earthly father, Joseph, is a lesson for all fathers to ween their children from their fatherhood.  To teach and instruct their children about their adoption by the Heavenly Father in baptism.  God does not have grandchildren, just sons and daughters!  So, it’s mum’s and dad’s responsibility to hand their children onto their God and Father — Jesus’ Father who is in heaven.  In a similar way Elkanah and Hannah did this with Samuel.

One can imagine Samuel not understanding what was going on when he was young and sent to the temple to live with Eli.  Mary and Joseph also didn’t understand Jesus, having to be in his Father’s house. When we teach of God’s adoption in baptism, children may not understand, and as parents we might sinfully seek to have our children glorify us over God.  But through enduring teaching of our children, they will believe they are sons and daughters of the Father, long before they understand, if ever!

Losing a child is traumatic, no matter if it’s permanent, in death, or even, just for a time!  In a picture similar to Hannah and Elkanah, God the Father, gave up his one and only Son, to be born to human parents, Mary and Joseph.  However, Samuel’s ministry before the Lord differed greatly from Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus’ ministry was a baptism into death.  From the moment Jesus was conceived, he became the child, who was to be lost in death so humanity could be found by the Father, with life in Christ!  

Three days lost was too much for his parents to bear and understand, how much more his death on the cross, descent into the grave and hell, and resurrection on the third day?

How difficult it is for us to understand God the Father turning his back on his one and only Son to allow him to be the Son of Man, to be the Holy Innocent One for us, serving us salvation and innocence in exchange for our guilt and sin.  Serving you salvation to save you from your humanity!

The generations of children growing up today face a myriad of challenges that see too many realise their corruption only to give up and commit suicide.  Some take a longer road to death by giving themselves over to their desires that don’t deliver the perceived pleasures they thought they were going to get.  Like a throwaway Christmas present, over time they realise they’re on the garbage heap of life.

From the moment a child learns to say “no”, every human has always sought to make the pleasure, “all mine”!  These desires and pleasures become sexual in adolescence and adult life.   Then somewhere in there, we add the fixation of amassing goods; wealth and possessions that really aren’t all that good.  And when, and if, these temptations die down, honour and glory become more important as we seek to leave a legacy of our desires that ultimately, lead us to death.

How difficult it is for us children to turn our backs on the addictions that cause death.  So much so, the hopelessness realised in these days is accelerated in parallel with the ease and quickness of the ability to get, and be failed by, our desires and pleasures.

How difficult it is for us to understand that from the moment the Son of God was conceived within  Mary, he was saying “yes” to the will of our Father in heaven.  That when Jesus lay in a manger as a weak human baby, the Son of God was willingly putting aside his divinity to be in an environment of desire, disease, and death.  To serve and save humanity as the Son of Man! 

When he was a toddler and the holy innocents were being murdered by Herod’s men, he understood his mission as the Son of Man, and the Son of God, was to be innocently crucified on the cross, to save us from our desires, diseases, and death. 

Even now as he is at the right hand of God the Father, in all his risen glory, he continues to carry us in prayer before our Father. 

Our Father, together with his Son, send the Holy Spirit to serve us in a way that leads us from our evil, temptation to furnish our kingdoms of destruction and unwillingness to forgive.  To forgive!  To know and welcome God’s will is being done.  To hope in God’s kingdom coming in power and glory!  And to know and believe we are holy, because Jesus is our holy bread, despite the unholiness that leads every person to death.

What we consume and hang onto in this world is death.  We call it life and living, but it’s not!  However, a deposit of life has been placed within your shell of deathly existence.  When Jesus lay in the manger and when the children of Bethlehem were being murdered, he saw you!  When Jesus was asking questions of the teachers in his Father’s house in Jerusalem, when he wept over Lazarus’ death, and when he wept over Jerusalem, he was learning your death and weeping over you.  When he was nailed to the cross, when our sin nailed him there, he said of you, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34 ESV)

And because you do what God does not want you to do, he and Jesus constantly send you the Holy Spirit!  So, you too, do not like what you do, but allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your destruction of death, and resurrection to life eternal, even now in this earthly existence. 

The Father of Lies, the devil, and society in all its good and evil, rages against the destruction of death.  So too does the Old Adam within and it seeks a resurrection of its own that seeks to reestablish the savagery and death from which you’ve been rescued.

But our Lord and Father wins the battle over the devil, sin, and death, through his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

See the almighty heavenly joy, when you, the lost child, are brought by the Holy Spirit into the Father’s house.  See also the heavenly choir sing, “Glory to God in the highest”, when our Father is glorified in his Son Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, at your resurrection and return to be with your Heavenly Father, face to face forever. Amen.

Let us pray. Father welcomes all his children to his family through his Son, Father giving his salvation, life for ever has been one.  Lord God Holy Spirit, let us daily die to sin, let us daily die with him.  Holy Spirit, walk us in the love of Christ our Lord, so we live in the peace of God, our Father.  Amen.

C, Lent 5 - John 12:1-8, "Anointed and Embalmed as King"

 Text     John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”  He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.  “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. ”It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

1.         Buried Feet

Why did Mary smear the pure nard over Jesus' feet? The gospel reading we just heard doesn’t tell us why she went to such extremes.  This perfume from the nard plant in India was expensive ointment prepared from the roots and stems of this Himalayan plant.  So when she cracks open the pot of perfume and spreads the entire contents of it over his feet, about half a litre, it makes me wonder what motivated her to do it.  Half a litre is a lot of perfume.  The bible tells us it was worth a year’s wages, 300 denarii, close to thirteen thousand dollars worth, a lot of money in anyone’s language.  Imagine the scent it would leave. Think of aftershave or perfume poured on you feet, not just a drop but a half litre.  Why did Mary do it? Putting a little on sandal sore feet was normal when the host’s guests arrived from some distance.  But Mary buried his feet in so much ointment the pleasant scent would have been smelt just as far away.

2.         Jesus raised Lazarus

Looking back at recent events in John’s gospel sees Mary at Jesus' feet once before.  Both Mary and her sister, Martha, pleaded with Jesus when he arrived after Lazarus’ death, saying, ‘Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died!’  Mary fell at his feet weeping, so much so it moved Jesus, and he wept too. 

So Jesus raised Lazarus, he had earlier told Martha he was the resurrection and the life, and that’s exactly what he did, he gave life to Lazarus.  He cleared the stone away and raised Lazarus from the dead, and in the process made himself ritually unclean through his association with the corpse.  Jesus was the cause of Lazarus’ resurrection, it brought glory to God, but it also caused him to be covered with the stench of death.

3.         Jesus didn’t cleanse himself

As these events were occurring the Passover festival was drawing near.  Within a week lambs would be slaughtered so the Jews could commemorate, remember, and teach their children how the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Israelites, sparing the lives of their first born sons, the night before Moses raised the nation of Israel to life from the land of Egypt.  This festival called for the Jews to make their way to Jerusalem to be cleansed and purified for the Passover meal of bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and Passover lamb roasted over the fire, just as God had commanded Moses and the Israelites many years before. 

But Jesus doesn’t go to Jerusalem to be cleansed.  Rather he and his disciples leave Lazarus and withdraw to a region near the desert.   Jewish ritual expected a person to be cleansed, purified, and made holy, so they could stand before the Lord, who is holy, especially those who had come into contact with a dead body.  In chapter eleven just prior to the meal and Mary’s perfume pouring at Bethany, many stood in the temple area waiting for Jesus to appear.  After all he had raised Lazarus from the dead and was unclean.  But Jesus didn’t show, nor did he receive any cleansing.  No!  Jesus didn’t go to Jerusalem rather he returned to Bethany.  There is a knock at the door; Lazarus opens it to reveal God standing there with his disciples, still covered with the stigma of his death. 

4.         Mary serves Jesus

If I were to ask you to flick through the pages of John’s gospel and find the Last Supper where Jesus gives us the Words of Institution, you would come up empty.  In fact John doesn’t give us an account of the Last Supper.  Instead he speaks of two meals.  Both meals are linked by the attention given to the feet.  At the first meal Mary washes Jesus’ feet and then at the second meal Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. 

It is true that at both meals foot washing caricatures service.  The very nature of foot washing shows both the humility and greatness of serving.  Mary serves Jesus with faithfulness and sheer gratitude when she smears the pure nard on Jesus' feet.  Probably overwhelmed at Jesus’ resurrecting power over her brother Lazarus, she served him with the same passionate emotional fervour as when she cried tears over his feet when Lazarus was still dead.

Mary’s actions came from deep within.  We know that these actions were great.  So great I find it hard to comprehend!  The perfume’s purity is not lost on John as he reports Judas Iscariot’s disapproval and tells us the nard was worth a year’s wages.  Lazarus, Mary and Martha were not excessively wealthy; after all there are no servants to do the tasks of washing feet or serving the meal, which Martha serves.

Mary’s action was also great from another perspective too.  It would have taken a great deal of courage and faithfulness for this woman to let her hair down in public.  It was not something done by respectable Jewish women.  In her action all honour is taken from her and given to Jesus.  Perhaps the perfume that might have been reserved to cover the stench of Lazarus’ death was now floating around the house as the fragrance of life and love.  Or maybe Mary was still covering the stigma of death; Lazarus’ deathly uncleanness in Christ and the upcoming death that awaited him on the cross?

5.         Jesus Anointed and Embalmed as Messiah and King

So what was happening to Jesus at Lazarus’ house when Mary poured or smeared the pure nard on his feet?  Another word to describe Mary’s action of pouring or smearing is anointing.  Mary anointed Jesus.  In fact she anointed Jesus Christ, Son of God, King of the Jews.

When a king or queen is enthroned into their office, they have a coronation.  In recent times we haven’t seen a coronation; in fact the last was Queen Elizabeth many years ago.  But like any royal event their coronation to the throne involves much royal regalia, long processions through the streets, pomp, ritual and ceremony.   

Jesus was on his way to a coronation too.  He was soon to be glorified on the cross.  A little later on in the gospel Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (12:23, 32). Jesus took his throne when he was nailed to the cross, on that throne he draws all to himself.

Mary anointed the King, maybe a little prematurely before his coronation, which would begin on the next day as he rode the donkey into Jerusalem over palm branches thrown down by the crowds. Therefore, how could she not anoint the King of Kings with such an expensive perfume?  After all he is the king who draws all people to himself. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

But paradoxically in a seemingly contradictory way Mary anoints the body of Jesus just as all bodies are anointed before they are buried.  Jesus even says of Mary’s anointing, ‘it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial’ (12:7).  How can a king’s coronation and his enthronement be the very same thing that kills him?  How can the King of Kings draw all to himself if he is hanging dead on his throne?  Well, this is the mystery of the cross, this is the contradiction of the cross, this is the glory of the cross, this is the victory of the cross, and this is the beauty of the cross, where our Lord was enthroned.

Just before Jesus was crucified he washed his disciples’ feet. When he came to Peter, Peter said no to his feet being washed, but Jesus said, ‘Unless I wash your feet you have no part with me (13:8)’.  Mary may have served Jesus at the first meal, but it was Jesus who served, when he washed the disciples’ feet at that second meal, when by his word he raised Lazarus to life,  and when he took the ugliness of death to the cross for Lazarus and also for you.  Jesus has washed us too, eternal death is no more, we are washed and now have a part with Jesus in eternity.  

6.         Jesus’ Service as our Passover Lamb

When we hear that Mary broke the bottle of thirteen thousand dollar scented oil over Jesus' feet, it makes us sit up and take notice.  Why she did it, we can only speculate.  But this double action anointing, together with the events before and after, tell us of God’s Son who was anointed and embalmed as King of Kings, was sacrificed and enthroned on the cross, was buried in death but at the same time buried eternal death, and who was raised to life is also your resurrection and your life.  Sit up and take notice, Jesus serves you, he has cleansed you!  Smell the sweet scent of life bought at great cost for you by our Passover Lamb.  He is the resurrection and the life!  In this King death has lost its stench, and now the power of death has passed over you and me.  Amen.

C, Christmas 1 - Luke 2:41-52 "In the Father's House"

Luke 2:41–52 (ESV) Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.  And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.  And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it,  but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances,  and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.  After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”  And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.  And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.  And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.

Losing a child would have to be one of the scariest things a parent could experience.  Even if a child is lost for a short length of time, it can make a parent fear the worst.  Imagine losing a child for a number of days and how the mind would race over all the evil possibilities.  Think of families who have lost children mysteriously, never to see them again.  And to the relief of those who take their child back into their arms after being missing and feared dead.

Picture Mary and Joseph racing around in confusion after realising they had lost Jesus.  And after returning to Jerusalem, looking for three days before they found him.  They, like any parent, would have been fearing the worst while Jesus was missing.

But Jesus was not missing, and he adds to his parents’ confusion when they find him sitting amongst the teachers in the temple.   For three days they were taunted and tortured, churning in a wish wash of emotions, then they find him completely at peace.  Mary and Joseph were beside themselves in distress and astonishment. 

How would you react having lost your child only to find them completely unconcerned by the three-day separation?

We might try to attribute blame to Mary and Joseph for not providing a safe place for Jesus. Especially, since they had gone a day’s journey and not noticed he was missing.  Despite not knowing exactly what had occurred, it was custom for travellers to move in a group, and somehow Jesus was overlooked amongst their family and friends.  Nevertheless, Jesus was in the safest of places, in his Heavenly Father’s presence. 

Rewind back to the Garden of Eden, where God is walking in the cool of the evening, looking for Adam and Eve.  This is a very different picture; God is neither confused nor distressed.  However, Adam and Eve, unlike Jesus were distressed and afraid and hid themselves from God.

Two very different images; one, of a boy happily at rest in God’s presence, and the other, a couple guiltily hiding and covering themselves in shame.  One, parents frantically looking for a son, and the other, the Father of Creation walking in the cool of the evening looking for his first-created son and daughter.

Jesus Christ is the new Adam, born into humanity as the son of man and as the Son of God.  There was no guilt in him when he was found.  He responds to Mary’s distress and rebuke, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49 ESV)

Literally, Jesus says, why were you seeking me?  Why were you worshipping me with worry?  I was in the things of my Father!  Unlike Adam and Eve acting like two guilty kids caught in the act, Jesus was not into mischief with his Father’s things.  He was not hiding from them, nor was he turning his back on his Father, as did Adam and Eve when tempted by the devil, and left cowering in naked shame when God came looking for them.   

There are two different outcomes from these two events.  Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden and lived under the curse of sin in the productivity of their environment and humanity’s reproduction.  But Jesus went back to the destitute village of Nazareth in full submission to his parents.

We hear, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52 ESV)

As Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in favour as the Son of God and as the son of man.  He not only grew in favour with God, but he also grew in favour as the Son of God.  Here we can picture Jesus’ submission in a whole different light than that of our human submission.  

We best get an understanding of his submission when we consider how we react when we are treated without respect or if we are treated like children or as inferior.  When we perceive we are being treated with contempt, we want to snap back at the condescender, to regain our position.  Jesus too would have been sinned against as a youth and as a young man by his family and friends.

But, as Jesus grew in wisdom, of humanity’s sin and his divinity, his wisdom grew in levels of generosity and steadfast love towards both God the Father, and compassion and steadfast love towards the sinfulness of his Father Joseph and his family.  And indeed, all of his brothers and sisters in the family of Adam.

This is the man from Nazareth who returned to Jerusalem in full submission to God and man as Son of God and Son of Man.  Jesus’ wisdom and favour seemed to be dashed at Jerusalem when on returning on Palm Sunday in victory riding on a donkey, within the week was cursed by the crowd and hung on the cross.

For Jesus’ wisdom we can be truly thankful.  As God’s children we are called into the wisdom and stature of Jesus Christ.  As we grow, we are called to a deeper understanding of our sin and our need for forgiveness and the need to forgive others.

We are called to be like the growing Jesus of Nazareth as we learn of our Sonship though our adoption as God’s children.  Because Jesus grew in wisdom, we are free to grow in his holy chosen and beloved character. 

Because we are saved sinner we can put on love, that is; put on Christ Jesus.  We are free to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Just as Jesus was all these things in wisdom as he carried your sin to the cross with the sin of the world.

When you struggle to put on Jesus, pray for the Holy Spirit to clothe you in Jesus Christ.  Pray for deliverance into holiness, being led from temptation into God’s Kingdom, and the will to forgive as God has forgiven you.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you Jesus as your daily bread, giving you the hunger to worship in your Father’s house.

We no longer have to hide in fear of God, like Adam and Eve.  Nor, like Joseph and Mary, do we have to go searching for him in great distress.  As forgiven sinners, God now temples in us, now we are free to clothe ourselves in him.  Amen.

Come Lord Jesus and be our guest, you are our holy bread, and we pray that through your Word and your church, the world may be clothed and fed.  Amen.  

C, Advent 4 - Hebrews 10:5-7,10 "God's Mighty Arms"

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”   And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (Hebrews 10:5–7,10 ESV)

These are the strengths of God in our lives: For Jesus to save us, and the Holy Spirit to help us!

From his mighty arms he gives us all we need in this life.  Salvation and sanctification are two arms of love outstretched toward us, from the Father of light, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  For God to save us and make us holy, is his will for all people on earth.  God’s will is your forgiveness of sin, and his will is for you to believe you are forgiven.

Not only is salvation through Jesus and being made holy by the Holy Spirit, God’s strength in our lives; it also pleases God when we take every opportunity to immerse ourselves in his salvation and holiness. 

When we do this, it’s a “win win” situation for us.  When one is immersed in salvation and holiness, God the Father is justified in his power and plan, and we are forgiven.  This forgiveness comes through the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of his Son, Jesus Christ.  And the Holy Spirit continues bringing forgiveness, first at Pentecost, then through the Word of God and through baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection and through his body and blood in the bread and wine.

When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “your will be done”, it pleases God no end, to hinder and defeat every evil scheme and purpose of the world, the devil, and the old Adam within us.  In fact, when God’s will is done in heaven, he forgives us, sin is conquered by Jesus in his death and resurrection. He has victoriously ascended to the right hand of God the Father, finishing our separation from our Father in heaven.  Jesus now stands as the embodiment of the resurrection as the first born from the dead for all people who trust in him.  This includes you and me!

Although God’s will is done in heaven by God forgiving us our sin, and the devil has been conquered and thrown out of God’s presence, the devil still has limited power on earth.  And because of this, God’s will continues to be done on earth.

This makes earth the testing ground for humanity, where within each of us the battle rages between the will of God and the will of fallen humanity.  With his plan and power of salvation and holiness, God seeks to work forgiveness and good will as we live together.  Yet, the old Adam within each of us struggles to dominate with its knowledge of good and evil, driven by the devil.  And the devil is delirious and riddled with rage because he knows he is judged and is heading for eternal destruction with limited time left to deceive the world.

However, the contest between the devil and God is unbalanced.  God is not going to lose.  He is going to win, and it pleases him when we choose to remain with him.  It’s no wonder evil causes so much fury within those who desire to be in control and do not want to be delivered from evil by God into eternal holiness.

Not only is the devil on the losing side and is limited for a brief time in the restricted realm of creation amongst humanity, but he can only be in one place at one time.  On the other hand, God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.  This means God is present everywhere, he knows all things and he is all-powerful.  And the devil is not, nor is humanity, nor is the old Adam within each of us.

Furthermore, this evil axis of the devil, the world, and our sinful self, is up against the three-fold divinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere in creation and outside of it.

Since God’s will is done in heaven, we know it is done on earth.  Jesus is at the right hand of the Father doing his work of interceding on behalf of you and me.  The Holy Spirit is at the left hand of the Father being our help, giving us the words to pray and leading us into knowledge of our sin and salvation in God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit also brings us into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ and with each other.

The good news for you and me is that the Triune God embraces all who trust in him with the steadfast love of salvation, intercession, and holy help.  And this pleases God when we allow him to love us with his Trinitarian holy hug.

Mary says of God, “for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.  And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy.” (Luke 1:49–54 ESV)

Mary declares God’s love as an embrace of mercy.  Mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation… in remembrance of his mercy.  In his mercy, he helps, fills, and exalts those who look to him.  But dismisses those who won’t receive his mercy, but rather, trust in their thoughts, thrones, and treasures.

But, our thoughts, our thrones, and our treasures all come from God in the first place!  It doesn’t please God when we trust in them instead of him.  Nor does it please him if we give him what he first gave us as a sacrifice for our salvation. 

Both trusting, in what God has given us, and, giving it back to him, is a feeble attempt to justify the human spirit, the old Adam within or the collective spirituality of worldly humanity.  And it’s a deception of the devil seeking to have us believe we can deliver ourselves out of evil into the holiness of God by doing such things!

But God has a Mighty Righthand Man praying for us.  Jesus Christ is the almighty power of God’s right hand!  God has fought and won the battle with the strength of Jesus’ love, faithfulness, and submission unto death.  And even despite God giving the knockout punch to sin and death in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Father and the Son to help us, and deal with the human spirit with which the old Adam seeks to control and deliver us into self-destruction and death.

God’s will for you is to give you life, today and into eternity!  Psalm 80 testifies to God’s righthand man, the son of man, Jesus Christ, who is made strong for God’s good pleasure, for our salvation, and for goodwill amongst humanity. 

Yet, in our existence it might not always be apparent that God’s will for you is to give you life.  In fact, most of the time it appears God has delivered us over to death and decay.  

Similarly, when you look at Jesus’ ordinary entrance into the world, his life of struggle and opposition received, it looks like Jesus was not God’s righthand man.  That God had left him to die and decay also. 

Still, as Jesus stared death in the face, as the cross and crucifixion awaited him, he was faithful and steadfast towards God’s will, which is your forgiveness.

You too are called to faithfulness and steadfastness, despite what might appear as if you have been left for dead.  But just as Jesus was raised, you too are called to see your resurrection in Jesus’ resurrection.  It pleases God when you see and hear his plan for your salvation fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

For God to give you life, he needs to show you darkness, destruction, and death within yourself, so you might willingly receive his restoration and let his face shine on your darkness so you might be saved. 

Hear Psalm 80… But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!  Let your face shine, that we may be saved!  (Psalm 80:17–19 ESV)

Jesus now shepherds you in his forgiveness.  His face shines on you in his good pleasure.  But it also shines in the darkness to show the way of peace.  Jesus, together with the Father, sends the Holy Spirit to guide you and help you remain within his boundaries and to live, the life he won for you, in peace. 

God promises Jesus will shepherd you in his church.  The prophet Micah declares on God’s behalf, “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.” (Micah 5:4–5a ESV)

In God’s mighty arms there is peace and love, to the ends of the earth.  Amen.

B, Advent 4 - Luke 1:30-35 "The Advent of Love"

How does one love?  How does one love with the right love?  What is the “right” love?  As we light the candles of Advent we light the candle of love.  As we wait and watch for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ do we love waiting and watching for him?

If you are like me, waiting and watching, is a task that frustrates.  I want to wait and watch but without much notice I find myself waiting and watching for the things God will not find pleasing when Jesus Christ returns.  “How” I love comes down to “what” I love.  What do you love?  What you wait and watch for shows what you love?

When you love something or someone, love demands all other loves must die.  For humans, love usually expresses itself in desire, or what one wants.  When I want something all other things seem less important until I get the thing or person I want. When I get it desire then builds for the next thing I want to conquer.

As people of God you and I come up short in the love God wants us to have.  Why is it I find myself loving the stuff, I know and have been taught as a Christian, comes from the darkness within me? To my dismay I begin the day saying to myself I am going to follow you Heavenly Father, but somewhere each day I end up finding myself following my desire.  Love for God disappears, dead and gone, and in its place I find I love with a love that has me at the centre.

King David was no stranger to this frustration as the battle of love raged within.  David ruled with the promise that God’s steadfast love would not depart from him. But even being the anointed King he struggled.  David finds himself concerned that while he has a dwelling, a king’s residence, God does not.  And yet not long after his outwardly looking concern for God, from the roof of his very dwelling, he finds himself in the midst of lust and craving over Bathsheba, and then the death and cover up of her husband Uriah. 

I imagine after David was caught out in adultery and murder, he must have wondered, how he had got things so wrong!  Hear his plea for mercy and steadfast love...

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (Psalm 51:10–13 ESV)

When you and I get caught out we too wonder in our shame how we get things so wrong, how love is so corrupted within us.

How do you respond when you get it wrong?  Do you say, “It happens”, then forget about it and move on to the next disaster?

I suspect you do.  Why? Because we’re children of this generation!  We’re taught to watch and wait in all the wrong ways.  We watch our televisions and wait for the internet to load.  We bombard ourselves with information twenty-four hours a day, in front of the misfits and mischief of television, the internet, and social mediums.  Our lack of response and learning from love gone wrong is dictated by what we do most of the time.  And that is nothing because that’s what watching TV teaches us to do as we wait for the show to continue after each break.

The human spirit loves the technology of instant gratification.  The human spirit loves how it feels with little regard for the facts.  Television and the social media of our age care little for stopping and investigating what and why we fail, let alone do much about having it fixed.  Rather you and I have been taught to seek the quick fix of feelings as we watch funny failures and the feel good mountains of mindless media.

Do we feel the love? Can we feel the love?  Only for a fleeting second then no, nothing once again! When love is based on my feelings, this kind of love leaves me feeling dumb and numb.

So we return to the question, “How do we love?”  Its here we need to address the question.  The focus of the question is all wrong.   The focus needs to be taken away from us and our feelings.  We need a revelation from God on how we are loved to even begin to know what the right love is.

But you can learn from your failure.  You can stop and see how the techno-gods work destruction in you.  We need to learn they serve us by taking our focus from the things that serves us for eternal salvation.  Our craving for love, our ability to watch and wait with love, needs to be answered but not from within our human spirit being entertained to death but from the true source of constant, unwavering, unfailing, unfaltering, steadfast love.

This love came upon Mary most unexpectedly when Archangel Gabriel without warning appeared to her.

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. (Luke 1:30–35 ESV)

When God’s steadfast love came to Mary, it came bring unknown knowledge and love to challenge the status quo of humanity’s misguided love. Imagine Gabriel as the power app of the day.  He was the facebook of God, the Studio Ten transmission, the Snapchat service, the good newsfeed sent to inform Mary.  Gabriel in the Hebrew literally means “the mighty one of God” and what a mighty message it was this angel brought from God.

This message of love through incarnation was like no other.  It would have been hard to hear and understand.  But Mary went on to allow the power of the Most High to overshadow her and we too can surrender to this Most High Love.

How do we love with the right love? We need to allow God to love us and we do this by yielding our human spirit to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit leads us in God’s word.  The Holy Spirit also gives us the right perspective on God’s word so we might be found living under his word, hungering for love and righteousness because we realise just how much love and righteousness we truly need.

The Holy Spirit reveals what love is in the Word of God, the same Holy Spirit that conceived the Love of God incarnate in Mary’s womb.  The Holy Spirit reveals our need for this Steadfast Love too.  The fact is we cannot love God unless we have received the forgiveness of sins[1].   And we receive the forgiveness of sins as we believe and confess we are sinners. The Holy Spirit enables us to remain in Christ and confess him as our Saviour.  The Holy Spirit works in us throughout our lives teaching us more and more to abide in this Steadfast Love, as he works to kill off what we often love more than God.

Also a fact, without the forgiveness of sin there can only be terror in our knowledge of sin and death.  So let the Holy Spirit return you to the home of repentance and confession of sin before Jesus Christ.  Let him lead you from the haughty house of feelings where the words of love echo around it in emptiness that leads consciences into pride or despair.  Let this love die so the Holy Spirit can build you up with the steadfast love of God in Christ Jesus.

You and your human spirit cannot create this true love but you can receive it and let it flow through you to others.  Let it flow through you as forgiveness.  The Holy Spirit, through the word of God, has brought us to Jesus and our Heavenly Father, he is bringing us to Jesus and our Heavenly Father now, and he will continue to bring us to Jesus and our Heavenly Father.  So let us pray for the full incarnation of God within us and for all whom we forgive this advent of Christmas...

Holy Spirit – be, come, do, give, forgive, lead and deliver as we wait and watch for the only wise God who in glory reigns together in triune steadfast holy love, now and forever. Amen.

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[1] Apology IV:311