Advent Week 4: John's Gospel

John's gospel, like Mark, fails to have a distinct advent story. In fact, John differs greatly from any gospel in the aspect that this godpel fails to really anticipate the coming of the Christ. Rather John is more concerned with saying something like this,"Hey, this Jesus Guy, He has been around all along, He has existed since the beginning, He was around before your father's father, and he will be around long after your kid's kids." 

It does however make sense that John begins differently, seeing as he was writing a book that was heavily influenced by Greek thought or at the very least written to people that were influenced heavily by Greek thought. And one of the things Greek thought  abhorred was new things. A bad advertising strategy to get Greek thinkers to buy your product back then would have been, "hey buy this item it is new and improved." Rather a better strategy may have been, "try the same old comfortable thing, it's the same as it was 2,000 years ago!" Sounds like some of our churches, so the concept shouldn't be too hard to grasp.

 But I digress, John really wanted to say, hey this Jesus guy has been around, and guess what, He is a light to the dark world, and he can't be overcome! Which is true, because as one preacher pointed out, dark and light never can compete against each other, because light will always shine in the darkness, and darkness can never exist once light becomes present. Now the question remains is this, where does Jesus shine? Where does His light exists? Well it is supposed to exist in His followers, after all His followers are a light that is not to be extinguished, and they are to be a great city on a hill. 

So what can we learn from this gospel in the season of advent? It's that yes we can wait for the Christ to come again in bodily form, but it is also that we need to live as Christ is still present as He has been from the beginning, and that we are to be the bearers of His light. So don't let advent be a time where we stop being a light because we are so focused on waiting for the light to re-enter the world. Rather, remember that Christ is still present  (as he has always been) and that He calls us to be His light, or do His will.

Advent Week 3: Luke

Being of low status is a common theme in the advent story that is found in Luke. Elizabeth was an outsider in her own family for not having produced a male child for her husband, Mary had not even enter the age of adulthood when she found out her pregnancy, and the shepherds were men who were offered the first chance to worship the new savior born into this world, despite being considered by their religion to be dirty people and therefore unfit to participate in temple worship.  The fact is this, Luke continually shows how God uses those of humble status to be a part of His plan.

But why is this humility important? Why are the humble raised up, while the haughty are lowered down? I believe that only in humbleness do we find our need for Jesus, only in humbleness can we truly accept him. Think about if for a minute. If one were to think they are great, that they can control those beneath them, that they are powerful, then why the need for a savior? There isn't! However, when one comes to realize how sinful they are, how much of a distortion they are of God's original intention, then they realize their need of a savior.

 But here is the important thing that we must remember as Christ followers, this humbleness is to never stop, we are not to become haughty in knowing that we are now part of God's chosen while others are left out, yes even the haughty; even those darn political opponents who are on the side of Satan; even those who kill Christians; even those who kill babies; even those who kill the image of God in general; even those who lie, steal, fornicate, lust; even those who (insert egregious sin here). Okay, so you get the point by now. The reason we have no reason to become haughty ourselves is this:our newfound glory (some newer than others) is the result of nothing we have done, but is rather the result of someone else's action. 

So Really, what do we have to brag about? Very little to be exact, the only thing we have to brag about is how great our God is, as opposed to how great we are either as an individuals or as a church. The truth is this: that even though we have been and are continually raised up by God, we are in effect still sinners. No matter how much we grow, we still break the Law of God, and we will until we are glorified after our deaths.  And therefore to judge/ look down upon others is quite a rather ridiculous action. It would be like trying to remove a speck from someone else's eye while having a huge stick protruding from our own (don't praise me for my originality in that  think someone else already used that image). Anyway, you get the picture right? I hope so.

So as we await for the coming of Christ in this advent season, let us remember this one important thing, to walk humbly, because that is one thing that the Lord requires of his people.

Advent Week Two: Matthew 2

Chapter 2 of Matthew is a story that compares and contrasts two groups of people who were supposedly awaiting the coming of the Messiah. On one hand we have the outsiders, the Magi (often times today referred to as kings), and on the other hand we have the religious establishment of the Jewish faith: the chief priests and the scribes. One group searched out the Messiah, while the other passively stayed behind despite hearing that the Messiah had been born. One group wished to honor the Messiah, while the other wished to help Herod in his evil plan. And one group wished to recognize the importance of the Messiah, while the other wished to hold onto their status in society. 

Ironically, in this story, it wasn't the insiders who chose to search, honor and, recognize the Messiah, rather it was the outsiders. And what makes it rather humorous, was that not only were the Magi outsiders, but they were also a  group of men who would have been recognized as being false diviners (Deuteronomy  18:11, Isaiah 2:6; 47:11-15). Yet despite being false diviners, somehow YAWEH had imparted truth to these men, and as a result they were the ones who recognized the birth of the savior rather than those who were supposedly the true diviners. As a result they put the Christ in his proper place, a place where he received honor, a place where they put him above themselves as they offered royal gifts, a place of great importance in society and their lives.

 The religious insiders on the other hand, who had the "true" knowledge of God totally missed the boat on this one. They wished to hold onto their status here given to them by the king(It should be noted that many of the religious leaders of the day had been removed by Herod and replaced by those of Herod's choosing, thus making them servants of the government as well). As a result they likely sided with Herod out of fear that if Herod was removed by this new King, they in turn may lose their status. Another possibility is that they may have been motivated by fact that if they angered Herod that he would remove them from their offices. Either way this resulted in putting their good above God's good, as they chose to put their honor above God's honor, and they chose to put their importance above God's importance.

So what can we learn from this, we learn that serving Christ is not about us, it is not about our gain. As John the baptist stated, "He must become greater, I must become less." However in our culture (just as it was in this story) something like going to church has often become about us rather than God, and some churches even reinforce this idea through marketing techniques meant to make the church fit the needs of people, rather the desire of God's will. The result of this is that we have some people who attend churches in order to benefit themselves rather than to benefit God. In other words, often times church becomes about us, it's about what we can attain or achieve and hold onto, rather than what God can achieve. The same held true with the chief priests, the scribes, and Herod. 

So this season, As we wait and celebrate the return of the Christ, let us be reminded that we are not to be the religious establishment found in Matthew 2 but rather we are to be Magi. People who spend their lives in worship, a worship where we desire to seek, honor, and recognize Christ's importance.