Advent Devotion from Saturday and Sunday, Dec 16-17
From Saturday, based on Luke 3:1-9 (read it here: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=33385478 )
At first blush, this may look like the passage we read from Mark on Wednesday or from Matthew on Thursday. But one thing separates Luke from these two passages; actually, there are several things but one that I want to focus on. When the other gospels use the passage from Isaiah to talk about John’s mission, they use only the first sentence: “to prepare the way of the Lord, and to make his paths straight.” But Luke adds, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
This extra sentence might just seem like words on a page, but it does illuminate a bit about John’s job. Part of what John came to do was to level the world before Jesus came. The Pharisees and religious elite had to be brought low–so, as we’ve seen in the last couple of days, John didn’t hesitate to bring them low, calling them a “brood of vipers.” It was harsh, but if they were to truly encounter Jesus, they needed to be brought low. The poor and the lowly, on the other hand, had to be raised up. If they would meet Jesus, they had to learn that they also were precious, that they had every bit as much right to meet God the Son as the fancy Pharisees did. If they did not learn that they were precious, they would never truly encounter Jesus either, because they would not count themselves worthy of his friendship.
Part of what we are to do during Advent is to prepare our lives in the same way. No doubt, there are parts of our spirits which must be brought low. There are parts of us that we are sure we have all figured out, that we don’t need God’s help with anymore, thank you very much. Perhaps we are certain that we already have the right opinion on politics or poverty or prayer and that what the world really needs is more people who agree with us. These areas in our lives must be brought low–for our own sake! We must somehow be taken down a peg; we must fail somehow so we fall out of love with ourselves. Because if we remain in love with ourselves, like the Pharisees, we can never really meet Jesus.
Yet of course we are not arrogant about everything, or even many things. There are some things in our lives which we feel quite the opposite about–we do not feel that we have them solved by any stretch. Instead, they are so foreign or big or difficult that we feel we could never see them with the mind of Christ. These areas in our lives are spiritual areas which must be raised up. For example, you may feel like the Bible is a terrifying, arcane, mystifying book which you could never understand. But you must believe in yourself more than this–this part of your life must be raised up! Only when you believe that God can help you to achieve this can that actually happen. If you are resigned to never understanding the Bible, then God cannot transform that part of you! This also holds true for many other areas: prayer feels foreign to many of us. Giving feels difficult for us. Accountability is uncommon in our culture. We may look at these areas (and many more) and say that they simply are too hard for us. But these are areas which must be raised up if we are to allow God to transform us.
In each of our lives, there are things we need to not be so arrogant about, and things we need to believe in ourselves more for. May God use this Advent season to “level the ground” of your heart, so that Christ may reside more fully there.
...and from Sunday, based on John 3:16-21 (read it here:
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=33385549 )
As we enter the third week of Advent, we read an excerpt from Jesus to Nicodemus. It is at once a great celebration and a great tragedy.
The first verse of the passage is perhaps the most famous in Scripture. It speaks of the depth of God’s love for us. In essence it says: “This is how much God loves us: he gave his Son. And he gave his Son so that everyone who believes will not die but live with him forever.” We learn this verse as children in Sunday School so that we will know just how much God loves us, just how deeply he cares: he cares so much, he gave his Son for us. (As a father myself now, I am even more in awe of a love that would give a child away.)
Yet further along in the passage, we read some of the most tragic lines in Scripture. “This is the verdict: that light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” In other words, Jesus has come, but because of the inclinations of the human heart, people preferred life without Jesus to life with Jesus. Life with Jesus is the greatest gift from God to humanity, promising the total transformation of our hearts. Yet because of the human desire to do evil, we perceive this great gift of God not as a gift, but as a threat. And so people love darkness rather than light; they would rather live a miserable life that they can understand than a life transformed by God.
Advent is a good time to ask the question: Are you really serious about entering the God-centered life? Jesus comes as the light, as God’s greatest gift of love to us. All the beautiful gifts of life–the love of family, the majesty of creation, the gifts of food and shelter and happiness–all of these things pale in comparison to the gift of Jesus. Yet if we are not serious about entering into a God-centered life, then our natural inclinations will pull us back toward the darkness. If we are not intentional about seeking God, about walking in the light, we will simply drift back toward the darkness.
Eight days from now, you will be celebrating the coming of a Baby. You get to pick what this day will mean to you. You can let it mean what it means to others: a chance to be with family, a celebration of the miracle of new life, an acknowledgment of an historical event in Bethlehem 2010 years ago.
Or you can let it mean something different. This year, you can see that Baby as a gift for you, a gift that will bring all kinds of new life, a gift that leads you to a way of living you never imagined. You can let Jesus be the light which guides you to a new way of thinking and acting and believing.
The option you choose will be determined by whether you love darkness or light.
At first blush, this may look like the passage we read from Mark on Wednesday or from Matthew on Thursday. But one thing separates Luke from these two passages; actually, there are several things but one that I want to focus on. When the other gospels use the passage from Isaiah to talk about John’s mission, they use only the first sentence: “to prepare the way of the Lord, and to make his paths straight.” But Luke adds, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
This extra sentence might just seem like words on a page, but it does illuminate a bit about John’s job. Part of what John came to do was to level the world before Jesus came. The Pharisees and religious elite had to be brought low–so, as we’ve seen in the last couple of days, John didn’t hesitate to bring them low, calling them a “brood of vipers.” It was harsh, but if they were to truly encounter Jesus, they needed to be brought low. The poor and the lowly, on the other hand, had to be raised up. If they would meet Jesus, they had to learn that they also were precious, that they had every bit as much right to meet God the Son as the fancy Pharisees did. If they did not learn that they were precious, they would never truly encounter Jesus either, because they would not count themselves worthy of his friendship.
Part of what we are to do during Advent is to prepare our lives in the same way. No doubt, there are parts of our spirits which must be brought low. There are parts of us that we are sure we have all figured out, that we don’t need God’s help with anymore, thank you very much. Perhaps we are certain that we already have the right opinion on politics or poverty or prayer and that what the world really needs is more people who agree with us. These areas in our lives must be brought low–for our own sake! We must somehow be taken down a peg; we must fail somehow so we fall out of love with ourselves. Because if we remain in love with ourselves, like the Pharisees, we can never really meet Jesus.
Yet of course we are not arrogant about everything, or even many things. There are some things in our lives which we feel quite the opposite about–we do not feel that we have them solved by any stretch. Instead, they are so foreign or big or difficult that we feel we could never see them with the mind of Christ. These areas in our lives are spiritual areas which must be raised up. For example, you may feel like the Bible is a terrifying, arcane, mystifying book which you could never understand. But you must believe in yourself more than this–this part of your life must be raised up! Only when you believe that God can help you to achieve this can that actually happen. If you are resigned to never understanding the Bible, then God cannot transform that part of you! This also holds true for many other areas: prayer feels foreign to many of us. Giving feels difficult for us. Accountability is uncommon in our culture. We may look at these areas (and many more) and say that they simply are too hard for us. But these are areas which must be raised up if we are to allow God to transform us.
In each of our lives, there are things we need to not be so arrogant about, and things we need to believe in ourselves more for. May God use this Advent season to “level the ground” of your heart, so that Christ may reside more fully there.
...and from Sunday, based on John 3:16-21 (read it here:
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=33385549 )
As we enter the third week of Advent, we read an excerpt from Jesus to Nicodemus. It is at once a great celebration and a great tragedy.
The first verse of the passage is perhaps the most famous in Scripture. It speaks of the depth of God’s love for us. In essence it says: “This is how much God loves us: he gave his Son. And he gave his Son so that everyone who believes will not die but live with him forever.” We learn this verse as children in Sunday School so that we will know just how much God loves us, just how deeply he cares: he cares so much, he gave his Son for us. (As a father myself now, I am even more in awe of a love that would give a child away.)
Yet further along in the passage, we read some of the most tragic lines in Scripture. “This is the verdict: that light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” In other words, Jesus has come, but because of the inclinations of the human heart, people preferred life without Jesus to life with Jesus. Life with Jesus is the greatest gift from God to humanity, promising the total transformation of our hearts. Yet because of the human desire to do evil, we perceive this great gift of God not as a gift, but as a threat. And so people love darkness rather than light; they would rather live a miserable life that they can understand than a life transformed by God.
Advent is a good time to ask the question: Are you really serious about entering the God-centered life? Jesus comes as the light, as God’s greatest gift of love to us. All the beautiful gifts of life–the love of family, the majesty of creation, the gifts of food and shelter and happiness–all of these things pale in comparison to the gift of Jesus. Yet if we are not serious about entering into a God-centered life, then our natural inclinations will pull us back toward the darkness. If we are not intentional about seeking God, about walking in the light, we will simply drift back toward the darkness.
Eight days from now, you will be celebrating the coming of a Baby. You get to pick what this day will mean to you. You can let it mean what it means to others: a chance to be with family, a celebration of the miracle of new life, an acknowledgment of an historical event in Bethlehem 2010 years ago.
Or you can let it mean something different. This year, you can see that Baby as a gift for you, a gift that will bring all kinds of new life, a gift that leads you to a way of living you never imagined. You can let Jesus be the light which guides you to a new way of thinking and acting and believing.
The option you choose will be determined by whether you love darkness or light.
posted by Rev. Michael Jordan at 2:55 PM
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