December 20, 2009

2009 12 20

Love Promised, Love Fulfilled

Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

If you have not figured it out by now...I love Christmas.  Every Christmas is a gift, and as we look forward to it each year as if we are opening a present.  It is full of joy and excitement and promise.  Yes, the story is the same.  The characters are the same last year and the year before.  The birth of Christ that we celebrate is the same every year.  It is we...the people...who change each year.  We grow older, more mature, and hopefully a little wiser.  (Note that I said "hopefully".)  I think that we are best off to look at Christmas through the eyes of a child...with simple and loving faith.  Yet, as we grow older, we can't help but see the big picture just a little clearer.

You see, the story of Christmas began long before Mary and Joseph ever walked the earth.  The story of Christmas began with a promise of love.  Really it began as God created Adam and Eve.  God would love them and care for them as a parent cared for a child.  When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that relationship would be ruined.  No longer could God take care of humanity the same way.  No longer could God and man have the intimacy they held in the garden of Eden.  Yet, he could never stop loving us. 

You see, that is the story of humanity.  God loves us.  God loves us, but over the course of thousands of years, we usually did not love him back.  Sure there have been times every now and again throughout the course of human history, where God would renew his promise of love, and a small group of people, the Israelites, would promise to love him back. 

These people promised to love God with all that they had and all that they were.  They promised to care for each other.  When a neighbor was down or needed help, they would lend a hand.  No one was to be hungry, and no one was to ever be alone.  The Lord God would be their God, and they would be his people.  Love God, and serve him only.  Follow his laws.  Celebrate his holy days.  Treat all people fairly.  God's plan was fairly straightforward and simple.  The only problem was that it included people. 

Again, the Israelites enjoyed an off again on again relationship with God.  We've seen relationships like this in our own lives...the couple where one of them is obviously more devoted than the other.  One person does everything within his or her power to make things work, only to see the other run off with another person.  Then when the wandering heart comes back, that person is forgiven.  And the couple goes about their merry way.  That is...until it usually happens again.

When we see couples like that, we usually shake our heads.  Or maybe we ask, "how can you stay with that person when you know they will cheat on you and break your heart?"  I'm sure we would probably have plenty of advice to share.  "Get rid of that turkey!  Walk away and find someone else!'

But I am truly thankful that none of us are God.  If any of us were, we would have given up on humanity long ago.  But instead, when mankind was unfaithful, God pursued us.  In his many prophets, God would often tell the Israelites how his heart was broken, how there would be a time of exile and separation from him, but then he would always bring his people back to him.  God's covenant...his promise of love for the people of the earth is stronger than our disobedience. 

So in prophets such as Micah, there was always a glimmer of hope.  Although the heart of mankind is filled with darkness and prone to wander from the God who loves them...his promise of love would begin a new venture...a new opportunity for all mankind to return to him. 

2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. 5 And he will be their peace.

Bethlehem.  From this humble, unassuming city of David, the Lord would send a ruler, ancient in origin and mighty in power.  This ruler would come in the name of the Lord himself, bringing safety and peace, and all the world would come to know of him.  His greatness would know no bounds. 

Too long had the world depended on rulers and kings who ruled with fear and violence.  Too often the kings of Israel depended on these kings instead of calling upon the name of the Lord their God.  As a result Israel had been often overrun by these kings.  And Israel was under the control of the Roman Empire, when an angel appeared to simple maiden named Mary. 

NIV Luke 1:30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.

Again, Mary was known to be a simple maiden, but let's not confuse this with dumb.  I think Mary knew what was happening.  I think that she had probably heard at one time or another of the promised ruler that would come from Bethlehem and the line of David.  Whatever she didn't already know, the Holy Spirit most likely made clear for her.   Seeing Elizabeth was expecting just as the angel had said, Mary understood what was going on in her as she carried the child...and she sang out in joy.

"My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name.

Mary knew that she had been blessed, and she praised God for it.  Of all the young women...of all the maidens in Israel at that time.  God has chosen her. 

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

This ruler would be born not to raise up the rulers of the earth, but to tear them down.  His words and teachings would be lost on those focused on the riches of the world.  He would come from a poor, humble girl to save those who would humble themselves before God.  This child would come to fulfill the promise of love, that God the Father made generations ago. 

Maybe that is why Mary sang so deeply...so sweetly.  She was not going to have a baby.  Any girl could have a baby.  Mary knew that her child would change the world.  This baby would fill the throne of David and shepherd the people of Israel.  But more than that, the people of the world would have a savior.  This is what they needed at the time, and it is what we need right now. 

You see, I do not believe that God cannot change his love for us.  That is simply who he is.  But through the birth of Jesus, he could change how we love him.  In the Old Testament, through various means, God drew himself near to us.  Through prophets and angels and dreams, there have been people who have heard his voice and seen perhaps a brief glimpse of him.  But no one could touch him. 

Through this one young maiden, that would change.  The love of God would be manifest in this child.  Through him, God's love would be fulfilled.  No longer do we have to view God at a distance or hear him through a third person.  The child born to Mary would be Emmanuel...God with us.  God incarnate...God in the flesh.  God has done everything to renew our relationship with him.  We do not have to wonder if he loves us.  Through Jesus, we can know it. 

That is what Christmas is:  God's love for us.  It is the gift that brought Mary such joy, and it is the gift that brings peace into our world.  It is the only gift that is supposed to be returned.  Did you get that?  God's love is the only gift that is supposed to be returned.  This Christmas, please, please, please...do not get caught up in presents that will fade break or wear out.  Get caught up in God's presence...his love for us that knows no end. 

God wants the world to know that HE LOVES THEM.  Let's show the world, that we love him too.