Merry Christmas From the Rebellion

What an invasion looks like

And so the child has been born, the King has arrived, and the invasion has begun. From that day in Bethlehem to our own, this revolution has continued. Following the example of our Master's own subversive activities, we deploy the full power of self-sacrificial love against war, hunger, poverty, suffering, pride, hate, cruelty, oppression, greed and the spiritual forces of evil behind them. 

And, like our earliest ancestors in the Christian movement, we spread that simple, innately powerful message, the joyful Great Announcement that "the Lord has come, let Earth receive her King!"

We have not always fared terribly well as we carried out our mission. Many, many of our brothers and sisters in the struggle all throughout the world are not doing well right now. But we've been warned of this from the beginning, and we are not afraid.

"I have told you these things," Jesus of Nazareth told us long ago, "so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world!" (Gospel of John chapter 16 verse 33).

But we press on. Because Christmas is not only a day of gifts, conviviality, and good cheer.  Christmas is a rebellion. 

A very happy Christmas (all 12 days) to everyone out there reading this!

Advent - The King on Your Doorstep

The True King arrives

The special child will be born.
    God will give us a son
who will be responsible for leading the people.
His name will be “Wonderful Counselor,
     Powerful God,
     Father Who Lives Forever,
     Prince of Peace.”
His power will continue to grow,
     and there will be peace without end.
This will establish him as the king
     sitting on David’s throne
     ruling his kingdom.
He will rule with goodness and justice
     forever and ever.
The strong love that the Lord All-Powerful has for his people
will make this happen!

Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 9 verses 6-7, (ERV)

Advent, as we observed when we began these reflections four weeks ago, originally meant the arrival of a king. And just as the subjects of Rome long ago would have gone to great lengths to get everything ready for Caesar Augustus, Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of our King, Jesus of Nazareth.

Early tomorrow, while the sky is still dark (if tradition is any guide), the King will finally arrive. Not with a vast entourage of hangers on, not with all the opulent glory of an imperial ruler, but in obscurity and poverty and dirt. It still seems odd to us today, doesn't it? 2000 years have come and gone since Jesus' birth and we are quite familiar with this story. But we still instinctively associate luxury and showiness with importance and true power. When a world leader makes a gesture toward humility we do find it charming, but it would seem strange to us if they lived in a small apartment and ate cup-a-soup (although since I posted an earlier version of this essay one doing just that has turned up).

But the High King of the universe did live humbly from beginning to end, and he did it by choice.

I've come back to this dichotomy repeatedly throughout these little essays because it confronts me with a question: If God is like that when he comes to Earth, then what should I be like? If out of all the possible options he could have chosen he chose this one -- melding with and living among the poor and downtrodden -- then, out of all possible options available today, how should I live?

Tonight, for somewhere around the 2000th time, the High King comes again as a baby in that insect-infested manger, while his poverty-stricken parents and shell-shocked shepherds look on.

What does he want of us this time? Will we respond this year? Will we join his revolution?

*          *          *

Prayer: Our King, let us bow down at your makeshift crib with your poor, intrepid parents and worship you. And then help us to rise up and follow you wheresoever you may lead us. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Book of Isaiah, chapter 9 verses 6 - 7, Common English Bible

Advent, as we observed when we began these reflections four weeks ago, originally meant the arrival of a king. And just as the subjects of Rome long ago would have gone to great lengths to get everything ready for Caesar Augustus, Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of our King, Jesus of Nazareth.

Early tomorrow, while the sky is still dark (if tradition is any guide), the King will finally arrive. Not with a vast entourage of hangers on, not with all the opulent glory of an imperial ruler, but in obscurity and poverty and dirt. It still seems odd to us today, doesn't it? 2000 years have come and gone since Jesus' birth and we are quite familiar with this story. But we still instinctively associate luxury and showiness with importance and true power. When a world leader makes a gesture toward humility we do find it charming, but it would seem strange to us if they lived in a small apartment and ate cup-a-soup (although since I posted an earlier version of this essay one doing just that has turned up).

But the High King of the universe did live humbly from beginning to end, and he did it by choice.

I've come back to this dichotomy repeatedly throughout these little essays because it confronts me with a question: If God is like that when he comes to Earth, then what should I be like? If out of all the possible options he could have chosen he chose this one -- melding with and living among the poor and downtrodden -- then, out of all possible options available today, how should I live?

Tonight, for somewhere around the 2000th time, the High King comes again as a baby in that insect-infested manger, while his poverty-stricken parents and shell-shocked shepherds look on.

What does he want of us this time? Will we respond this year? Will we join his revolution?

*          *          *

Prayer: Our King, let us bow down at your makeshift crib with your poor, intrepid parents and worship you. And then help us to rise up and follow you wheresoever you may lead us. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Advent - What Was So Important?

What was so important to God that he did this?

Photo credit: Bob Swain

The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, “Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” 

The woman answered the snake, “No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree, or you will die.’”

But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!”

The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.

Genesis 3.1-6, ERV

________________________

We can get so used to the Christmas season that we may not notice how peculiar the whole story is.  Doesn't it strike you as odd that the transcendent God of the universe decided he should spend 9 months in a young woman's womb and then find himself a helpless baby laying in a feeding trough (that's what a "manger" is), dependent on two subsistence-level peasants (Mary and Joseph) for every last little thing?

Of course, with the benefit of hindsight we know that this was the miracle of the Incarnation and that it led down a path that culminated in the only event even more absurd: God being executed by his own creation.  But that only deepens the mystery.  This was an incredibly drastic move on God's part -- almost desperate, if one can say that about God.  What could possibly be so important that he would commit himself to a plan so extreme?

The Genesis scripture quoted above may seem a strange choice for the beginning of a series about Advent, but actually it's integral to the Christmas story. Why was the King of Creation willing to become a tiny infant? Why would a being used to everything being done with just a word voluntarily put that all aside and throw himself into a life of utter powerlessness -- into having his diapers changed in a dirty, frigid stable? 

What was so important to him?

At its core the Genesis story tells us that we and the world around us were created good, but our disobedience to God's simple, loving request doomed his children. Why are there wars and slavery and economic meltdowns, but also first responders, Shakespeare and Mozart, and sunsets that move you to tears?  Because this is a good world that is broken, and we are the ones that broke it. We ourselves released the terminal disease of evil upon the world, we don't know how to cure it, and it eats away at our souls. There is no cure, no hope, unless...

Hope

Unless, as Advent tells us (and as we will discuss as we move through this series), God himself enters into the stream of time, becomes a finite human, fights the climactic battle that defeats Evil, and absorbs the disease of sin into himself so that his children can live. 

In other words, unless the child comes.

Traditionally, on the first Sunday of Advent, members of the Christian Movement light a candle called The Candle of Hope. When we were without hope, God did not turn his back and walk away, counting us as a failed experiment. At the crucial time, he came for us. Amidst all the presents and joy, the ho-ho-ho and mistletoe, this is what we must never forget about Christmas: The thing that was so important to God was us.

*          *          *

Prayer: God of hope and of love at all costs, although we rebel against you, you do not give up on us. Thank you for going to the utmost extreme to save your helpless children. Thank you for being the wondrous child who came to our rescue.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.

Is Jesus a Contradiction?

God-Man?

Photo by Edal Anton Lefterov

Aside from "How can anyone still believe there's a God in our modern, push-button world?" and "Isn't God a sadist for throwing people into hell on the slightest whim?" one of the most frequent Quora questions is some variation of this one. 


Q: Is there a contradiction in the Trinity since Jesus was a human being and a god being at the same time?


A: The Christian teachings on the Trinity and the nature of Jesus are probably its 2 most misunderstood concepts. Just to clarify, the Trinity is defined in Christian theology as one being (“ousia” in Greek, the language it was first defined in) eternally existing as three distinct and infinite underlying personal realities (“Hypostasis” in Greek) — commonly called “Persons” to emphasize God’s personal (i.e., He’s not a force) nature. These three are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God (specifically the 2nd ‘person’ of the Trinity) took on and fully united with human nature in the single person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was not God only or a man only, but truly God and truly man, “unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably.” In Christian theology this is called the Chalcedonian Definition and is based on the concept of the incarnation in the Christian Scriptures.

Hence, there is no contradiction because Jesus was first, foremost, and eternally the infinite God, but God plus something — God plus human-ness.

"What we proclaim"

Doubting Saint Thomas, Béla Iványi-Grünwald

It took years to fully sink in, but eventually the absolutely gobsmacking realization hit them: When his students touched this peasant craftsman and teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, as they probably did thousands of time, they were touching a being who had lived forever. 

They were touching eternity.


If you listen closely, you can almost hear the awestruck wonder of it in the first words of the Apostle John's first letter...







This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life— and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us).

1st Letter of John 2.1-2

___________________________

Severus of Antioch, monk, theologian, and Bishop of Antioch contemplates this...

"Given that this same John also said, “No one has ever seen God,” how can he assure us that the living Word of life has been seen and touched? It is clear that it was in his incarnate and human form that he was visible and touchable. What was not true of him by nature became true of him in that way, for he is one and the same indivisible Word, both visible and invisible, and without diminishing in either respect he became touchable in both his divine-human nature. For he worked his miracles in his divinity and suffered for us in his humanity."

Severus of Antioch (fl. 488–538).
Note: Yes, Severus held some odd views on how God and man came together in Christ, but his comments on John's letter are totally orthodox.

Catena in Epistolas Catholicas, 106
Oxford: Clarendon, 1840, J. A. Cramer, ed.

Not a Ghost

God born through a peasant girl. What kind of being did that make Jesus of Nazareth? Here's how the early Christian movement described it.

___________________

The Voice took on flesh and became human and chose to live alongside us. We have seen Him, enveloped in undeniable splendor—the one true Son of the Father—evidenced in the perfect balance of grace and truth.

(Gospel of John 1.14, Voice)

Believe then that this only-begotten Son of God, for our sins, came down from heaven to earth and took upon himself this human nature with the same emotions and urges as we have. He was begotten of the Holy Virgin and the Holy Spirit, and was made human, not seemingly or as a mere show, but for real. And not by passing through the Virgin like a stream, but through her becoming actual flesh. He was actually nursed on milk, and actually ate and drank as we do.  For if the incarnation was a just a ghost, then salvation is a ghost as well.

The Christ had two natures, human in what was visible, but God in what was invisible. As a human, actually eating like us, since He had the same feelings in his body as us, but as God feeding the five thousand from five loaves. As a human actually dying, but as God raising a man [Lazarus] that had been dead four days. Actually sleeping in the ship like a human, and walking upon the waters as God.

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 313 - 386)
Catecheses number 4 section 9

Ascension

Thoughts for a Sunday Morning

Jesus of Nazareth returned bodily to Heaven last Thursday, 40 days after his resurrection. Today is "Ascension Sunday" when many of his followers remember that fact.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the all-glorious Father, may confer on you the spiritual gifts of wisdom and vision, with the knowledge of him that they bring. I pray that your inward eyes may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope to which he calls you, how rich and glorious is the share he offers you among his people in their inheritance, and how vast are the resources of his power open to us who have faith.

His mighty strength was seen at work when he raised Christ from the dead, and enthroned him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all government and authority, all power and dominion, and any title of sovereignty that commands allegiance, not only in this age but also in the age to come. He put all things in subjection beneath his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who is filling the universe in all its parts.

Letter to the Ephesians chapter 1 verses 17 - 23, Revised English Bible

Ignatius Deploys the Christian Revelation

Ignatius of Antioch is executed in Rome

I've been talking lately about the Christian revelation or the "deposit" of Faith given once and for all to Christ's people, and I've identified it to an extent with the words of that marvelous little poem, the Apostles' Creed. But if you're checking up on me you will know that the Apostles Creed didn't reach the form we're used to until the early AD 700's. Just like our understanding of what Jesus revealed, the words we use to describe and remember it also developed over time. And we can trace that development all the way back to the days of his Apostles.

As we discussed the other day, the Apostle's Creed doesn't lay down rules, it tells a story. After the last Apostle died, one of the earliest places we find that main middle part of the story about Jesus is in a letter by a man named Ignatius. He was the main leader of the Christian Movement in the large Syrian city of Antioch and now found himself in chains on the way to a gory execution in Rome.

Along the way, dedicated leader that he was, he wrote 7 letters to groups of Christians in the towns he passed through. This was in AD 107 or a little later -- about 10 years after John had passed on (To find out when John died, click on Irenaeus, Against Heresies book 2 chapter 22 section 5). He wasn't trying to teach these people the basics of their Faith (they were already Christians, after all), but was more concerned with a fake Christian teaching called "Docetism."  It claimed that Jesus hadn't really been human -- that he only pretended to eat, drink, sleep, and other human things.

So in his Letter to the Trallians he used part of the Christian revelation to show that the Messiah actually was quite a real human being. If you remember how the Apostles Creed goes, it might sound a little familiar:

"So pay no attention, if anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the race of David, who was the Son of Mary, who was truly born and ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, who was truly raised from the dead. His Father raised him and in the same way will raise us too who believe on Him. His Father will raise us in Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not have true life."

(Letter to the Trallians chapter 9 verses 1 - 2)

For 'Meditation for a Sunday Morning' our guest blogger will be Irenaeus of Antioch. He will go into more detail on how the Christian Movement summed up Christ's revelation in his day.

"...If the incarnation was just a ghost..."

Meditation for a Sunday Morning

" The Word became flesh
    and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
    glory like that of a father’s only son,
        full of grace and truth."

(Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 14, Common English Bible)

__________________________

Our guest blogger this morning is Cyril of Jerusalem, an important Christian thinker in the mid-300s, and one of the best early teachers of simple, basic Christianity. Here Cyril speaks on Jesus' "incarnation."

Believe then that this only-begotten Son of God, for our sins, came down from heaven to earth and took upon himself this human nature with the same emotions and urges as we have. He was begotten of the Holy Virgin and the Holy Spirit, and was made human, not seemingly or as a mere show, but for real. And not by passing through the Virgin like a stream, but through her becoming actual flesh. He was actually nursed on milk, and actually ate and drank as we do.  For if the incarnation was a just a ghost, then salvation is a ghost as well.

The Christ had two natures, human in what was visible, but God in what was invisible. As a human, actually eating like us, since He had the same feelings in his body as us, but as God feeding the five thousand from five loaves. As a human actually dying, but as God raising a man [Lazarus] that had been dead four days. Actually sleeping in the ship like a human, and walking upon the waters as God.

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 313 - 386)
Catecheses number 4 section 9

"...Humanity Added to Divinity..."

Earliest portrait of St. Augustine

Meditation for a Sunday Morning

"But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights."

Letter to the Galatians chapter 4 verses 4-5

__________________________

(Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest thinkers the Christian movement ever produced, talks about the miracle we just finished celebrating -- the incarnation of God.)

Let us rejoice, my brethren, let the nations exult and be glad because, not the visible sun, but the invisible Creator of the sun has consecrated this day [Christmas] on which the Virgin, a true but inviolate Mother, gave birth to Him who became visible for our sake and by whom she herself was created.

A virgin conceives, yet remains a virgin. A virgin is heavy with child, a virgin brings forth her child, yet she is always a virgin... The same One who is Man is God, and the same One who is God is Man, not by a confusion of nature but by a unity of person. Finally, He who is the Son of God, being born of the Father, is always co-eternal with His Father; He, being born of the Virgin, became the Son of Man. Thus, humanity was added to the divinity of the Son without producing a fourfold union of Persons; the Trinity remains.

Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354 - 430)
Sermon 186

Advent - "...Determined to Exalt Us..."

Meditation for an Advent Sunday Morning


"This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 verse 1

___________________

Early Christian leader and theologian John Chrysostom describes the amazing transaction that occurred when God became a man -- all to our benefit.

Hearing these things [i.e., that God would become a man], arise, and conclude nothing low: because of this very thing most of all should you be amazed, that being Son of the uncreated God, and His true Son, He allowed Himself to be called also Son of David, that He might make you son of God. He permitted a slave to be father to Him, that He might make the Lord Father to you, a slave.

Do you see now from the beginning of what nature the Gospels are? If you doubt concerning the things that pertain to you, from what belongs to Him believe these also. For it is far more difficult, judging by human reason, for God to become man, than for a man to be proclaimed a Son of God. So when you are told that the Son of God is Son of David and Abraham, doubt not anymore that you too, the son of Adam, shall be son of God. For not at random, nor in vain did He lower Himself so greatly, for He was determined to exalt us. Thus He was born after the flesh, that you might be born after the Spirit. He was born of a woman, that you might cease to be the son of a woman.

And so the birth was twofold, both made like us and also surpassing ours. For to be born of a woman indeed was our lot, but to be "born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of man,” but of the Holy Spirit, was to proclaim beforehand the birth surpassing us, the birth to come, which He was about freely to give us of the Spirit. And everything else too was like this. So His baptism also was of the same kind, for it partook of the old, and it partook also of the new. To be baptized by the prophet marked the old, but the coming down of the Spirit shadowed out the new. And just as if someone were to place himself between two persons standing apart, and stretching both his hands out were to lay hold on either side and bind them together, that is what he has done -- joining the old covenant with the new, God’s nature with man’s, the things that are His with ours.

John Chrysostom (AD 347 - 407)
Second Homily on the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3

Tomorrow's Visitor: John Chrysostom

Just a heads up: Tomorrow for our 'Meditation for an Advent Sunday Morning,' John Chrysostom -- one of the early Christian Movement's finest leaders, thinkers, and speakers -- will give his thoughts on the amazing transaction that occurred when the unlimited, eternal God became a very small human being.

Hope you can drop by for a few moments!