Gospel for December 18, 2022

 

“Angel appearing to St Joseph” is a photograph taken by Lawrence OP of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south wall at Freeland which commemorate the life of the Virgin.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 1:18-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The birth of Jesus begins with what seems to be a scandal.  His mother is pregnant before she has been married to her fiance, Joseph.  And Joseph knows that he has not been with her.

As the readers of the Gospel, we know what Joseph does not know:

she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

This is a serious claim, that Mary has not been with another man, but has been impregnated directly by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph reacts as nearly every man would react — he knows where babies come from, and he doesn’t believe this story for a second.  But he is also a decent and compassionate man:

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

Here was his dilemma — according to the law of Moses, a young newlywed bride could be stoned to death if her husband found evidence that she was not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).  Pregnancy would certainly apply!

Therefore Joseph wishes to hush up Mary’s “mistake” and put her away secretly. This suggests that he would quietly end the engagement and send her away where she might be safe from condemnation.

Enter divine intervention:

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Like his patriarchal namesake, Joseph the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams (cf Genesis, chapters 37, 40, 41), Joseph the son of David receives a message through a dream.  Joseph’s  genealogy, recorded in Matthew 1:1-17, confirms that this obscure man is actually an heir of the greatest king in Israel’s history.

But that isn’t what sets Joseph apart.  What sets him apart is that he believes that this dream is from God.  He accepts the impossible premise that Mary is telling the truth:

 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the Scriptures also corroborate Joseph’s experience:

Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel”

Matthew the evangelist is quoting Isaiah 7:14 (CLICK HERE to see the Old Testament lectionary reading for this Sunday, from Isaiah 7:10-16 for more background).

Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy confirm the virgin birth of the Messiah, it also reveals the nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God.   Immanuel means:

“God with us.”

Joseph is convinced by his dream, and takes Mary as his wife, fulfilling the instructions of the angel:

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;  and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

APPLY:  

It is very clear that Matthew and Luke both firmly believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  This is made clear by the angelic visitation recorded in both Gospels.  In Matthew’s Gospel, the angelic visitation comes in Joseph’s dream.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel appears directly to Mary. Gabriel confirms that despite her virginity Mary will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High who will also be a descendant of David through her bloodline (Luke 1:26-37).  The Angel Gabriel is also named twice in his appearances in the Old Testament book of Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21); and Gabriel also appeared to the priest Zechariah and announced he would be the father of John (Luke 1:19).

When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he is corroborating the experience of Mary and the angelic witness to Joseph.  Scripture and experience reinforce one another.

Why does it matter whether or not Mary was a virgin, as the Scriptures claim?  Somewhere in my theological reading over the years I came across the relationship between the res and the signo of this miracle.

There is the res — the thing itself.  That is the fact that Mary had not had relations with a man.

But then, even more importantly, is the signo — the sign. The sign is what the res (the thing) points to — and what the Virgin Birth points to is that Jesus is the divine Son of God and the human son of Mary.  He is both God and man.  This is of vital importance, because if Jesus is only human, he would not have the power to save us from our sins.  And if Jesus is only divine, he would not be able to identify with our suffering and weakness and temptation.  But in fact Jesus has become like us:

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

What difference does it make?

Joseph takes the leap of faith — and believes. And he becomes a key participant in salvation history.  We take the leap of faith — that Jesus is Immanuel — and we are incorporated into these mighty acts of salvation!  

RESPOND: 

There is an old saying — you can’t just be a little bit pregnant.  A woman is either pregnant or she’s not.  The same may be said of Mary’s virginal conception — either she was a virgin, or she was not.

The claim of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, and of the historic Christian church, is that Mary was a virgin.  And this is vital, not because the creeds claim it, or the church has affirmed it historically, but because it is true.  And because it is true, the Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, and whose hands and feet were pierced by Roman nails, and who bled Jewish blood, is also God with us. 

Lord, the claims of the Gospel don’t depend on whether I believe them or not, or whether I understand them.  But because these claims are true, they confirm for me that I have a Savior who is more than a man, but who has been a human being like me.  You have humbled yourself to come to me, so that you could lift me up to yourself.  I can only give thanks!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Angel appearing to St Joseph" by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity.  It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel.  It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind.  This is much more intimidating.  There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt.  The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel.  In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7, he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 14, 2022]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings.  At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed.  The Psalmist asks God plaintively:  

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century.  Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms?  Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:  

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair — as a nation, a family, an individual.  The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care.  And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration.  If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND: 

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80_14” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 22, 2019

“Angel appearing to St Joseph” is a photograph taken by Lawrence OP of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south wall at Freeland which commemorate the life of the Virgin.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 1:18-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The birth of Jesus begins with what seems to be a scandal.  His mother is pregnant before she has been married to her fiance, Joseph.  And Joseph knows that he has not been with her.

As the readers of the Gospel, we know what Joseph does not:

she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

This is a serious claim, that Mary has not been with another man, but has been impregnated directly by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph reacts as nearly every man would react — he knows where babies come from, and he doesn’t believe this story for a second.  But he is also a decent and compassionate man:

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

Here was his dilemma — according to the law of Moses, a young newlywed bride could be stoned to death if her husband found evidence that she was not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).  Pregnancy would certainly apply!

Therefore Joseph wishes to hush up Mary’s “mistake” and put her away secretly. This suggests that he would quietly end the engagement and send her away where she might be safe from condemnation.

Enter divine intervention:

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Like his patriarchal namesake, Joseph the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams (cf Genesis, chapters 37, 40, 41), Joseph the son of David receives a message through a dream.  Joseph’s  genealogy, recorded in Matthew 1:1-17, confirms that this obscure man is actually an heir of the greatest king in Israel’s history.

But that isn’t what sets Joseph apart.  What sets him apart is that he believes that this dream is from God.  He accepts the impossible premise that Mary is telling the truth:

 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the Scriptures also corroborate Joseph’s experience:

Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel”

Matthew the evangelist is quoting Isaiah 7:14 (see the Old Testament lectionary reading for this Sunday, from Isaiah 7:10-16 for more background).

Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy confirm the virgin birth of the Messiah, it also reveals the nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God.   Immanuel means:

“God with us.”

Joseph is convinced by his dream, and takes Mary as his wife, fulfilling the instructions of the angel:

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;  and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

APPLY:  

It is very clear that Matthew and Luke both firmly believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  This is made clear by the angelic visitation recorded in both Gospels.  In Matthew’s Gospel, the angelic visitation comes in Joseph’s dream.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel appears directly to Mary. Gabriel confirms that despite her virginity Mary will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High who will also be a descendant of David through her bloodline (Luke 1:26-37).  The Angel Gabriel is also named twice in his appearances in the Old Testament book of Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21); and Gabriel also appeared to the priest Zechariah and announced he would be the father of John (Luke 1:19).

When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he is corroborating the experience of Mary and the angelic witness to Joseph.  Scripture and experience reinforce one another.

Why does it matter whether or not Mary was a virgin, as the Scriptures claim?  Somewhere in my theological reading over the years I came across the relationship  between the res and the signo of this miracle.

There is the res — the thing itself.  That is the fact that Mary had not had relations with a man.

But then, even more importantly, is the signo — the sign. The sign is what the res (the thing) points to — and what the Virgin Birth points to is that Jesus is the divine Son of God and the human son of Mary.  He is both God and man.  This is of vital importance, because if Jesus is only human, he would not have the power to save us from our sins.  And if Jesus is only divine, he would not be able to identify with our suffering and weakness and temptation.  But in fact Jesus has become like us:

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

What difference does it make?

Joseph takes the leap of faith — and believes. And he becomes a key participant in salvation history.  We take the leap of faith — that Jesus is Immanuel — and we are incorporated into these mighty acts of salvation!  

RESPOND: 

There is an old saying — you can’t just be a little bit pregnant.  A woman is either pregnant or she’s not.  The same may be said of Mary’s virginal conception — either she was a virgin, or she was not.

The claim of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, and of the historic Christian church, is that Mary was a virgin.  And this is vital, not because the creeds claim it, or the church has affirmed it historically, but because it is true.  And because it is true, the Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, and whose hands and feet were pierced by Roman nails, and who bled Jewish blood, is also God with us. 

Lord, the claims of the Gospel don’t depend on whether I believe them or not, or whether I understand them.  But because these claims are true, they confirm for me that I have a Savior who is more than a man, but who has been a human being like me.  You have humbled yourself to come to me, so that you could lift me up to yourself.  I can only give thanks!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Angel appearing to St Joseph" by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 18, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity.  It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel.  It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind.  This is much more intimidating.  There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt.  The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel.  In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7 , he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 18, 2019]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings.  At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed.  The Psalmist asks God plaintively:  

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century.  Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of  the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms?  Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:  

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair – as a nation, a family, an individual.  The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care.  And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration.  If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND: 

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80-7” by tea4judy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 18, 2016

“Angel appearing to St Joseph” is a photograph taken by Lawrence OP of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south wall at Freeland which commemorate the life of the Virgin.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 1:18-25

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The birth of Jesus begins with what seems to be a scandal.  His mother is pregnant before she has been married to her fiance, Joseph.  And Joseph knows that he has not been with her.

As the readers of the Gospel, we know what Joseph does not:

she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

This is a serious claim, that Mary has not been with another man, but has been impregnated directly by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph reacts as nearly every man would react — he knows where babies come from, and he doesn’t believe this story for a second.  But he is also a decent and compassionate man:

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

Here was his dilemma — according to the law of Moses, a young newlywed bride could be stoned to death if her husband found evidence that she was not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).  Pregnancy would certainly apply!

Therefore Joseph wishes to hush up Mary’s “mistake” and put her away secretly. This suggests that he would quietly end the engagement and send her away where she might be safe from condemnation.

Enter divine intervention:

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Like his patriarchal namesake, Joseph the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams (cf Genesis, chapters 37, 40, 41), Joseph the son of David receives a message through a dream.  Joseph’s  genealogy, recorded in Matthew 1:1-17, confirms that this obscure man is actually an heir of the greatest king in Israel’s history.

But that isn’t what sets Joseph apart.  What sets him apart is that he believes that this dream is from God.  He accepts the impossible premise that Mary is telling the truth:

 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the Scriptures also corroborate Joseph’s experience:

Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel”

Matthew the evangelist is quoting Isaiah 7:14 (see the Old Testament lectionary reading for this Sunday, from Isaiah 7:10-16 for more background).

Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy confirm the virgin birth of the Messiah, it also reveals the nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God.   Immanuel means:

“God with us.”

Joseph is convinced by his dream, and takes Mary as his wife, fulfilling the instructions of the angel:

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;  and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

APPLY:  

It is very clear that Matthew and Luke both firmly believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  This is made clear by the angelic visitation recorded in both Gospels.  In Matthew’s Gospel, the angelic visitation comes in Joseph’s dream.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel appears directly to Mary. Gabriel confirms that despite her virginity Mary will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High who will also be a descendant of David through her bloodline (Luke 1:26-37).  The Angel Gabriel is also named twice in his appearances in the Old Testament book of Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21); and Gabriel also appeared to the priest Zechariah and announced he would be the father of John (Luke 1:19).

When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he is corroborating the experience of Mary and the angelic witness to Joseph.  Scripture and experience reinforce one another.

Why does it matter whether or not Mary was a virgin, as the Scriptures claim?  Somewhere in my theological reading over the years I came across the relationship  between the res and the signo of this miracle.

There is the res — the thing itself.  That is the fact that Mary had not had relations with a man.

But then, even more importantly, is the signo — the sign. The sign is what the res (the thing) points to — and what the Virgin Birth points to is that Jesus is the divine Son of God and the human son of Mary.  He is both God and man.  This is of vital importance, because if Jesus is only human, he would not have the power to save us from our sins.  And if Jesus is only divine, he would not be able to identify with our suffering and weakness and temptation.  But in fact Jesus has become like us:

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

What difference does it make?

Joseph takes the leap of faith — and believes. And he becomes a key participant in salvation history.  We take the leap of faith — that Jesus is Immanuel — and we are incorporated into these mighty acts of salvation!  

RESPOND: 

There is an old saying — you can’t just be a little bit pregnant.  A woman is either pregnant or she’s not.  The same may be said of Mary’s virginal conception — either she was a virgin, or she was not.

The claim of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, and of the historic Christian church, is that Mary was a virgin.  And this is vital, not because the creeds claim it, or the church has affirmed it historically, but because it is true.  And because it is true, the Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, and whose hands and feet were pierced by Roman nails, and who bled Jewish blood, is also God with us. 

Lord, the claims of the Gospel don’t depend on whether I believe them or not, or whether I understand them.  But because these claims are true, they confirm for me that I have a Savior who is more than a man, but who has been a human being like me.  You have humbled yourself to come to me, so that you could lift me up to yourself.  I can only give thanks!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Angel appearing to St Joseph" by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 21, 2016

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God! [photo by Holly Hayes]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 71:1-6 

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Psalmist is lifting up a prayer of supplication, asking God for deliverance and protection.  He bases his present hopes on the deliverance he has experienced in the past.

It is the righteousness of the Lord that provides the source of deliverance and rescue. This is in contrast to the shame that the Psalmist fears.

The Psalmist uses a common Biblical metaphor of the Lord as a

rock of refuge,
a strong fortress.

If the Lord is his refuge and fortress, God provides a place of rescue from the wicked, unjust and cruel.  They are his besiegers, but God is his strong wall.

More proactively, the Psalmist affirms that the Lord has been with him from the very beginning of his life:

For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.

The Psalmist’s present faith in God’s protection is grounded in God’s past faithfulness.

APPLY:  

This Psalm illustrates the vital need to teach our children about the faithfulness of God.

A child first learns about the reality and the faithfulness of God by the example of parents, then by the reinforcement of precept and experience.  And this comes from a strong, caring, nurturing community of faith.

RESPOND: 

Martin Luther, the great German reformer, penned one of the great hymns of the faith that is reminiscent of this Psalm:

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing . . .

There is another quote that has been attributed to Martin Luther that seems appropriate to this Psalm:

The church is always just one generation away from extinction.

Every generation of Christian parents is responsible for teaching and modeling the Christian faith to their children.

Lord, I thank you that you have been with me since the very beginning of my life. Because you have always been my rock and my fortress, I don’t fear the future.  Amen.   

PHOTO:

“a mighty fortress is our god” by Holly Hayes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 14, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity.  It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel.  It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim – those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind.  This is much more intimidating.  There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt.  The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel.  In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7 , he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 14, 2016]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history:  exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings.  At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed.  The Psalmist asks God plaintively:  

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century.  Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of  the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms?  Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:  

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair – as a nation, a family, an individual.  The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care.  And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration.  If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND: 

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats – the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80-7” by tea4judy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.