will
Faith in Action
By Linda Rex
September 8, 2024, Proper 18 | After Pentecost—In my personal faith tradition years ago, having the right theology or correct belief system was essential. In the extreme form of this belief and practice, exclusion of any group or person that did not agree with our faith tradition was the norm. Sadly, this meant that we were blind to how God was working with every person in this world and within other faith traditions.
Over the years, I began to see that there were huge flaws in what I believed and practiced in the name of obeying God and following what the Bible taught. Much of this was due to a desperate need for the Spirit to give me a new framework through which to view God and the Bible, a framework given to us by God himself. He gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, as the sole true interpreter and revealer of God and his will and his ways. When I began to see through the lens of Jesus Christ, everything changed, thanks to the Spirit’s gracious work.
When James addresses the issue of Christian faith and practice, he does so through the lens of Jesus Christ and all that Jesus is for us in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the gift of the Spirit. In order to read the book of James properly, we need to find the indicatives which undergird each of the imperatives or commands which the apostle gives us to follow. For example, in our New Testament reading for this Sunday, James 2:1–10, 14–17, the apostle James tells us that we are not to treat some people better than others when they join us in Christian fellowship. And he says that we need to be aware that our faith is empty or dead if it is not accompanied by actions which affirm its reality. These are the imperatives or commands James is encouraging us to put into practice.
But notice the indicatives or underlying spiritual realities behind these imperatives. He asks, “did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” The royal law expressed in Jesus Christ—the lens through which we view all things—is that God in Christ was willing to lay down his life for us so that we could be with him forever. This is the God, the Lord Jesus, who while on this earth spent much of his time with the everyday people of his land, ministering to the poor, needy, and afflicted, both Jew and non-Jew. James tells us that, because of Jesus Christ and because of his own law of love written on our hearts by the Spirit, we treat every human being with dignity, respect, and kindness. The person may be different than us, they may be struggling, but they are our equals—as the apostle Paul says, we are all one in Christ Jesus.
In the Gospel passage, Mark 7:24–37, Mark tells two stories within the context of Jesus’ harassment by the leaders of his people. One is about a woman who was “a Gentile [a non-Jew], of the Syrophoenician race”—someone who the Jewish leaders would have avoided having anything to do with, even though she needed their help in freeing her daughter from demon possession. And, even though Jesus reminds her that his immediate focus is currently on his own Jewish people, she counters his initial refusal with a humble, yet bold remark about how even the pet dogs get the crumbs off the table. Touched by her faith, Jesus heals her daughter.
The other story is about a man who is deaf and mute that some people brought to Jesus to heal. Jesus shows the man what he’s going to do and then says, “Be opened.” In that moment, the man’s ears are opened and he is once again able to speak. Jesus tells the people who brought him not to say anything about his healing, since it would complicate Jesus’ ability to continue to do ministry in that area. But they become more and more vocal about it. And Jesus knows that this will only increase his persecution by the leaders of his people. And Jesus knows that the Jewish leaders of that day needed a new lens through which to view the people with whom God had given them the responsibility to lead and care for. They needed to get out of their religious box and begin simply practicing the law they knew by heart, to truly love their neighbor as themselves. Their faith in their loving God needed to be evidenced in the actions they took day by day as they encountered the different people in their lives, no matter their background, history, circumstances, religious affiliation, or race.
So, going back to our passage in James, we see that the people James writes to have the same issues that Jesus was up against during his time here on earth. The human tendency to put some people lower and some people higher is at work in this fellowship, and James calls them back to the spiritual realities of their faith in Christ. In the Triune oneness of Father, Son, and Spirit, there’s unique personhood, yet equality and unity. In the same way, this group of believers needed to start acting like the children of God they were, treating one another as unique equals who were sharing in the oneness which is ours in Christ by the Spirit. And when someone came into their gathering who did not fit any human category of value and worth, they were to still treat them as a beloved child of God, for in Christ, that is what they are. And here we find the impetus to live this out ourselves today, as God’s beloved children, who God, in Christ, stooped down to include in his own life and love, both now and forever. Who might God want us to include who we have previously excluded?
Thank you, Father, for going to such extent to include us in your life and love through your Son Jesus in the Spirit. Thank you for raising us up out of our poverty of evil, sin, and death, and for giving us the dignity and worth of being called your very own adopted children. Grant us the grace to value others with the same grace and worth with which you value us, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. … What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” James 2:1–10, 14–17 NASB
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A Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation
By Linda Rex
May 12, 2024, Ascension Sunday | Easter—This Sunday, as we reach the end of the Easter season, we pause to consider the ascension of Jesus Christ. This often overlooked celebration is actually an important part of the Christian calendar. Jesus Christ did not just rise from the grave, bringing all of humanity through death into resurrection. He also ascended, to be seated at the Father’s right hand in glory in the fellowship of the Spirit.
Apart from the ascension, our human flesh would not have been brought home with the resurrected Jesus into face to face union with his Father in the Spirit. Apart from Jesus’ ascension, we would not have been sent the gift of the Holy Spirit sent from his Father. It is the Spirit through whom Jesus and his Father come to dwell in each of us. By faith, the Spirit makes our very own what Jesus has forged for us all in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. And the coming of the Spirit is what we celebrate on Pentecost, which will be next Sunday, May 19th.
The apostle Paul, in our New Testament reading for Ascension Sunday, records how he constantly prays for the church members in the various congregations to whom this circular letter was sent. Paul is very grateful to God for their faith in the Lord Jesus. The apostle’s most urgent plea is for those hearing the letter to be given “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” The only way that any of us can come to know God, or come to understand his calling, his power, or his glory, is by God’s Spirit giving us enlightenment. And Paul says that this is only possible because of the resurrection power which brought Jesus up from death at work in each of us by the Holy Spirit. As we pray for enlightenment, for ourselves or others, God begins to open our minds and hearts up to the truth.
Paul also acknowledges that whatever we may do as those gathering in Jesus’ name, we do only as participants in Jesus’ life with his Father in the Spirit. His heavenly Father has placed all things under Jesus’ feet, and made him head of the church, which is made up of those who by faith are united with Jesus in his death and resurrection. Consider for a moment what it means that God in Christ is reigning over all.
Then consider even more deeply what it means that human flesh in Jesus Christ is reigning over all. The ramifications of this are mind-blowing. But isn’t that the way God always meant it to be? From the beginning, God intended human beings to participate with him in reigning over all he had made. He gave humans the responsibility to tend the earth, to be stewards of all he had made. But we chose to go our own way and to follow the lead of the evil one, who ever stands in opposition to God and seeks to divide, destroy, ruin, and enslave at every point. The evil one, who does not submit to God’s will and God’s love, is ever drawing us to follow him and obey his will or our own self-will instead.
No matter how powerful or intense the evil one is, he cannot stand against what God has done for humankind in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, now, human beings are united with God in a way where they will never be separated, ever. Jesus has and will forevermore, be fully human and fully God. We, as Paul says, are God’s portion. We are God’s inheritance. What God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ, he has done for each and every person, whether they know it or believe it or not. The gift has been purchased, wrapped and sent—will we leave in on the desk and never touch it? Will we push it away and refuse it? Or will we simply rip it open and begin to enjoy the benefits of this precious gift each and every moment of the rest of our life.
Moving our thoughts away from ourselves at this point is critical. Here we look at the example of Paul and his heart towards those who would hear the words in this circular letter. He was praying that they not only would receive the gift given, but that they would revel in it and be able to experience the full benefits of the gift they were given in Jesus Christ. As we go about our daily lives, who might we pray this prayer for? How might our life in relationship with family, friends, and community be different if we prayed this prayer over those we encounter day by day? As we ask the Lord for his enlightenment, his wisdom, and all the other things Paul mentions here, perhaps we might also ask the Lord to give us heart to pray for others that they too to be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
As we pray this prayer over those God puts in our minds and hearts, we may discover ourselves swept up into what Jesus is doing in this world by the Spirit. And we may find ourselves held in the midst of the life and love of our Father and his Son in the Spirit. And we can rejoice, for that is where we were always meant to be.
Heavenly Father, thank you for all those you have brought to yourself, and those you have created for your glory. May your precious Spirit enlighten each and every person. May you draw each one closer to you and bring them to a deeper faith in your Son Jesus. May your perfect love enable us to see and experience the resurrection power of Jesus at work in us and in the lives of those near us and dear to us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:15–23 NASB
“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’ And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising God.” Luke 24:44–53 NASB
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The Tyranny of False Freedom
by Linda Rex
July 2, 2023, Proper 8 | After Pentecost—In last week’s message, we talked about the way in which we as humans often have a mistaken understanding of what it means to be free. We adore freedom—being free to choose what we do, when we do it, and how we do it. But we do not realize how often our freedom actually becomes an entry way to our being enslaved or held hostage.
Before he left us for his eternal glory, Dr. John McKenna told me that he felt one thing our American society needed was to understand what true freedom was. As a people, historically we have valued (at least on paper) the freedoms we espouse, which involve such things as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to bear arms, and so on. Because we value these freedoms, we object strongly to anyone placing restrictions upon us, and voice loud complaints when such restrictions occur.
To be sure, there is much benefit in allowing people to freely make decisions and to own property and do the other things that are a part of being a free person. Much of the misery we inflict on one another happens when we do not honor each other’s liberties in this regard. But living truly free is difficult for us, because we do not understand what true freedom is. It’s important for us to come to see that freedom in the greatest sense of the word goes way beyond these limited human types of freedoms. In fact, true freedom is solidly grounded in the other-centered, self-sacrificial love of Father, Son, and Spirit—the only Being who lives truly and completely free.
Jesus Christ, as God in human flesh, is the one human person who lives a truly free life. Interestingly enough, while he was here on earth, this freely lived life was lived within a culture which embraced slavery and existed under the tyranny of a Roman government marked by paganism, oppressive taxation and military oppression. He was raised within the confines of a legalistic religion, with all its dogma and hypocritical leadership. And still, he lived as distinctly himself, without losing his essential nature as the one sent by his Father to live, die, and rise again on our behalf.
How was this possible? Jesus said at one point that he never did anything he did not see the Father doing. If he was a truly free person, then how is it that he never did anything unless it was what his Father was up to? Could it be that true freedom for us as human beings is in living in full union and communion with our Father in the Spirit as Jesus did? Could it be that freedom has nothing to do with doing what we will and what we desire and everything to do with doing what our Father wills and desires?
For us as humans, this seems to involve a loss of self. But in reality, this is not the truth. If Father, Son, and Spirit are the God who created us and who knows what it means for us to be truly human, then wouldn’t this mean that they know what is best for us? And if God is love—other-centered, self-sacrificial love—doesn’t this mean that God wants us to live in joy and peace, and develop into the fullness of all he meant for us to be as reflections of his image in Christ by the Spirit?
Taking this further—if life in loving relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit are what we were created for, and if we were meant to live in right relationship with God and each other, then true freedom for us is living in this way, in being truly human, in being our true selves. This means that every part of our existence is swept up into Christ by the Spirit, where our decisions, our choices, our “freedoms” are all held within the bounds of God’s love. We are free to enjoy life, rejoice in all God has made, but within the bounds of God’s love. God has designed things to work a certain way so that we are able to truly live. When we don’t stay within these limits, we find ourselves in the place of death.
The good news is that Jesus, in the divine, loving freedom of his Father in the Spirit, went through death into resurrection so that everyone of us might be set free from the chains of evil, sin, and death. Since we all died with Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. So, we need to act like it. We are set free from anything which hinders our right relationship with God and each other. We are set free from the chains of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life—those things which so often hold us fast and imprison us. We are under no obligation to live in submission to these things any longer. If we find ourselves where these chains are trying to form about us again, we need to look to Christ, for in him and him alone are we truly free.
Because of Christ, we are free now to be who God created us to be—the beloved, adopted children of Father. Because we are free in Christ, we walk no longer according to our flesh but we are led by the Spirit, are filled with the Spirit, and we follow wherever Christ leads us. We live each moment in face-to-face relationship with Father through the Son in the Spirit, enjoying their zōe life now in loving fellowship with others, in anticipation of sharing this life forever in the world to come. This is the gift of true freedom God has given us in Christ—a grace gift that we cannot earn, but can only receive with humble gratitude.
Father, Son, Spirit, thank you for setting us free, for removing the shackles of evil, sin, and death. Grant us the grace to live in the truth of our freedom in Christ. Enable us to remember the price that freedom cost us, and to not give any part of ourselves over to those things which inevitably end up being our masters, no matter how strong the temptation may be in this moment. For it is your will and your desire we seek to fulfill, not our own, through Jesus our Lord and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace . What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:12–23 NASB
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Our New Life Story
by Linda Rex
May 14, 2023, 6th Sunday in Easter/Resurrection—Do you have a story to tell? The story I have in mind is the story of your death and resurrection in Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about that time in your life when you were facing the end of your old life and Jesus offered you a new one? Is this what he is doing for you right now?
In our New Testament passage for this Sunday, 1 Peter 3:13-22, the apostle Peter talked about how important it is for us to know our story and to tell it. It’s important to understand that, even though we may not yet fully realize it, we died with Christ in his crucifixion and rose with him in his resurrection. Jesus, who was just, died for the unjust; he, the sinless one, died for all of us sinners. He rose from the grave, bringing our human flesh with him into the presence of his Father, enabling us to participate in his own close fellowship with his Abba in the Spirit.
Peter explains that our acknowledgement of this reality, our surrender to the will and purposes of God, is expressed through baptism. Just as Noah and his family left behind their old life to enter into the ark and be “baptized” by the waters of the flood and then to enter into a new life following the flood, we express our story, the transition in our own life, through baptism.
Part of our expression of our story through baptism is our coming to recognize and admit the truth of our existence—that we are heading the wrong direction, away from God, and Jesus has turned us around and brought us home. We confess that indeed, we are sinners in need of forgiveness and reconciliation, and we receive the forgiveness and reconciliation offered to us in Jesus Christ.
We commit ourselves to following our Lord Jesus Christ, no matter the cost to ourselves. It is important to realize that there is a cost—there is no guarantee that we will never suffer. And Jesus is Lord of all—that means he gets to tell us what it means to be truly human. He’s the one who establishes our true identity as beloved children of our Father. Part of our growing up in Christ and living out the truth of who we are in Jesus involves following our Savior all the way, even into death and resurrection, for he told his followers to lay down their lives, pick up their cross and follow him. There will be sorrow and there will be joy—it is a relationship and a journey, and we find our endurance in Jesus’ other gift.
Before he left his disciples, Jesus told them that he was not going to leave them as orphans, that he would come to them in the person of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-21). The Spirit is our closest companion, kinsman, and true soul mate, for the Spirit dwells within, enabling us to know that we are in Christ, who is in his Father and in us. There is this amazing relational thing going on we are placed into and are able to experience because of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit, enabling us to know we are God’s children and to hear his guidance and direction throughout our lives.
When we suffer because we are trying to follow Christ and do the right thing, Peter tells us to remember Jesus’ suffering for our sakes. Remember that he did nothing wrong, he only did what was good, loving, and holy, and he suffered and died at the hands of human beings. But this event was not a shock to God—no, it was always God’s will that every one of us be included in God’s life and love as his adopted children. So, even in Jesus’ life, suffering was part of God’s will for him, not because the Father inflicted suffering upon him, but because the Father and Jesus knew in the Spirit what we would do when the Son of God came to earth. And they embraced suffering, rather than avoiding it. They took the suffering of Jesus and turned it into our salvation.
And you and I are a part of that story. We have our own story to tell—and someday, when the time is right, we will be given the opportunity to tell our story. And in telling our story, perhaps someone else will find themselves in the midst of God’s story too. So why not give it some thought right now? What is your story?
Thank you, dear God—Father, Son, and Spirit—for all you have done so that I might be included in your life and love. Immerse me anew in Christ, that I may glorify our Father, and live in obedience to his will, no matter the cost to myself. And Holy Spirit, give me opportunities to tell my story, and the boldness, wisdom, and faith to do so when the time is right, through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
“Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. ‘And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled,’ but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” 1 Peter 3:13–22 NASB
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O God, Restore Us!
By Linda Rex
December 19, 2021, ADVENT | Love— As I put out my nativity set in my living room each year, I hide the baby Jesus away for the miracle of Christmas morning. The shepherd watches from a safe distance, and the wise men with their camel are hidden back on a shelf temporarily until closer to that day. On that sacred evening we celebrate on Christmas Eve, I bring out the baby Jesus and pause with wonder at the miracle of this special event. The shepherd draws near to worship and the wise men on their journey come closer, seeking this chosen One.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be in relationship with this God who would go to such incredible effort to draw every human being to himself in the miracle of the incarnation. I personally know the anguish and struggle that go with giving birth to a firstborn son, and the incredible joy and wonder which result when holding him in my arms for the first time. How could this marvelous bundle of possibilities have ended up in my arms? What does God have in mind for his life? How much more amazing must it have been for Mary to consider the wonder of being chosen to bear the Messiah!
But there is an undercurrent to this marvelous story which I believe is important to understand, and it goes along with this theme of being in relationship with God. And it is this: Jesus came because it was the will of God that he do so. He came because it is the nature of God to love and care for those he has created and brought into relationship with himself. The divine Son came willingly, and obediently, as an expression of God’s covenant love and faithfulness. The Son of God knew the Father in the Spirit, and trusted fully in his love—so he freely offered himself in obedience to the will of his Father.
My heart is heavy right now with all I see going on in my world. We are experiencing the consequences of our continual choices to do things our own way—to decide for ourselves how we will live and how we will treat one another and this world we all live on. I am broken by the way we live and the consequences of our choices. And it breaks my heart to think about what our children and grandchildren will be having to deal with when my generation has passed from the scene. What a price we pay for doing things our own way!
I often hear this time of year that the reason Jesus came was to die on the cross. In one way, I agree with this, but in another, I feel as though it truncates what Jesus actually came to do. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in whole burnt offerings and’ sacrifices ‘for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.” ’ … By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:5–7, 10 NASB)
I believe the Scriptures teach us that Jesus came to bring us into right relationship with God and subsequently with one another. Doing so required so much more than simply dying on the cross. It also involved being conceived in the womb of a woman, being a babe in her arms, growing up as a child into adulthood, and learning a trade at the feet of his father. Jesus experienced all of the everyday activities of our human life in a human body, being tempted in every point, but without sin. The forging of our true humanity occurred throughout his life, from birth even to death and on into the resurrection and ascension. In his human existence on this earth, Jesus “learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, … (Heb. 5:8–9 NASB).”
The song “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” comes to mind as I am writing this. In this hymn which expresses our deep longing for our redemption and salvation, I hear echoed our longing for this transformation of our human existence:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high
And order all things, far and nigh
To us the path of knowledge show
And cause us in her ways to go
O come, Desire of nations bind
All peoples in one heart and mind
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease
Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
(Latin Hymn, Translated by John M. Neale and Henry S. Coffin; Adapted from Plainsong by Thomas Helmore)
We also need to attend to the reality that there was a substantial difference between the responses of the two representative females in God’s story: Eve did not believe God, and ate of the tree she was told not to eat of, while Mary believed God’s word to her through the angel Gabriel and told God to do with her as he wished. In Eve, disbelief resulted in disobedience and all of the subsequent result of that as sin and death entered our human existence. In Mary’s belief and obedience, we find the life-giving God enters into our death- and sin-bound human existence in the person of Jesus Christ and restores our true humanity in his life, death, resurrection and ascension—making possible our right relationship with the Triune God now and forever in the gift of his Son and his heavenly Spirit.
What if we willingly surrendered our independence, our preferences, and our expectations to the God who came to us to bring us into right relationship with himself? What if we, like Mary, believed that God was good and loving, that he was faithful and trustworthy, and that he sought what was best for us? What if we actually said to God each day and in each moment, “Do with me as you wish”? What if we indeed brought every thought captive to the will of God in Christ (2 Cor. 10:5)?
The good news is that this is the very reason Jesus came. Jesus took our stubborn willfulness and turned us back toward obedience to the Father—even to the point of death on the cross. Jesus bore the suffering and agony of our rejection and resistance to God upon himself, took it to the grave, and emerged offering us new life in himself. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:16–17 NASB).”
What a lovely reason for the season! All that is left for us is to respond to Christ’s gift in faith, being filled with the Spirit and pouring out our gratitude in praise like Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias—all participants in this miraculous event. What we could not and would not do, Jesus did in our place and on our behalf. Such great love expressed to us by God above! We humbly receive with open hands and hearts, and respond with gratitude, saying, “Lord, let it be to me according to your word.” Your life, Jesus, for my life. Thank you, Lord!
“O God of hosts, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.” Psalm 80:7 NASB
“Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.’” Luke 1:39–45 NASB
Our Life in the Trinity 