A New Day
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. - Matthew 2:1-2
When Jesus was born …
How common the words, how incidental they sound. Yet, they introduce an event of such significance that all of time is measured as before and after the coming of this one child into the world and the drama of His life, death, and resurrection.
When Jesus comes, it is a new day. Governments are in place imagining themselves all powerful and enduring and suddenly they sense that they are temporal and vulnerable. The truly wise recognize the waves of change in the cosmos and once again become seekers moving in the direction of the source of that change. They that move with the currents of change come to worship.
New days and new years are best observed by recognizing God and worshiping Him.
We measure small blocks of time in seconds and move up the continuum, pausing to recognize the passing of years. In a year we circle the sun and pass through all of the seasons. We count them off and, as they pass, we find ourselves counting faster and faster.
We mark off the old and look with anticipation upon the new.
And while all of that is going on, something is being born, a new life, a novel opportunity, a fresh idea, a renewed hope, and occasionally, a burst of light. We follow that light and it leads us to a manger where, in unassuming splendor and simple elegance, we encounter the Son of God.
There we worship.
Because of that ever present possibility of meeting God in the passages of time, we peek around the corner of every new day and every new year with anticipatory wonder.
We know, as did the wise men, why we have come to this time.
We have come to worship Him.
Happy New Life!
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. … And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God … And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! “ - John 1:32, 34, 36
Against the backdrop of the Christmas story, we meditate upon John’s testimony to the significance of the Incarnate Word of God. The Spirit descends, the record is borne, and the Lamb of God is revealed.
It is a transitional moment of transformational power. The formative years of Jesus’ life are complete and the babe we left in the manger is now a man who knows who He is and what his mission is on earth is to be. It is the conclusion of the Christmas story and the beginning of a ministry that will culminate in His passion.
Jesus comes to John to be baptized and His baptism is a celebration of new life and new possibilities.
He stands with sinners though He has never sinned. He enters into the symbol of repentance for the sins that we have committed. He identifies intimately with humanity and in that act of identification, God sends forth His own Spirit to visibly and dramatically identify with Him.
It is a new day. In much the same way that we mark a new year with noise and celebration, God marks the ministry of Christ with John’s declaration, “This is the Son of God,” followed by “Look everyone! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World!”
The old is passing away. The new has come. From now on baptism will mean something entirely different and no one will need to be imprisoned in their despair of sin. New years had come and gone for centuries with their twin commemoration of the Day of Atonement. This was no mere new year. This announcement was of new life!
Happy New Life!
When the Time Comes
“And when the days …. were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;” - Luke 2:22
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven … ” - Ecclesiastes 3:1
Everything has a right time and season.
Even in the life of Jesus, from earliest childhood, this was true.
Farmers know this. Chefs, bread makers, glass makers, road builders, and river rafters follow this principle. For everything, there is a season. When the days or the hours or the minutes are accomplished, we do what is right for the moment.
This is in accordance with God’s purposes under heaven.
Some things take time to grow, ferment, and season. Science and history join hands to testify to this.
Our days amplify the reality. We have our coffee in the morning and our herbal tea or warm milk in the evening.
There are seasons of our lives.
We giggle, gurgle, and coo until we learn to play. As we develop coordination and skill, our games increase in sophistication. There is, then, a time to learn and prepare, then work, marriage, parenting, emptying the next, growing old gracefully, and finally, going home to Jesus and making space for another in this world of time and space.
God, who exists in fullness outside of time and space, chooses to enter into our realm to relate to us and to guide us toward His eternal purposes. He dwells here within us, acts in an orderly fashion, and though He could do so, chooses not to compress all of history into one millisecond of a moment just to get it over with.
He chooses to do what He does so well, in the fullness of time as days are accomplished. He chooses to flow through the rhythms of time.
What time is it in your life? What is so new about a new year for you? What is ready to be accomplished? What is next?
It's Christmas! Happy Easter!
What did you get for Christmas? Would you settle for some fish?
Jesus received gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but it was years late and followed by a life of rejection and a cross at the end of the road. Once he found a coin in a fish to pay His taxes and, another time, He took a few fish and some bread and fed a mob of thousands. He was particularly fond of some fishermen and called them to follow Him and fish for men. He changed one of them into a shepherd over a plate of fish.
"Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead." (John 21:12-14)
What a marvelous Christmas and Easter gift it was! The risen Christ met His disciples in the course of their lives and invited them to come and dine with Him. It was in that setting that Jesus walked Simon Peter back through the steps of rejection he had taken through a reaffirmation of his love and a new commission to feed His very own sheep.
Jesus meets us in the course of our lives along the shores of wherever we are struggling to get by. He shows us how to do what we are doing better, but interrupts us for something more important. He calls us to sit down with Him in intimate fellowship, to be fed on His sacrifice, forgiven by His grace, and sent forth in His power to feed others.
And it's the greatest Christmas, New Year's, Easter gift of all: the gift of His saving presence and His calling.
It's Christmas! Happy Easter! Happy New Year! Go forth!
Everything is new!
