December 21st to 27th
Fourth Week of Advent
Love
Readings:John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 13 selected verses (NIV)
John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
1 Corinthians 134 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
This week is nearly Christmas so you’re getting a kind of double bill today; we look at the rest of Advent first.
The verse above from John’s Gospel is often called a Summary of the Christian Gospel: surely one of the most famous and most often quoted verses of the entire Bible; we often hear it paraphrased simply as “God is love”, but what does this mean in practice? The Corinthians passage puts more detail on the concept, but in order to get somewhere near what we mean by the love of God we have to turn to the Greek word agape, the word which is specifically used in this verse. Broadly speaking this means a totally selfless and self-sacrificial love, always desiring the good of the other person, an act of will and not merely an emotion, with no expectation of return.
Jesus came to earth specifically so that He could die for our sins, as we see symbolically from the events surrounding His birth. There was “no room for them at the inn”: specifically at the time of the census everywhere was full, and people were staying with family wherever possible. Because Joseph’s family home already had their kataluma (Greek κατάλυμα), or Guest Room on an upper floor, occupied; Mary and Joseph were therefore accommodated on the gound floor, where the animals would be housed. Customarily there would be animals ready for sacrifice stored in here until their time came; they were wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a stone manger to keep them clear and pure. Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger – symbolically a sacrificial Lamb from the moment of His birth!
Lord Jesus, we praise and thank you beyond measure!
December 25th
Christmas Day
Jesus, the Light of the World
John 1:1-5, 9-14 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
On Christmas Day we light our final candle, representing Jesus the Light of the World. He Himself said, “I am the Light of the World” in John 8:12.
Basically the whole of the New Testament is about showing the ways in which Jesus fulfils this statement about Himself. And on Christmas Day we are properly introduced to the wonderful Persona of Jesus.
All the familiar Nativity stories from Matthew and Luke, from Genesis, Isaiah and Micah, are God’s way of giving us aides-mémoire to make sure that we do not forget this background to the coming of Jesus to live among us. It is sometimes alarming how as ordinary people we actually forget (or simply omit to remember) the various ways in which God has shown Himself to us through history. This is the main reason why God instituted the various festivals in Judaism, to keep reminding His people of who He is and what He is doing in their (and our) lives.
More than anything else today we need to remember two specific features of Jesus’s life: (i) He is the Light of the whole World (and He also wants to become the Light of those who do not yet know Him), and (ii) He came to earth at Christmas in order to die on the Cross on Good Friday, so that He could be raised to Life again at Easter.
We as Christians are privileged to see and know the real Jesus, that is why we are all tasked (at the end of Matthew’s Gospel) with making Him known to the rest of humanity.
Next week in our Reflection we shall be staying with the Christmas theme and looking at some popular Christmas Carols, discussing their Scriptural basis.
Thank you Lord Jesus for Christmas, so that we could come to know you and would be able to accept you into our lives as Lord and Saviour. Thank you Lord for the wondrous ways in which you come close to us and help us to know and love you. Praise you Jesus. Amen
Peter Sebborn
Christian.Footsoldier@gmail.com