Stay The Course Joseph !

This last week I’ve been reading again the account of Jesus’ birth in Matthew’s Gospel. Talk about living life in circles… This is my 41^st Christmas and I know this story like the back of my hand. It’s all there…

There’s the angel appearing to Joseph saying, “Stay the course Joseph. Mary is pregnant and you are not the father but hang in there. This child is special. This baby is destined for great things.”

Then there’s the wisemen, the Magi who arrive in Jerusalem from the East. They’ve come expecting to find a kingdom in the middle of a party. And they come asking, “So are we too late ? Where is this baby who has been born King of the Jews ? We saw his star rising in the East. We want to meet him and we… have… presents !”

And then there’s the startled King Herod. He’s hosting no party. All he seems to want to give the wisemen is his suspicion and his forty questions. And then Herod sends the wisemen on their way with murderous intent. He’s says, “Look, you keep following your star. When you find this royal child, you let me know. I have something special I want to give him !”

And the wisemen… well they just keep following their star & searching, till they find the baby Jesus. He is certainly not living in a palace but the wisemen are certainly not disappointed. Scripture says they are overwhelmed with joy.

Yet despite their joy, despite their celebrating… the many threads of this story begin to unravel. Herod is filled with murderous intent. He is anxiously waiting for news of the location of the child. The wiseman are warned via a dream. They do not return to their country via Herod’s palace. And when Herod finds this out he unleashes his murderous rage.

One night soon after, Joseph is woken up from restful slumber by another angel. The angel says, “Wake up and run Joseph. Take Mary and the baby and go far away from this place. Go to Egypt. Herod is coming to kill the baby. Run Joseph, run away now!”

I said before, I know all these aspects of the story like the back of my hand.

However, the part of the story that rings the most true with my experience of the world is also the most terrible. It’s Herod’s slaughter of the infants. In response to the arrival of the wisemen, Herod is threatened at the most fundamental level. In fear & fury he unleashes infanticide on all the toddlers and babies 2 years and under in and around the town of Bethlehem. It’s a monstrous act of political expediency.   

Can you imagine it ? Can you imagine the impact, the pain of this action rippling through a community, through an entire district ? Can you picture the mass of mothers weeping inconsolable in their grief, over their lost children ? All that hope, all that potential wiped out in one callous and capricious act. It’s breath taking in its sheer horror. 

And the wonder of it, is that Jesus, the helpless & unknowing infant survives. God intervenes and Scripture gives us the image of this one who is born King of Jews fleeing with his parents. They run like refugees and their only protection is the cover of darkness.

For a time this fragile royal family become aliens and strangers in the land of Egypt. But the world turns. Scripture says Herod dies but Joseph is still afraid to return to his own country. Again Joseph is woken from peaceful slumber. And the angel says, “Get up and go Joseph. It is time to return home. Take the child and his mother and go back to Israel!”

So Joseph gets up and again he goes. And when Joseph finally arrives back home, I get a sense he continues living anonymously and below the radar in Nazareth. Even at this point, you can still see the consequences of Herod’s actions… rippling out in all directions, affecting Joseph’s choices long after Herod is dead. Jesus, the shoot from the stump of Jesse, the King of the Jews, becomes Jesus the son of Joseph, a carpenter living in a rural Jewish backwater.  

“Kill Me, I Am Going To Kill You !”

During the week one of those tragic news stories we here about all too often came close to home…

Just over a week ago now I heard the tragic story of Tyler Cassidy. Tyler was the knife-wielding boy of just 15 who was shot dead by police near a skateboard ramp in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Evidently, Tyler had just stolen two knives from K Mart, when he was confronted by the police. He was confused and agitated and ranting. And four policemen were trying to calm him down. Then the situation deteriorated. Tyler started yelling… “Kill me, I’m going to kill you”… And then 3 of the 4 policemen decided the only way to contain this rather short & weedy 15 yr old, was by firing 10 bullets into him.

Tyler died alone, gasping for his last breathes… His life flowing out of him through the bullet wounds in his chest.

And we are left dumbfounded and shaking our heads… “How is such a thing possible ? How can this happen in our so called sophisticated & civilized society ?”

I said before that during the week this story came close to home. My church supports Scott & Cathrine Girvan who have been working for many years now with GiA in Africa. Tyler Cassidy was Scott and Kathryn’s nephew.

Catherine emailed us during the week… “Please remember us in your prayers. Late Thursday afternoon, Scott’s 15 year old nephew was shot and killed by police in Victoria. As you can imagine his sister and mother are overcome with grief at this time…” Then the email finishes off, “Pray for Scott as he tries to find a way to fly back to Melbourne…” And I say pray for Catherine as she and her 2 girls wait disturbed and anxious and questioning in Africa…

It’s at times like this that you realise how the consequences of our decisions & of our actions ripple out in all directions, long after they are done.

It reminds me of what God says to Cain after he murders his brother Abel. He says, “What have you done ? Listen, your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.” It’s like he is saying the violent actions of men continue screaming out to God – long after they are finished.

And don’t you get tired of the violence upon violence, the screams and the left over cries of pain ?

Here Is My Servant In Who My Soul Delights

Traditionally Isaiah 42:1-9 describes one who is known as the Suffering Servant. There is definitely a sense of weakness and vulnerability about this figure in verses 2 and 3. “Here is my servant… he will not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street”. This is one who lives among ‘bruised reeds’ and ‘dimly burning wicks’. This sounds like a subjugated person, a slave whose spirit has been broken… a man living from day to day who does what he is told.

However I also notice that this is vulnerability & weakness that has been turned on its head.

Scripture also says, “I have put my Spirit upon him”. And the suffering servant’s task is nothing less than bringing equity and justice to the nations. This is one who will redress the imbalance… And Scripture says, “…he will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice upon the earth”. Wow ! That is no small task for one who is an exiled foreigner in a strange land.

And what or who makes this possible ? v6 “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations… I am the Lord, that is my name.”

I suppose my question here is, ‘Is this what it means to begin living life in ever increasing circles ?

It’s interesting… Abraham Heschel makes the comment that no other problem has occupied OT scholars more than the identity of the Suffering Servant. Who is he ? Is he the prophet who wrote the passage ? Is the suffering servant the whole of exiled Jewish nation ? Or is he the Messiah, the one who is to come ?

A couple of weeks ago I described the writing of Isaiah as deliciously ambiguous. This means that over time it seems to accrete more & more meaning. While a passage like this sits well within history, it is ambiguous because it also sits above history. In a sense it defies time – it is ageless.

That’s the remarkable thing about the Gospel… When people open themselves to the Spirit of God there is something remarkably consistent about the outcome. It gives people particular priorities, it evidences itself in particular actions, it inspires people with particular visions… Over time it establishes itself in ways that turns everyday experience on its head… Imagine for a moment the audacious possibility of a subjugated exiled foreigner, an alien bringing forth justice to the nations. Imagine an expat community of weakened Jewish exiles without a country being given as “a covenant to the peoples, a light to the nations”.

I call this living life in ever increasing circles…   

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

Living life in increasing circles…

Truly, one of the great joys of life is now seeing my own children get excited about Christmas. It wasn’t always like this… I remember my daughter Zoe’s first Christmas. She was 6 months old and we propped her up under the tree with presents all around and a cute Santa hat on her head. Zoe’s delight that year wasn’t the presents, it was ripping up all the Christmas paper.

The next year Zoe was 18 months old and I remember taking her to see Santa for the very first time at Harrods in London. She was terrified of this BIG red man with masses of white hair… so much so that I had to sit next to Santa and Zoe sat on my wife’s lap next to me.  She did not want to talk to Santa, so Santa talked to me instead.

By Zoe’s 3^rd Christmas she got the broad strokes concept of what was happening. Thankfully she didn’t get up any earlier but I remember Zoe was now definitely interested in opening every present under the tree.

This year on her 8^th Christmas, Zoe directed her 2 brothers through the delicate process of decorating the Christmas tree. She typed out her own gift list for Santa on the computer. With a little encouragement from her Nanna, Zoe even gave some of her own pocket money towards the Christmas hampers.

You know it takes kids a while to get Christmas but once they do Christmas sparkles with the purity of their sheer delight…

The other evening my son Ethan was decorating the Christmas tree, and he turned to me and said, “Christmas makes me feel so happy Dad !” And I sat there wide-eyed and I gulped. I couldn’t begin telling him how much hearing those words filled me with overwhelming joy.

Earlier this week I watched my kids pack twenty hampers for the shutin members of our church community.  I didn’t have to ask them… they begged me to help. They did it enthusiastically, totally naturally. And in the middle of it all little Dawson looks up at me with a big, big smile and a twinkle in his eye. And he tells in a look, “Of course we get the idea of these hampers Dad… we are doing this to help all the poor people.”

This is my 41^st Christmas and Christmas just keeps becoming deeper and richer. When I was a child, Christmas was filled with the magic and wonder of childhood. Now as an adult Christmas has been transformed. There is still magic and wonder but it is the magic and wonder of a father delighting in his children delighting in Christmas. You see when we live life in circles, the familiarity of those persistent repetitious rhythms makes life a sacred gift… a high calling.

Surely the Lord Is In This Place and I Did Not Know It

I remember vividly those first moments I spent holding each of my children after they were born. My wife gave birth to all three of our kids by caesarean, so there was always about an hour after my wife had been stitched up and was in recovery, where I would be waiting & holding our new little bub. On each occasion, it was a time of being overwhelmed by the experience.

And I would mostly be unable to speak. I would teeter on the brink of laughter and of crying. And every time I looked up at any of my family on the other side of the glass – I was told – I was simply beaming from the experience of holding such a perfect & serene little one.

Do you think in those moments I was trying to rationally work out what was happening to me  ? – No ! I was simply & profoundly overwhelmed with the wonder of this first and long awaited meeting with this captivating little one.

When I reflect back, there was definitely something vulnerable & unguarded about me in those moments. In my humility, I opened myself up to something mostly beyond words, the experience of which I can only describe as pure & sacred.

Suddenly, the idea of Almighty God poured out into the package of the Babe born in Bethlehem becomes comprehensible and totally accessible. 

It reminds me of that episode in Genesis where Jacob is out in the desert. He has just been sent away by his father Isaac – for stealing the birthright of his older brother Esau. It is night and he falls asleep on the hard ground using a stone as his pillow.

And Jacob has this amazing dream. You can imagine the vividness of this dream because Jacob is tossing and turning – using a stone as his pillow. In this dream, Jacob sees a ladder reaching from the ground all the way up to heaven with angels ascending and descending. And the Lord God stands beside Jacob and says,

“I shall make the number of your offspring like the very dust of the earth… know that I am with you and will keep you where ever you go… for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you…” Then Jacob wakes up from his sleep – feeling overwhelmed and afraid. He says, “Surely the LORD is in this place and I did not know it… how awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.”

When we allow ourselves to be pierced and disarmed by the babe of Bethlehem – awe and wonder are our first and most appropriate response. This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven…

A Virgin Shall Conceive a Son and They Shall Name Him Emmanuel

Jurgen Moltmann says when we celebrate Christmas, at its heart we are celebrating something almost unimaginable, “the Creator of heaven and earth, whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, becomes so humble and small that in this child Jesus, he is beside us and lives among us”.

Matthew’s gospel says, “Look, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel which means, ‘God with us’”. Yet what manner of child is this, in whom is expressed all the majesty and glory of God himself ? I don’t just stumble at the thought of that, I literally stagger at the possibility. 

Don’t worry about putting God into a box. When you consider the Creator and Sustainer of the universe freely packaged into a tiny, helpless frame of a baby – then God literally bursts out of the box of convention & cliché. And the unimaginable happens. Suddenly the God ‘whom even the heaven of heavens’ cannot contain is up close and personal.

Like Christmas wrapping after the presents are opened – there is nothing neat and tidy about it. I have my struggles with the logic of Incarnation as it is. Process it just for a moment – holy God and finite hormone driven, male humanity – packaged together in the God-man Jesus. The divine and human natures are united. At best this is holy irony – at worst it’s madness.

It leaves me feeling off balance & uneasy – almost overwhelmed at times with unknowing – like as though all I thought I knew has been erased back to ground zero. And what does that sound like ? 

In Old Testament language we would call this being humbled in the presence of God. And you know what ? I don’t think rationalism or logical argument quite cuts it in these places.

In moments and events touched by the finger of God, a more appropriate response is wonder, awe and radical amazement. Abraham Herschel says, “…wonder is the pre-requisite for an authentic awareness of that which is.” You see, when we use reason, we are trying to explain & adapt the world to our concepts. However, when we experience wonder – we make a significant shift. We begin seeking to adapt our minds to the world as it is. Herschel says, “Under the running sea of all our theories & scientific explanations, lies the original abyss of radical amazement”.

From the Stump of Jesse, From the Line of King David

Sometimes I think we live in a world of broken promises, a world of good beginnings and either bad or incomplete endings… It is a world where so often the people who lead us, disappoint us. They let us down.

Martin Buber says when you look at the Scriptures, “the history of the kings of Israel is the history of the failure of the one who is anointed to realise the promise of his calling. The rise of [the idea of a messiah] – is the hope of the coming of an anointed king who realizes the promise of his anointing”.

You know the prophet Isaiah lived during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah… King Uzziah, King Jotham, King Ahaz and King Hezekiah. They were all descendents from the stump of Jesse, from the line of David.

Now Scripture records problems with 3 of the 4 kings. While 3 of them did what was “right in the sight of the Lord”, they still mostly behaved and pursued the trappings of the kings of the lands all around them. Instead of placing their faith in the help of the Living God of Israel, more often they relied on their own success. They put their faith in political intrigue and timely alliances and their own ability to make war.

Take King Uzziah for instance… Under Uzziah, the Kingdom of Judah reaches the height of its power. Uzziah develops the economic resources of the country as well as its military might. He conquers the Philistines and the Arabians and he receives tribute from the Ammonites. Scripture says he was strong and prosperous because “… he did what was right in the sight of the Lord”.

Yet Uzziah’s success & strength became his weakness. Scripture says, “he grew proud… to his destruction”. Uzziah attempts to enter the Temple to burn incense on the Alter, a privilege reserved for the priesthood only. Azariah, the chief priest pleads with him, “It is not for you Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out from this place, for you have done wrong… it will bring you no honour from the Lord God”. 

Uzziah becomes angry and as his anger grows leprosy breaks out on his forehead. And Scripture says, “King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord”. 

And when things got really tough, when the Kingdom of Judah began paying tribute to the Kingdom of Assyria, King Ahaz from the stump of Jesse, from the royal line of David – even turned his back on the Lord. He desecrated the Temple & called on the help of other gods.

All of these events occurred during the lifetime of Isaiah. And as a prophet it was his duty to call people back to God. It was his calling to describe the visions he was given of God’s alternative reality. And while these visions filled Isaiah with hope, they also made him unpopular with the kings he served.

Isaiah 11:1-10 is a messianic vision of a peaceful kingdom. It is an alternate vision of a king of the stump of Jesse overwhelmed by the Spirit of God, who is both human and holy. This king is so singled minded in his zeal for God, that he realizes the promise of his anointing… he establishes the Kingdom of God… a kingdom of righteousness and justice and mercy. 

The Lion Laying Down With the Fattened Calf

It’s interesting… while Isaiah 11:1-10 sits well within history, it is ambiguous because it also sits above history. In a sense it defies time – it is ageless !  It’s like throwing a stone in a pond… The effect of that action is the release of a burst of energy that ripples out in all directions.

That’s the remarkable thing about the Gospel… When people open themselves to the Spirit of God there is something remarkably consistent about the outcome. It gives people particular priorities, the Gospel evidences itself in particular actions, it inspires people with particular visions… Over time the Gospel establishes itself in ways that turns everyday experience on its head…

Imagine for a moment the possibility of a lion laying down peacefully alongside a fattened calf…

I remember visiting a game park in South Africa once. We came upon a grouping of cars and 4wds all stopped along the side of the road. There were a bunch of adults & children all hanging out of car windows, standing out of top of their sunroofs. Some were even sitting on car bonnets. All were pointing admiringly and looking through their binoculars at some far off tree.

And at the base of the tree was a pride of lions all lazing about in the hazy shade. The lions were all stretched out around a stripped zebra carcass.

Then the male lion stood up and yawned and roared. It was a huge sound and he was huge lion! Latent power was oozing from every muscle and sinew. From gaping mouth to claw to tail he was one efficient lean mean killing machine.

Then the park ranger pulled up in front of us. He started berating the tourists who were hanging out their windows and sunroofs and sitting on their bonnets.

He was gesticulating wildly as he drove home his well rehearsed mantra… “Usually… lions who have just eaten aren’t interested in people but you just never know! If for some reason they feel threatened and the male charges… you would be pushing it to get back into your car and to close the doors and windows before he would be among you… and the rest doesn’t bear thinking about… So don’t be so reckless & stupid… Get back into your cars.” 

Now I ask you… if that is the way of the world, can you imagine a time when a fattened calf and a lion could lie down side by side ?

There is a predictable certainty about all the violence & the harsh edge of this world. And yet the writer of Isaiah says, “Behold the one who is overwhelmed and filled up with the Spirit of God… this one who dares to truly live life consistent with that relationship. Behold what he will do… Those things you thought that were so certain, will all change because of his actions. And the changes will be startling, unexpected and beyond your wildest imagining.

They will be glorious to behold and they will amplify the power and the majesty of God”. 

When the Gospel begins taking root, its like the yeast in the dough… a little goes along way and changes the flour fundamentally. It is like a lion laying down peacefully alongside a fattened calf ! 

And the Wolf Shall Live With the Lamb

When I read Isaiah 11:1-10 I notice its not like other narratives in the Scriptures. While it describes an event, it is one that bursts the bounds of everyday experience. In some ways this passage sounds like a mythical epic yet I know it’s also firmly embedded in Biblical history. If I you what this passage is talking you would probably say, “This passage is obviously talking about Jesus isn’t it !” And I would reply, “Well… yes it is and no it isn’t !” And then I would say, “Welcome to the world of the prophet Isaiah…”  

I like what Paul Johnson says about Isaiah… He says, “Isaiah was not only the most remarkable of the prophets, he is by far the greatest writer in the Old Testament”. That’s high praise indeed.

However while Isaiah’s writings may be among the best in Scripture, that doesn’t mean they are easy. There is a delicious ambiguity about this kind of writing.

For example in vs1…“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse… a branch shall grow out of his roots…” While the tree imagery is clear here, Isaiah isn’t talking about a tree.

What about vs6… “…and the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat, the calf, the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them…” Again the animal images and the child are all clear enough but Isaiah isn’t talking about a visit to the zoo.   

There is no doubting these verses are visually potent. Isaiah is describing something that he is seeing with prophetic vision. Something that is vivid and clear and evocative…

However while this passage might be clear in a visual sense, there is another sense in which these verses mean so much more. For example who is Isaiah describing here ? Is he looking 700 years into the future and describing Jesus in his glorious splendour or is he describing someone more general & archetypal?

I remember when I was at seminary, these kinds of passages would drive some students half crazy. They would keep trying to tie down the meaning of it and they just couldn’t.  And our wily Old Testament Professor would ask a student whose eyes were starting to glaze over, “And James, what do you think this passage is referring to ?” And if the answer came back ‘Jesus’, ‘God’ or ‘the Holy Spirit’ then you knew he was really struggling.

It’s interesting… while the passage is ambiguous, we are left in no doubt about the nature of the one it is describing. There is no sense of this one being merely a good boy or even just a really nice guy. This is a man of purpose and intention. What he sets about doing is an expression of the deep integrity of his character and his intimate relationship with God.

It pours out of him… filling the gap that so often exists between our words and our actions.