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Written by: Dale

Category: Advent Christmas Epiphany

Created: 15 October 2009

The Astonished Heavens

“The creation is craning forward just to get a glimpse…”

Reflections on Christmas Themes

by

Dale Appleby

"The Astonished Heavens" is available as a downloadable pdf file, ready to be printed as a small booklet.

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Contents

Fame in Heaven  4

The Star 6

Peace on Earth? 8

Suitable only for … 10

Seeing the Light 12

A Dangerous Secret? 13

What Profit? 15

Call him Jesus – but who is he? 17

Call him Jesus – and 19

Foolish Questions? 21

The Nativity Story 23

What kind of excitement? 25

The Hijacking of History 27

The Noisy Secret 29

Why not?  31

Details

Written by: Dale Appleby

Category: Advent Christmas Epiphany

Created: 14 December 2008

Shocking Christmas

This sermon is also available in MP3 format here.

Christmas is quite shocking. At least the big event at the heart of Christmas is. It is like the good shock we get when a very important person visits our home unexpectedly. We may wish later that the place had been cleaned, or that we had said at least something that was intelligent, but as we recover from the shock we feel pleased that we were honoured by their visit - even if we are not quite sure why they came.

We could feel like that about the birth of Jesus, because this is the creator of everything coming to visit and live with his creatures. Presumably he thinks this is important. Or he thinks we are important. Or we could think we were important because of his visit. All of that is true. But why?

Why did the Son of God want to, need to, take on human life, become a human being while still remaining God? And here is a different kind of shock. It was not that God needed to do something but that we needed him to do something. He saw that we had a problem that is focussed on death.

Heb 2.14-15 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.

We see the answer to why he became human by observing what he did with the humanity he took to himself. Did he turn it into something glorious and noble, did he become the epitome of the legendary great human? Quite the opposite: as a human he seemed very ordinary and weak.

Phil 2.7,8 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross.

The great shock is that he took the humanity to death. He killed it off. He took on humanity in order to put it to death.

Heb 2.17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.

Gal 4.4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

To redeem humanity, to bring it back because of its sin, its rebellion, its turn-your-back-on-God and treat-him-like-a-servant attitude. Because it not only deserved death as Adam was told, but needed it.

Rom 8.3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh

Which doesn't paint humans in a very good light. But then God is not a painter, he is a creator. His interest is not in renovating humans, or giving them a make-over, but in recreating them.

The greatness of the shock of bringing Jesus' humanity to death is deepened when we see what God did next. He raised it from death. He didn't leave the humanity in the grave as though he was finally rid of it. He raised it to a new life.

1 Cor 15.21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

The raised Jesus is the human divine Jesus who was killed. He took the humanity of Adam to death, and through death to a new life which is now directly connected with Christ rather than Adam. A new start has been made, a new humanity created out of the old. The shock is that God intends that humans should live in an entirely different way. The new life for humans is directly connected with the life of Christ. Who is no longer on the earth.

Eph 1.20 God put this power to work 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 above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come

It is still the same human and divine Christ who is now seated in the highest place. The humanity has not been left behind. The shocking fact that he has taken humanity to the throne of God gives a clue to God's intention for us.

Eph 2.6,7  God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

But how shall we enjoy this new life? It is not a life given to us independent of Jesus. It is not ours to do with as we like. It is the life of God as we know it in our relationship with Christ.

Col 3.2-4  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

So many shocks. That God sets such value on us that he goes to such great lengths to bless us in this way. And also that he declares that we do not deserve this life but that we have forfeited what he gave us in the first place. In fact that we live under the shadow of death - a death promised by God in the beginning. But it is through death (the death of the New Human) that God does away with the judgment that hangs over us, and also brings to an end the old corrupted humanity and from it raises up a new human, united with himself in Christ.

Such a wonder. That humans who were once made as the image of God, should in the end share the likeness of God's only Son.

1 John 3.2 Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

Why did God the Son take human flesh? Why did he want to become a human? Why did the Father send his only Son into the world?

1 John 4. 9,10  God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

So? These are the kind of shocks applied to someone whose heart has stopped beating. Do you, will you live for this God who loved you so much? The new life is directly connected with Christ himself.

2 Corinthians 5:14,15 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

1 John 4. 11,12  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Dale Appleby

Christmas Day 2005

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Written by: Dale Appleby

Category: Advent Christmas Epiphany

Created: 14 December 2008

The Enigma of Jesus' Baptism

Psalm 2; Isaiah 42.1-7; Mark 1.4-11

Was Jesus' baptism significant for him? A pivotal event? Or just play acting for the benefit of the crowd? Why did a sinless person (if he was sinless) need to be baptised?

Crowds come out to John to be baptised, they confess their sins asking for forgiveness. In the crowd is a visitor  from Galilee. He too is baptised. Outwardly he is just one of the crowd.  No one observes anything special about his baptism. But he does.

Private Vision

Jesus has a private vision. He sees heaven split open and the Spirit descending on him - in a gentle anointing - like a dove. And he hears a voice speaking to him.

Of what benefit was this vision? If he was the Son of God why did he need the Spirit to come on him, and why did he need God to tell him he was his Son? Of course as we read the story we remember promises made in the Old Testament (eg Ps 2, Is 42) about the coming servant or child who would be anointed with the Spirit of God and save his people.

Trinity Vision?

But this vision, while it affirms those promises, may be much more profound than that. Because this looks more like a private conversation between the persons of the Triune God. It is as though the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are working together in the ministry Jesus is beginning.

One of the frustrating things for us is the lack of explanation for this vision. How do we know it happened? Presumably because Jesus reported it to his disciples later. But why did he not explain what it meant? Why did they not ask him more questions about it? The report of the vision, at this stage of the Mark's gospel, is an enigma.

An Enigma?

But although it is a puzzle, it does tell us quite a lot. It reveals to us things we had no way of knowing otherwise. It shows that something was being coordinated within the Trinity. More than that it shows us the relationships between Father and Son and between Spirit and Son. There is no possibility of us knowing such relationships exist unless the Son tells us. We are given a glimpse into not just the fact of the relationships but to the nature of them.

And as we listen to the report of this vision we get a glimpse of an extraordinary cooperative work in which the Father and Spirit are involved in the work of the Son. Later theologians tried to put into words the nature of this relationship. One of their attempts is the Nicene Creed which we use in church. As they discussed this in the next few centuries some, helped by John's gospel, came to the awareness that the unity of God was such that whatever the Son did was what the Father was doing. That what the Spirit did was done in and through the Son, that the works of the Father were the deeds of the Son.

This vision gives us a glimpse into that united working. It is appropriate at the beginning of Jesus' ministry that the Father, the Spirit and the Son are all seen to be cooperatively involved in what the Son is about to do.

A Sinner?

But what is he doing? And did he confess his sins like all the others who were baptised by John? Mark is silent on the question. But a big clue to the answer lies in the very next  event. The Spirit sends Jesus out into the wilderness for forty days to be tested by Satan. That is a good test. And although Mark does not tell us the outcome, we know Jesus resisted the temptations.

So perhaps we can assume Jesus had no sins to confess. But if so why be baptised? I suppose we can see Jesus wishing to join into John's movement. To align himself with John's preaching, to associate himself with the repentant sinners who were looking for forgiveness.

It is possible to read this story and say that there is not explanation of it, no answer to our questions about what it meant and why it happened. But it is also possible that the explanation is quite lengthy, that it requires certain other things to happen, and other information to be provided before it is possible to explain it. Perhaps the rest of Mark's gospel is the explanation. And the questions which are left hanging enigmatically in the air at the beginning are answered by the end.

The Heart

Because this baptism is not only pivotal for Jesus, it represents the heart of his mission. Later (10.38) he will ask two of his ambitious disciples whether they can be baptised with the baptism he is to be baptised with. He is referring not to this baptism but to his death. And yet there is a connection. As he has followed the crowds down into the Jordan, so later he will take them and their sins down into waters of death. And trust the Father to raise them up again with him.

By the end of the gospel it will be much clearer that John's baptism was able to offer forgiveness to sinners because Jesus offered his life as a ransom for them. At the beginning he is connecting himself with both the message and the symbol of his mission.

And at the beginning the Father, the Spirit, and the Son are all seen to be involved in the mission, because this is a mission of the Triune God. It is not a solo effort by Jesus. What Jesus does is the work of the Father. The deeds of God are done by the Spirit in and through Jesus.

There was no play acting here. Rather we are given a profound glimpse into the cooperative work of the Almighty God in making it possible for repentant sinners to be forgiven.

Worth being thankful for!

Dale Appleby

Baptism of Jesus, January 8, 2006

Details

Written by: Dale Appleby

Category: Advent Christmas Epiphany

Created: 14 December 2008

What benefit to the Wise Men?

Epiphany sermon preached at All Saints Jakarta on January 1, 2006

Bible readings: Isaiah 60.1-6; Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew 2.1-12

This sermon is also available in MP3 format here.

It is a strange story, this visit of the magi. They come and go but don't seem to gain anything from the visit. They are not really welcomed by Herod, and the prophecy from Micah which redirects them to Bethlehem clearly excludes them. The King they have come to worship is to be "the ruler of my people, Israel."

But they come and show the child honour and worship and give various gifts, and then go home. The story does not suggest that they have been welcomed or included, in fact there is a hint of them being rejected. The story does not give us many clues to interpret this event. So what does it mean?

Or to say it another way, Why did God call them? We can appreciate that God was behind whatever they saw in the sky. We don't have to agree with, or even understand, how they came to the conclusion that a major event had occurred involving a new King of the Jews. But we can see that God brought them to Bethlehem. But why?

Perhaps God was lifting the lid on something. Perhaps he was giving a glimpse, a teaser, of his hidden plan. Because he had a plan, which he had made a very long time before, to include people like the Magi in his people. Far beyond any fears Herod may have had about a rival King, God's plan was to include people like the Magi as heirs together with Israel of the promises made to Abraham; to make them all members of one body; to share together in the blessings of Israel.

Perhaps what the Magi were acting out was something they did not fully grasp, but which later found its full expression in the African from the south who came to Jerusalem to worship the same King 30 years later and who heard from Philip about the meaning of the King's death from Isaiah 53. What the Magi were doing found a fuller expression in the Italian who found his way to Judea with the Roman Army and who heard the good news about Jesus from Peter (Acts 10). Or the Greeks who lived in Antioch (Acts 11) and who heard about the same King and believed in him.

About 30 years or so after the Magi visited the baby, a radical change happened among some of the people of Israel. It was a reversal of thought that brought people with an ethnocentric view of their religion to include Gentiles in their group. How did this happen?

Paul says it was by a revelation God gave to the apostles and prophets (Eph 3.5). God opened up the secret of his plan. He made it plain that the Gentiles were heirs together with Israel and were able to share in the same promises. He explains it in Ephesians 2.13 and onwards. Such an amazing plan is made possible because Gentiles have been brought near to God (and to Israel) through the blood of Christ. In fact it is not Israel but rather Jesus who is centre of this change. Christ has become a new human and has included in himself both Jew and Gentile. He has reconciled them together, and in his one body he has reconciled them to God. It was he who preached peace with God to both Jew and Gentile. And now all those who are included in the one body of Christ have access to the same Father by the same Spirit (Eph 2.15-18).

No wonder this new human, this body which includes people from all races, is on display to the spiritual rulers in the heavenly world. This body, ie the church, shows God's wonderfully varied wisdom (Eph 3.10).

So the Magi are like a trailer, an advance screening, of a future in which they are able to be included as subjects of the King. Within 30 or so years, people like the Magi were included equally in God's people as a result of the death and resurrection of this child they worshipped.

So if you had the same information as the Magi had, would you have made that trip with that baggage to worship that child? A hypothetical question of course.

But now that you have the information you do have, do you worship him? Do you give him gifts (actually he doesn't want gifts - he wants us to give our lives to him as a sacrifice - full of life and set apart for him alone [Rom 12.1-3]). And would you travel all that distance (or even a very short distance) with the full story in order to tell others about the uncovered plan - so that they too can be included?

Dale Appleby