Christmas 11. 4 January 2014

image by jshelve

by Pastor Eric Thompson

""A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene."

(Matthew 2:18--23, ESV)

The Jews looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Or, perhaps it might better be said they looked forward to the coming of someone who would fulfill their ideas of what the Messiah would be and would do. The actual thing doesn't always conform to our expectations.

Nazareth was known for all the wrong things. It could be said that the city's greatest crime was to serve as the headquarters for the Roman garrison that (at times brutally) enforced the Pax Romana in the northern region of Galilee. When Nathanael heard that the Messiah had been identified as Jesus of Nazareth his response would have been typical of most Jews of his era: "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" The Messiah of the ancient Jewish mind most certainly did not hail from Nazareth.

To be called a Nazarene was not a compliment. Yet, it was at God's direction that Joseph re-settled his family there after Herod's death. It is a fitting hometown, however, for One whose life came to be known by friendships with tax collectors and sinners, One who invited the company of thieves and prostitutes.

Jesus is a name familiar to anyone who has been around church much. His name is attached to all sorts of things. Yet, one must wonder at times whether the Jesus we think we know lines up with the Jesus who actually lived, died, and rose again in Palestine in the First Century. He lived in the wrong places. Ate at the wrong tables. Talked to Samaritan women. Forgave the wrong people and condemned the righteous elite. Thought the life of a single, crazed demoniac was of greater value than the economic viability of a pig farm. Spoke truth to power and set up a kingdom in this world that is decidedly upside-down from the standing order of things. One wonders whether the politically-charged, affluent, moralistic, self-assured Christianity of our day would ever dare to associate with One so poorly placed.

Take some time to consider the following. Perhaps it would be helpful to record your responses in a journal.

What is the picture you carry in your mind of Jesus, the Nazarene? Seeing that by virtue of his resurrection he is more than just a historical figure but is indeed living even today, how would you picture him living and walking in our world? As Christians, do we bear witness to the Jesus of Scripture or the Jesus of our own ideas?

Here is a prayer in response to today's text. You can pray this as your own or use it as a prompt for a spontaneous prayer.

Father, as we celebrate this Christmas season we are remembering your faithfulness to fulfill your promises and send your Son into the world. Your Son showed us your image perfected in human flesh. He showed us perfect divinity and humanity simultaneously. So multi-faceted is the truth revealed in Christ that four Gospel writers can tell the same stories from different perspectives to different peoples in hopes of even beginning to capture the amazing revelation that is Jesus Christ. We want to be faithful witnesses of this Jesus--the One from Nazareth. Thank you for the work you are doing by your Spirit to form us in the image of your Son. Show your glory as this image is perfected in us. Help us today to touch someone in the way that Jesus would, because you have shown us in your Word who he is.