Epiphany

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.” When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:
You, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
        by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah,
            because from you will come one who governs,
            who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route. (Matthew 2:1-12, CEB)

The Magi arrived on Epiphany which is January 6, 13 days after Christmas. Christmas is a season that is 12 days long, hence the 12 Days of Christmas.

And the Magi arrived some say 2 years after Jesus was born. We read above that the Magi found Jesus in a house, not a stable where he was born in Luke. In passages after this, we read that Herod had male children 2 and younger slaughtered to stop the prophecied king from growing up and taking his throne.

We meld these stories into one but they aren’t and they should stand alone as parts of the whole. Birth is in Luke and Magi in Matthew. 2 separate stories that are part of the whole of Jesus and our story.

Follow Jesus like the Magi did the star, knowing it will lead you someplace you otherwise would not go.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Love

“But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you. (Luke 6:27-31, CEB)

Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.

Seems easy. We all want to be loved. So why can’t we all love everyone?

No one is someone who is devoid of God. God loves all creation and we are not any better than anyone else.

So love everyone.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

evil

Brothers and sisters, don’t say evil things about each other. Whoever insults or criticizes a brother or sister insults and criticizes the Law. If you find fault with the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge over it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, and he is able to save and to destroy. But you who judge your neighbor, who are you? Pay attention, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a town. We will stay there a year, buying and selling, and making a profit.” You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes. Here’s what you ought to say: “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But now you boast and brag, and all such boasting is evil. It is a sin when someone knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it. (James 4:11-17, CEB)

Do not insult or criticize others. Do not judge your neighbor.

Only look after your own life and keep yourself in line with where God is calling you to be. That is doing what you need to do.

Others will not fit in your box, only you can.

Love like God does and accept others knowing that God is working in their lives as God is working in yours.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Humble

What is the source of conflict among you? What is the source of your disputes? Don’t they come from your cravings that are at war in your own lives? You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder. You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight. You don’t have because you don’t ask. You ask and don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings. You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. Or do you suppose that scripture is meaningless? Doesn’t God long for our faithfulness in the life he has given to us? But he gives us more grace. This is why it says, God stands against the proud, but favors the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Cry out in sorrow, mourn, and weep! Let your laughter become mourning and your joy become sadness. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:1-10, CEB)

Cravings are when we are jealous of others and want what they have and we will do anything to make it ours.

We need to humble ourselves and know that we are not other people and we will not have what they have.

We will have what we need. Trust in God and know that God is always with you.

Love like Jesus

Loving People. Loving God.

living in ways that deny the truth

Are any of you wise and understanding? Show that your actions are good with a humble lifestyle that comes from wisdom. However, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, then stop bragging and living in ways that deny the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above. Instead, it is from the earth, natural and demonic. Wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and everything that is evil. What of the wisdom from above? First, it is pure, and then peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good actions, fair, and genuine. Those who make peace sow the seeds of justice by their peaceful acts. (James 3:13-18, CEB)

If you are jealous of others and selfish in the ways you do things.

If you only think about yourself and what is in it for you, then you are living in ways that deny the truth.

The truth shows love for all. It does not stop to see if the fit the mold or follow all the things I want them to, it loves.

Live in the truth and love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Naming of Jesus…

When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told. When eight days had passed, Jesus’ parents circumcised him and gave him the name Jesus. This was the name given to him by the angel before he was conceived. (Luke 2:15-21, CEB)

Today marks the eighth day after Jesus was born, so it is the day he would be taken to the temple to be circumcised. This is all according to the covenant made with Abraham, that all male children would be circumcised on the eighth day.

But we call it the naming of Jesus to sanitize it and make it acceptable to society.

Jesus was to be part of the covenant and therefore needed to be circumcised on the eighth day. He was named Jesus because that is what the angels foretold.

Do not forget that part and sanitize Jesus. All of creation is good and we need to be able to talk about it all.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Promised

When the time came for their ritual cleansing, in accordance with the Law from Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. (It’s written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord.”) They offered a sacrifice in keeping with what’s stated in the Law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. A man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. He was righteous and devout. He eagerly anticipated the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he wouldn’t die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple area. Meanwhile, Jesus’ parents brought the child to the temple so that they could do what was customary under the Law. Simeon took Jesus in his arms and praised God. He said,
“Now, master, let your servant go in peace according to your word,
    because my eyes have seen your salvation.
You prepared this salvation in the presence of all peoples.
It’s a light for revelation to the Gentiles
    and a glory for your people Israel.”
His father and mother were amazed by what was said about him. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “This boy is assigned to be the cause of the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that generates opposition so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your innermost being too.” There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher. She was very old. After she married, she lived with her husband for seven years. She was now an 84-year-old widow. She never left the temple area but worshipped God with fasting and prayer night and day. She approached at that very moment and began to praise God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. When Mary and Joseph had completed everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to their hometown, Nazareth in Galilee. The child grew up and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him. (Luke 2:22-40, CEB)

Has anyone ever promised to do something for you and then they didn’t?

I know I have said I would do things and I have not done them. I have let people down. I am human and I try, but I do not always uphold what I say I will do. I told my children they would get a treehouse, and they never did. They joke about it, but I feel sad when I think about how I said we would look into it, and while I did look at books, and websites about building one, it never happened. I let them down.

Here though in our reading, we see Simeon and Anna, two people who were promised by God to see the savior of God’s people. And God fulfilled God’s promise.

God never lets a promise go unfulfilled.

Trust in God. Always.

Love like Jesus

Loving People. Loving God.

When?

Don’t let it escape your notice, dear friends, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord isn’t slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their hearts and lives. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a dreadful noise, the elements will be consumed by fire, and the earth and all the works done on it will be exposed. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You must live holy and godly lives, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God. Because of that day, the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt away in the flames. But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. (2 Peter 3:8-13, CEB)

As followers of Christ, we are waiting for him to return. We were all taught that he went to be at the right hand of the Father and soon he would return to judge all peoples.

Soon. That is an interesting term.

Is that tomorrow or thousands of years from now? Soon is relative. I mean it has been 2000 years since Jesus’ birth so soon could be 5000 years.

“But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.” We are waiting according to the promise for a new heaven and earth and that will come when he comes.

And when will he come? When God is ready for that to happen.

I think it will be when we finally all get it and love like he told us to do.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Family

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers stood outside trying to speak with him. Someone said to him, “Look, your mother and brothers are outside wanting to speak with you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50, CEB)

Family is not always blood. We are all under God and we are all family. Chosen or not. We need to love like Jesus and love everyone!

Loving People. Loving God.

Who’s my brother in Nashville, Tennessee?
Who’s my sister in the village in Malawi?
Who’s my lover in Washington DC?
Who’s my neighbor, who’s my loved one, who’s my friend?

We are all family, we are all family
We are all family, we are all family

If we’re all under one Father that makes us all brothers
We are all family

Who’s my brother in a different kind of church?
Who’s my sister struggling with her work
Who’s my mother, gave me all at birth
Who’s my neighbor, who’s my loved one, who’s my friend?

We are all family, we are all family
We are all family, we are all family

If we’re all under one Father that makes us all brothers
We are all family

Who’s my neighbor, who’s my loved one, who’s my friend?
Who’s my neighbor, who’s my loved one, who’s my friend?

We are all family, we are all family
We are all family, we are all family

Slaughter of the innocent.

When the magi had departed, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon search for the child in order to kill him.” Joseph got up and, during the night, took the child and his mother to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I have called my son out of Egypt. When Herod knew the magi had fooled him, he grew very angry. He sent soldiers to kill all the children in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding territory who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. This fulfilled the word spoken through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and much grieving.
        Rachel weeping for her children,
            and she did not want to be comforted,
                because they were no more. (Matthew 2:13-18, CEB)

This is the day we mourn the killing of the male children in Bethlehem because Herod was worried the prophecy of Jesus would mean he would lose his throne. So he supposedly killed all the male children 2 years and younger based on the time the magi told him they had seen the star rise that they followed to find him.

When people have power they will do anything to keep it.

We need to realize that our power only comes from God.

We have nothing for real if it does not come from God.

So love like Jesus and know who is in control.

Loving People. Loving God.