incarnation

Jesus in Time-Out

Posted on by Betsy

Parents of twins know that the two-for-one special you brought home from the hospital is very special indeed. Twins can develop their own language, often communicating non-verbally and verbally in ways nobody else can understand. There is an inextricable link between them, formed in the womb, that can’t be broken.

Several years ago we observed this in action when ours were about two years old. One of our sets of twin grandchildren (yes, we have two sets of twins. It gets weirder than that. Each of our daughters had a boy first and then two years later had boy/girl twins. Exact duplicate families. It must be some kind of record!) could have been modeled after Winnie the Pooh characters. Nora Jean is a Tigger: bouncy, laughing, always in motion, and happy-happy. Ryan is an Eeyore. He is thoughtful, contemplative, loves to sit with a book, and very observant of everything around him.

So Eeyore was playing with a light switch on his Gigi’s small, glass-fronted refrigerator, probably figuring out the engineering of the entire system and contemplating how electricity works. Tigger was bouncing around the room, saw her brother deep in thought and WHACK, popped him on the head. Mom disciplined her and told her to back away. So she immediately WHACKED her brother on the head a second time. Like I said, twin language.

A call to time-out ensued, accompanied by much weeping and wailing, as Nora Jean sat dutifully and contrite in her corner. Then along came Ryan.

First he tried to cheer her up with a silly little dance, but that didn’t work. So he did the brotherly thing and sat down next to her, scooting along the floor until their legs touched and her crying subsided.

This, my friends, is a perfect picture of the incarnation.

When God became the man called Jesus, he placed himself in time-out with us. We were hopeless and condemned by our own sin, with nothing to save us. Except love. God so loved the world, he sent his only son into time-out, so that whoever believes in him would be offered a get-out-of-jail free card. And eternal life.

Philippians 2 New International Version (NIV)

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6  Who, being in very nature God,

    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

    by taking the very nature of a servant,

    being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself

    by becoming obedient to death—

        even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

God put on flesh and dwelt among us. In so doing, he experienced what we experience: pain, anger, frustration, joy, temptation, sorrow….everything but sin. This is how we can trust him to deliver us! He KNOWS US. He was us. He is always with us.

The “humbling Jesus” that is mentioned in this passage is a reminder of what God calls us to do. We are to humble ourselves in like manner, getting down on the floor and scooting over to someone in need. We are invited to offer sharing, tenderness, and compassion, being of one mind with the spirit. We don’t need to have all the answers, or even any, but God call us to sit with the hurting and offer the comfort of ‘presence.’

Where is God calling you today to simply sit with someone? To offer hope, healing, encouragement, a silly dance, or a silent witness to the incarnation? Some will do this in the hospital, some in the pew, some in the prison, some at the office, others in the High School.

Wherever that place is, go and sit. And may you receive the blessing of Eeyore, who was always happy to have someone to sit with and replied, “Thanks for noticing me.”

Go, and notice someone.

Twinlove

The Miraculous, Glorious Absurdity

Posted on by Betsy

Isaiah 9

2 The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

    a light has dawned.

3 You have enlarged the nation

    and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

    as people rejoice at the harvest.

Of all the Old Testament prophets who pointed to the coming of the Messiah, I love the words of Isaiah the best. Did you know that Jesus quoted from Isaiah more that any other prophet? Jesus was the fulfillment of all of the prophecies, and Isaiah apparently says it best.

One of the Advent traditions that many churches observe is called the Festival of Lessons and Carols. It tells the entire story from start to finish of how the Messiah came, and why he was necessary. While it relies on several Isaiah passages, it doesn’t start there. Surprised?

It starts with Genesis. From the beginning of time, we needed a Savior. With the first sin in the garden, humanity necessitated a saving from ifself, as it were. We see throughout the entire Old Testament that the sacrificial system offered by God in order to redeem us failed again and again.

Then came Jesus, the fulfillment of every promise and the hope of every heart. Jesus is the end-all-be-all of sacrificial lambs. He took the sins of the world upon himself and we are forever reconciled with God through Jesus’ saving death that brings eternal life.

And thus the need for the incarnation. The incarnation is understood as “God becoming flesh.” God, in his omniscience, realized that we would need a Savior that we could relate to. He chose to come to earth in the form of an infant, so that he would walk, talk, suffer, feel anger, experience temptation, know hunger and fatigue, and be relatable.

John 1

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I think the whole notion is a glorious and miraculous absurdity, and one that demonstrates God’s love beyond a doubt. That the God who created the universe would lower himself to such a humble place blows my mind. Born in dirt, cradled in straw, homeless and cold, God came, and dwelt among us. Isn’t that absurd? 

This morning I recalled a wonderful young female pastor named Alice who preached at my Annual Conference many years ago. I sat in my seat, spellbound. I had not done much preaching up to that point, and I had modeled my style after my colleagues, who were all male. When I heard Alice preach, I was stunned. She preached like a girl. She was relatable, humorous, genuine, and authentic. I never preached like a man after that. Her example helped me preach from my own voice, and it changed me forever.

The reason God came as a baby was so that he could experience the world he created, and thus be an authentic guide, a relatable savior, and a credible witness. Jesus is the real deal. The stories of his life on earth are stories we can put ourselves directly into. We can feel what he felt, see what he saw, and walk where he walked. As absurd as it was, it was the only way to save us.

God became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the greatest gift you will receive on any Christmas. How will you respond? Where will you be a credible witness, and tell this story to someone who needs to hear it? How will you relate to Jesus today?

Go, and preach this in your own voice. Tell someone about the Messiah. Better yet, act it out in everything you say, think, and do. Be the light in the darkness of somebody’s Christmas, and rejoice.

Lights in the Darkness by Suzanne Wrenn