'Tis the Season to Be Jolly or Joyous?

In the US, which refers to itself as "One nation under God," it is acceptable to use the term "Happy Holidays" in relation to December 25 but unacceptable to use the term "Merry Christmas." For millions of people, the focus is on buying, giving, and getting. They are happy enough to sing "'Tis the season to be jolly" simply because the focus is on having a good time. "'Tis the season to be joyous" is more fitting, but how many people really understand what the real joy of Christmas is all about?

For centuries prior to Jesus' birth, the people of God had lived under the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, Egyptian Ptolemies, and Syrian Seleucids. Although the Jewish Maccabees-Hasmoneans had regained control of the holy land in 164 BC, the Romans took control of it in 63 BC. The Roman imperial establishment proclaimed the following: "Caesar is a son of god! Caesar is Lord! Caesar rules the world! Caesar brings peace! Caesar brings good news!" While serving as the president of Harvard University, George Macdonald described the hopes that the Jewish people embraced during the centuries prior to Jesus' birth:

They were all waiting for a king
to slay their foes and raise them high;
Thou cam'st a little baby thing
that made a woman cry.

How true! We might add one more sentance to these verses:

Thou cam'st to do Thy servant thing,
on cruel cross to die!

In the Apostles' Creed we confess, "He was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate." What do we see between these two statements? A comma! If only the Church Fathers had included between these two statements, "walked the way of a servant-without-limit." The significance is mind-blowing. Jesus did not come merely to go to a cross so that people might be forgiven and go to heaven after they die. True enough, but there is so much more--He came to establish the true, eternal Kingdom of God!

How radically different is Jesus' Kingdom from what humanity at large dreams about and wants. His teaching may be summarized as follows:

• We live on a tiny planet in a vast universe which we did not make and do not own. God made and owns the universe.
• We inhabit a body that we did not make and do not own. God made and owns it.
• God owns the ground on which we walk, the house in which we live, the car that we drive, and the money in the bank account that bears our name. After all, have you ever seen a U-Haul pulled behind a hearse?

In his splendid book How God Became King, British scholar N.T. Wright points out that there are three "high points" in the Gospel narratives:

• After Jesus ate with His disciples in the Upper Room, He washed their feet--something that only Gentile slaves did for their Jewish masters. He told the disciples to reflect His action!
• Jesus lived the life of a servant to the point of giving up His life on a cross. At Calvary, Jesus got crucified and Satan got "nailed"!
• Jesus' Father endorsed His Son's servant ministry by raising Him from the dead and declaring Him to be Lord of the universe.

When Jesus ascended after His resurrection, He did not withdraw His presence; He merely transformed it. He walks beside us throughout life. We are not waiting for Him to come again; we are waiting for Him to reappear. When we celebrate our Lord's birth, we have every reason to experience great joy that is profoundly beyond definition. When, during the coming days, you celebrate our Lord's incarnation, may it help you and your loved ones to understand that to know, believe in, and follow Jesus full-time gives rise to the understanding that life is the season to be joyous!

War and Peace

When World War I came to an end, a peace conference was held in Paris. It was attended by the heads of the victorious states: President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy, and Premier Georges Clemenceau of France.

Clemenceau confronted the other leaders by saying, “Gentlemen, I heard you talking about your wish to have a permanent peace in the world. You want a peace that will end all wars.” He looked at the heads of state and asked them whether they really meant it, whether they wanted a genuine and permanent peace. All nodded their heads to indicate that was certainly what they wanted.

Clemenceau began to list the cost of peace. He said, “If we want peace, we must give up our empires. You, Mr. Lloyd George, you have to give up India. We French will have to come out of North Africa. You Americans, Mr. President, will have to relinquish your dollar rights to the Philippines, Mexico and Cuba. We, the dominant powers, will have to give up our empires, tear down our tariff walls, free our colonies, and open up the world.”

The heads of state looked at each other and quickly informed him that this was not exactly what they had in mind. Then Clemenceau sat up straight, banged his fist on the table, and said, “Then you don’t mean peace! You mean war!”

History has proven Clemenceau right. The only kingdom that will bring peace is Jesus’ back-to-front, upside-down Kingdom where all learn to use the planet on which they walk and the body in which they live (but did not make or own) God’s way, and commit themselves to glorifying Jesus as forgiving Savior and servant Lord by devoting life to serving others in all that they think, say, and do.

Ponder Matthew 25:31-46.

The Redemptive Economics of Jesus

When Jesus preached His first sermon in His hometown, Nazareth, He drew on the contents of Isaiah 58:6 and 60:1-61:7. However, He omitted all references to the following:

• All foreign rulers and nations coming to worship in Jerusalem (60:1-2)
• Jews who lived in foreign nations returning to Israel (60:4)
• The wealth of the nations being brought to Israel on ships and camels (60:5-7)
• Gentiles rebuilding ruined Jewish cities and towns (60:10)
• The destruction of nations that refuse to serve the Jewish people (60:12)
• Jewish people sucking up the wealth of surrounding nations (60:6)
• The Jewish people possessing the Promised Land forever (60:21)
• God taking vengeance on Gentiles who trouble His people (61:2)
• Gentiles serving as farmers and shepherds for the Jews (61:5-6)

But there is more. We need to see the events in Nazareth against the backdrop of the ancient year-long festival called Jubilee (Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15). For the Israelites, the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, was the sign of the covenant that God made with them at Sinai. In addition, every seventh year was a Sabbath year (from which we get the term sabbatical). After a series of seven Sabbath years (a total of 49 years), the next year, the fiftieth, was to be a year-long festival of joy (jubilation) and celebration (Leviticus 25:10)---the Sabbath of Sabbaths of Sabbaths.

Moses gave the people special social legislation that was to be enacted during the Jubilee year:

• All debts were to be cancelled.
• All slaves were to be freed.
• All patrimonial land (inheritance) was to be returned to the family who originally owned the land.

Just as God had liberated Israel from slavery in Egypt and enriched them while they were experiencing poverty, so too Israel was to do the same for the poor and needy in its midst. However, when Jesus preached that sermon in Nazareth, His hearers became so angry with Him that they gave serious thought to throwing Him to His death off a cliff (Luke 4:28-29).

How would you like to have all your debts cancelled---all of them, including college loans, credit card balances, car payments, and your mortgage? You would celebrate with great passion! However, those to whom you owed all that money would become furious---very furious. But there is more. In His parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), Jesus teaches us that we own nothing--not even the body in which we live or the land or house or car that we claim to own.

A crucially important question: Are our people hearing or being taught these radically profound truths? If not, what are we going to do about that situation? Are we here to teach people how to feel good, or are we here to teach them how to be good---to reflect Jesus’ servant mind and manner in all that we think, say, and do?

What Do We Need to Do to Change Things?

In the year 2000, I was asked to write the cover article for the church growth publication Net Results. The article was titled, “How to Motivate and Guide Local Congregations into Global Ministry.” I included in the article some significant statistics that I had unearthed. Although they have changed these past 13 years, they are essential pondering for God’s people in relation to what they focus on in life.

If the World’s Population Were 100 People*:

• 50 would be female and 50 male
• 60 would be Asians
• 14 would be North and South Americans
• 11 would be European
• 15 would be Africans
• 25 would be under 15 years old
• 33 would be Christian
• 22 would be Muslim
• 14 would be Hindu
• 7 would be Buddhist
• 12 would believe in another religion
• 12 would not be religious
• 70 would be non-white
• 17 would be unable to read and write
• 15 would suffer from malnutrition
• 13 would not have access to safe drinking water
• 30 would be on the Internet
• 7 would have a college education
•  6 would own 59% the world’s wealth, and all 6 would be U.S. citizens 

Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D. C., reported the following**:

• $17 billion: The amount spent in the U.S. and Europe on pet food each year
• $13 billion: The increased annual amount needed to provide basic health care and nutrition for all people in developing countries
• $9 billion: The additional amount needed annually to provide clean water and safe sewers for the world’s population
• $8 billion: The amount that Americans spend each year on cosmetics
• $6 billion: The additional amount needed annually to provide basic education for everyone in the world

In relation to the management of creation and the use of life, God’s people must ask, “What do we and the world at large need to do to change things?”

* http://www.100people.org/statistics_detailed_statistics.php

** http://www.worldwatch.org/node/764

Church Members or Jesus’ Brothers and Sisters?

The staff of Crossways International meets together three times each week for Bible Study and prayer. Each of us takes a turn to lead in prayer. When I do so, I make regular reference to us being Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Recently, a staff member shared with me that he does not hear much about these terms in his church life. Sad to say, all too often worshipers look to the pastor as their salaried church leader and substitute worker and on themselves as church members. In relation to this issue, we would do well to ponder Jesus’ words in Mark 3:31–35.

The fact that we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters has profound implications. Jesus calls us to walk in His presence throughout life, and to reflect His servant lifestyle in all that we think, say, and do. In His parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13–21), Brother Jesus teaches us that we own nothing. We do not own the ground on which we walk or the crops that the land produces, nor do we own the body in which we live. Everything is on loan from God, the Maker and Owner of all creation. We mortals merely manage what belongs to God.

Christian communities (better yet, Jesus’ family members) would do well to ponder Acts 2:43–47 and 4:32–37. These two passages describe how the first Christians related to each other. They lived together in community and did not claim ownership of anything. They sold “their” possessions and goods and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. There was no needy person among them. They broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

These days, we hear more and more about young adults becoming disenchanted with life in a traditional congregation, and they are devising ways to establish caring, sharing, serving fellowship groups. This is food for thought for older church “members.” Some “traditional” Christians want the focus to be on confessing that we are sinners, that Jesus died for our sins, and that we shall go to heaven after we die. True enough, but there is so much more to life in God’s family.

The first two parishes that I served were in New Zealand. Soon after I began my ministry in that Land of the Long White Cloud, I attended a gathering of clergy and fellow-believers to watch a presentation by the New Zealand Presbyterian Church which focused on the implications of being a member of Jesus’ family. One statement that I heard has remained with me: “While one person on Planet Earth is lacking proper food, water, and healthcare, we should not sleep in peace.” Food for thought!

Sometimes when I share the message and implications of the two Acts passages referred to above, some church leaders respond that they would find it difficult to proclaim such insights to their people. The message would upset them. Yes, Jesus’ teaching upset many religious leaders and people. But the Father gave His Son a “Yes!” vote when He raised Him from the dead. If God the Father voted “Yes!” in relation to His Son’s message and ministry, should not we do the same?