12-30-2015

Good Morning All!!   

       Luke 2:16; “And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”

    We see them everywhere this time of year.  The Crèche is probably the most common Christmas display.  It is traditionally Mary, Joseph and Jesus but quickly added livestock, shepherds, angels and wise men.  St Francis of Assisi is considered the creator of the event.  He first used live people and animals in a cave but they were soon replaced by statues.  These were usually owned by wealthy patrons or cities.  By the late 19^th century they statues were made of terra cotta and were made smaller to be more affordable to the masses.  Today many are made out of plastic to withstand the elements and contain a light to show brightly at night. 

    The interesting thing is that through the years, the appearance of Mary, Joseph and Jesus the family as Caucasian and of Teutonic extraction.  Later efforts were made to have a Jesus that was Asian, African, Slavic, Scandinavian and so on.  Most will claim this was to make the Nativity scene more approachable for the common people.  Yet it also points to something that many of us do; we mold our Jesus into the Jesus we want.

    If we tend to be conservative then Jesus is a conservative; if we are liberal then Jesus is a liberal activist.  White people have a white Jesus and red people have a red Jesus, black people have a black Jesus.  I suppose purple people eaters have a purple people eater Jesus.  Yet we continue to go down a path that is destructive; we make Jesus into our own image.  We take our plastic Jesus and have him stand for and believe in and espouse the exact same things that we believe in.  It is really quite uncanny how Jesus is exactly the way I want him to be; how “the God I believe in” is just that the God I have created.

    We need to be sure that we see Jesus as he really is.  Jesus is clear in the Scriptures; he is about his Father’s business.  He has come into the world for a specific reason.  That is to bring about your healing, your redemption and your salvation.  It is not about being pro- or anti- anything.  It is about restoring the kingdom of God and bringing all people back into his holy family.  It is about repentance and turning from what is destroying our relationship with God.  It is about humbling ourselves before his presence.  It is about clinging to the cross as our only hope of salvation.

    When we mold Jesus into our desires, we fail miserably and fall short of God’s wonderful grace and love.  We miss it because we have turned away.  Knowing who Jesus is, the Lamb of God who came to heal you will keep us from trying to mold Jesus.  Jesus comes to us to be about the business of making you the Father’s child by uniting you to Himself, that who He is, you also may be.

Father, mold me in your image that I may always be your child.  Keep me focused on the true Jesus and the forgiveness that I receive through him.  Lead me in your paths of righteousness.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret