This Mind

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Lk. 2:8-14 ESV)

This passage records the third appearance of an angel in Luke’s Gospel. The first was to Zechariah, the priest; the second to Mary. In both cases, the angel names himself Gabriel.

But to the shepherds the angel is unnamed. It is not important. What is important is his message.

Of course, the shepherds were frightened. Nothing like this had ever happened to them; so the first thing the angel said to them was “Do not fear!”

Then he announced the good news of great joy. A deliverer-king is born. He is the promised anointed one and none other than the Lord who delivered Israel out of Egypt.

The narrative could have ended there, but God’s message to the shepherds had only begun. What the solitary angel said was a fitting introduction for what came next. And if the appearance of the Lord’s angel was not surprise enough, “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”

The shepherds were probably stunned once again with fear. Who were these? The Greek text says they were “a multitude of the army of heaven.” These were not Botticelli angels carrying harps. These were fearsome warriors probably carrying swords. The shepherds no doubt wondered whose army this was and if they (the shepherds) were to become cannon fodder. The angel-army answered the shepherds’ questions in so many words: “We are God’s army. We are not here to fight you. Peace to you. We are after your enemy!”

As for the devil and his hordes, it was a war of attrition after that. The devil knew his days were numbered. A mighty army was on his tail commanded by a most fearsome captain.

The shepherds witnessed the first wave of God’s D-Day, the Great Invasion. And Bethlehem was the beachhead. The first mighty volley in that war was a baby born to the humble maiden, Mary.

[Photo by Nils Tubbesing – Von Nils Tubbesing in die deutschsprachige Wikipedia geladen., CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1698878%5D

[This is the first half of a post that will continue tomorrow.]

It was the night of June 5, 1944, in the town of Neuville-au-Plain in Normandy. Madame Hamel-Hateau had just gone to bed with her mother and grandparents in the house. But their sleep was interrupted by the sound of aircraft flying low overhead. Her mother dismissed it as just another Allied bombing raid on the railway several kilometers away.

As the sound of aircraft engines diminished, she decided to go to sleep. But her eyes remained open. Soon she saw fantastic black shapes like umbrellas floating down from the sky. Before long the whole household was awake, as were the neighbors. Sleepy French townspeople, hastily dressed, went outdoors to see what was happening.

Madame Hamel-Hateau relates,

An impatient curiosity is stronger than the fear that grips me. I leave the courtyard and make my way onto the road. At the fence of a neighboring field, a man is sitting on the edge of the embankment. He is harnessed with big bags and armed from head to foot: rifle, pistol, and some sort of knife. He makes a sign for me to approach him. In English I ask him if his plane was shot down. He negates that and in a low voice shoots back the incredible news: “It’s the big invasion. . . . Thousands and thousands of paratroopers are landing in this countryside tonight.” His French is excellent. “I am an American soldier, but I speak your language well; my mother is a Frenchwoman of the Basse Pyrénées.” [Mary Louise Roberts, D-Day through French Eyes: Normandy 1944, University of Chicago Press, 2014]

Imagine the fear in her heart as this young woman approached the armed paratrooper! He and the thousands who came with him embodied a powerful message: peace and liberation for the French, defeat for the occupying Germans.

What if you were the first to witness the massive invasion of a fearsome army sent to liberate you from the worst of enemies. Would you be afraid? Would you be joyful?

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isa. 9:2 ESV)

The first Christmas was war.

“Hold it,” you say! “Christmas is a time of light and joy and happiness, not war!”

Certainly, you are right. But we are living in the time after the great war. If we look closely at the birth of Jesus Christ, there are unmistakable signs of battle. And they tell us why he came.

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Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11:25-26 ESV)

The last two phrases of the Apostles’ Creed say “I believe in…the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” We tend to treat heaven and the resurrection of the body as abstract concepts, theological constructs. We ask each other, “Do you believe in the idea of heaven?”

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It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night. (Ps. 92:1-2 ESV)

The invitation to worship, O give thanks to the Lord!, is one of the most common commands in the Old Testament. But the Psalmist says here it is good to give thanks. What does he mean?

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She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. (Mk. 14:8 ESV)

Knowing that the Passover would lead to his crucifixion, Jesus, with the apostles, rather than going into Jerusalem, for two days were guests in a home not far away in Bethany. While there, a significant incident occurred. You will doubtless remember it.

A woman came to the table where they were eating. (Matthew and John tell us this was Mary, Lazarus’ sister) She carried with her an alabaster vial of pure nard, a very expensive imported aromatic oil. In this case, the filled vial cost three years wages for the average worker. She came to Jesus, broke that vial, then poured the oil over His head anointing Him with it.

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He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (Jn. 9:25 ESV)

Most agree that the all-time most popular hymn is Amazing Grace. There are many phrases in John Newton’s lyrics that come from the Old and New Testaments. Perhaps one that sticks in mind most is “I was blind, but now I see.”

That, of course, was what the young blind man said when questioned by the Pharisees about Jesus’ activity that day. But Newton’s use of the phrase sets a fine example of how we should read the Gospels.

It is no mistake that the Gospels come to us as stories rather than dry-as-soda-crackers theology. The stories—all true—are meant to engage us personally. We are invited to inject ourselves into the narrative and say, “I am that man!” “That’s me!” “I was blind, but now I see.”

I invite you to read the Gospels anew. Put yourself in the scene. Let your imagination loose! Ask yourself what it would have been like to not only hear and see Jesus but to be the object of his miraculous love.

Because you are!

The Rev. Eric Irwin is our guest today. He is my pastor in Issaquah, WA, and a true friend. Please read and savor.

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father (Gal 1:1)

Probably the most persistent threat to the Christian faith is that it is easily diminished to a merely human thing: “from men and through man.” A life that clings to the unseen God in faith is a little like summiting a peak in a storm — there are powerful forces pressuring you to get off and get down as quickly as possible, back to human comforts.

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Twice in his book, Daniel is addressed with an appositive phrase. The first was when King Darius released him from the lion’s den. The second when Gabriel came to strengthen and comfort him after a vision, and a time of deep conflict and mourning.

I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. (Dan. 10:5, 6 ESV)

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The first thing I learned after joining the Boy Scout’s was the scout motto, “Be Prepared.” And that’s certainly a great thing for a 12-year-old to learn. But to plan, prepare or set goals, demands first knowing what’s involved, and also our purpose for what we decide.

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