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THe Season of Christmas  2019-20:  ​DECEMBER 29

12/28/2019

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As we enjoy the beauty of our Christmon tree, we are also learning about an ancient tradition called the Jesse tree.  The tree itself comes from Isaiah 11, "a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse."  The ornaments represent Old Testament stories, but if you consider them closely they all point to Christ.  In an artistic way, this is Jesus' family tree. 

Come, read the stories, and see for yourself!

SCRIPTURE LESSON               Matthew 1:18-25, CEB
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. 20 As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:
 
23 Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son,
        And they will call him, Emmanuel.
 
(Emmanuel means “God with us.”)
 
24 When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he didn’t have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. Joseph called him Jesus.
                                                                       
THE JESSE TREE                   An Angel and A Carpenter
 
 
We don’t often take time to consider Joseph’s role in the Christmas story, but that is where we are going to focus today.  We heard his brief narrative in Matthew 1, but those few verses have a lot to say. 
 
Joseph was a righteous man, and in the context of his faith and time that means he did his best to stay in a right relationship with God and with others by living according to the laws of Moses.  He was a Jew living under foreign domination, the Roman Empire.  He was a carpenter by trade. His age has been the subject of speculation.  Some traditions or art show him as an older man, maybe even a widower who took young Mary for a second wife.  Most Protestant traditions picture him as young, maybe a few years older than Mary.  She had just entered womanhood; I see him as a man in his young adult years. 
 
They were betrothed, which is so much more than what engaged means in our Western mindset.  It was a binding agreement between the families and extended for about a year.  During that time they prepared for their life together, though they did not yet live together.  But during this time Mary became pregnant, and that complicated everything.  Even in our era some fully believe that she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and others are skeptics.  That diverse response would have been no different when it happened.  Mary believed.  I’m sure Elizabeth and Zechariah believed, because their own son would also be a miraculous birth.  But we don’t know about Mary’s parents let alone Joseph’s family, and we can imagine the rumors going around town.  What about Joseph?
 
The angel said, “don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:20) Would Joseph even believe it when he awoke? Joseph had already decided to divorce her quietly.  It wasn’t easy to break a betrothal, but that seemed to him the best thing to do for Mary as well as for himself.  But now the angel said to go ahead and marry her. 
 
Ann Voskamp’s wrote in The Greatest Gift a devotion for this scripture.  She imagines Joseph’s possible reaction to the startling situation, “When a carpenter dreams about the birth of God…
 
Mary has her angelic visitation to hear of the Incarnation weeks ago.  Joseph gets only the stinging betrayal of her swelling abdomen.  He gets one painfully awkward conversation.  He gets to lie awake at night wondering what a nice guy like him is doing in a mess like this.  No unassuming angel shows up for him until he’s already made up his mind and heart to mercifully let her go.” (p. 233)
 
It hurts.  Joseph’s own hopes and dreams for his life with Mary are gone.  Or so he thinks.  God looked at the decision Joseph made and sent an angel to declare that Joseph still has options. God recommends sticking with Mary to help raise this very special child.  It’s not an easy prospect to contemplate.
 
I’ve been thinking this year about what Joseph in the Old Testament might have in common with his namesake in the New Testament.  God obviously had an eye on each them as they grew up with a plan in mind that would change the world. They both received dreams from God to guide them.  Joseph of the Old Testament liked the images in his dreams of eleven bowing to one and rightly assumed that one day his brothers would bow to him though he was not the oldest.  He might have been wiser to keep those dreams to himself.  His brothers did not appreciate the telling. 
 
Joseph was daddy’s favorite and expected to enjoy a good life.  Our New Testament Joseph also had reason to expect a good though simple life.  That expectation did not hold true for either of them.  Old Testament Joseph experienced many ups and downs riding high on favoritism one minute and literally thrown in a pit to die the next.  The brothers compromised by selling him into slavery, not exactly the prince of the tribe then, was he?  He landed a good job and was trusted with lots of responsibility, until Potiphar’s wife engaged in sexual harassment and then got Joseph thrown in jail with a false accusation.  He was favored by the warden and interpreted the dreams of his cohorts, but was forgotten in prison for years until Pharaoh had troubling dreams.  Then Joseph was released to bring the interpretation and was made steward in charge of Egypt’s resources to see them through the difficult years that would come.  His highs were high, and his lows were low.  But he got through them trusting in God and doing what was right.
 
Our New Testament Joseph also had dreams, the first as we read was to take Mary as his wife.  From there their journey begins.  The census takes them to Bethlehem to be registered in their family’s town of origin.  The baby is born there in circumstances less than perfect.  Then after a time Joseph is visited by an angel again in his dreams.  The baby is not safe here any longer.  Herod’s eye has turned to Bethlehem to find a baby born to be king.  Herod killed his own sons to prevent them from taking his throne.  No baby boy is safe from his cruel ambition. 
 
Matthew tells us, “13 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.’ 14 Joseph got up and, during the night, took the child and his mother to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I have called my son out of Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-15)
 
Imagine that, Joseph takes Mary and Jesus back to the country where Joseph of the Old Testament had landed. For all that Egypt has been a land of slavery for our biblical ancestors, sometimes it has also been a land of safety in difficult times. 
 
Toward the end of Joseph’s story in the Old Testament, his brothers came to Egypt for food.  The famine was widespread, and Joseph’s homeland and family were also suffering, but by listening to God’s dreams and wisdom, Joseph made sure Egypt had enough for its own people and to trade with others.  Eventually Joseph revealed his identity and there was an emotional reconciliation as he forgave his brothers and reunited with his family.  Joseph had learned to trust that in spite of all that went wrong, God had a plan, and God used what had happened to save many people. 
 
Our New Testament Joseph, in agreeing to participate in God’s plan, became the earthly family protector for the One God sent to reconcile all humankind, to forgive all our sin, to reunite us with God as one family.  In spite of all that seemed to go wrong in Joseph’s own plan, when he chose to trust God’s plan, then through that baby, Jesus, God saved many more people. 
 
As we said, this trust in God’s plan and the choice to participate can’t have been easy for Joseph.  Max Lucado does the best job of getting inside Joseph’s circumstances and imagining what might have good through his mind, the night of Jesus’ birth.  He had done everything he could to help Mary, tried to make a comfortable spot for her, but then as the birthing process took time, he had lots of time to think.
 
Lucado writes, ‘I don’t see him silent; I see Joseph animated, pacing. Head shaking one minute, fist shaking the next. This isn’t what he had in mind.” (Lucado, “Joseph’s Prayer” in On This Holy Night, p. 49) He goes on to suggest all the ways this was not how Joseph had pictured the birth of his son, and then imagines Joseph remembering that this was God’s Son, God’s plan, not his own.  That must have continued to be a humbling struggle for him. 
 
If things had gone as Joseph once supposed they would have been in Nazareth in a home Joseph had built for them.  The baby would have come after the wedding, and the couple would have been surrounded by family and friends, neighbors and grandmothers, and there would have been a midwife.  Mary at least deserved a midwife!  Stranded in Bethlehem where there wasn’t enough room, giving birth alone surrounded by animals was NOT what Joseph wanted for his beloved bride.  He felt that he had let her down, that he hadn’t provided adequately for her.  That again hurt.  It hurt not just his pride, it hurt his heart. 
 
When I realize how accurate that picture drawn by Max Lucado’s words might be, then I see how easy it is to relate to Joseph.  We have our dreams and expectations.  We want to do our best, especially for those we love.  But things don’t always work out the way we imagined, the way we planned, and when we see our loved ones in difficult circumstances, it hurts.  It hurts a lot.
 
Lucado imagines Joseph saying something like this, “I’m unaccustomed to such strangeness, God. I’m a carpenter.  I make things fit.  I square off the edges.  I follow the plumb line.  I measure twice before I cut once.  Surprises are not the friend of a builder.  I like to know the plan.  I like to see the plan before I begin…
 
“But this time I’m not the builder, am I? This time I’m a tool.  A hammer in Your grip.  A nail between Your fingers.  A chisel in Your hands.  This project is Yours, not mine.” (pp. 47-48)
 
I can picture Dick Sykes working around here with assorted tools on his many projects.  I remember his plumb line and his square.  I see him leaving a hammer or a level somewhere.  I hear him with a drill or on a ladder.  He could see in his mind how it should all work out.  That’s how I picture Joseph as a carpenter.  But there is a big difference between using these things and becoming something useful in God’s hands.  That requires trust.  
 
Lucado goes on imagining Joseph’s prayer, “Forgive my struggling.  Trust doesn’t come easy to me, God.  But You never said it would be easy, did You?” (p.48)
Trust doesn’t come easy to us either.  Lucado says that like Joseph we are often “Caught between what God says and what makes sense…
 
“We’ve asked our questions. We question God’s plan.  And we’ve wondered why God does what He does.” (p. 49)   I can relate to all that questioning, can’t you?
 
As Lucado ponders Joseph pondering these things while staring at the night sky, he suggests Joseph was not the first to do so, nor would he be the last.  I remember Old Testament stories of those who might have done the same, from Abraham to Jacob and Joseph, from Moses to Joshua and later David, from Elijah to Jeremiah and many more.  I’m sure in all the years since we aren’t the only ones who have wondered just what God is up to sometimes.  Maybe there is always someone trying to figure out and struggling to trust God’s plan.  God doesn’t always answer those questions.  God wants us to trust, and God wants one more thing from us as God wanted from Joseph.   
 
Here is perhaps the most important verse in today’s reading from Matthew, perhaps the most important words regarding Joseph. It’s certainly the significant example Joseph set for us though we might easily have missed it.  Matthew 1:24, “Joseph… did what the angel told him to do.”  Joseph obeyed.  Joseph obeyed not because he could see the whole picture, not because he agreed wholeheartedly with God’s big plan.  He couldn’t see more than a tiny glimpse of one little corner of the blueprint.  But Joseph trusted that the rest of the plan was indeed God’s, so Joseph chose to do his part.  He chose to take Mary as his wife. He chose to raise Jesus as his earthly father.  He chose to leave everything for the safety of Egypt, until God said it was time to come home and reopen his carpentry shop in Nazareth.  Joseph trusted God, and therefore Joseph chose to obey God even though he could not see the whole plan.
 
That is what God asks us to do.  As we head into 2020, not just a new year but a new decade, you can’t see all that lies ahead.  You may be uncertain of some things in your personal life or for your family or your work.  You may be concerned about something in your health or your pension plan.  We can’t see what lies ahead for our community or our congregation or our nation.  We may have a lot of concerns about what we can’t see even in our fairly immediate future let alone the rest of the decade.  God doesn’t invite us to see the whole picture, though he may give us a dream or a glimpse once in awhile on a need to know basis.  What God asks of us is that we trust; God asks us to believe there is a plan, and that it is a good plan.  What God wants of us is obedience, to do our part when we are asked.  That is what God is looking for from us in 2020 and beyond. 
 
As Lucado writes, “God still looks for Josephs today.  Men and women who believe that God is not through with this world.  Common people who serve an uncommon God.” (p. 48)
 
The one thing God did promise to Joseph through the angel’s message was that this child, this Jesus who would save his people, would also be called Immanuel, God with us.  Through all the ups and downs and unanswered questions, God remained with Joseph always.  That is the promise God keeps with us as well.  As you go into 2020 may you remember that Jesus is still our Immanuel, God with us!
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christmas eve  2019:  ​DECEMBER 24

12/23/2019

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The Season of Advent 2019:  ​DECEMBER 22

12/21/2019

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The Season of Advent 2019:  ​DECEMBER 15

12/14/2019

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As we enjoy the beauty of our Christmon tree, we are also learning about an ancient tradition called the Jesse tree.  The tree itself comes from Isaiah 11, "a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse."  The ornaments represent Old Testament stories, but if you consider them closely they all point to Christ.  In an artistic way, this is Jesus' family tree. 

Come, read the stories, and see for yourself!

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Lord Jesus, in the prophets we find hints of what who Messiah would be.  In the gospels and letters we hear how you fulfilled their expectations.  Let us listen with fresh ears and look with new eyes to find you still present today.
 
THE JESSE TREE     Prophet, Refiner, Healer, Re-newer, Savior
Our Scriptures and Stories today will cover a range of prophets to Jesus spanning hundreds of years of history bridging from the Old Testament to the New.  That is the point of the Jesse Tree.  We’ve shared stories and ornaments from the main branches of the Jesse Tree, Jesus’ own family tree.  But today, we are going to explore a different branch. 
 
One storyteller built her Advent devotional around an old gentleman carving a Jesse Tree and the young boy who knows nothing about these Bible stories but keeps coming in to interrupt him with lots of questions.  Along the way, when the old man mentioned Elijah and Elisha, the boy asked, “Was Elijah one of Jesus’ ancestors?” He asked about Elisha, too, so the old man said, “No, He and Elijah were prophets…They have a separate bough to themselves.”  Of course the boy asked why, and the carpenter finally came up with an answer. “because they knew Jesus was coming. Even hundreds of years before he came…They promised God’s people that he really was coming – a redeemer, a rescuer, someone who would forgive them all their mistakes.” (Geraldine McCaughrean, The Jesse Tree, p. 67)
 
So, what about Elijah and Elisha’s stories?  They are just two of the prophets we’ll mention today.  Elijah in some ways represents all the prophets, especially when we glimpse him with Moses conversing with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration halfway through Jesus’ ministry. 
 
There are several favorite scenes for me from Elijah’s story.  During the drought and famine, when Elijah was hungry and desperate in the wilderness, God sent ravens carrying food to feed him.  Then Elijah was guided to the widow of Zarephath who was making a last meal to share with her son as they ran out of food.  Yet Elijah asked her to bake a little cake for him first.  As she continued to feed him, God continued to provide enough flour and oil to sustain all three of them for a very long time.  When her son became so ill, he was assumed to be dead, Elijah prayed over the boy bringing him back to life.
 
When King Ahab led the nation away from worshipping God, because Queen Jezabel worshipped Baal and supported hundreds of prophets to serve this false god, Elijah came to challenge them.  Both he and they built enormous altars and asked their gods to bring down fire.  The prophets of Baal prayed all day with no results.  Elijah, in spite of the drought, had a trench filled with water around his altar and soaked the wood as well.  When Elijah prayed, God sent fire that consumed the wood, the altar, and all the water, too.  Then rain finally came ending the drought.
 
Of course, Jezebel was furious and sent soldiers to kill Elijah.  He was depressed and discouraged in the wilderness ready to die.  But God sent an angel to console and instruct him.  After nourishment and rest, Elijah began his journey again seeking God, and finally in a cave, Elijah heard God not in the earthquake or the wind, but in a still small voice that spoke encouragement to him.  Elijah continued to speak God’s message to the people until Elisha, his student, took his place. 
 
Elisha witnessed a chariot of fire coming to take Elijah to heaven, and Elisha caught his master’s cloak as it fell back to earth.  Elisha had asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and he received that faith and strength to do God’s work.  Many of his stories are similar to Elijah’s. 
 
One story of Elisha includes healing Naaman.  Naaman was a military commander who heard about a prophet who could cure his leprosy. Naaman was eventually convinced to go bearing a letter from his king asking Elisha to heal him.  Elisha simply told him to wash seven times in the Jordan river.  Naaman was angry that Elisha didn’t come out personally to meet him and heal him.  But Naaman’s soldiers convinced him to give it a try, and he was completely healed. 
 
As prophets, Elijah and Elisha spoke God’s message to God’s people, even when people didn’t want to hear it.  It was not an easy way to live.  They were human, too, and sometimes became discouraged or upset.  They got hungry or tired just like anyone else.  Perhaps the most encouraging thing to me in their stories is that God took care of them and sustained them as they did their best to serve God.  I need that as a preacher/teacher, but all of us need to know that God cares for our needs while we do our best for God.  I’m reminded of Jesus saying, “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) A prayer partner recently reminded me that we need to rest in the Lord, that we aren’t supposed to try to do everything ourselves.  Elijah also needed to learn to rest in the Lord, so that when he was refreshed, and when the time was right, God could use Elijah in a mighty way.  Jesus’ also spent quiet time alone in prayer as he rested in the Lord’s presence; even though Jesus is part of the Godhead, he also needed the sustaining fellowship he enjoyed with God as Father and Holy Spirit.
 
Elijah is sometimes represented on the Jesse Tree with the raven sent to feed him, but at other times by the altar of fire representing the great victory at Mount Carmel when Elijah proved that our God was mightier than the false gods of the baal worshippers.  The symbol of an altar and fire also reminds me of other stories.  I think of Malachi saying that God is like a refiner’s fire.  (Malachi 3:2) Peter wrote that our faith is purified by fire. (1 Peter 1:7) But we also know fire was necessary for the sacrifices that were part of ancient worship, and Jesus is the One whose ultimate sacrifice meant these were no longer needed. 
 
Hebrews 9:11-15, NLT
 
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
 
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
 

 
From Elisha, I shared a healing story, but we know Jesus is the ultimate healer.  It was a significant part of his ministry on earth.
 
Matthew 4:22-24, CEB
 
23 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. He announced the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread throughout Syria. People brought to him all those who had various kinds of diseases, those in pain, those possessed by demons, those with epilepsy, and those who were paralyzed, and he healed them.

 
Jesus still offers us healing in many ways.
 
Of course my personal favorite among the prophets is Isaiah.  That book spans a period of time prior to and through the exile.  Listen to Isaiah’s call story.
      
Isaiah 6:1-8, NCV
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a very high throne. His long robe filled the Temple. 2 Heavenly creatures of fire stood above him. Each creature had six wings: It used two wings to cover its face, two wings to cover its feet, and two wings for flying. 3 Each creature was calling to the others:
 
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord All-Powerful.
    His glory fills the whole earth.”
 
4 Their calling caused the frame around the door to shake, as the Temple filled with smoke.
 
5 I said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure, and I live among people who are not pure, but I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.”
 
6 One of the heavenly creatures used a pair of tongs to take a hot coal from the altar. Then he flew to me with the hot coal in his hand. 7 The creature touched my mouth with the hot coal and said, “Look, your guilt is taken away, because this hot coal has touched your lips. Your sin is taken away.”
 
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom can I send? Who will go for us?”
 
So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
 

Isaiah felt the need to be purified before he could speak God’s message. God sent heavenly beings to cleanse Isaiah with a refiner’s fire.  So, that altar of fire also reminds me of Isaiah.
 
From Isaiah we get many prophecies that point to the Messiah, scriptures that we hear from the pulpit or in song throughout the season of Advent including the one on which the Jesse Tress is based, “A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse; a branch will sprout from his roots.” (Isaiah 11:1) Isaiah is the prophet whose scroll Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth when he said that scripture was fulfilled then as everyone heard it. He was reading Isaiah 61 which became Jesus’ mission statement, “18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
    to proclaim release to the prisoners
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to liberate the oppressed,
19     and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 quoting Isaiah 61) Isaiah said that one was coming who would be the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and twice presented an image of a wolf and a lamb together as part of his message of peace.  The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion will feed together, and a little child will lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6) “Wolf and lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the snake—its food will be dust. They won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:25) As Christians we believe Jesus is the one to whom all of these prophecies pointed.  The wolf and lamb lying together, that’s Isaiah’s ornament on the Jesse Tree.
 
Another prophet, we might call the reluctant one, Jonah.  In children’s Bible storybooks we know him as the one who was swallowed up by a big fish or a whale, because when God told him to go and preach in Nineveh, the capital of a foreign country, Jonah got mad and took a ship in the opposite direction.  Jonah was inside that creature’s belly for three days before God had him spit out on shore.  Then Jonah went to preach in Nineveh.  The people repented and worshipped God.  Instead of rejoicing, Jonah sulked.  Sometimes we are as hard to teach as Jonah was, but hidden inside Jonah’s strange story is a glimpse of something to come in Jesus’ story.  Jonah was trapped as good as dead in the belly of a sea creature, and that parallels the three days Jesus would be in the tomb.  Just as God granted Jonah a new life, God raised Jesus to new life.  And don’t forget that Jesus’ death was to save sinners like Jonah, like you and like me.  That great big fish, or perhaps it was a whale, that’s Jonah’s symbol on the Jesse Tree.
 
There is another Bible story of someone putting their life on the line to save her people.  She wasn’t a prophet, but she did stand up for God’s people in a foreign land, years later than Jonah, Esther became the Queen of Persia.  No one knew that she was an Israelite.  Her Uncle Mordecai, who was an official in the court, had her keep it a secret when she was taken for potential selection by the King.  But because another court official named Haman wanted to make trouble for Mordecai and his people, a day was set for Jews to be killed.  Mordecai told Esther that this was the time to speak to the King on behalf of her people.  She was afraid, because the laws of Persia prevented her for going before the King unless she had been called.  Only if he held out his scepter would she be allowed to speak and to live.  Mordecai said that “For such a time as this” she had become Queen.  (Esther 4:14) Esther told Mordecai and others to fast and to pray for three days.  Then she went to the king and was accepted. In the end the king could not rescind his order, but he allowed the Jews to defend themselves on that horrible day.  Esther’s courage saved many lives. A scepter such as the King held out to Esther is her symbol on the Jesse Tree.
 
Jesus was sent by God to save God’s people, to save us from our own sin and foolishness.  Jesus deals with the evil of hate filled people like Haman.  Jesus watches over us when we are prayerful and faithful like Esther and Mordecai.  Jesus rescues us when we are foolish as the King was, listening to the wrong advice and making big mistakes. 
 
Jesus is our Savior.  That’s the prophecy we hear from another prophet, Micah.  These are the words remembered by Herod’s advisors when three wise men came following a star and seeking a newborn king. 
 
Micah 5:2-5, NLT
 
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel,
    whose origins are in the distant past,
    will come from you on my behalf.
3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies
    until the woman in labor gives birth.
Then at last his fellow countrymen
    will return from exile to their own land.
4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
Then his people will live there undisturbed,
    for he will be highly honored around the world.
5     And he will be the source of peace.
 
Bethlehem, the place of Jesus’ birth foretold by Micah, is another ornament on the Jesse Tree.  As Micah said, Jesus would come to be a shepherd to God’s people, to lead us back to God and bring honor to God’s name, to be a source of peace.  When we feel too small or too inadequate to accomplish anything for God, remember the town of Bethlehem, small though it was, it was the birthplace of our Messiah.
 
Many of the prophets and even Esther have their place on the Jesse Tree, because their stories can also point ahead to Jesus, our healer, refiner, re-newer of life, and our savior.  Ann Voskamp shares this quote from Phillips Brookes, “It was not suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world.  He came into a world that had been prepared for Him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation…Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of His time, did Jesus come.” (Voskamp quotes Brooks on page 172 of The Greatest Gift.)
 
Advent reminds us that God prepared for Jesus’ coming the first time long ago as we prepare to celebrate Christmas remembering his birth and his mission in our midst.  But Advent is also a reminder that we must be about God’s work, repent and be ready, share God’s message with our contemporaries, fast and pray for such a time when Jesus will come again.
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The Season of Advent 2019:  ​DECEMBER 8

12/7/2019

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As we enjoy the beauty of our Christmon tree, we are also learning about an ancient tradition called the Jesse tree.  The tree itself comes from Isaiah 11, "a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse."  The ornaments represent Old Testament stories, but if you consider them closely they all point to Christ.  In an artistic way, this is Jesus' family tree. 

Come, read the stories, and see for yourself!

SCRIPTURE LESSON 
Both of our scriptures today relate to anointing.  But I’m going to save them until I get to that point in today’s stories.
 
THE JESSE TREE        Light, Betrayal, Commandments, Family, Anointing, Shepherd
Hebrews 1:1-2 reads, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.” 
                                                                       
Last week we recalled the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Our God is sometimes referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The fourth generation of this portion of Jesus’ family tree, includes Joseph.  Our first Jesse Tree story today is for his coat of many colors. 
 
Joseph was not the oldest among Jacob’s 12 sons, but he was daddy’s favorite, because his mother was Rachel whom Jacob dearly loved.  Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat; some say it was long sleeved, others that it was of many colors.  It’s frequently drawn with both.  But that coat which Joseph wore every day was a daily reminder that father liked him best.  It was also a symbol of being a prince.  As a boy Joseph dreamt of standing tall like a prince while his brothers had to bow to him.  He was not wise enough to keep this dream to himself, and his brothers resented him for his dream and for his coat. 
 
When Jacob sent Joseph out to his brothers one day, they took their revenge.  Honestly, some of them wanted to kill him, but Reuben didn’t let them go that far.  Instead they took his precious coat and tossed Joseph in a cistern.  From there they sold him as a slave to a passing caravan for 20 pieces of silver.  They soaked his coat in goat’s blood, and convinced their father that Joseph was dead.  In other words, they betrayed him.
 
Joseph’s life would have many ups and downs after that.  But God was always with him, and because Joseph remained faithful and obedient to God, he also had God’s favor.  From slave to steward, from prisoner to overseer of all the resources of Egypt, his life is quite a story.  Eventually during a famine, his brothers came to Egypt to beg and buy food.  They didn’t recognize Joseph, but he knew them.  After a time they were reconciled, and Joseph told them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”  (Genesis 50:20)
 
Have you recognized some of the parallels to Jesus’ story from this ancestor?  Jesus was betrayed by his own disciple for 30 pieces of silver, and his blood was shed for us upon the cross.  Yet Jesus could also have said to those who betrayed him, accused him, tried and sentenced him, whipped and crucified him, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”  That is what Jesus did in taking our punishment for us.  Just as Joseph was elevated to a position of power after his patient years of obedience, so Jesus has been raised to glory after his life of obedient service. 
 
By the end of Joseph’s story, his father, brothers, and the whole clan joined him in Egypt.  But four hundred years later, their descendants no longer hold a favored position.  They are slaves making bricks for Pharaoh’s building programs.  They are a strong and numerous people as God had once promised both Abraham and Jacob.  This made Pharaoh very nervous, so much so that he ordered all Hebrew baby boys to be killed.  One brave mother, a loyal sister, two God-fearing midwives, and an Egyptian princess all played a part in saving Moses’ life.  He grew up as a prince until he learned his true identity and committed a crime trying to defend his people.
 
In the wilderness God called Moses into service, to lead God’s people out of slavery, to fulfill the other promise God made so long before, to return to the promised land. God made sure they got out of Egypt and across the sea, then God gathered them and gave them his covenant in a set of laws.  The full law is symbolized in the two stone tablets with Ten Commandments Moses received from God on Mt. Sinai. 
 
In her Advent devotional, The Greatest Gift, Ann Voskamp takes the story of giving the Law in a direction I hadn’t anticipated.  She compares it to a Jewish wedding.  There is the chuppah, a canopy that covers the bride and groom.  God came to Moses on Sinai under a canopy of cloud.  There is a mikveh, a ritual bath in which the bride purifies herself for the ceremony.  God also asked the people to purify themselves before coming to Sinai.  There is the ketubah, the marriage contract outlining the responsibilities for a loving relationship.  God gave us the commandments not to burden us, but to teach us how to live in God’s love.
 
When we could not love enough, God sent Jesus, the gift of God’s love, to fulfill the law, to fulfill God’s love for us.  Though we have often broken God’s law, Jesus has never failed to love us.  In the New Testament we have the image of Jesus as a bridegroom and we, the Church, are his bride.  One of my favorite action songs in Children’s ministry was His Banner Over Me Is Love, so perhaps God’s love through Jesus is our canopy.  Our ritual bath for purification as we enter this relationship is our baptism.  The marriage contract is still God’s Law, God’s Covenant, made new through Christ and celebrated each time we take Holy Communion. 
 
The Hebrews struggled to trust God’s love through forty years of wilderness.  They often failed.  So do we.  Yet God never abandoned them, nor does God give up on us.  God does not desert us in the desert of this life, the shallow years, the challenges.  God keeps his promise to be with us, and if we trust, follow, and obey, God will lead us to the promised land where life is more abundant. 
 
That doesn’t mean life will be easy.  There will be decisions to make and risks to take if we would live into God’s promises.  One of the matriarch’s on Jesus’ family tree took that risk when she aided two Hebrew spies at Jericho.  She let them out her window and lowered them over the wall by a rope to protect them from those who would have harmed them. Rahab chose to trust God when the walls of Jericho were about to literally crumble all around her.  She and her family were saved, because she dared to hang the red cord of the spies outside her window, and like God they kept their promise.  That red cord is another Jesse Tree symbol.  Voskamp describes it as Rahab’s lifeline.  The Hebrew word for this cord is Tikvah, it is the same word for Hope.
 
Jesus is our lifeline, the one who marks us as his own and comes to save us when the world around us is falling apart.  Jesus our Hope.  Red ribbons are not unusual this time of year.  They may be tied around a package or hang from a wreathe.  When you see a red cord, ribbon, or string may it remind you of Rahab’s trust in the God she barely knew.  May it remind you of Jesus who shed red blood for your sake.  May it encourage you in the midst of whatever you are facing to hold tight to Jesus as your lifeline. 
 
Rahab married Salmon, and they named their son, Boaz.  He is important to the next story.
 
In yet another famine, a time of slim resources, Naomi and her husband went to Moab.  But a few years later, Naomi had two daughters-in-law and not much else.  She heard that things had gotten better back home in Bethlehem, so she set out on the return journey.  She sent Orpah back to her parents, but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi.  In Bethlehem Ruth worked hard gleaning in the fields, so they would have something to eat.  Her symbol on the Jesse Tree is a sheath of grain.  The field was owned by Boaz, who just happened to be a blood relative of Naomi’s late husband.  Boaz was in a position by Jewish law both to buy back the family property and to marry Ruth.  It was another kind of salvation, to save them from poverty.  The one with that privilege and duty was called a kinsman-redeemer.  As this budding romance played out, Boaz indeed redeemed the property and married Ruth.  Naomi who came back so empty and bitter was now filled with joy because of her grandson Obed which means servant. Obed grew up to be the father of Jesse, the Jesse for whom the Jesse Tree is named, the Jesse whose youngest son David will grow up to be king.
 
We are like Ruth and Naomi.  Sometimes we feel as if everything has been taken away from us.  We can be bitter like Naomi.  But we can also choose to be loyal and hardworking and faith filled like Ruth, to do what we can and trust God for the rest.  Jesus is our Boaz, our kinsman-redeemer.  Jesus is the one who is in the right position to redeem and reclaim us.  But like Boaz, this is far more than a business transaction; Jesus rescues us in pure and true love.  Jesus came to be a servant and to teach us that serving others is what love does. 
 
Now we turn for the moment to Samuel, God’s priest and prophet, and the role he played in David’s call to God’s service. 
 
1 Samuel 16:1-13, GW
16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you go on grieving over Saul? I have rejected him as king of Israel. But now get some olive oil and go to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, because I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
 
2 “How can I do that?” Samuel asked. “If Saul hears about it, he will kill me!”
 
The Lord answered, “Take a calf with you and say that you are there to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will tell you what to do. You will anoint as king the man I tell you to.”
 
4 Samuel did what the Lord told him to do and went to Bethlehem, where the city leaders came trembling to meet him and asked, “Is this a peaceful visit, seer?”
 
5 “Yes,” he answered. “I have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me.” He also told Jesse and his sons to purify themselves, and he invited them to the sacrifice.
 
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Jesse's son Eliab and said to himself, “This man standing here in the Lord's presence is surely the one he has chosen.” 7 But the Lord said to him, “Pay no attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have rejected him, because I do not judge as people judge. They look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart.”
 
8 Then Jesse called his son Abinadab and brought him to Samuel. But Samuel said, “No, the Lord hasn't chosen him either.” 9 Jesse then brought Shammah. “No, the Lord hasn't chosen him either,” Samuel said. 10 In this way Jesse brought seven of his sons to Samuel. And Samuel said to him, “No, the Lord hasn't chosen any of these.” 11 Then he asked him, “Do you have any more sons?”
 
Jesse answered, “There is still the youngest, but he is out taking care of the sheep.”
 
“Tell him to come here,” Samuel said. “We won't offer the sacrifice until he comes.” 12 So Jesse sent for him. He was a handsome, healthy young man, and his eyes sparkled. The Lord said to Samuel, “This is the one—anoint him!” 13 Samuel took the olive oil and anointed David in front of his brothers. Immediately the spirit of the Lord took control of David and was with him from that day on. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.
 
There are various symbols for David, most notably the shepherd’s hook.  The Christmon Tree also has a shepherd’s hook for Jesus, who came to be the Good Shepherd, and care for us as if we were God’s sheep and lambs. 
 
In the story just read, there is another symbol, a flask of oil for anointing, such as Samuel used to anoint David, such as we use to anoint our elders and deacons when they are ordained into leadership.  That’s what anointing means, that one has been set apart to be a servant for God and a leader for God’s people.  This time of year we hear the word Messiah, which means God’s anointed.  The same word in Greek is Christ.  Jesus is God’s anointed, sent as God’s servant to lead us.  We read how Jesus understood his own anointing in the Gospel of Luke.
 
Luke 4:14-21, CEB
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
 
16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. 17 The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
 
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
    to proclaim release to the prisoners
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to liberate the oppressed,
19     and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
 
20 He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. 21 He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.”
 
Jesus still comes proclaiming Good News to us if we are willing to hear it, if we learn how to read the message of scripture portrayed in the world all around us.  That good news is about justice and release and recovery and meeting our needs above and beyond what we dare to ask.  It is about God’s favor resting on us as it did on Joseph if we choose to live as God asks.
 
There is one more symbol to consider today, the sunburst or light.  In the beginning, when God’s Spirit hovered over the dark chaos, the very first thing God called into being was light.  Light has been a symbol for God, for knowledge and for truth ever since.  The prophets were like candles flickering in the darkness. Sometimes they needed to shine a light on the truth when God’s people were deceived.  Sometimes they were a ray of hope in the midst of despair.  Isaiah, the prophet, proclaimed, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.”  John claimed that the light was coming into the world, and the darkness would never be able to extinguish that light.  Jesus acknowledged that he was indeed the Light of the World.  He has also been called the bright morning star.  A star of light showed wise men where to find Jesus when he was born.  Jesus tells us to be light for the world, to be the lamp not hidden under a bushel but lifted high on a stand to shine so others can be led to God as well. 
 
What I long for you to see and hear and absorb from these stories is a message of hope, that there is still a light to shine in your darkness, that there is a cord strong enough to hold you, that you are already marked for rescue.  I want you to remember that though the journey is hard, and you will face challenges and risks, God is with you and will never abandon you even though some days you turn your backs on God or close your eyes to his invitation.  I want you to believe that even the worst thing that happens to you God can somehow use to do something good.  I pray that you will recognize that when your circumstances leave you empty and bitter God isn’t finished with you yet.  God has a plan.  God will put people in your life who will help you.  God still calls you into a loving relationship that yes, takes some hard work and obedience, but none the less offers you a lifetime partnership of love and respect and help and promise and good.  As we look back on the stories of Jesus’ ancestors from the Jesse Tree, I want you to remember that you have also been grafted onto Jesus’ family tree.  This is your heritage.  You belong to God. 
 
One final thought from the anointing story of David.  He was not Samuel’s choice.  Samuel would have picked the eldest, best looking, strong and sturdy son of Jesse, but God said no.  The key verse of this passage is this, “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  We too often look at the world around us from that same human perspective, and too often it leads us to despair or even to give up.  What I want most for you in your personal and family lives, I want desperately for you as a congregation, that you will learn to look with the eyes of faith and not doubt, with eyes seeking opportunity not wallowing in despair, with eyes that look forward not back. Ann Voskamp reminds us it’s Jesus “who gives us His eyes to really see.  To see past surfaces, to the heart of things – all the way down to love.” (p. 128)  
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