Mass Prep Sunday December 16th 2018

Sunday December 16^th 2018    3^rd Sunday in Advent (Cycle C)

It’s War!

The tie in between today’s readings: Binding the Strongman

Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Phillipians 4:4-7, Luke 3:10-18

     Opening up with today’s reading in Luke we see John the Baptist, as God’s drill sergeant recruiting his way through the Jordan Valley. He’s preparing the nation for the coming conflict. His rallying cry cuts sharp and deep into the heart of the people as he calls them to muster. “The Great One is coming!” “Get ready!” “War will soon be upon us!” John accepts only the committed and sincere. Self-righteous hypocrites are quickly 4-F’d and rejected.  The chosen are initiated by baptism in the Jordan. Their first order in God’s boot camp: REPENT! Life can’t go on as usual. This is a different kind of war. It’s spiritual. Spears and swords are useless. The weapons of choice in this operation are prayer, fasting, and love of neighbor; these are the only things that can overcome evil. Few, if any, realize the seriousness of the situation. “I baptize you with water,” exclaims John, “but the Mighty One is coming. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He will chop down the fruitless trees. His wheat will be gathered into his barn and He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire!” and with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.

     Then, one day, it happened. He is baptized. The sky opens up. The Father proclaims Jesus’ identity and the Spirit marks Him out. This is it! Sin…Salvation…the whole creation hangs in the balance. All of mankind has a stake in the coming battle. The ax cuts at each of our sinful roots. If Jesus fails then everyone will be kindling. No hope. No Joy. No wheat, only chaff for burning. The Holy Spirit drives Jesus into the desert for the initial engagement. It is bare knuckles against evil, now! The Kingdom of Heaven is advancing on the earth. The Prince of Peace is a mighty warrior with one objective: Bind the Strongman!

 

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     Satan and his demons know Jesus is coming for them. They have all the puzzle pieces of prophesy. God’s battle plan has to do with sin somehow but the rebellious angels just can’t figure it out. Satan sees Jesus in a weakened condition while fasting in the desert and takes a shotgun approach to get the Messiah to stumble.  Jesus fends off three temptation attempts by the Strongman and wins the day. Other evil attacks ensue over time in an attempt to nullify the Son of Man, but to no avail. Finally, crucifixion seems like Jesus’ Achilles’ heel and Satan goes for it. Jesus suffers through His Passion and it appears that evil will win after all; however, something is going wrong. There’s an inkling about it while Jesus is on the cross (Matt 27:42), but when Christ resurrects on Easter Sunday, the total devastation of the Devil is assured. In a demonstration of Devine Jujitsu’ the wisdom of the Almighty deceived the deceivers: “for if they had known the mystery of God, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8). Satan is crushed. Jesus plunders his house and the souls of men are set free (Luke 4:18).

     The other three readings today in Zephaniah, Isaiah, and Philippians are passages of joy, salvation, and triumph in Jesus. In this third Sunday of Advent, let us not forget that you cannot separate the cradle from the cross. Had Jesus failed, there would be no tidings of comfort and joy, no celebration of that holy night, only the dismal mockery of God’s grand attempt. It is one thing to take the field but another to leave in triumph. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so by the grace of God, He may taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). He is victorious! He lives! Alleluia! He now hands over the battle to you. Let us put on the full armor of God and advance God’s Kingdom in this world through the victory of Easter and in the love and joy of Christmas.

Mass Prep Sunday December 9th 2018

Sunday December 9^th, 2018   2^nd Sunday in Advent (Cycle C)

Hitting the Road

The tie in between today’s readings: Things are not always what they seem.

Psalm 126, Baruch 5:1-9, Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-6

     If you were an eastern monarch in the days of antiquity and wanted to travel to a distant city, it was customary to send out heralds to call on the people in the area to mend the existing roads or create new ones for your route. All along the way rocks had to be moved, holes filled and thoroughfares straightened. A swarm of laborers with rakes, hoes, shovels and buckets converged in one massive human highway project not seen since the building of the Transcontinental Railroad; all to prepare for a king’s convoy. Jesus Christ, The Ruler of the world deserves nothing less. In the spirit of the first Advent, John the Baptist is sent out as such a herald. He is a one man construction crew. His mission is to prepare a road less travelled. He preaches the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins so that the King of Kings could enter their lives through the highway of their hearts. Be ready! Get excited! The King is on the move! Calvary’s road trip has begun. He’s more awesome than anyone can imagine, but not at all what they think. This King is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

     For John the Baptist:

     16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” (Matthew 3:16-17)

     …2 Meanwhile, John heard in prison about the works of Christ, and he sent two of his disciples 3to ask Him, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?” 4Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see. (Matt 11:2-4)

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     Jesus’ family:

     …5 For even His own brothers did not believe in Him. (John 7:5).

     His town:

     16 Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, 17the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to p…19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, 21and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21)

     …28 On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged. 29They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.30But Jesus passed through the crowd and went on His way (Luke 4:28-30).

     The crowd:

     …14 When the people saw the sign that Jesus had performed, they began to say, “Truly this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. (John 6:14-15)

     …61 Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, “Does this offend you? 62Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? 66From that time on, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.…(John 6:61-66)

     The nation:

     …7 They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8A massive crowd spreadtheir cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”…(Matt 21:7-9)

     …14 It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” 15At this, they shouted, “Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!” “Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” replied the chief priests. 16Then Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified, and the soldiers took Him away.…(John 19:14-16)

     The Apostles:

     16 Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. 17When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me (Matt 28: 16-18).

     “But some still doubted.” Really…after all that they went through they’re still not sure?

     Fortunately, faith and Pentecost won out and their gospel message spread throughout the known world. Many people believed in Jesus the Messiah and took Him as their Savior and King. They bear out the reality of the Lordship of Christ by giving up their priorities in this world that will pass away and focusing on the imperatives of the forever Kingdom of Heaven as cited in today’s reading in Philippians. God is still looking for a people to call His own. Despite the advantage of hind sight, many are still conflicted and puzzled about Jesus. Don’t let that be you. God gives you a guarantee if you seek Him you will find Him and you will know the truth. Amazingly, in today’s reading in Baruch, God orders the mountains to be leveled and the valleys to be filled as He gathers His Israel (the true believers) to Jerusalem (His heaven) in a royal procession. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be saved and you’ll be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

Mass Prep Sunday December 2nd 2018

Sunday December 2, 2018   1^st Sunday of Advent (Cycle C)

Coming From a Good Background

The tie in between today’s readings: A Proof of the Virgin Birth

Psalms 25:1-14, Jeremiah 33:14-16, 1 Thessalonians3:12-4:2, Luke 21:25-36

     The holidays are here. During this time of year, we make special plans to spend time with the close strangers in our lives that we call family. Whether we want to or not, we will trek out to share food and alcohol with the few people in the world who look like us and with whom we share a close common history. This is not lost on Madison Avenue. You may have noticed the increase in advertising for ancestry companies. For a multitude of reasons, many of us will give up our charge cards and DNA to take them up on their offers. It could be in order to satisfy some sort of curiosity, possibly to verify our own family folklore, or perhaps to build a stronger bond with the person sitting across the mash potatoes from us that we may someday need to ask for a kidney. Strangely enough, genealogy plays an important role in the Christmas story as seen in our reading today in Jeremiah. In fact, the Bible doubles down on it by giving both sides of the family tree through Joseph and Mary. Getting it right is absolutely essential to fulfill prophesy and to leave no mistake that Jesus is the Messiah and heir to David’s throne.

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     Joseph’s line comes directly from David through Solomon (Matt 1). Legally, the Jews looked on Jesus as Joseph’s son (John 6:42). Here’s the catch: Jesus would not have been able inherit the throne if He was a blood descendant of Joseph. Because of the wickedness of Jechonias, God cursed this line and no other descendants could be king (Jeremiah 22:24-30). This is a proof of the virgin birth, since Jesus was the actual Son of God the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit and only Joseph’s through adoption. Enter Mary. Luke 3 traces her line back to David through another son, Nathan. Unlike Joseph, there was no block on Jesus to claim the throne through Mary’s blood line. The problem here was that in Jewish law, inheritances passed through the sons not the daughters. Mary could not give Jesus the throne unless she was an only child (apparently she was) and married within her tribe, which she did when she married Joseph (Numbers 27:1-8; 36:6-8).  Joseph inherited the right to rule on David’s throne by marriage to Mary and passed it onto Jesus. Jesus is heir by adoption and the seed of the woman. Ironically, if the kings of Judah had remained obedient to God, Joseph could have been ruling in Israel at this time with his queen Mary at his side and Jesus would have been born in a palace instead of a manger. There’s a butterfly effect for you.

     But the pauper prince is a king nonetheless. He rules over a nation as real as any country on the map: the Kingdom of God. Its people are supernaturally born into citizenship through the election of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit. As we see in today’s Psalm and 1 Thessalonians, the laws of God are taught and written on each of their hearts. Thy will be done, is their motivation. The Great Commission, their life’s work. Jesus is working through His people today with the gospel call to believe in His sacrifice as Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins. You can receive this salvation by faith and be granted citizenship into His kingdom. He offers this to you with the simple invitation of “Come.” Do not delay. Join the ranks of the blessed whose destiny is GLORY! Time is short. He will come back to claim the Earth as His Kingdom and take His place on the Throne of David as noted in today’s reading in Luke 21. Be part of it!