Posted by Fiiiyer on August 23, 2004 at 08:25:51:
In Reply to: Re: Jesus, the Wisdom and Power of God posted by cav on August 23, 2004 at 07:45:31:
Well Said, both of you.
: I've always been extremely moved by thoughts of the birth and the situation, especially the shepherds. I guess it's because I can identify with their lot in life and the fact that they aren't mentioned again. What happened to them? They had to be forever changed, but how, did they go back to their sheep? I'm sure. But they would have appeared insane to those who hadn't seen it. Maybe they even lost their jobs. Who knows, but the point is God used the most unlikely and unpowerful situations and people to herald his birth. He was already setting up the paradigm that the kingdom of God was not a radical revolution to remove the foreign powers, or a grand redesign of the world, or even a sudden end to life as it was known. Instead it was a quiet blowing into the hearts and minds of humanity that turned power structures upside down without displacing a single ruler. Suddenly, the hopeless had hope, the powers no longer had ultimate control. He truly revealed that he was going to be the God of Losers (to borrow from a brilliant lyricist). This gives me hope. This is the single most important factor in my being a Christian...in my faith. I could not serve another God, a God who was unjust and looked away at suffering, or benefited a few above others...no my God is the one who was born into the dung and pungent rotting hay, the one who was announced to the lowest level of society first, and says to the hurting and broken that the very armies of heaven are behind them. None will be lost, and the doors of hell are locked from the inside! My soul screams, "YES!"
: : This week I was reading some in 1 Corinthians about how Jesus is the Wisdom and Power of God. It is neat how God chooses to reveal himself through things that we people might consider weak or foolish. Also, tonight, David was reading to me from a collection of devotionals. He was reading about Jesus' birth. He read something that mentioned God gasping for air, crying, suckling at the breast of Mary and he mentioned the possible array of animal scents and sounds, not to mention rats and bugs that may have inhabited the stable. It was quite an inconvenient affair I'm sure, having a baby you didn't expect in a situation that was so discreet. David and I then talked about how most kings or rulers would give alot of attention to the birth of a child, and if it was a first born son, they would announce it w fanfare and have many people providing the best possible environment for the child's birth and for the comfort of the mother. Of course the story David read me was extrabiblical and devotional in nature, but it did bring home the mysterious way in which God came to dwell with men, under a cloak of obscurity, announcing the birth by messengers to a few guys out in the countryside. Were these shepherds to be the go-betweens for humanity? His was not the triumphalism of pomp and ceremony. It was direct but in a way we would not have expected. Anyway, these are my rambling late night thoughts.
: : Peace, Bill