Silent Night No More

Christmas Eve is often memorialized by the song that every Christian loves, "Silent Night."  We romanticize the heck out of the birth of Jesus but let's be honest here, it was not a silent night.  It was not a night where all was calm and bright.  As a matter of fact, the world was in turmoil. People from all over the known world were on the move because the emperor had decided that he needed to make sure that everyone was paying their taxes.  There is nothing worse than to be a despot without having the money to throw wild parties or to send your army to conquer lands that are not yet in your control.  So everyone who did not happen to already be in the town their ancestors came from had to drop what they were doing and go there.  This caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people, not that the emperor cared.  So both Joseph and Mary found themselves on their way to Bethlehem to be counted.  Mary was ready to give birth, but that was not the emperor's problem either.  So the couple set out for  Bethlehem, the town of  David, the king.  Its name meant "House of Bread."   We know what happened next.  They arrived at the town and there was no room for them to stay at any of the places where traveler's rested.  They ended up in a stable, a cave really, and there Jesus was born.  The silence of the night was then broken and the world would never be the same again. 

In the fields there were shepherds watching their flocks of lambs at night, keeping them safe.  It was not cool to be a shepherd as your duties kept you from the temple and you were considered to be unclean.  So the silence of that Silent Night was broken by the sound of angels proclaiming that God had come to earth, that a savior had been born.  The good news was first revealed to those who had no say in the world, shepherds of all people.   They were a simple people, they believed what they had heard and went to see the Child.  

The silence was broken and the world was forever changed because of this Silent Night.  The old world would pass away and this birth of Jesus would usher in a New Way.  We would be taught by God Himself as to how we would live.  The old rules would soon no longer apply.  The silence of the olden days would be broken forever as God fulfilled His promise to send a savior.  

It would be thirty years before Jesus would begin to preach. This time he used to give us an example.  He worked beside his step-father, Joseph., and learned to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.  Here is another fact.  The job of a carpenter was also looked down upon because there was a lack of wood in Judea because it was a desert community.  So, Jesus worked humbly and quietly at his trade.  

Since the Saviour's birth, there can be no more silent nights.  We have to make a choice.  Either He is the Son of God as He says He is or he is a pious fake.  Some people say that he was not the son of God, but he was a good man and a good teacher.  This is not right. Jesus is who he says he is or he is an evil madman.  There can be no other choice.  

So, who do you say Jesus is?  Or will you remain silent?

Holy Saturday - He Descended Into Hell...What's That All About?

The Chief Priest and his cronies were now satisfied. This latest messiah, one in a long line of pious fakers, a fraud from Nazareth that had been stirring up the crowds was now dead. They had seen to that. They watched him die a bare three hours after the Romans had nailed him to the cross. His death was faster than some whom the Romans crucified, some of them lasted several days. But he was gone now and the only two things were left to do. First they had to make sure that rumors of his rising from the dead did not occur. To do this Caiaphas, the chief priest, was very clever indeed. Instead of sending temple guards, he enlisted the hated Romans and Pilate assigned a Roman guard detail to watch the tomb and to let no one in or strangely, no one out. The Romans now had an interest in what was surely under normal circumstances an issue for the Jews. They would see to it that there would be no theft of the body and proclamations of Jesus raising from the dead!

The second thing that needed to be done was to scatter the disciples of this faker to the four winds. A couple of threats and maybe a scourging or two would send the men back to their boats and the business of fishing. Yes, everything was under control now, or so they thought. 

It has to be emphasized that Jesus truly died on the cross. He did not go into some state of suspended animation, he was truly dead. The Apostles Creed uses the curious words, "He descended into hell..." What on earth can that mean?  This is another example of why we should be careful in interpreting ancient words using our modern minds. We think of hell as the place of the damned, a place of fire, demons, sulfur, and pain. That is truly a good picture of what hell is. But that is not the hell of the Apostles creed. The hell that Jesus went to after his death was not the hell of the damned, Gehenna. It was instead a place where the just waited for their redemption. Recall the story of Lazarus and rich man. The Bible points out that the destination of the two men were different. Lazarus died and was carried to the bosom of Abraham while the rich man was carried to a place of torment.  The story Jesus told shows that there is an immense gulf between the place were Lazarus was and the place were the rich man was. The place where Lazarus was bears the name of Sheol and is the place where Jesus went to. There he preached the good news to all of the just and opened the gates of heaven for them which had been closed since the time of Adam because of the sin of our late and great ancestor. 

So the redemption that Jesus brought to mankind was for all of mankind, those that came before us, those that were alive during the time he was alive, and those that came after him. 

So on this Holy Saturday we can commemorate the visit of Jesus to the souls waiting in Sheol. The redemption that Jesus brought was for all and we can be happy that he did "descend into hell."  

God bless you this day as you and your family busy yourselves with the preparations the coming of Easter brings. Thank you Jesus for going to the Cross for me.  Thank you for destroying sin and death.  May I live the rest of my life worthy of your great sacrifice.    

I believe in God the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth
I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son...