Jesus was
and is God’s greatest miracle. All of
history turns around the Jesus event, which is why we spend so much time
learning about Him. However, the miracle
of Jesus can be better understood if we explore some of what God was up to in
the 2000 years before Jesus was born.
The drama of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, is glorious. The Old Testament is not one book, but a
library of 39 books or writings, containing legends, myths, history, sacred
laws and rituals, songs and poetry, and much much more. Originally, most of
these Books were orally transmitted from generation to generation, until the
invention of human writing. So, these
scriptures were copied and handed down until the 3rd century before Christ, when
two things happened:
1. The 39 books were collected together
to form the Hebrew Scriptures. The religious and political leadership chose the
books which they determine be the Word of God. No more would be added.
2. After speaking to leaders and
prophets for hundreds of years, God was silent for 400 years up until the birth
of Christ. There is no record of God
directly speaking to his people.
Many of us
have some familiarity with stories from the Bible----like that of Adam &
Eve, Moses, & King David. But since
the Old Testament is a library, it can be hard to swallow. I know people who decided to read the Old
Testament beginning with the first book, the book of Genesis. Most people who do that, often get lost in
some of the liturgical and law books of Leviticus, and then stop because they become
discouraged.
Within the
39 books of the Old Testament, there is a wonderful and heart breaking Love
story, which is so beautiful. It is this
drama which inspired Jesus, and which can inspire us. It’s a drama about God and humanity; of a
God, inviting people into a relationship with Him; of people being both attracted
and repelled by God. This is a drama
where God becomes broken hearted, because His beloved people reject Him; and a
story of God pursuing His beloved children.
We will explore some of this drama; and I think you will find that God
has been a consistent lover. You may not
agree and/or understand some of his actions.
But that we can discuss too.
So, there
are two foundational truths which underlie these scriptures:
1. There is one true God. Many pagan
religions worshipped multiple Gods. These “gods” were either totally fabricated
by people, or were evil spirits masquerading as gods. Thus when God gave the 10 Commandments to
Moses, God declared: ” I am the Lord your God. You shall not have no other gods
but me. You shall not make for idols fir yourselves; you shall not bow down
before them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” (Exodus 20:
2,4,5)
2. So, there is one god. Secondly, please repeat after me:
“God acts in history to save His
people.” This was best said in the Book
of Job, where we hear, “After all, God is famous for great and unexpected acts; there’s no end to his
surprises. (Job 5:9)
Now we come to one great divide here, where we
need to be open to something much of western culture world calls
foolishness. And that is this: Is our physical world all there is, or is
there a spiritual world which can influence and act in our physical world?
· If your mind is closed to the possibility of a
supernatural influences and intervention in our world, then the Bible is simply
a bunch of primitive writings by ignorant people, reflecting on their own experience.
· If you believe that there is a spiritual realm,
which influences and acts in our spiritual world, then the bible will have
meaning for you. So, do you believe in
miracles?” Can anyone guess what
percentage of Americans believe in miracles? PAUSE
National Public Radio reports that 80% of Americans believe in miracles.
· The Gallup polling organization says that 9 out
of ten Americans believe in God. According
to Gallup, quote, “This number is reduced among younger Americans, easterners,
and intellectual liberals.” J Now,
in addition to this, 72% of Americans do believe that God acts in history. Isn’t that something? More people believe that what one might
imagine. So, believers are not in the minority at all. But you would not know it from our pop
culture.
God’s first great act in
history was the creation of time. There was a point when there was the
beginning of chronological time, and there will come a point in time in the
future when chronological time will end.
Time is the playing field for God’s
activity.
Next, God continued by creating the natural order,
as described in our Prayer Book:” the universe, planets in their courses, and this fragile
earth, our island home.” The Psalms describe it this way. Pls repea.t after me In his hand are the depths of the earth,// and
the mountain peaks belong to him. // The sea is his, for he made it,//
and his hands formed the dry land.
Once earth was made, then
God came to his crowning achievement: He created humanity. PAUSE Perhaps
no one other than William Shakespere could have described God’s feelings about
humanity: quote 'What a piece of work is a man! How noble in
reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable!
In action how like an Angel! Unquote.
So, what was God’s purpose in
creating humanity? One line from our Eucharistic prayer sums this up by saying,” Holy and
gracious father, in your infinite love, you made us from yourself.” (Prayer
Book, p. 362) So, what was the purpose
in creating humanity? To love us.
Why would God almighty
need to love humanity? Couldn’t God, Father,
Son & Holy Spirit just go throughout eternity loving themselves?
Well, the bible tells us
that “Love is not love unless is shared.”
Love is reciprocal-it is mutual, and if you don’t give it away, it will
eventually grow stale and die. So, God
wanted children to love, because He is a God of Love.
Although God loved humanity
from the beginning, God began to form his earthly family about 4000 years
ago. He started with a young couple
named Abraham and Sarah. Prior to Abraham
being called by God, he and his wife were living with Abraham’s father in a city
in modern day Iraq, God spoke to Abraham and said, “Go from your country and
kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you, and I will
make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Through you, all the
families of the earth will be blessed.”
So, Abraham did as God asked, and God led him to what would later be
called the Promised Land, because this land was promised to Abraham and his descendants
forever. That land, as most of you know,
is modern day Israel.
Abraham and Sarah were
good, faithful, hardworking people. For
many years, Abraham and Sarah were childless, which deeply distressed them
both. One night as Abraham was praying
about this, God promised that they would have a child. Then God took Abraham to look at the stars in
the sky, and God said to him, “Look to the heavens, and count the stars. So
shall your descendants be.” And the
Bible goes on to say that Abraham believed the Lord’s promise, and god credited
him with righteousness.”
Now the term
“righteousness” is not just about moral conduct. Rather righteousness is about having an
intimate relationship with God, with no walls, no distance, no impediments. This, my friends, was radical. You see, going back then, God was understood
to be pure—of such a purity that no sinful man or woman, which was everybody,
could ever come close to God because all people are sinners.
Do you realize how
fortunate we are? Up until the time of Abraham, and then in many years
following, humanity was totally alienated from God by virtue of being infected
with original sin. Back at the beginning
of time, the first people, called Adam and Eve, had turned away from God,
thereby releasing this spiritual disease of sin into the world.
Consequently, for eons
and eons, God and humanity were enemies, so to speak. But here Abraham, called the pioneer of our
faith, believed God’s promise, and He was made a friend of God. This promise,
or covenant, was without conditions---it was not based on human behavior; it
was just based on God’s unconditional love for all people.
This is why Abraham is
the spiritual forefather of all who believe.
God started with him, and now the descendants of Abraham are as numerous
as the stars in the heavens. And this
was the foundation upon which Jesus Christ came to reconcile all of humanity,
by his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin. Now, all of us can
have a right relationship, crossing the barrier between God and humanity.
I believe that God has known each of us since
before the beginning of time; and God looked forward to this time when we could
truly be one family under the Headship of Jesus. For whatever reason, it has taken 4000 years
to get us this place. So now, here,
today, at Christ Church Quaker Farms, through
God’s Word & Sacrament, heaven comes to earth…comes to us, as we seek to
live as members of God’s awesome family.
The Rev. John Donnelly 7 26 15
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