“The Love of the Father”
Mark 1:1; John 1:14; Matthew 2:9-15
I bet this is the first time that you have heard
All
four of the Gospel lessons read on Christmas.
Usually
we pick either Luke or Matthew
Because
they are the most detailed
And
we only read one so that it will be
Internally consistent.
Sometimes
we read John’s Gospel for a more
Theological
rendition of the Christmas story
Almost
never do we read Mark.
But
today we read all three to catch the thread that
Runs
through every one of the Gospels-
The
Love of the Father for the Son and
The
love of the Father for the world.
The real text underlying tonight’s meditation is John
3:16, 17:
“For God so loved the world
that he sent his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but that
the world might be saved through him.”
So often we think of God in impersonal terms.
God is
the one who created the world but then
God
turns us loose to run and ruin the world
As
we see fit.
Sometimes
we image God as an absent Father
Kind
of like the Father in Bambi,
Impressive
but out there somewhere.
And yet the Bible offers such a different image of God
It’s hard
to imagine how we got to the impersonal
And distant God.
Even in the Old Testament story of creation
God is
one who walks in the garden
With Adam and Eve.
In the Wilderness, God doesn’t leave Moses and
The
people of
Tabernacles
with them, abides with them,
on their
journey.
And as the Psalmist talks about God’s love in Psalm
131
He
writes: “as a child quieted at his mother’s
breast.”
Or in Psalm
89: “You are my Father, my God,
The Rock of my salvation!”
Or Psalm
103: “As a father has compassion on his
children
So
the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.”
God is a loving, caring, present parent who loves us,
Has
compassion on us, feeds us and walks with us
And
yet we still seem to struggle with this idea
Of
God who is personal and yet awesome,
Who
is feared and yet compassionate,
Who
is both our advocate and judge,
Who Jesus calls “Abba”, “Father”.
This is the Triune God we celebrate tonight,
Who
loves us so much that he sent his only Son
That we might know his love and walk in his ways.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among
us,
and we have seen his glory, the glory as of
a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
On this Christmas Eve we must not forget the Father,
For it
is the love of the Father that is manifest
In Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son.
And through this Son, Jesus Christ,
We
become Children of God:
“But
to all who received Him, who believed in his name,
He gave power to
become children of God,
Who were
born, not of blood or the will
Of
the flesh or of the will of man,
But
of God.”
Isn’t that something!
On
this night not only is Jesus born but
As we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of
God,
We
are also received as children of the Father.
It
is our adoption day, or more precisely,
According
to John, it is our day
To
be born of God.
And so we live in the love of the
Father.
How
do we live in the love of the Father?
By caring for the Body of His Son, Jesus Christ.
The other father in tonight’s reading is
Jesus step father, Joseph.
Since
I am a step dad,
I
have a special place in my heart for Joseph,
Who
loved and protected Jesus and
Raised
him and taught as his son.
Joseph
doesn’t get a lot of ink in tonight’s lesson
When
the Magi come to the house with the gifts
it only mentionsMary and the child.
On
the bulletin cover Joseph is the figure in the back
Looking lovingly at Jesus and Mary.
And yet the angel talks to Joseph when
Jesus is in danger,
And
Joseph is the one who protects Jesus
and takes Jesus
to
and so that
Jesus like the people of
might
be called “Out of
Ann Rice wrote a book called “Out of
Which imagines the family returning to
After
a long time away,
And
the relationship between Jesus
And
Joseph is tender, loving and
Protective.
It
is the way we are to care for the
Body of Christ today.
Joseph provides the guidance for how we
respond to
The love of God the Father.
We
respond by loving and protecting the Son
Jesus
Christ and by being obedient to
The
Father who loves us and
Sent his Son for our salvation.
It all starts with the love of the
Father,
The
birth of his Son,
Our adoption and rebirth into the family of God.
As the Brief Statement of Faith speaks
of this love of the Father;
“Loving
us still,
God
makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant,
Like
a mother who will not forsake her nursing child,
Like
a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home,
God
is faithful still.”
Amen