Reactions to the gospel, doubt versus faith at Christmas

As Christmas approaches, we celebrate the coming of Christ into the world. As Christians, we have also had Christ “born” in our hearts when we received a relationship with Him. Even today, we may have many “receptions” of Christ.
In Luke Chapter 1, we see how two people reacted differently to the arrival of Jesus.
The Angel Gabriel was sent to a priest named Zechariah, and to a peasant girl named Mary, and he announced the coming of Jesus to both of them.
Zechariah was a priest, and according to the text a righteous man. He was a faithful follower of God, and as a Priest had a certain rank. If anyone would be expected to have faith, it would be Zechariah.
He was chosen to burn incense before the altar of God, which was done yearly. This was a very high honor as the priest was standing in front of the altar in the presence of God. The priest would actually enter the Holy of Holies, which was done only at this time each year.
This was how it had been done since the time of Moses as the priest made atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel.
According to Jewish legend, when priests went to the altar for this duty, a rope was tied around their leg just in case they were struck dead by the Spirit. If any sin was found in them, this could likely happen.
The text tells us he was a righteous man and had been praying fervently for years, asking God to give him and his wife a son.
Now, in his old age, he sees an angel, Gabriel, who is bringing him the news that he will indeed have a son. That son is to be John the Baptist.
But even so, Zechariah doubts. He asks the angel how he can know for sure. In essence, he was asking for a sign that the angel’s words were true. The Jewish leaders all had this problem … a basic lack of faith in God. When Jesus ministered on the earth, the Jewish leadership constantly hounded Him for a sign.
Gabriel was no common angel. He is the one that stands before God, implying a special relationship. He had been sent to both of them with a specific message.
It is interesting to note that Zechariah was standing before God at the moment. By offering the incense, he was doing on an earthly level what Gabriel was doing on a heavenly level.
Even so, he asked for a sign as though he really did not believe.
Zechariah would still receive the promise even though he had not believed, but he would not be able to speak until the child was born.
Later in the chapter, we see a much different scenario as Gabriel appears to Mary, to tell her that she will bear the Christ child.
Mary was probably a basic peasant girl without much education. Many people probably would not have considered her a spiritual giant. And as you might expect, she was terrified at seeing an angel.
Here response is much different than Zechariah’s response though. After just a little questioning, she believes the angel.
“I am the Lord’s Servant. May it be as you have said,” she told him.
Her faith was simple but effective.
While Zechariah had all the education and connections, he failed in the crunch, to have simple faith.
If we compare the two people, we can see that perhaps religious position does not necessarily translate to being truly close to God.

As we celebrate Jesus coming into the world, let us ponder how we will receive Him on a daily basis in our lives.

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The Christmas story through the eyes of Easter

In the beginning was the word, and the word was God. That is a paraphrase of John 1:1, which the writer uses to introduce the Christmas story.  God became flesh and lived on the earth. This was a  radical thought in those days, and it is now.  The synoptic gospels - or the other three - tell a more traditional story of the birth of Christ. John jumps right to the spiritual meaning.

This is perhaps a unique thing in Christianity, that God would actually come to earth and live as a human being. That is radical enough, but he also came to die to pay the penalty for our sins.

The meaning of Jesus was this - "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind."

In the very beginning, in the Adam and Eve story, sin entered the world. Human beings rebelled. Some call this original sin. We are not guilty of original sin, that is not what makes us guilty. It is because we do the same things they did. Original sin just means where it originated. 

But God loved his creation.

There's some deep mystery here, but in some way, God wanted to have a relationship with his creation. He set about pursuing us. The scripture says we love God because he first loved us. It also says, while we were dead in our sins, he made us alive together with Christs.

Constantly people have tried to find a way to get to god, to have a relationship that way. This is the basis of religion - seeking God.

There were lots of efforts to make us "good," or to make us acceptable to God.

The radical idea of God was to come to earth in human form.  Some say he came to show us how to live, but I've never really thought that was true. 

Instead, I think the reason God came to earth as a human was to be the ultimate sacrifice. The Reason Jesus was born was Easter.
Jesus had to be both God and Man, and doing this in some miraculous way, makes this happen. Jesus gets his human origin from Mary and his heavenly origin from God himself.

The story in the synoptic gospels explains how this came about. The virgin birth takes on new meaning when we think of God arriving in human form. Some people try to explain this away, and even point out that in the ancient prophecies, the word "virgin" can be translated "young woman." Granted, but if that were the case, why would there be a prophecy about a young woman having a baby. That happens a lot all around the world every day, so it doesn't make much sense as a prophecy if just a young woman is all that is in mind.

Rather the virgin birth matters more on the theological level than even the physical. In terms of the physical world, it was a miracle. 

Theologically it is how we get the idea that Jesus was both fully God and fully man at the same time. In order for the sacrifice to do what was intended, it was essential that Jesus be both God and man. For that to happen, he had to be born of a virgin.

The virgin birth becomes a key part of Christian theology.

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