Word of Life Church Podcast

Glen & Heather Taylor's Story of Forgiveness

If Christianity is to be a compelling and relevant voice in the 21st Century, we need a fresh message—not a new innovation or novel interpretation, but a return to our roots. And if Christianity is about anything, it's about forgiveness.

The Epiphany text begins with these words: “In the time of King Herod.” Most of history has been “in the time of King Herod.” And if not the time of Herod, then the time of Pharaoh, the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the time of Caesar, the time of Nero, all the way into modern times—the time of Hitler and Mussolini, of Franco and Salazar, of Pinochet and Putin. It’s true that most of history has been lived in the time of tyrant kings. But the gospel also tells us that since the birth of Jesus, heaven has been invading the time of tyrant kings.

In singing his prophetic song over the infant Jesus, Simeon drew upon a verse from one of Isaiah’s Servant Songs. The Servant Songs (Isaiah 49–52) were prophetic poems written in the sixth century BC that envision Israel as Yahweh’s Servant. But these poems also seem to envision Yahweh’s Servant as a person who will be the embodiment Israel. In other words, this Servant will be Israel in person, as a person. And it is this person who will fulfill Israel’s mission to the world—it is this person will be Messiah!

This is what Christians confess about Christmas: Emmanuel (God with us) joined humanity, not by swooping down from the celestial heavens in a golden chariot, but by being born—born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Like all of us, God was pushed from the womb through contractions, labor, agony, and blood, to enter headfirst into the beautiful and horrible mess that is our world. This is not Athena springing fully formed from the head of Zeus, this is Jesus born of Mary.

It was through a young, poor Jewish maiden named Miriam (Mary) living in the backwater Galilean village of Nazareth during the Roman occupation of the first century, that the Eternal Logos, the Word of God, the Logic of Divine Love, took on flesh, becoming incarnate and fully human. In Christian theology this is known as the Incarnation and Mary is known as the Theotokos—the God-bearer. The Incarnation of Christ through the Theotokos is one of the most sublime confessions of the Christian faith—it’s the sacred mystery of how through a cooperation of the Spirit and humankind the holy becomes enfleshed.

John the Baptist was a burning and shining lamp—but he wasn’t the dawn of the new day. John doesn’t belong to the new day—John belongs to the end of the long night. John is not the sun of righteousness that will give the world a new order and orbit. John is a supernova—the brief, brilliant explosion of a dying star. But it's John who prepares us for the coming of Jesus and the birth of a galaxy of grace.

In the birth of the baby born in Bethlehem in the days of King Herod we find the fulcrum of every human hope and every diabolical fear. What the poets and prophets hoped and prayed for, and what the principalities and powers feared and fought against, is what the birth of Jesus brought into the world.

Those who treat the unlucky souls who have fallen into the cracks of society as worthy of dignity and respect, compassion and provision, are seen by Jesus as co-conspirators in his Kingdom. The Kingdom of Jesus is heaven’s insurgency against the inhumane regimes of beastly empire. Those who treat the minimum wage worker, the undocumented refugee, the sick with a pre-existing condition, the convict serving a life sentence as a human being worthy of love, are welcomed by Jesus into the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

“The first precondition of being called a spiritual leader is to perceive and feel the falsehood that is prevailing in society, and then to dedicate one’s life to a struggle against that falsehood. If one tolerates the falsehood and resigns oneself to it, one can never become a prophet. If one cannot rise above material life, one cannot even become a citizen in the Kingdom of the Spirit, far less a leader of others.” –Vladimir Solovyov in his eulogy of Fyodor Dostoevsky Can you feel it? It’s all around you. But can you feel it? The falseness — the falseness that prevails in society. Most are so sedated they never even suspect it. Some sense it, but cannot name it. It takes a prophet to name it.