December 28

If Messiah’s entrance into our estate was something the Israelites hadn’t necessarily expected, the mode in which he entered was completely surprising, even though they’d had Isaiah’s prophecies and David’s psalmists pointing them towards a Humble King, and a Good Shepherd. There was still the strangeness of God’s taking on flesh and dwelling among us for the early church to figure out how to describe, and much of the New Testament has that issue, how to explain this, how to make it understandable, how to reconcile the spiritual and fleshly realities correctly, as a preoccupation.

The book of Hebrews works through this. It shows Jesus’s humble entrance as a man, his suffering as sacrifice, his presiding over the sacrifice as priest, and his rule and reign as the forever King, identifying each of these as aspects of His Godhood and Lordship and as consistent with God’s character as presented throughout the Hebrew Bible. And all of this is an invitation to broken humankind, to join His winning side in the fight against evil, to join in His overcoming of death, to embrace His easy yoke instead of the shackles of sin. Here’s one of the early statements in this theological masterpiece:

For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God — for whom and through whom all things exist — should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying:

I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters;

I will sing hymns to you in the congregation.

Again, I will trust in him. And again, Here I am with the children God gave me.

Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham’s offspring. Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:10-18, CSB).

“Preparing Him room” is the most important thing we do in any week. It doesn’t always seem immediately practical to take time out of your day to pray or to read His letter of love to you. It certainly doesn’t always make sense to our fleshly minds to go to worship services, to join in a song to an invisible God and make ourselves vulnerable by opening our hearts and minds to feeling the thoughts presented in the great hymns and psalms and choruses. But it is in doing this, in calling your attention back to the tragedy of sin and the beauty and love showed through Christ’s life and death, and the hope of Resurrection that Creation becomes reordered again and you become prepared to face the day, ready to be Salt and Light to a world that has forgotten flavour and is flailing around in the dark.

Church, my prayer for all of us this year is that we embrace a spirit of Advent each week, that we come into our weeks with our priorities correct, or at least correctable, and that we make our hearts ready for what God has for us. He is good, the same as He was yesterday, and the same as He’ll be forever. He has extended His charity to us even before we knew it; even before we knew Him, even before the world was made, He had you in mind and wanted relationship with you. Let us continue to make room for Him in our week, in our church, in our lives, and look forward to what He is going to do next!

Blessings,