Between 2016 and Eternity: Candid Hope

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Photo by Amanda Leutenberg
Photo by Amanda Leutenberg

A rather candid article, 2016 Is Not Killing People, got me thinking today. The article picked up on the various social media comments ruing the celebrities we have lost in 2016, looking forward to 2017, as if 2017 will be any better. Being equally as candid as the article – It won’t be.

The article focuses on the notorious drug use of some iconic celebrities that we lost in 2016. Prince. George Michael. Princess Leia (I mean Carrie Fisher). They all had issues with drug addiction that likely played a key role in their relatively early deaths.

I say relatively early death because just one hundred years ago, and for hundreds of centuries before that, people didn’t live as long, on average, as we do today. Death has always, faithfully done its job. Our experience with death may not be what it was in years gone by, but the inevitably of death has never been more (or less) present.

We not only live longer, but we have more distractions from the stark realities of life than ever before. Drugs, ironically, are among those ubiquitous distractions that characterize our modern lives, the same drugs that led to the early demise of many notable celebrities in 2016.

Not all distractions shorten our lives, of course. Some of them, like fitness, running and similar crazes are likely to prolong our lives. We might squeeze another 10, 20 or more years out of our lives. Maybe, if we have the right distractions, we might live to be 100. Maybe even slightly older.

For what?

Continue reading “Between 2016 and Eternity: Candid Hope” →

Christmas Thoughts: Ruth & God, the Kinsman-Redeemer

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maxresdefault REFUGE CHURCH Copyright © 2016.

My Christmas thoughts have taken me to the genealogy in Matthew of the lineage of Jesus and the curious inclusion of five women in that patriarchal history. They stand out, not only as women in a patriarchal society, but as examples of faith and of God’s redeeming love.

Tamar and Rahab, the first two women in the list, were unlikely examples. Tamar prostituted herself with Judah, and Rahab was actually a prostitute. That God would use such sinful and lowly women is shocking, if not remarkable. Their stations in life and their choices before the encounters which defined them were humble and base.

Their faith, however, is the story. They believed God. They made a choice to trust God and His promise. Though they were both flawed and of low station in life, they are remembered in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world who will also rule all that God has made at the end of this age. Though they were women in a patriarchal society, they are remembered side by side with the men.

The real story is God and His redeeming work in the lives of people and in the history of world. No story is more pregnant with God’s redemptive work than the story of Ruth, who is the third women listed in the genealogy of Jesus.

Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: Ruth & God, the Kinsman-Redeemer” →

Christmas Thoughts: Rahab, a Foreign Prostitute & God’s Redemptive Plan

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(c) Can Stock Photo / Anke

Rahab is the second woman listed in the genealogy of the lineage of Jesus in Matthew. It is no insignificant thing that Matthew lists five women in the patriarchal lineage of Jesus. There must be a point to it, as patriarchal lineages did not include women, especially in the First Century.

Tamar, the first woman in the list, has a seemingly odd story. She emerges from accusations of prostitution amidst the faithlessness of Judah and wickedness of Judah’s oldest sons to bear the child who would lead to David and ultimately to Jesus. Her creative, if not dutiful, commitment to the custom of bearing a child in honor of her deceased husband redeemed Judah as the bearer of the seed that would lead to the Messiah, in spite of Judah himself.

The Messiah, of course, was promised to come through the line of Judah and later the line of David to be the Savior of the world. This was an extension of the promise to Abraham that his seed would bless all nations. Like Tamar, Rahab is similarly not the picture of one we might assume to be of a messianic lineage.

Rahab wasn’t even of the lineage of Abraham. Her name suggests Egyptian origin, and she was an Amorite, considered an idolatrous, wicked people. If Tamar was only thought to be a prostitute, Rahab was a prostitute.

Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: Rahab, a Foreign Prostitute & God’s Redemptive Plan” →

Christmas Thoughts: God Redeems the Line of Judah through Tamar

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(c) Can Stock Photo / halfpoint
(c) Can Stock Photo / halfpoint

Amazingly, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew lists five women. In a patriarchal society governed by paternal lineage, that fact should jump out at us and cause us to take notice. What is God saying? What was He doing? How should we view that today?

We can gain insights by looking at the women who are listed. The first woman listed is Tamar. Her story is found in Genesis 38, and it is a wild one for people of polite sensibilities.

Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, Er. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob (son of Isaac, son of Abraham). It might seem odd that Judah, the fourth son, is the one from whom Jesus (the Messiah) descends, but that is only a minor oddity compared to the rest. Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: God Redeems the Line of Judah through Tamar” →

Christmas Thoughts: God’s Redemptive Actions Through Women of the Old Testament

The fact that five women are included in the genealogy of Jesus should catch our attention!

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We might be tempted to gloss over the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1[A]. We may feel obligated to acknowledge it during Christmastime because it’s part of the story of the birth of Jesus. The genealogy, though, doesn’t hold our attention like the plight of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in a manger.

The overarching significance of the genealogy is stated in the text. The lineage of Jesus can be traced back fourteen generations to the Babylonian exile, fourteen more generations back to King David and fourteen additional generations back to Abraham, the father of faith. This is no insignificant thing, but it may not capture our attention as, perhaps, it should.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth through his seed. The prophets foretold more specifically that the promise was to be fulfilled through the line of David.

Forty two generations passed from the original promise to Jesus. Twenty eight generations passed from the line of David. Fourteen generations passed from the Babylonian exile to Jesus, and the Babylonian exile is approximately the time period of those prophecies.

That genealogy, further, represents the history of God’s interaction with man. Most of the Old Testament fits between the beginning and the end of that genealogy! Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: God’s Redemptive Actions Through Women of the Old Testament” →