December 2020 - Pastor Rich Eddy

The Empty Manger

As I mentioned before, Karen and my decorating for Christmas has been pretty sparse this year. Our outside lights are up, but our main tree has just one ornament besides its built-in lights. There are one or two snowmen in view (not the melty type), and one nativity scene. Without company coming, and us still dealing with my sister’s stuff, the idea of getting out bins of decorations for a couple weeks just didn’t do much for us this year.

And then there’s the little wooden stable I made years ago for my sister. It sits in full view in our family room, but what’s left of the balsa-wood figures I made for that nativity scene are still wrapped up somewhere. So it sits empty: empty stable, empty manger.

One day, Karen looked up at it and said, “The manger is empty. Jesus isn’t in it.” To which I replied, without even thinking through what I was saying, “He’s not here; he has risen!” I hadn’t meant to quote Luke 24:6 (or its parallels in Matthew and Mark), but as soon as I said it, I realized how profound a statement that could be. Jesus is not here in the manger anymore; the manger is empty, as is the cross and the tomb. All are empty, because after they fulfilled the purposes which they played, Christ went on to fulfill his purpose, and provide us forgiveness and eternal life. Each played a part in his journey, but though he spent time in each, none could hold him forever.

Note that all three were man-made objects which were fashioned for earthly purposes: the manger as a feed trough for animals (and the stable to hold and shelter them), the cross as a brutal execution device to kill criminals and terrorize the population into obedience, and the tomb, as the burial chamber for a dead person. Man-made and -purposed, yet God took those objects and used them to fulfill his plan of salvation for you and me, and a multitude of other believers.

The manger. Do you realize that if God had wanted Jesus to be born in more comfortable surroundings, he would have made sure there was room for Mary and Joseph in the inn? But he didn’t; he chose the stable for their shelter and Jesus’ birthplace, and the manger for the newborn’s bed. It was part of God’s plan that Jesus would be of humble birth and childhood; not a social celebrity well-connected to the wealthy and influential of his day. He would be welcomed by humble, unclean shepherds in a stable, and grow up the son of a carpenter, eventually to not even have a home of his own. (Matthew 8:20 -“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”)

In addition, I think that the manger was significant because it was where food was placed for the animals to eat. Jesus said of himself, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51) As in Holy Communion, Jesus offers up himself as our life-living bread from heaven – his flesh for our salvation. Again, in God’s working all things for his purposes, Bethlehem was not only the “City of David” and home to an ancestor of Jesus, who happened to start out as a humble shepherd named David; the name Bethlehem literally means, “House of Bread.” Appropriate for the first earthly home of the living bread come down from heaven to give us life.

The manger fulfilled its purpose: to cradle the Christ-child with earthly and symbolic shelter, but it couldn’t hold him forever; if that child had not grown up and gone on to die on a cross and rise from the dead, we wouldn’t be celebrating just another child born into poverty in some obscure back-water of a country, over 2020 years ago. If that manger still exists, it is now empty.

The cross. While we feel all warm and fuzzy looking on scenes of the babe lying in a manger, surrounded by Mary, Joseph, shepherds, sheep and cattle (and an angel hovering overhead), the cross hits us with horror and revulsion. Especially if we consider what happened there, and not think of the cross as a nice, symmetrical piece of shiny jewelry. Echoing what the ancient patriarch Joseph said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery in Egypt, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). So it was with the cross: something contrived to be evil, and the placing of Jesus on it an act of even greater evil; yet God intended and used that evil act for our good.

As is so often the case, people think they are in charge, and do things for their own purposes, but even their evil intentions fulfill God’s plans. They wanted to get rid of a trouble-maker; God allowed the death of his Son to atone for the sins of the world and provide us a way to forgiveness and eternal life. Without the sacrifice of the innocent Jesus, we would still be lost in our sins and doomed for eternity. But because Jesus went to the cross and willingly paid the price for our sins, we have hope – and a Church called by his name.

There has been some debate among Christians as to whether crosses should be bare, showing Christ is risen, or adorned with images of the dying Christ (in what is called a crucifix). I think both carry important messages, one a reminder that Jesus did suffer and die on the cross, and the other that Christ died once and for all time at Golgotha, and never again. I have no issue with either form, for we do not worship the cross, but the One who died on it.

One more thought about the cross: notice the differences between the birth and death of our Lord: in the one, Jesus was held and sheltered by a wooden box; in the other, he hung and died on a wooden cross. During the one, a supernatural light appeared, both with the angels and from the star; during the other, a supernatural darkness covered the land. One a celebration of joy, peace, and goodwill; the other of sadness and evil. And yet, like the manger, the cross couldn’t hold Jesus; if it had, we wouldn’t call that day, Good Friday.

The tomb. Finally, we come to consider the tomb in which Jesus was laid. It, too, had a human intention, a purpose for which it had been hewn from the rock. Specifically, it belonged to a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, but when Jesus was killed, Joseph offered his unused tomb for the Lord’s burial. (I wonder if he knew he was only lending it to Jesus for a couple days . . .).

The tomb fulfilled God’s purposes as well: first, by providing visible proof that Jesus was dead; second, by providing a situation where Jesus’ enemies guarded the body under their watch to make sure the disciples didn’t steal the body; and third, to prove Jesus had bodily resurrected from the dead in a miraculous way, attended by angels and an earthquake (Matthew 28:2). When the disciples rushed to the tomb and found it empty except for Jesus’ grave clothes, they knew he had risen. (Thought: Jesus had been wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger; now he had been wrapped in burial cloths and laid in a tomb. You could say he “outgrew” both!)

Well, we know the rest of the story about the tomb: though closed by a stone, marked with a seal, and guarded by soldiers, the tomb was empty on the third day. Jesus appeared alive to the women, to the disciples, and to 500 followers at one time (not to mention to Paul, “as to one untimely born” – 1 Corinthians 15:5-8). The empty tomb was one proof of Jesus’ resurrection, and the sign that he had overcome death, our final enemy.

Because the tomb was empty, we can celebrate the empty manger and the empty cross; if the tomb had remained filled with Jesus’ lifeless body, there would be no celebration of Christmas, Good Friday, or Easter. There would be no Christian Church, no hope of life after death, and no promise of forgiveness nor proof of God’s love. And no Pastor Eddy’s blog, but that’s the least of our worries!

I hope you celebrate Christmas, keeping in mind the life journey of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world, humbling himself to a manger, a cross, and a tomb, only to rise triumphantly, leaving them all empty behind him, ascending to heaven and awaiting God’s appointed time for his return. Only this time, he won’t need a manger, a cross, or a tomb.

We hope you have a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you ad give you peace. Amen.

Read: Luke 2:1-21; John 6:22-51; 1 Corinthians 15; Matthew 27:45-66

The Twelve Months of Covid

In my previous blog, I referred to different versions of favorite Christmas carols and hymns, modified due to the current pandemic. While not belittling the people who are suffering from this disease or the shut-downs, it does help to be able to laugh adversity in the face (even if that face is masked). Here is my version of The Twelve Days of Christmas:

The Twelve Months of Covid

On the first month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Stay home and you’ll be virus-free!
On the second month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Two hands keep washing!
On the third month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Three diff’rent masks!
On the fourth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Four sterile wipes!
On the fifth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Five quar-an-tines!
On the sixth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Six feet apart!
On the seventh month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Seven meals delivered!
On the eighth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Eight grades home schooling!
On the ninth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Nine Zoomers meeting!
On the tenth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Ten months and counting!
On the eleventh month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Eleven sports not playing!
On the twelfth month of Covid, my gov’nor said to me: Twelve recalls coming!

Of course, I actually prefer a different version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, one in which the numbered gifts serve as a memory device for Christian beliefs. In this other version, the verses represent:

“My true love” = God; “sent to me” = by God’s grace

The Partridge = Jesus Christ
Two Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
Three French Hens = Faith, hope and love, the theological virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Four Calling Birds = the four Evangelist and/or their four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
Five Golden Rings = The first five books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch” (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
Six Geese A-laying = the six days of creation (Genesis 1)
Seven Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety, and fear of the Lord; all but piety listed in Isaiah 11:2)*
Eight Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-11)
Nine Ladies Dancing = the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
Ten Lords A-leaping = the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21)
Eleven Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles (Acts 1:13)
Twelve Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles’ Creed, the twelve tribes of Israel

In keeping with the “laugh at Covid” theme, our Christmas decorations this year have changed. Since nobody is visiting, Karen decided to put just one ornament, a red cardinal, on our main tree. When she sent a picture to one of her friends, the friend replied that the bird was “in isolation.”

And then, there is the nurse ornament from my late sister, which we modified slightly before hanging it on our smaller, “retro” tree:

If only we could get her to keep her nose inside the mask!

That’s all for now. Until we communicate again, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Job 8:21; Job 39:22; Psalm 2:4; plus all the verses cited in The Twelve Days of Christmas listed above.

*But see also 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, which lists 9 gifts: “For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” (Emphasis added)

Contactless Faith?

Thanks to new restaurant dining restrictions here in California, I went to pick up a meal from one of our favorite restaurants for us to eat at home. As I stood outside the restaurant’s front door, waiting for my order to be brought to me, I read the various signs posted around the entrance: “Mask required,” “Maintain six feet of social distance,” and “Contactless Curbside Delivery Available.” I wondered about the last one; wouldn’t some contact be needed, since the food is handed from one person to another? Or do they just throw the food out the window like someone feeding bread to the birds?

I also began wondering about other areas where “contact” between people is discouraged. Schools, grocery stores, parks, sports events, and even churches. The last is especially troubling; it’s one thing to warn people about packing together in small spaces, and another thing to have “Caesar” intervene in matters of the free practice of religion, which is supposedly guaranteed by our Constitution.

And now, with the current three-week restrictions on gatherings, we are being told to stay away from church services even through Christmas.

Which got me thinking even more: is faith possible without contact? Can we really have or practice “contactless faith”? How would this have changed the history of our faith, if today’s rules had always been in force? Just imagine:

If Adam and Eve had kept social distancing, none of us would even be here.
Mary and Joseph would have sung in the stable, “A way we’re in danger, no mask for our heads.”
The wise men wouldn’t have been allowed to travel across national boundaries to visit the infant Jesus. We’d be singing, “We three kings of Orient are, staying home, can’t travel too far . . .”
Other Christmas songs we’d be singing: “Deck the Halls with Rolls of Plastic,” “Edicts we have heard on high, telling us to stay inside,” and, “O Quarantine, O Quarantine, your rules are always changing. . .”
Pontius Pilate would have not just washed his hands at Jesus’ trial, he would have washed his face and used sanitizer, too.
Martin Luther’s famous defense at the Diet of Worms would have been: “Here I stand, six feet apart from you.” Then he would have self-quarantined at the Wartburg Castle for the next year.
And finally, we’d have to revise the old Twelve Days of Christmas to go something like, “The Twelve Months of Covid.”*

On a more serious note, the biggest change would have been in our Lord’s earthly ministry, which was all about making contact with us and all the people around him. Just consider:

Jesus had contact with lepers, who were the most socially-distanced people of his day: they were required to call out when they walked so other non-infected people could avoid them. When a group of them saw Jesus, they “stood at a distance” and called to him. Rather than running from them, he healed them, resulting in one falling at his feet (Luke 17:11-19).
Jesus associated with sinners, including tax collectors and prostitutes, who were the “social lepers” of his day. “And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?'” (Mark 2:16).
Jesus touched several dead people (just before raising them to life), something that was socially and religiously forbidden in his day. Numbers 5:2 ordered, “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.” (Talk about social distancing!)
And just imagine the Last Supper, with Jesus instituting a “drive-through” Communion service as the disciples filed in and out of the upper room.

But the whole point of Jesus coming to earth was to make contact with us, the “apple of his eye” (Psalm 17:8) to save us from our sins (Luke 19:10, etc.). Rather than “staying at home” in heaven, safe from all the ill effects of the deadly disease of sin, he came down to us to suffer and die for us. He didn’t just “Zoom” us from heaven; he showed up in person, freely accepting not only the risks, but the certainty of his death. And because he did, we have eternal life – free from any future diseases!

Jesus made contact, but what about us today? Can we have faith and maintain that faith in our “contactless” society? Can we have “contactless faith”? Well, the answer is both yes and no.

“Yes,” in that we all have God’s Word available to us in many forms, both printed and electronic, so that we need never lack for his saving Word of life. God’s law and his gospel are in our hands, though we be shut away from contact with each other. As God’s Word promises, it will not return empty, but will accomplish its purpose (Isaiah 55:11).

And “no,” in two senses. First, because even when separated from each other, we are not separated from God in Christ. His Holy Spirit has come upon us and remains with us no matter what. Jesus spoke of this Spirit in John 14:17, “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” No distancing there. And, even when Jesus was about to “distance” himself physically from the disciples at the Ascension, he promised them, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This was consistent with God’s promise made in several Old Testament Scriptures that he would “never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 13:6-8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Kings 8:57, 1 Chronicles 28:20), as well as in the New Testament book of Hebrews (13:5). Even if we were locked up in solitaire, in a prison cell, or in a cage, Christ would still be with us. Apart from him, we have no faith, for it is his gift by his Holy Spirit that we can believe. As Luther’s Small catechism states, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

And second, though we find ourselves separated right now by circumstances, this situation is not normal and cannot continue. Christians are by nature called to come together, to be the Church, called out from the crowd and joined in fellowship. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not neglect meeting together, “as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Faith when isolated and neglected can grow cold. We can get too comfortable not going to church, that we forget to hold up Christ as the center of our lives and as the core of all our decisions. We begin to look at the world in the same secular way that we hear and see espoused all around us. We forget that “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”** We need the fellowship, teachings, sacraments, and sharpening of character that only the Church, by the power of God himself, can provide.

Therefore, join with me in praying for relief from this pandemic, from the sickness and death it causes, and from the social, economic, and spiritual damage our response has caused, for “contactless faith” is a contradiction in terms.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lit up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Mark 2:13-17; Luke 17:11-19; John 14:15-27

*See the next blog for a full rendition of this slightly warped song.

** From the hymn, This Is My Father’s World, by Maltbie Babcock, 1901.