Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Isaiah 12 - You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
    for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
    that you might comfort me.

² “Behold, God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.”

³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴ And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord,
    call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
    proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵ “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
    let this be made known in all the earth.
⁶ Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Christmas is about purpose.  So often when it comes to the things that God does, understanding the purpose God has for what he does helps us understand what he is doing.  If knowing God's will is difficult, how much more understanding his purpose?  As so many have said there is no cross without a manger.  Correctly then, we celebrate this time of Christ's coming to us as the time when the redemptive act begins to gather our attention.  However, there is much more to be learned than just this amazing act of redemption.

In Acts 13, when Paul is speaking at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, he quotes the prophet Habakkuk, and the quote intimates that God does things his own way.  Through his prophets he told everyone for hundreds of years what Messiah would be like, where he would be born, his purpose, how he would die, etc.  In spite of all that forewarning, no one understood what was happening until afterwards.  Why was this the case?  I would argue that it was because of expectations.

When you are a "religious" person there is a pitfall of the utmost danger.  You become familiar with human religious expression and thus you think that you are familiar with God.  Clearly, and thankfully, the two are not the same thing.  So many Christians read about the Pharisees in the Gospels, their failure to understand Jesus, and chide them for their foolishness; yet this is the very same trap we are in danger of falling into.

Consider the events of Jesus' birth from the perspective of Joseph.  Joseph is apparently a righteous man, and he is about to marry a young lady whom he had treated properly and respectfully.  Then he hears she is with child, and he knows it isn't his child.  Even then, he didn't want to humiliate her.  If the explanation he received came from anyone other than an angel, do you think he would have believed it?  "Oh sure, the Holy Spirit! Why didn't I think of that?"  Joseph had to have believed it, or else he would not have been there when the child was born.  As the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, God's wisdom is foolishness to people.  "Congratulations Joseph!  You get to raise the Messiah as your own son.  And for your trouble, people will laugh behind your back and you'll be exposed to social shame." From the perspective of the world, Joseph was given a thankless task by God, and he did it anyway.  Apparently he also did it well.  Jesus was clearly raised in a devout household.

If Joseph had been convinced that he knew how God worked, he could never have accepted Jesus.  So then, let us not allow expectation to prevent acceptance.  Whether they be expectations about God, or other people.  Expectations have a way of leading to confusion, disappointment, anger and other negatives because we base our expectation on incomplete or bad information.  Our only expectation: Christ will come again.  This has been promised.  The manner has not been fully described to us.  So we say once again: "Come, thou long expected Jesus!"

Merry Christmas to all from Aparri!  The work here continues.  Choir tour has just ended, the choir performed 11 different shows in the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Ilocos Norte in northern Luzon.  Those of us attached to the tour in various roles are now resting comfortably after 8 straight days of travel and Filipino hospitality (read: lots of food) from the brothers and sisters who played host to us.  We continue to pray that people were encouraged and edified by the Christmas message that was presented.  I again played to role of assistant light director and stage manager.

Personally, I'm doing pretty well.  I always miss home during the holidays, but it is something that I'm used to now.  On the bright side, it is Christmas day already here, as well as being sunny and hot.  As always the blessings of the Lord sustain me.

Nick