Today's texts: Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25.
The gospel of God...promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son... (Romans 1:1b-3a)
The significance of promises fulfilled at Christmastime is probably missed by modern, western Christians. We generally understand Jesus to have come to fix a problem which the world did not entirely recognize: sin. We don’t wait for the solution to an otherwise unrecognized problem.
But to the Jews of Jesus’ day, the coming of the Messiah had been anticipated for centuries as the solution to a problem of which they were intensely aware: oppression, war, hunger, disease. Read the messianic prophecies, read the songs of Mary and Zechariah. The anticipation and fulfillment is there.
We need to be reminded that we still anticipate the coming of the Messiah—though for the second and last time—to a world where these problems still exist, so that the anticipation of God’s promises being fulfilled will again become significant for us.
The readings for this coming Sunday: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7; John 1:1-18; Psalm 147.
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