Refugee

Brief notes on the Holy Family readings:

Jesus finds safety in the place Israel was led out of. Re-capitulation?

Joseph's namesake also dreams dreams.

Isaiah in other translations (not NRSV) says that "in all their affliction he was afflicted"

It appears Matthew is helping us sort out two different things said by prophets, re: Bethlehem and Nazareth. Is this his primary intention (if we can know such things), and is the fact of Jesus being a refugee only ancillary to this. To what degree is a capitulatory reading of this narrative helpful (ie. Jesus life and the life of Israel and the way they are one)

Through Him All Things Were Made

"Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word." (Hebrews 1)

John 1:3 All things came into being through him (the Word), and without him not one thing came into being.

Although I've preached the Christmas Day texts a few times before, it never ocurred to me until this time that the John and Hebrews texts both hit us with a doctrine firmly spelled out in the Nicene Creed, nameley that "through Christ" "all things were made". This was not a direction I took this Christmas for preaching, but I will focus on it when John 1 next comes up. I have found the doctrine compelling and intriguing, not to mention a true word of Gospel, but have found it also to be a (somewhat) neglected doctrine of the church.

Who has thought more on this and what have you (they) thought?

Hanging Out

New House, Lamp Included