Christmas theme: Who was really waiting for Jesus?

Christmas theme: Who was really waiting for Jesus?

3 points

I offer you a true story,
a wonder
and a reflection
Central point

Around the question

    Who was really waiting for Jesus?

Not the first

For most of us,

this is not the first time that we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Reflection

And I invite you to reflect:

    who was really waiting for Jesus?

To put you in the mood for reflection,

I will tell you a story,

maybe it is true ?
Maybe it happened to the Berger family (ours) ?

History

We invited friends to eat at the house.

To do this we have decided

    of a date

    and one hour.

Obviously, we thought about the menu beforehand.

We did the shopping.

the day said,

thorough cleaning,
laid table
and table decoration.
A few minutes before their arrival,

preparation of what the children expect: the aperitif.

(Well, parents also sometimes expect it!).

And here we are at the time of the invitation:

The said time goes from 5, 10, 15 minutes.

The hustle and bustle of the preparation and the expectation of the friends fuel a discussion of the type: “what time did you tell them? »
And I’ll spare you the variation of the discussion which could be spiced up!

Another 10 minutes pass and still no guests!

It will be the same for the other minutes and hours that follow: they had forgotten!!!

Well, it was only a meal and since it was good, it was more but it’s still not the same thing…

And us, forget?

Perhaps you were planted, you too during an invitation?

Maybe you planted someone?

Appointment for work

I even know a person who forgot his appointment for a new job. This is a bit more important!

Final meeting

But there are even more important appointments.

Imagine a footballer forgetting his World Cup final match?

2 appointments in the Bible

And the Bible tells us about the two appointments for humanity.

The first

The first has already arrived and we will remember it in the days to come: Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus.

A long wait

An expectation that has its roots in the earliest times of human history.

But who was at the meeting

And on the said day or in the days that followed, who was really there?

The Bible gives us an echo of those who responded present and others who did not.

Go around people

We will try to remember the people involved

in the texts that tell us about the arrival of Jesus.

Take a step back: and you will see that it is truly a source of wonder!

There are those who were really waiting

Mary and Joseph

Angel Gabriel says:

Luke 1

Behold you will be pregnant. You will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his ancestor. 33 He will reign over the family of Jacob forever, his reign will have no end.”

34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have no relationship with a man?”

35 The angel answered him,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. This is why the holy child who will be born will be called the Son of God.

Informed by an angel

What we can see is that if Joseph and Mary were waiting, it’s because they were informed by an angel!

Tailor-made revelation

A tailor-made revelation from God.

But it was not themselves who deduced that it was time for Jesus’ appointment.

Simeon

Luke 2. 25

Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. This man was just and pious, he was waiting for the consolation of Israel

and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

26 The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah .

27 He came to the temple moved by the Spirit. And when the parents brought the little child Jesus to perform for him what the law commanded, 28 he took him in his arms, blessed God, and said,

29 “Now, Lord, you leave your servant

go away in peace, according to your promise,

30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,

31 salvation which you have prepared before all the peoples,

32 light to enlighten the nations

and glory of Israel your people.”

Informed by the Holy Spirit

What we can see is that if Simeon was waiting , he was made aware by the Holy Spirit.

Tailor-made revelation

A tailor-made revelation from God.

But it is not he himself who deduced it .

Those who knew there was an appointment but weren’t necessarily waiting!

The Magi from the East

Looking forward to ?

It’s hard to say if they were waiting… in fact, they made the connection between what they knew, what they had read and what they saw in the universe:

Matthew chapter 2

1 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod. Now some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and said:

“Where is the King of the Jews who has just been born? Indeed, we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard of this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.

4 He called together all the chief priests and jurists of the people and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him:

“In Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what was written by the prophet:

6 And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, you are certainly not the smallest among the chief cities of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will take care of my people Israel.”

Written in the OT

What they remembered was a priori written in what we call the Old Testament.

God gives a booster shot

Here again it is not on their own initiative but God made a reminder.

Chief priests and scholars of the law

Looking forward to ?

Hard to say if they were in imminent expectation: it doesn’t seem.

Overlap

In fact, they made the connection between what they knew, what they had read and what they remembered what was written in what we call the Old Testament.

God called on their memories

Here again it is not from themselves but God made a reminder.

(You know, we have that on our phones so we don’t forget an appointment, we have an indication a day before or an hour before!)

Ultimately this reminder was in Creation and through the scriptures.

Marvellous

And there, I was noticing that and it gave me a ” wow wow ” effect

How does God make himself known?

How does God make himself known? And today ?

General revelation (creation)

There is general revelation, including creation.

Who is God’s calling card.

Look at creation, and if you are not stubborn, you will understand that I am the Creator.

There, there was an event of this type with the star!

Special revelation (the Bible)

There is the special revelation of God where He has mandated people, human or angelic spokespersons to communicate directly to someone: as with Mary!

Or through the writings with the help of the Holy Spirit to write the Bible:

And there we have the scholars of the law, the chief priests who relied on this brilliant communication from God to say, “Ah yes!”

Masterful

It’s masterful:

in the same way that God reveals himself always and today, in the same way the arrival of Jesus is communicated.
He is God

Maybe because Jesus is God?

Starter of God, the Holy Spirit

And since we are sometimes a bit slow at the start…

For Simeon we see the specific action of the Holy Spirit.

Exactly like us

Doesn’t the Bible say that it is the action of the Holy Spirit that makes us understand our state of “lost before God”.

And that it is His action that makes us understand the Word (the Bible), that prompts us to make it alive and that makes it alive in our lives.

But are we aware of it?

Afterwards, should we still be sensitive to the action of God?

We have two examples in these particular moments of the coming of Jesus:

Shepherds

Faced with the extraordinary demonstration of the angels, they “engaged” immediately.

You could say, it’s easy with everything they’ve seen.

Good Jesus performed amazing miracles, despite this there were some who remained unmoved, hard, insensitive.

Herod

Like us, he was rather confronted with what we are confronted with.

Echo of the general revelation of God in creation (by the Magi and the star).
Echo by special revelation through scripture
And his reaction showed that he was stubborn, selfish and that led him to commit a crime against humanity.

And US ?

Once again, this Christmas time questions us about our position in front of God who, without question, remembers us!

Joy

Matter of joy because I know that many of you take God seriously, and that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, Son of God incarnate, come to solve my/our problem with sin, if we will!

universal gift

Believers in Jesus are not a closed club and what He has done to solve the central problem of our life is available to everyone, whoever we are: so will we respond to God’s invitation through Jesus?

Didn’t I promise you: I’m offering you a true story, wonder and reflection? She’s the one taking me now!

The first missed appointment

The first appointment that God set with men was mostly missed by humanity!

Second meeting with humanity

God sets a second appointment for humanity where the time of positioning for Him, by Jesus will be closed, finished: everyone will have to give personal account!

Will we be attentive to this appointment?

Second meeting with humanity, missed

God, clearly tells us that “no”, no one will see this moment coming, just like his first coming!

But ready

On the other hand, we can be ready if Jesus is our life, if our life has been given to Him.

Speaking of this second appointment the Bible says this:

2 Peter 3

8 But if there is one thing, beloved, that you must not forget, it is that in the sight of the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years is like one day. (It means that God is not constrained by time)

9 The Lord is not slow in fulfilling the promise, as some think;

on the contrary,

he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

10 The day of the Lord will come like a thief [in the night].

On that day, the sky will disappear with a crash, the fiery elements will disintegrate and the earth with the works it contains will be burned.

You saw the consistency of God

General revelation with creation
Special revelation with the Word of God which speaks to us of this moment.

1 Thessalonians 5

1 As regards times and seasons, you, brothers and sisters, need not have anyone write to you about them.

2 For you yourselves well know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

3 When men will say:

“Peace and security!” then a sudden ruin will fall on them, like the pains on the pregnant woman; they will not escape it.

4 But you, brothers and sisters, you are not in darkness so that this day surprises you like a thief.

5 You are all children of light and children of the day.

We are not of the night nor of the darkness.

6 Let us therefore not sleep like the others, but let us watch and be sober.

7 For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But we who are of the day, let us be sober, put on the breastplate of faith and love, and wear the hope of salvation as a helmet.

9 For God has not ordained us for wrath,

but to the possession of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 who died for us so that,

whether we watch,

whether we slept, we lived together with him.

11 Therefore encourage one another and edify one another, as you already do.

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