So You’re a Priest: Live for One Thing

3rd Sunday of Advent!

The Advent reading for this Sunday was Luke 2:8-20.

Later in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul will call Christians "ambassadors of reconciliation" (v18-20). In the nativity story, the shepherds becomes such ambassadors, becoming emissaries for the real, but largely unseen, world in the heavenlies which opened up briefly and gave them a message of hope which has been retold for two thousand years.

2 Corinthians 5:11-15

Commentary

v11 plain. In the Greek, this is a verb, and in the context of 2 Corinthians, with its theme of the seen and unseen kingdoms in conflict, the best meaning for the verb is probably, "To make manifest, or visible, or known, what has been hidden or unknown, to make evident, whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way." What we are is being revealed by God, and what we are is being disclosed to those around us.

v12 commend. Literally, "to stand with." When read with v11, Paul is saying, "We’re not trying to ally ourselves with you, to ingratiate ourselves to you, or align ourselves to you. Rather, we are committed to following God’s call, and I hope this way of living in the unseen kingdom of God is being revealed to you.

v14 Christ’s love compels us. The force of Christ’s love here is to hold us together when we are ready to fall to pieces.

Application

"Peace on whom God’s favor rests," the angels proclaimed to the shepherds, and so their lives are changed. Nothing changed in the visible world, the so-called "real world" of sheep, predators, fellow shepherds and families; however, everything was changed in the invisible world of the heavenlies, which briefly opened a portal and announced, "Fear not!"

The shepherds went to Bethlehem to see the special child. Did they leave anyone behind with the sheep? Was their regard for the old world now so low that they abandoned their charges? Or perhaps there was one who still feared, who believed not, and settled for staying behind with the sheep he could see instead of questing for the child he could not yet see. There always seems to be one of this sort.

God’s love compelled them to go, holding them together not just in the presence of the angels, but in the trip to Bethlehem, and in their lives thereafter. We live in a time when faith has been privatized by the secular world, but the shepherds knew differently; for them, that brief moment when the angels appeared and their subsequent trip to see the child had to be talked about. They told Mary what they saw and heard, and it was an encouragement to her. Certainly they told their friends and family later. On the surface nothing changed; certainly most people who were not there and did not see were skeptical. However, on the inside, something was different, and for some that difference became more and more apparent over time. For when one knows God’s good pleasure, it becomes easier to not sweat the small stuff, to let go of petty gripes and grievances, to rest secure in the knowledge of God’s grace.

Points to Ponder

No doubt years later the shepherds sat around on the same hills saying, "Yup, it was on a night just like tonight when the angels appeared and we went and saw the boy." Such reminiscing helped them keep faith in a faithless world. Do you have stories of when you realized God’s grace? Are you comfortable sharing your stories with others? Why or why not?

Strangely, even when we tell our stories to people who don’t believe, the act of retelling our stories can still solidify our faith. When do you think it is appropriate to share your stories with people that don’t believe? Could it be that the possibility of something else, the hope for something better, what Philip Yancey calls "rumors of another world," is what they are dying to hear? If they don’t hear from you, whom will they hear from?