Speaking Their Language

Okay so Christmas has past, but there is this thing that keeps running through my head. It is one of the absolute coolest parts of the Christmas story, apart from God being born as a baby. Nothing trumps that, but this is pretty amazing, too.

I think I like it because I love the Bible stories about the outsiders, the people who didn’t quite belong or fit, but were included anyway. The Bible is full of them. I guess I really don’t see it as that big of a deal when someone who knows the rules does the right thing, but when someone who has never been taught is just so overcome by the splendor and holiness of our God that they instinctively do the right thing, it just blows me away. It reminds me of how far God is willing to go to reach all who have a heart to respond.

Maybe this is why my favorite people on the scene, (although technically, they arrived way past fashionably late, make that two to three years late), were the Magi. The Bible doesn’t have a whole lot to tell us about who they were, what their background and history was, and so we have built up a lot of myths and legends about their journey. We have given them names, that may or may not have been theirs, we have given them different and distinct ethnicities so they can serve as representatives for the rest of the world. (Read that Gentiles).

But as usual, the truth is so much stranger than fiction. Magi was the official title of the priests of a Babylonian god named Mithras. In their official capacity they observed the stars, foretelling the future, searching for omens, and looking for signs. Stars were the writings of the gods, revealing to man all that the gods desired for him to know, and it was a language they knew well.

Here’s the first thing that amazes me, God got their attention and he did it using their language, their area of expertise. He did not require that they learn some new culture or code of conduct before he would deign to speak to them. It’s as if he said, “Okay, you can read the stars. Allow me to write it in the medium you know.”

It makes me wonder how many times we Christians like to complicate the message for those foreign to our ways. Why does it seem so hard for us to follow God’s example and speak the language of the people we are trying to communicate with? It’s time that we recognize that God desires to reach all humanity, not just the ones who talk, look, and act like us. We need to take the time to learn how to speak their language and quit expecting them to learn ours.

The second thing that amazes me is that God accepted their gifts, even honoring them by mentioning them by name in his Word. Now, there has been a lot written about the nature of these gifts, how they were used by kings and in anointing royal bodies, but the Bible never clarifies why these particular gifts were given and most of our Christian writings are just speculation. Maybe it is our attempt to Christianize these heathen priests.

I think it honors them far more to understand the gifts in light of the Magi’s culture. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were gifts reserved for their god. It was the way they understood how to honor a deity, and just as God spoke their language to communicate with them, they now speak their language to communicate with him.

And it’s okay. It’s what they have to give to him, the highest honor they can bestow, and God says it’s enough.

Perhaps as Christians we need to value the language of foreign people a little more. Perhaps we need to be more sensitive when someone from outside our culture responds to God, and be less judgmental when it fails to meet what we deem to be correct. Maybe we need to stop placing our interpretations on their actions and let them speak for themselves. God was okay with the sincere gift of foreign men, and I can’t help but feel he has the same response to all who seek him with sincerity.

Perhaps it is time we took the value off the form and placed it on the intent of the heart, and let God decide whether it is a good and acceptable gift.

Tis the Season

Tis the Season
This time of year we are hearing the story of Jesus’ birth everywhere we turn. It is told sweetly, portrayed by our children in their bathrobes, and if we are really adventurous we might even parade a few live animals into the church. It is good that we remember, but I have to wonder if we ever look beyond the pretty pageants and cantatas to remember the story as Luke told it.

Luke opens the Nativity story in chapter two with the words, “In those days.” An announcement to his readers that something significant was about to happen, a sacred point in time that would give meaning to everything that would follow. It was a key phrase in Jewish writing, requiring no explanation and full of promise.

“A decree went out from Caesar Augustus” the Caesar who was described in Myrian inscription as “Divine Augustus Caesar, son of god, imperator of the land and sea, the benefactor and savior of the whole world.” He was also defined as the “divine savior who brought peace to this world.” Luke was deliberately reminding his readers of claims of the Roman nobility, setting the stage for the upset.

We know that Mary and Joseph had to register for the census, what most of us don’t know is that this was the time when the people had to avow allegiance to the Roman emperors. The census was a sharp reminder the people of God were in bondage to a foreign power, but amazingly even the machinations of Roman served the purpose of God to bring Mary to the place where the Messiah was to be born. The fulfillment of Micah 5:2.

Luke reminds his readers that Joseph is of the House of David, of royal blood. He setting us up, because the famous shepherd king would vindicated on this night. His people who had been subjected to oppression and blasphemous rulers would see the God’s glory was not be confined to singular place, his people would hear the victory of their God proclaimed as they followed in David’s footsteps tending the sheep.

The angels would cry, “Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” The titles of Savior, God, and Prince of Peace would be stripped from the one who arrogantly claimed them as his own, and now bestowed upon a baby lying in a manger. The angels would declare the “Good News”, the εύαγγελιον , a term the Greeks used to declare victory in battle, but Isaiah tells us announces the arrival of God Himself.

The world would be turned upside down forever. God is here. There has been victory in the battle.

So for all who have ever endured the cold nights tending your sheep, doing the tasks required of us. For all us who experienced oppression, been subjected to people and things that would demand our allegiance, heard false promises of peace from those with no power to grant it, there is one comes in victory. There is a moment that gave meaning to all that would follow. Remember the angel’s song is for our ears.

Merry Christmas.