God's Committed to Flesh

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0:00 And that's what I was hoping. This is anyone's time. And instead I said, I'll save those things and save them in the coming weeks after Christmas, which is what we've been doing. Looking at these, I think that the reality of Christmas, the first one, reveals a lot of different characteristics of commitments of our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Christ, and the church, the God of creation, and life. We can learn so many things about that God

0:31 from the reality of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. And so I just have been going through a couple of those commitments. The first thing that we took weeks ago, we talked about, these are in no particular order, just the order that I feel like talking about them. The first two weeks ago we talked about the reality of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and his life in Nazareth to Mary and Joseph,

1:01 reveals that our God's commitment to the poor. Like the notion that God could have incarnated God's self anywhere in the world, anytime in the world, to any people in the world. And God picks Joseph and Mary on the far side of the Mediterranean Ocean. In the outskirts of a little town occupied by the Roman Empire, at just this one little time, just this one little place,

1:34 at the time of Jesus' life, Nazareth, maybe had 400 people, and there is the Savior of the world. That in the story of Christmas we see God's, our God, God's preferential option for the poor, and uniquely we consider that God doesn't choose the poor in order to appear pious, or like make the quote, right choice, or do the quote, right thing, that our God, the God of creation, and life that have even imagined that

2:07 we've got a price in the church, actually cares about the suffering of people. And so throughout time it's found in the place where there is the most suffering. And that you and I, because of Christmas, have the capacity, like that God, to actually care. Lastly, we can talk about, I don't know if this is like unique or like, but I just, I would, I would struck the story of Christmas strikes me how committed God is to humanity,

2:40 like in general, that he hasn't given up on this like experiment of his image bearers in a world of domain. That God from the beginning of time, God has been offering humanity the capacity to live expansive, beautiful lives. We looked at how, on multiple occasions God sends him in the out, just go be fruitful and multiply. Live productive, successful lives, expansive lives.

3:13 Live beautiful, expansive lives over and over again, and over and over again. Humanity is response to that gift with what I was calling, last week, fear and in myopia, like this narrow vision on the things that we are creating. Like so the first ones focused down on this one little piece of fruit. Or that things won't work out with, don't have the best interest apart, but things won't work out well for them.

3:43 They fixate, and that over and over throughout time down into you and my life, we respond to the gift of free, unbridled, expansive living with fear and myopia. We focus down on a few things that we should, that we are sure about work. For our future is vulnerable. We are relationships are broken. We will never grow. We will never find a happiness or success or deep joy.

4:14 And that Christmases is God's our assurance that God will not give up on offering us beautiful and expansive lives. This week I want to look at this, that Christmas shows God's commitment to flesh and body. One of the first things I, you know, when they teach you, when I go to the center,

4:46 I went to the center, like the residential center, it was a four year program with a full one year internship. Of course, we're one year working on church, and they have this whole process of various denominational seminarians. It's very structured, and they have this process you have to go through before you preach, before they do a lot of pre-centers. And then once you preach, then you're like filling for the churches where they assigned you. Oh, they've got a seminarian. Now when the pastor doesn't want to preach, they can call the seminarian, you know.

5:20 My first sermon I ever preached was on this book written by this, this medical pastor in Texas, and I was supposed to critique it. Yeah. And they gave me, they called me on Tuesday and said that you preach this weekend. Oh, and read this book and have an opinion on it. And he'd prefer if he disagreed with him, at every corner, if he could. Yeah. And then, but then that was just a one-off thing, right?

5:50 I had to read this book and preach it, and I made it through it. But then for the next kind of three years, I'll always get the same week right after Christmas, because no pastor wants to preach after Christmas. And so I've gotten good at preaching on the story of Sidney and Anna, because that's the lecture and it always assigns that right after Christmas, the story of Sidney and Anna. And it occurred to me that, you know, they go meet Sidney and Anna because they're going through the right of circumcision.

6:24 Right? That the incarnated God of the universe goes through circumcision, that he goes through an actual labor and delivery. That the God of the universe is actually in flesh and real. Christmas shows us that God cares deeply. Our God is committed to flesh and body.

6:58 Bone, like blood, real and flesh. Our God is committed to these things. And, you know, he went through real day, real delivery. He goes through real illness, I imagine. Jesus does it. He's exposed, he's got a body that's exposed to germs and living in like a whole little ground in Nazareth with a lot of animals.

7:31 And then like, you know, I was looking at this one little section, if you look here in Matthew chapter 9, so Matthew chapter 9, Matthew marked with John's the first gospel, Matthew chapter 9 verse 18. There's this whole little section of stories here. And, you know, when you read the Gospels, the story of Jesus' time walking around Asia, I mean, Jerusalem and Galilee, Asia Minor there, you read a lot of stories.

8:04 And he does a lot of miracles. But what occurs to me this time is the types of miracles that he did. And the other choices could have been. And if you look with me at Matthew chapter 9, starting at verse 18, we could have pulled this section, a section like this out from a lot of places. This is just the one that popped into my head, because I was preparing for our time together.

8:35 Matthew chapter 9 verse 18 says, while he was saying these things, he was talking about fasting. Ironically, the church folks came to Jesus because they said Jesus, the followers of John and Baptist are real somber and they're fasting all the time. And you guys are like at parties all the time. Like we think that you're a grutman and a drummer. And Jesus is like, yeah, he's like, cuz I'm here right now. Why wouldn't we be part of me right now?

9:08 The bridegreens here. When I'm wrong, they'll fast. But right now, I'm here. I mean, that's a, we could sit on that for just a minute, but we don't have time. So that's where he's coming. So he's been teaching that to the church. He's going to be so serious, enjoy the gift of life. And then verse 18, while he was saying these things to them, he hoped a ruler came in and knelt before him. And he said, my daughter is just shy, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.

9:49 And Jesus rose from the college and with his disciples and behold a woman. So he, this ruler, this different, this described different ways in different versions of the story. And he says, hey, my daughter has died. Like that. A bummer. And Jesus just gets up. He doesn't even like, so yeah, let's get this all this problem. You know? And then on this way, and Jesus rose and followed him with his disciples and behold a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touched the prince of his garment.

10:28 And then he said to himself, if I only touch his garment, I will be made well. And Jesus turned and the scene had said, take heart about it, your faith has made you well. And instantly the woman was made well. 12 years with this situation is like, I mean, I'm amazed she survived, right? Like she's got to be malnourished all the time, losing down this flood all the time.

11:00 Like it would lead to so many other things. Plus the fact when she's bleeding like that, she's unclean, so people don't associate with her. This is why she sneaks up behind Jesus because she sure, if she goes to the rabbi from the front, she walks up to talk to him directly, he won't be near her because it will make him ceremonial out of the king. And he's doing his job, so she sneaks up behind him because she's sure that if she just touches him and tapes she'll be healed. And he turns around and acknowledges her direction on.

11:32 Isn't it intimidated or afraid? And this is a problem he's going to address. This one woman with this one issue that everyone else has been in the morning for 12 years. Wow, he's all the way to something else. Like I think that it's fair to say if Jesus' Nazareth is the incarnated creator God of the world set to relaunch a new arch of history for humanity that allows them to live for eternity.

12:15 While he's on earth, he's a balanced and important as it gets. So he's like imported. Now there's a ruler who's come to him in the midst of being important and says, I've got a situation where my child is dead. Kind of a big deal. Child death. So the most important person in the world is in the midst of an important task. And a forgotten woman with an embarrassing problem sneaks up behind him and he stops everything.

12:53 While everyone can see and says, you are important. Like what's happening in your body is worth my attention. You may be able to go on living, but let's don't let you go on living just like this. What's happening in your body is important. Take heart.

13:23 Your faith is going to be worth it. The God who goes through the trouble of incarnating into a baby is consistent throughout this time that flesh and bone, body and soul are all together and important. So, and then behold, the woman's servants just started to take heart daughter. Your faith has made you well.

13:53 And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw that the flute players in the crowd making a commotion, he said, go away if the girl is not dead but sleeping and they laughed at her. But when the crowd then pushed off outside, he went in, took her by the hand and the girl rose. And the report went through all that district. Another section they preserved the air in the air to leave the room. He announced it and the girl gave it up.

14:24 And she was dead but not any new woman. And again, well, we'll go on. Let's keep going. Verse 27, and Jesus passed off from there and two blind men followed him, crying aloud, have mercy on the son of David. And when he entered the house, when he entered the house, the blind man came to him and Jesus said to them, do you believe that I would do this? And they said to him, yes Lord. And then he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, he had done to you.

14:57 And their eyes were opened and Jesus started to warn them, see that no one knows about it. This is different. The woman does in the crowd on his way in order that everyone might know that she's worth paying attention to. And he says, your faith is made you well go. These guys cry out to him in the middle of things and blindness is like one of the markers on the Messiah to undo blindness is a big deal. It's kind of known as one of the hard miracles.

15:28 Jesus walked right by him and he ended the house. They fall into the house and then quietly Jesus fixes their eyesight and says, don't tell anyone. This is because I actually care about this one, do you know? Because actually, what's going on in your body matters. Because your time walking around here would be better if you could see as well. And a flesh-dotted universe cares that these two dudes could see while they were walking around.

16:04 As they were going away, the whole of the demon possessed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the meat band spoke and the crowds marveled saying, never has anything like this. But the periscence, it cast out to him by the death of the demon. The thing I want to show you is this is just one little section of Jesus walking around and doing some stuff. And over and over he cares about what's happening in his body.

16:34 And so often our notion of religiosity is like flesh is bad and spirit is good. That we don't care what happens over here, that there is a spiritual reality that is somehow better or different or more important. But this has never been the case for our people throughout the whole story of this. Humanity carries both flesh and body, spirit and soul together.

17:07 And this is why it's so critical that the God of the universe enfleshes himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Because there's this phrase from St. Basil, the soul of desert father, that which Christ inhabits, he blesses. And so when the God inhabits actual flesh, he sanctifies it and redeems it so that your body matters.

17:41 What has happened in your body matters deeply. The choices that you make with your body matter. What's been done to your body matters. What you do with your body in the world matters.

18:13 The God of pollution and life and flesh, in flesh and bone. Because for the God, it's not going to take up the God of Christ in the church. Flesh matters. Paul gets into that later because this dichotomy of flesh and spirit, of body being bad, of spirit being good,

18:45 starts out right there even in the first century and becomes a real problem, not a problem, but a real challenge for thinking. A whole section of the way of Jesus is in danger of being lost in that notion. That somehow your body still matters. And if you look in this letter that you wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians, so if you were in Matthew, it just goes to your right a little bit. And so you see 1st and 2nd Corinthians and you get to axial release, you've gone too far.

19:19 In 1st Corinthians chapter 15, Paul is talking about this challenge a little bit. He says, but someone will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? All kinds of crafts, I don't know. He says, he foolish person. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

19:49 And what you sow is not the body that it's to be, but they're kernel, perhaps a lead or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen and each kind of see its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there's one kind for humans and others for animals and birds and fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly body is of one kind and the glory of the earthly and another.

20:20 There's one kind of sun and another glory for the moon and another glory for the stars. The stars are the glory. So does it the resurrection of the dead. You see what I'm saying? You are getting an N-clash resurrection. But what you have now is a shadow to the dying version of the flesh that you will be forever.

20:54 It carries the marks, but it can't carry the full weight of who you will be forever. Christ comes in the person of Jesus, the magic, and then is raised to death in a recognizable Jesus of magic, but more substantial yet. Walking through walls as he's feeding fish. Carrying the marks of the cross as he's popping in and out of space and time.

21:30 You are building something now that will affect who you are, rather in this glorified body to come. My grandpa called me this weekend. He's like in his 80s and living in an assisted living facility in San Antonio.

22:00 And he hasn't called me for years. We used to talk on a phone maybe every once in a while. It's not really a phone guy. I always have looked up to my grandpa. When I was a kid, he spent usually about two weeks a year together to talk my time to create. He taught me how to water speed. I heard one of his last ceremonies in the past. He gave me a student baker when I was in Iceland to collect cars at a 59 silver off.

22:31 But my grandpa had her store. And so the first couple of times I saw it run, I was in the meeting. I couldn't pick it up. And I thought it must give a stake. He hasn't called me in years. Something must have got his phone number or something. And I still had a stake from years ago. And this weekend I picked it up. Because he's called again. I picked it up. And he had gotten a new phone. And my uncle programmed for him and figured out that he was called a shat. And he was calling me.

23:01 He's kind of loosened me a little bit. He was like, I had to remind him for a second of who I was. And I couldn't remember who my kids were directly. And so I had to describe that to him. And I was remembering that he's in his assisted living facility. And we were excited because he moved down there. And it's a longer story. But the short version is he doesn't know a lot of people in San Antonio. He grew up speaking German in his house and found a German choir to be a part of.

23:31 So they have this like, it's almost like an old slot. And the house is they have their own German culture center with a bar and they're singing songs together. And that looks like a good flight. But he just recently got some pretty singing more. He wanted to keep singing it. And his voice had to have the air and the breath to sing anymore. So I was talking to my grandpa and I was thinking about how you wanted to sing and good to sing anymore. And I remember that prompted a memory of my grandma, his first wife, they were married for 60 years.

24:03 So with them one time in outside of San Luis, outside Jefferson City in the country in Missouri, we pulled up to this state park. And I went over, they had this old old small beow and grandma walked and wrote to me and said that she walked with a cane. It was kind of like the sweetest old lady. Her name is Hazel. We named our great rapper. She used to come and she would sing to her. She would sing songs to her. So she would bring us to that sweetest old lady. And we pulled up to this beautiful state park.

24:33 There's this field out in front of us, this kind of waiting in the breeze. And I go to open the door for my grandma. She's sitting with a front seat. She puts a little box of clean up. She always had a box of cleanest and then we park together. I don't know why. She had a grandmarking. And she looked out of those fields and she's like, oh, she just saw this. I said, what's wrong, grandma? She said, sometimes I just wish I could sing. I just wish I could run again. She said, I'm looking forward to where I can run.

25:05 In heaven, man. I could imagine, I can't. It must have been a decade since she could run. But she could remember the feeling of running. The body that you have is important, but it's a shadow. What's compelling to me about Christmas is that those who have the body is decaying, it won't do everything that you want. Those things have been done to it and you have done things with it.

25:38 God does not give up on you. Even on your body. You're flesh and bone. You will redeem. Eyes and up out of the brain. Set it off on a beautiful and expansive life for one if you want. Say, if you want, God is redeem your body.

26:09 Oh, I love that. Christmas is the testament of the commitment of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who got a Christ and the church, who got a creation in life that we will redeem you and won't even leave your body. He's found a solution for that as well. Our last little text, it's insane and classic. From the story, it's a cool story.

26:40 It's kind of hard to find because scholars can't date it. Most of the texts, they can come up with the, in our scriptures, they can come up with a date. This story is just kind of like a historical. It's been recorded and preserved among the people of Israel and people of our God, like forever. As far as we're talking, but there's no clues in it to date when to find out what happened. So it's this kind of beautiful story, an ancient story about God working with people.

27:14 It's about this one dude, Joe, and at this key little section, Joe is like, you know, has every kind of terrible thing happened to him. And in Job chapter 19, verse 2 and 3, he has this like moment of clarity, right, where he refuses, though every bad thing, all his money's gone, all his family's gone, his body is wrapped with disease and pain, like everything, everything in a flesh and body,

27:48 his material existence is ripped apart and ruined. And in Job chapter 19, verse 23, he says, oh, that my words were written that they were inscribed in a book. Oh, that with an iron pen and lead, they've been brave and rocked forever. He wants to bring down forever because he wants people to remember that he said this after he's long gone. And you'll see why. Oh, the byword to a written down forever. Before I know that my redeemer lives, and that at the last, he will stand upon me here.

28:25 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall seek out. Oom, I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall be hold and not another, on my heart, thanks with anything. Job knew that after his body was dead and became yet with his body come to life again, to look upon the one who would deem even as flesh and body.

28:59 And the same thing you could say, that wherever you find yourself, whatever problem you have, whatever, like a play, you're encountering, whatever success you're experiencing, no matter how busy God is, right? No, how far away he feels, he has redeemed me all spirit and soul, flesh and bone. That's prayer.

29:32 Hey Lord, thank you for your great attention. Can you give us comfort today Lord, that you, that your care for us is particular specific and expansive, that you care about all of us every corner of our body, our heart and mind.

30:02 Teach us how to submit it all to you in order that we could start now living that beautiful experience and right that you have really invested in. Thank you for listening to prayer.