|
DATE |
CHURCH |
SUBJECT |
PREACHER |
BIBLE
REF. |
|
23.12.07 |
St Mary's Church |
Is Jesus God? |
Patricia Higton |
Matthew 1.20 |
|
IS
JESUS GOD?
Introduction
Sometimes I feel as if my brain is buzzing with questions, from
as mundane as ‘Did I switch the oven on before I came out’ or
‘Have I done everything I’m supposed to do to be ready for
Christmas?’
But there are only a few really big questions about our
world. Some of these are – will the human race survive global
warming or will we destroy ourselves first by other means? Did
God create the world? What about suffering? Is the Bible true?
Is Jesus God?
That last one is the big question addressed in our readings
today. Perhaps all of us here are already convinced, but
sometimes it helps if we run through something of the teaching
of the Bible about this. It is the sort of question our
non-churchgoing friends may be interested in and are likely to
ask us. After all if Jesus is God then the Christmas story is
of immense significance to the entire human race. If not, it’s
a fascinating account of the birth of a person important in
history, but no more than that.
There are clues in the Old Testament
Some of these clues are in the prophecies which are read to us
every Christmas. The one today from
Isaiah 7 (v.14) is about a virgin who will
bear a son to be called ‘Emmanuel’ – God with us. An even more
amazing prophecy is in Isaiah 9 – about the child to be born being
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6-7). Both were
written about 740 B.C!
Now we need to realise that this concept was even more
mind-boggling to a Jewish person than to us. Therefore it did
not dawn on them what it meant and, although they came to expect
a Messiah, they had no idea he would be God.
There is dawning recognition in the Gospels
Mary, of course, had a secret, about how her conception
happened. This is described with great discretion in Luke’s
gospel in the words: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you; the
power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to
be born will be called the Son of God.’ (Luke 1:35)
Joseph, in our reading today from Matthew was told ‘What is
conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit’ (Matt.1:20). But can
you imagine them telling friends and neighbours about that? Who
would believe it or understand? I have a feeling that, until
after the resurrection, Mary told no-one apart from possibly
confiding in her cousin Elizabeth.
The shepherds and the Magi knew that the child just born was of
immense significance – but the Magi went back to their distant
land and who would believe a few shepherds?
It took possibly a year or more after Jesus called them before
the disciples were convinced even that Jesus was the Messiah,
the chosen one, greater than John the Baptist. But as for being
more than that – well, perhaps they began to wonder at the
stilling of the storm. You remember they asked each other –
‘Who is this that even the winds and waves obey him?’ Then Jesus
not only performed other miracles but raised three people from
the dead. Surely their eyes were also being opened at the
Transfiguration? In addition there was the deep teaching we
read in John’s gospel, culminating in John 10:30 ‘I and the Father are one’. Some rabbis
and priests wanted to see Jesus put to death for blasphemy, but
his time had not come. So the religious leaders were beginning
to understand what he was claiming, but they reacted against it.
His followers seemed slower to take in such a claim.
Their bewilderment when Jesus was crucified is hard for us to
imagine because we know the end of the story. But after he had
risen from the dead, you will remember that it was doubting
Thomas who was the first to say ‘My Lord and my God’. Then,
when Jesus ascended, all the disciples who gathered on the Mount
of Olives actually worshipped him.
There is greater clarity in the book of Acts and the Epistles
Once the Holy Spirit had come the disciples were bold enough to
preach that Jesus who had been crucified was both Lord
and Christ – in other words, God and the Messiah. They did not
work it out logically, but proclaimed what the Holy Spirit was
inspiring them to preach. Thousands became believers and the
Gospel spread through the known world. But it was left to St
Paul and others to explain more fully.
Here is an extract from our reading from an epistle:
Romans 1:1ff
1Paul,
a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart
for the gospel of God— 2the gospel he promised
beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding
his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4and
who through the Spirit
of holiness was declared with power
to be the Son of God by his
resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. (NIV)
Even more clear is Colossians 1:18ff
15He
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation. 16For by him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him. 17He is before all
things, and in him all things hold together. (NIV)
This teaching reaches a climax in the book of Revelation
Here John has a vision of God on his throne. Then a chapter
later (Revelation 5) it is the Lamb (Jesus) who was slain who is
in the centre of the throne and is worshipped. Later on still
in John’s visions Jesus, who is to return, describes himself as
the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning
and the End (Rev. 22:13). These are descriptions of God, as we
read in the previous chapter (Rev. 21:1-7).
Never let Jehovah’s Witnesses or others get away with telling
you that Jesus is not described as God in the New Testament. It
is not worked out as logically as happened later when our creeds
were written, but this belief permeates every page.
Conclusion.
We also know in our own experience of worship and prayer what it
is to address God the Father or God the Son or the Holy Spirit,
yet we know too that we worship only one God. This truth has
been attacked down through the ages by Jewish people, by
Moslems, by secularists, by atheists – but 1.5 billion
Christians are united in believing and singing this Christmas
that the baby Jesus was God become man.
May this truth grip us afresh this Christmas. May we kneel at
the crib, so to speak, filled with awe, that the One who is God
and always has been was encompassed in a tiny form and laid in a
cattle manger – yet transcends that form and fills the universe.
And let us remember the reason for this act of humility, this
incredible risk taken by the Trinity, that this baby, as he grew
up, would reject all temptation and therefore qualify to die for
us as the sinless one, to take away sin, and rise again to fill
us with his love and power to live for him.
Prayer
Let us make this verse from a carol our response:
What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I
would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man,
I
would do my part,
Yet what I can I give him,
Give my heart. |
