Tag Archives: Joseph

February 2, 2023 · 12:00 am

The Presentation

bellini2Purification

Today we celebrate The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple by Joseph and Mary. From the Gospel of Luke:

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”  (Luke 2:22-24)

Let us look at this event as if it were part of a three-act play. This was the first act of purification – a ceremonial purification. Mary was considered unclean at the birth of her child, according to Jewish law. After a waiting period of about forty days, she and Joseph were required to offer up their son to God. Mary would then be considered pure and her child would be declared holy before God.

A ritual of ceremonial purification was not without meaning or significance. It was a rehearsal of a spiritual purification that was to come. Today, in many churches, parents present their children to God with the expectation that these children will be raised in the Christian Faith.

At the time of Jesus’ presentation the prophet Simeon blessed the family of Jesus and said to Mary:

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35)

This prophecy foretold the second act of purification – a purification of the Law of God. Simeon prophesied that Jesus would bring about major changes in Judaism. Jesus said he did not come to set aside the law but fulfill it. The essence of the Law had to do with loving God and neighbor, but it had become merely an elaborate set of rules to follow. As the Word made flesh, Jesus demonstrated by his life the true righteous requirements of the law. God requires transparency and truth. We cannot cover up our sins with our “good deeds.”

Joseph and Mary were presenting Jesus to God in the Temple. Jesus would soon change the whole temple worship by becoming the temple himself. He would become the new Temple by satisfying all the requirements of the old one. His blood spilled on the cross, would become the atoning sacrifice for all our sins, once and for all.

From Hebrews we read:

Since God’s children share flesh and blood, Jesus himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.   (Hebrews 2:14-15)

The last act of purification has to do with the purification of the saints. We read in Malachi:

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.   (Malachi 3:3-4)

The Apostle Paul writes that Jesus, by his atoning sacrifice, can present us pure before the Father:

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him — provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.   (Colossians 1:21-23)

Mary and Joseph presented Jesus as holy to God. Jesus turned the tables. He gives Mary and Joseph and all saints as holy to God. Mary and Joseph offered up their son before God. God, the Father, offered His Son as a sacrifice for us all that we may be made holy before him. The Presentation of Jesus becomes our presentation. Jesus presents us spotless before the Father. He is the only one who can do that because he is the one who paid the price for our sins.

Our cleansing is not a ceremonial cleansing. No, we must allow Jesus to change and direct our hearts. God gave us this promise through the Prophet Ezekiel:

I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.   (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

The Apostle Paul wrote:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.   (Romans 12:1-2)

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December 25, 2022 · 12:03 am

Christmas Day: Selection II

mangerThe Greatest Gift of All

These readings are traditionally used during the Christmas Day service in many liturgical churches.

Homily for Adults

The Jewish people were waiting for their Messiah for a very long time. In fact, they had not heard from a prophet of God for four hundred years. Were they now ready to hear directly from God? Most of them missed the Christmas message, but s select few were given a direct revelation from God.

Can we imagine how excited the shepherds were when they heard a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”   (Luke 2:14)

The shepherds could not have fully understood all that the angels were saying, but they did not sit idly by:

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  (Luke 2:15-16)

The message to the shepherds is a universal message. The angles trumpeted God’s greatest gift to all of us. How do we respond? Does the Christmas message escape us today?

If we have received God’s message, then we, like the shepherds, will have cause for a great celebration:

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.   (Luke 2:20)

There was more to follow of which the shepherds could not ha aware. The Apostle Paul, looking back on the Christmas message in the light of the resurrection, wrote:

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.   (Titus 3:4)

When Jesus was born into the world, Judaism had degenerated into a system of rules and regulations to follow. When the earthly ministry of Jesus was revealed, the Jewish religious leaders were not prepared for his message of rebirth. Christmas is about rebirth. It is about a saving grace that transcends all of our human understanding about pleasing God alone through what we do.

If we are to celebrate Christmas, then we must celebrate the goodness and loving kindness of God. This is the true gift of Christmas.

 

Homily for Children

Gather the children together up near the altar. Give them a chance to settle down and feel comfortable.

Homilist: Do you enjoy getting gifts at Christmas?

   Kids: Yes!

Homilist: Do you like unwrapping them?

   Kids: Of course!

Homilist: How can you tell that a gift is yours?

   Kids: It has my name on it.

Homilist: Would you like to wait a little while before opening your gifts?

   Kids: No!

Homilist: What would you do with a gift when it has been opened?

   Kids: We would look at it and maybe play with it!

Homilist: What if you got the Greatest Gift of all time and your name was written to it? Would you not unwrap it?

    Kids: No way!

Homilist: Now remember that you have to send thank-you notes to everyone who has given you a gift.

    Kids; Yeah, we know. But what about that gift you were talking about? What kind of gift is it?

Homilist: It is a gift from God.

   Kids: Wow! What is it?

Homilist: The birth of His Son Jesus who came to the earth for us.

    Kids: Oh! The baby Jesus.

Homilist: Why is His birth important?

    Kids: Because He came to save us?

Homilist: Yes. Do you think everyone who knows about this gift should unwrap it?

   Kids: If their name was on it.

Homilist: Everyone’s name is on this gift!

   Kids: What do you mean unwrap it?

Homilist: Take it out of the box and play with it.

   Kids: Jesus wants to play with us?

Homilist: Yes, and after we do we should send Him a thank-you note.

    Kids:  Can you send a note to heaven?

Homilist: He is listening to us and He is always with us. If we just say we are thankful He would hear us.

     Kids: Oh! When should we thank Him?

Homilist: Every day. Wouldn’t it be sad if someone didn’t open God’s gift?

     Kids: No way. They have to open it.

Homilist: I want to read a verse from scripture to you:

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.   (Ephesians 2:4-8)

Homilist: Do you see that grace is a gift of God?

   Kids: Yes. But do we really have to send God a thank-you note?

Homilist: Let me read you this scripture:

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.   (Romans 10:9-10)

Homilist: God needs us to thank Him with our mouths.

   Kids: Can we do that now?

Homilist: Yes, and at each new day we need to thank him for the greatest gift of all.

Amen.

Obviously, this homily is not a script to be memorized by the children. It will not do the homilist any good to memorize it either, because at some point our listeners are going to take off on a tangent. What is desired is a dialogue with the children. They are a fearsome force to face, but with patience, listening carefully to what the children may be saying, and waiting on the Holy Spirit, some good may emerge. We must have courage and place ourselves entirely in the hands of the Lord.

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December 18, 2022 · 12:00 am

Fourth Sunday of Advent

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Last Sunday we mentioned the Holy Way, In this, the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, we will delve more into what is meant by the Holy Way. We could not have a better illustration of what it doesn’t mean than King Ahaz of Judah. Reading from Isaiah:

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”   (Isaiah 7:10-16)

Ahaz was the twelfth king of Judah. Immediately upon his accession, he had to meet a coalition formed by northern Israel, under Pekah, and Damascus (Syria), under Rezin. These two kings are the ones that Isaiah said Ahaz was in dread. They wished to compel him to join them in opposing the Assyrians, who were arming a force against the Northern Kingdom.

Speaking through Isaiah, God told had Ahaz that the two kings were plotting against him, but that said he would protect Ahaz if he stood strong in faith. God knew that Ahaz’s faith was weak, so he offered him a sign. Ahaz waved him off.

Why did Ahaz do that? I don’t really know, but I do know why I have done that in the past. I wanted to do something on my own. I wanted to get credit for solving the problem. I wanted to keep things under my control because I was not sure God would do what I wanted. How about you?

Through Assyria’s intervention, and as a result of its invasion and subjection of the kingdom of Damascus and the Kingdom of Israel, Ahaz was relieved of his troublesome neighbors; but he felt beholden to Assyria. He brought into the temple of Jerusalem the worship of the foreign god Moloch. This so called “god” of Assyria required the sacrifice of Ahaz’s son by fire. Fortunately, God protected his son.

Though Ahaz refused him, God did give Ahaz a sign. His sign moved well beyond Ahaz. The Gospel of Matthew lists Ahaz of Judah in the genealogy of Jesus. The sign of the virgin’s birth was revealed to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. Reading from today’s Gospel:

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.”   (Matthew 1:18-23)

Joseph, unlike Ahaz, responded to God’s message with great faith:

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.   (Matthew 1:24-26)

God was going to do something that had never been done before and that no human being could ever do. All he asked Joseph to do was simply believe and accept the prophecy.

This is how God works. He will call us to do things that we cannot do, but we must believe that he can. Often times, to help our belief, he will give us a sign. This happened to the Apostle Paul in a rather drastic way. As you remember, Paul was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christian believers. Jesus struck him down with blindness while Paul was enroute. In this case, the sign of blindness left Paul little room to ignore. He was captured for ministry to the Gentiles. Paul had to accept a total revamping of his theology and undergo years of training.

Is God calling us for ministry? This is what Paul wrote to the Church at Rome:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,   (Romans 1:1-6)

Paul is writing about the power according to the spirit of holiness. This is the Holy Way of the New Covenant. God offers the New Covenant relationship with everyone who will believe in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He asks us to believe and Jesus asks us to join him along the path of the Holy Way. Jesus is on that path. He is that path. The path leads to righteousness, peace, and joy. We simply have to embrace what he has destined for us.

We are asked to go on an exciting journey to which nothing in this world can compare. We are not being asked to gain credit for salvation. Salvation is a gift. The Holy Way is an extension of salvation. It is the promise of salvation. It is the path of salvation. Yes, it is a test for some of us. Do we love the things of this world more than the gifts of God?

Do we want to control our own destiny? Apparently, Ahaz did. His plans lead him away from God. He set up idols and images of foreign gods and committed abominations by worshipping these gods (2 Chron. 28:2-3). He even worshipped the god Molech by offering his children. In Leviticus 20:1-5, God pronounced the death sentence against all who worshipped this god.

Ahaz died at the age of 36 and was succeeded by his son, Hezekiah. Because of his wickedness he was “not brought into the sepulchre of the kings” (2 Chronicles 28:27)

God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are greater than our thoughts. The path he gives us is an everlasting path, one that leads to eternal life in the new heavens and new earth. The Season of Advent reminds us that our hearts are being prepared for the coming of the Christ Child. We are also being prepared for the second coming of Jesus, when God moves his heaven to earth. We do not want to miss that.

If our faith is weak, then God will give us a sign. Are we willing to ask him for one?

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