January
15, 2017
By His doing we are in Christ Jesus!
By His doing we are in Christ Jesus!
As
we gather together this morning in the shadow of the Christmas and Epiphany
Seasons, we have heard about the gifts given by the Three Wise Men of Gold,
Frankincense and Myrrh. We have followed
the shepherds who were watching their flock by night, but stopped in order to
go and see what they had heard from the echoing of the angels who proclaimed
the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. We have
gone to the manger to Mary and Joseph who crouched where their child was
wrapped in cloths lying in the manger. We
have heard all these things about Jesus Christ, for He was and continues to be the
greatest gift given unto mankind. We
have learned that this Child, this gift, our Savior, Jesus Christ came in order
to offer mankind eternal life.
Yet,
our culture doesn’t understand eternal life.
Our culture looks at the toys and joys we have today, whether of a
football game that is won in the last seconds.
An outgoing leader whose legacy will be recorded in history books, the
impact on our pocketbooks or in the recesses of our minds. Or the challenges faced in relationship with
political parties, professional sports rivalries or the personal relationships
we have with parents, children and even our spouse. These challenges like noise in a loud room,
drown out the truth that was clearly found in the manger of Jesus Christ and
His offer of eternal life for all of mankind including each and every one of us.
You
see, eternal life is more than the daily challenges and sometimes self-imposed
obstacles we face. The gift of eternal
life, offered to and for us through Jesus Christ is a gift clearly and
specifically for us. And, Jesus Christ wants
to give the gift of eternal life to each and every one of us. For Jesus gift to and for us is given, not because
of what we do, what we have done, nor any merit on our own, but the gift of
eternal life is given by Jesus Christ out of His unending and forgiving love
for each and every one of us.
Paul
says, “By His doing”. In
essence by the doing of the Child, Jesus Christ, Who was found in the manger,
we who live in the world, we who believe, will be grafted into Jesus
Christ. Hence why our connection with
Jesus Christ isn’t just begun with our hearing the Word of God. Or by the Holy Spirit being active in each of
us, but even when we bring our children for Holy Baptism, where the people of
God stand and with the parents and family take responsibility for the raising
of our children in the faith. This is
where God not only showers us with Water and Word, but enfolds and embraces us
in the most intimate embrace and fulfills what Paul says, ‘we are in Christ Jesus’.
So
now the reality of this world and our destination radically changes. Instead of living in fear of what tomorrow
may bring. Instead of allowing the
shadow that hangs over of our relationships with our family, friends and even
our loved ones that at times overcome us, our reality changes because of the
Child in the Manger named Jesus Christ.
The small child found in the manger wrapped in strips of cloth with His
coming into the world overcame what binds us and has set us free out of His
love for us. Since “By His doing we are in Christ
Jesus” we no longer are bound, but are set free in Jesus Christ,
through His great love for each and every one of us, through our faith in what
He has done.
One
of the best cinema examples of faith was when Harrison Ford in the movie,
“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. As
Indy followed meticulously the diary of his father the final obstacle between
him and finding the Holy Grail is an expansive canyon. Indy can see the entrance, but this canyon
and no clear way to get across it seems to exist. And the instructions read, ‘walk by
faith’. All that Indy sees is the chasm
and the entrance to a place that could save his dying father.
Finally
after wrestling and struggling with this reality of the chasm he faces, Indy
steps out in faith. And lo and behold
there is an invisible bridge to get to the other side and reach his goal of finding
the Holy Grail.
We
who gather this morning unlike Indiana Jones, have found the real and true Holy
Grail that does offer us eternal life, Jesus Christ. We found and have worshiped Him in the manger
and today in Jesus Christ and His Word which we have heard this morning, the
sacrament we are about to receive from His altar. For in this gift of His Precious Body and
Blood we find eternal life. May we
believe what we have heard and are about to partake and ultimately come to the
full realization of Paul’s words of grace and comfort that we are enfolded into
Jesus Christ loving arms when we believe “By His doing we are in Christ Jesus”. AMEN.
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