THE BIBLE - TODAY’S TREASURE HUNT
COMMENT FOR CHRISTMAS DAY – 25-12-05
Isaiah 62: 6-12
The focus here is on an idealized Jerusalem full of promise. Unfolding events would complete a plan the prophet does not fully comprehend. He has a great image of a highway littered with the rubbish of ideas that will not work. There are old feuds, hatreds and prejudices. These have to be cleared away in the interests of peace. All these centuries later we struggle with these same problems over a roadmap for peace.
Psalm 97
This psalm has the same exalted language as the Isaiah reading. Also the same conviction that the blessings of God come when righteousness, justice and mercy are part of everyday life. When the light of God’s truth dawns the “worshippers of images” see how empty their lives really are.
Titus 3: 4-7
Titus was one of Paul’s most useful assistants. Now in a letter to him full of practical advice Paul breaks into impassioned language when speaking of the grace of God.
‘Grasped by such grace (as Paul Tillich fondly spoke of the experience) the human spirit reaches for a language that reflects the heart set free” With Love to the World, 21-12-05, page 27.
Luke 2: 8-20
Luke would have been fascinated with this story of the angel and the shepherds. The song “Glory to God” is authentic Old and New Testaments. But “on earth peace” is an entirely new concept and comes with the New Testament.
The shepherds get the message and respond immediately. They are the powerless ones of the earth. The powerful did not get the message, and mostly still do not. They are much too busy exercising the various forms of power within their control. They have no time to listen for the songs of angels.
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