12-23-2018 - Peace on Earth

Hopeful Words

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

are only a small village among all the people of Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel

whose origins are in the distant past,

will come from you on my behalf. -

These are some of the kindest, most hopeful lines in the book of Micah.

Most prophets were sent to either Judah and Jerusalem (Southern Israel) OR Israel and Samaria (Northern Israel)

Micah, a man from near the boundary between the two was sent with the same message to both:

"God is coming. You may not like what he has to say to you."

Judgment comes before True Joy.

Peace is only kept by those who have already been judged and are living in that Joy.

The Love they know is not their own, and their hope is set in something greater than themselves.

Those who trust in themselves alone are hermits... and nothing against hermits, but they make poor rulers.

Moses - hermit (shepherd) who makes every excuse why God can't use him, and only leads the people out of Egypt because God gives him the strength and wisdom. I think those people tried to turn and run back to slavery at least once a week for 40 years. Moses would have let them go if it were not for God guiding him.

David - hermit (also a shepherd) who was not even considered for king until all of his brothers had been passed up by the prophet Samuel. He only survived the next 20 years by God's grace and his first kingdom and army were a bunch of criminals and misfits that nobody wanted. When he let the crown go to his head, he lost his kingdom and by not being a good father to his sons, the entire nation split in two. He was a poor leader without God.

Giving Birth

3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies

until the woman in labor gives birth.

Then at last his fellow countrymen

will return from exile to their own land. -

The Young Woman

There are several prophecies in the Bible that refer to a "woman" or "young woman" giving birth, that some translators have translated "virgin" and pointed to as a prophecy of Jesus. Other translators have pointed out that the Hebrew word used in those prophecies does not mean "virgin". Part of the problem may be that ancient Hebrew didn't have a separate word for that... they just called them young women.

The word used here in verse 3 is not about the woman at all and can sometimes even refer to a man as well, helping his wife give birth. The focus is on the pain. Birth is happening... you can expect there is a woman involved in this process.

Childbirth was a scary thing in those days, well up nearly into the 1800s. The mortality rate in good, clean places was 50%. The amount of, well, all the stuff that makes future dad's pass out in the hospital, happening out there in the open, was actually enough to stop wars going on. Soldiers would stop fighting, and probably run away if a pregnant woman started giving birth. Sometimes that left those women alone in their greatest time of need.

Childbirth

That is extreme, but it is closer to the image Micah is painting than a woman in a hospital bed. Everyone is freaked out. There is a lot of pain, a lot of blood, and not everyone is as helpful as they need to be. Until the baby gets here, we are not sure whether any of us are going to make it or not - including the baby - and we can't take much more of this.

But when the baby does arrive, we don't all get golden tickets to paradise and brand new cars to take us there. It says his fellow countrymen will return (or the other word is repent) from exile (being lost) and come home to their own land.

Made to Move

When Jesus gets here, we have to pick up and move. The house you live in now is not your true home. When Jesus gets back you will have to leave it all behind and follow Him, just like the first disciples.

The Third Shepherd

And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

Then his people will live there undisturbed,

for he will be highly honored around the world.

5 And he will be the source of peace. -

The baby gets here, Messiah is born, we have a new leader... and guess what? He's another shepherd!

Shepherds don't chase their sheep around. They call out to them, and our shepherd has a name for each of us. Considering He called Peter, one of the greatest apostles "Hard-headed", it makes me wonder what kind of name He has for me. ;)

Sheep that don't follow get lost, and lost sheep either starve, get sick, or get eaten themselves. Jesus does everything possible to keep us from going that way, but He won't force us to follow. We have to decide and do that ourselves.

Again, it's easy to read this prophecy and think it's all about Jesus, but it is bigger than that.

What would our world be like if no one had followed Jesus?

We wouldn't have churches

No one would even know about Jesus

He probably wouldn't have died on a cross - that was reserved for enemies of the state, and without followers, he was just a poor carpenter with no friends

Without anyone following Him, the worst they may have done is kick Him out of town for being unfriendly in the Temple.

He may have been killed by robbers, but He had nothing to steal, so that is not likely

What the Messiah needs from us

A Messiah without people choosing to give up their lives and follow Him is no Messiah at all and a man without sheep following him is not a shepherd.

God can come into the world on His own, but if true peace is to be had, we have to drop whatever we have filled our hands with, receive that peace from Him, and be willing to share it around us.

That's why this message was to both the North and the South. If there was going to be true peace, it was going to take both sides choosing to follow God. Without both sides on board, we are still stuck at the woman in labor.

Sometimes, perhaps often, peace is that dramatic

As much as we don't want to, God wants us to pay attention to the pain, because that is where He plans on entering our world.

Other times He comes and brings peace at our places of brokenness.

Blessed Brokenness

Origin of Silent Night

200th year anniversary of Silent Night this Christmas (1819)

Written by Father Joseph Mohr, the assistant priest of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tyrol, Switzerland.

Music written by the organist Frank Gruber

Fr. Mohr and Mr. Gruber had been discussing Christmas music and decided there was no perfect Christmas song.

As Christmas was approaching, the organ broke.

Fr. Mohr wrote these lyrics and gave them to Gruber who exclaimed that they had finally found the perfect Christmas song.

The first performance of Silent Night was accompanied only by Franz Gruber's guitar... because the organ was broken.

https://blog.faithlife.com/blog/2018/12/on-the-200th-anniversary-of-silent-night-an-origin-story/

"When the organ repairman came to the little village church, he was impressed by a copy of the Christmas carol and decided to spread it all around the region of Tyrol. Today it is sung in all major languages of the world and is a favorite wherever songs of the Christmas message are enjoyed."

It was a miracle the song was ever written. But it was a bigger miracle how the song spread to us today.

Switzerland is a nation of little mountain villages - each one speaking their own language.

It is part of the secret to how they stay neutral in all the wars raged around them.

They can't get along with each other well enough to fight for one alliance or another.

As Silent Night spread, it was undoubtedly translated into German, French, Italian, and several dialects within those languages immediatley, because the village on the next mountain didn't speak the same language as Fr. Mohr.

To be a peacemaker, you have to learn the language of everyone else, not just your own.

You have to learn to be a shepherd, just like Moses, David, and Jesus.

You can't chase people into peace, you can only call them by name, in words they can understand and receive

And we have to admit that we won't truly have peace ourselves, until everyone comes home.

Peacemakers

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5)

It's not about winning wars or getting property at all.

Inheriting the earth is what happens when we start living like the one giant family God created us to be, loving people more than possessions.

When we decide to follow Jesus, receiving and sharing that peace He gives us, war won't have a place to live here anymore.

Where is God breaking through your pain to invite you to follow Him into peace?

Where is God coming through your brokenness to give you opportunity to share peace with the world, or even just a few people around you? Every world-changing movement starts with one person sharing with another.