Whose story is this?

Last weekend I had the privilege to have breakfast with a Vietnam veteran and another man, a father of four. The vet. told me much more than I ever knew about the war through his eyes. He was truly a patriot as well as a humble and grateful man. What amazes me most (upon reflection) is how his experiences of 40 years ago shaped everything - everything - about his life since then. He returned to the states wanting to attend college, but even though he had access to government financial aid, he could not imagine associating himself with a university (hotbeds for anti-war protests). His career, his passions, his family life, his faith - all of them - are what they are because of his tour in Vietnam. I could not understand him until I began to understand his war experiences.
I had planned to preach the next day from Matthew 2. The statement in verse three says a great deal about the story in which the Jews (generally) saw themselves: "When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." The birth of another, rival, heaven-sent king marked a new "chapter" in Herod's mind. Others in Jerusalem: Zealots, Pharisees, Sadducees, and maybe even the hermetic Essenes outside Jerusalem would have been "troubled" for various reasons - either worry or hope. But, I can guess, most people saw a new king - the Messiah even - as the next chapter in their story, a resolution to their prolonged Exile and subjugation by foreign powers (which the Prophets said was God's judgment on idolatry and injustice). Israel was largely defined by one big story - Exile unending. Maybe the Messiah would be the one to turn the page, getting their story into the good times.

But then there is that word about fulfillment just back in Matthew 1:22-25. Jesus was Immanuel. "God is with us," the straightforward meaning of that Hebrew compound would certainly have been understood to imply "God is on our side (finally)" to King Ahaz of Isaiah 7 (when the prophecy was originally given). This phrase was still the hope of Jews who heard of Jesus' birth. Maybe God will be on our side, clean up our mess, restore his blessing on us. Maybe God would fix their story.

Matthew, the other Evangelists, and Jesus himself, ultimately, understood "God is with us" to mean more than "God is on our side." God was now one of us, a baby among us. The genealogy of the last chapter reminds us that the earlier son of David had built the majestic temple where God would make himself available to his people - where he would be with his people. This later Son of David accomplished a permanent residence of God among men. Jesus' story stretched at least as far back as Abraham, just by the genealogy of Matthew 1. We know from other texts that 5 BC (or whenever exactly Jesus was born) was not a new chapter for the story of Israel - Israel's story was (as were and are the scores of stories still going) an introduction to the story of God's Son.

Thanksgiving

Who knew John Mark would be such the avid blogger!?! I had to talk him into letting me start one, and he's been posting like a wild man! I'm glad he is adding some depth to the content. If it were up to me, it would just be pictures all of the time...which brings me to our Thanksgiving! We won't be making it to Texas for Christmas this year for a few reasons, so we wanted to pack in as many stops to see family as we could.

Our first stop was Wichita Falls to hang out with John Mark's family. We had a good relaxing time, and of course a wonderful Thanksgiving meal made by his mom. Wesley's only first cousin, Sadie, was very excited to get to touch and talk to "Baby Wesley," but got pretty distraught when he got fussy. I think it was harder on her than Wesley!

Our next stop was Abilene where we got to see my mom's side of the family. This was the first time Wesley got to meet his great-grandmother, Mimi. She and my Aunt Debbie along with my cousins, Kristen and Eric, all traveled to Abilene from Austin to spend Thanksgiving with us. We were so thankful that they made the trip because we didn't have enough time to make it down to Austin this time.

I think Wesley could tell this lady had some practice in the rocking department...

Four Generations:

We almost didn't make it to Whitharral for the celebration on my Dad's side due to the weather, but I'm so glad we did. We had a day filled with yummy enchiladas (thanks to the amazing Audra), football, card games, and wonderful time with my Grandma who is in declining health. This was the first time in about four years for all of the grandkids to be in one place.

Four Generations:

Wesley and Libby (his precious second cousin)

getting to know each other

What about Ezekiel?

If you have noticed the daily Bible reading links at the upper right corner of our blog, you have noticed that (as best we can keep up with the schedule,) Wesley and I have been in Ezekiel's long, confusing book for some time now. Next to Zechariah, I've always thought Ezekiel to be one of the most difficult books in the Bible (Revelation would probably be #3, Song of Songs #4, etc.). Though I have not made sense of many of the cryptic symbols in this prophecy, I've noticed a few patterns as we've plowed our way through it.

First, God is referred to quite often as "the Lord GOD," which translates two Hebrew words. The first, "Lord," is a straightforward translation of Adonai. [I might have misspelled that transliteration.] The second word, usually rendered in English as "LORD," here is rendered as "GOD" so as not to confuse readers with "the Lord LORD." The Hebrew word behind it is not really translatable! It was God's self-designation in Exodus 3:14 when he told Moses who he was. There, God said, "I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” So, based on that origin, many scholars have assumed that the Hebrew - YHWH - has some connection to the Hebrew verb that means "to be." The spelling is very similar but not exact. I'm no expert, but it seems that we can just say that this is something like God's first name (if he had one).

That Ezekiel (and God himself) refer to God as "the Lord GOD" is interesting at least, maybe even significant. It is not as common to see them together like that - and Ezekiel has it often.

Second, many of the prophecies about doom and destruction, salvation and restoration have a common ultimate goal stated. Why was God going to do all those things to Israel, to Jerusalem, to the leaders of Judah, to Tyre, to Edom, to Egypt, to Babylon, etc.? So that they (whomever the object of God's actions was) would "know that I am [he is] the LORD." An interesting point - whether in judgment and wrath, whether in rebirth and forgiveness, whether in pillaging and slaughter, whether in protection and victory of the underdog, the God of the universe wants people to recognize him in all that he does.

I still don't understand Ezekiel. What do you make of it?