Joy comes from God. Humanity is lost without God.
Paul says to the unbelievers in Lystra: “Yet he (God) did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness“ (Acts 14, 17).
Sunday, January 8 – Impulse 1 for Allianz Week of Joy
the gifts of genius that ensured the survival of the Jesus family.
In Haggai 2:8 God says, “Gold is Mine.” Jesus is not just any child; God is paying the bills.
Incense represents purification, worship, and prayer. The life of Jesus is a ministry to God.
Myrrh disinfects and heals. Myrrh reduces the pain of life.
Sometimes we wish our security in advance. But it is a characteristic of God that he often intervenes at the crucial moment. The gifts of the wise men also came at exactly the right moment – just before the escape.
The gifts were easy to take with them and all served well as payments. God knows, what we need, when.
The solstice is already behind us (December 21/22).
We count our years after the birth of Christ. We celebrated this on the night of December 24th to 25th.
What do we celebrate on New Year’s?
The Bible tells the following: After eight days, Jesus was circumcised and given the name Jesus/Yeshua, as the angel had said (according to Luke 2:21-22).
So we actually don’t count the years after Christ’s birth, but the years after the name of Jesus was made public. Jesus, Hebrew Yeshua, means saviour derived from the Hebrew word Yeshuah (salvation).
The Jerusalem Post published an article Continue reading New Year – What are we actually celebrating?
Muslim World League head disagrees with Zakir Naik over “prohibition of wishing Merry Christmas”.
Muslim World League head Sheikh Dr Mohammed Al-Issa holds the view that Islam does not prohibit Muslims from exchanging Christmas greetings with Christians.
Al-Issa particularly reiterated that there was no text in Sharia law that disallowed Muslims from extending greetings to Christians.
He also clarified that there was no religious text that prohibited such greetings, and when a Muslim greeted another non-Muslim on their religious celebration, this did not mean he/she is acknowledging another faith.
In fact, Al-Issa indicated that extending best wishes to non-Muslims who are celebrating their religious festivity “is an apparent interest that serves the reputation of Islam.”
“The purpose of these greetings is to promote co-existence and harmony in a world that is in dire need of that,” justified head of the Makkah-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) which aims to clarify the true message of Islam.
To re-cap, Zakir had on last Friday (Dec 23,2023) Zakir posted a photo caption on his Twitter page which is meant to insinuate that “if a Muslim wishes Merry Christmas, then he/she is admitting that God/Allah is the biological father to Jesus/Isa”.
At the beginning of the 1920s, the Sankt Johannis printers in Baden Germany printed an advent calendar whose opened window showed Bible verses instead of pictures. A few thoughts on the verses every day.
A messiah in swaddling clothes and a manger, Luke 2:10-18
Twenty-fourth window of the Biblical advent calendar
The angel announced to the shepherds: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” Luke 2:11-12.
Someone is reborn in Judaism when he converts to Judaism, comes in the religious age with the bar mitzvah, marries, is appointed as a rabbi by laying hands on him, or is installed as a king. The detail of swaddling clothes shows that the Messiah is really a baby and not a call to service.
The manger told the shepherds that the child was born in Bethlehem, in a simple house like the one they knew. The shepherds would probably have hesitated to visit a prospective king in a majestic home.
However, if they would have arrived and find a shabby stable with a frightened young mother and a distraught Joseph, they would surely have taken them to their families.
It is not clear from the biblical text where Mary and Joseph lived in Bethlehem. It’s only written (Luke 2:6): “While they were there (not arrived), the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the “room”.“
The Greek word, often translated as “inn”, occurs three times in the New Testament. We see it for the first time in the above text, the other two times it describes the room in which Jesus held the Lord’s Supper (Mark 14.14 / Luke 22.11). It is the place that is only for the people. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke uses the Greek word for an inn (Luke 10:34).
According to the Bible, Mary and Joseph could have lived in a simple Jewish house. In addition, it was customary to accommodate travellers in private houses, especially if they belonged to the relatives. According to Matthew, Mary and Joseph lived in a house in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11).
In the first century, the manger for the small animals were in simple houses in the lower rooms. Obviously, the house had been overcrowded with too many people due the census and the space in the bed-living-room was too crowded for a birth.
Jesus comes and takes part in life as it really is. And he saves people from their hopelessness and gives peace on earth to people who turn to him (Luke 2:14).
The longing for particularly gifted person who will redeem us from the evils of this world and lead us to a “promised land” or a “golden age” is an ever-existing desire. The hope for a divine Messiah (anointed one, Christ) has its roots in Judaism.
The goal is to bring man back to lost paradise as described in Isaiah 11:6-9, where the wolf, lamb, lion, and other animals coexist peacefully with man.
At the time of Jesus there were different expectations of the Messiah.
The Sadducees were the liberals. They rejected any supernatural influence.
The Pharisees were conservative. They expected that if all Jews lived according to their commandments, God would intervene in supernatural ways.
The Zealots wanted to establish a messianic kingdom (theocracy on earth) by themself and rejected Roman rule.
The Essene movement was a mystical congregation. They lived in their own world. They believe in a spiritual reality, which they accepted by faith, like Abraham, even if the literal fulfilment was yet to come.
The Samaritans have a messianic hope in the coming prophet like Moses, promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. As the woman at the well says in John 4:25, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”
But God does not fulfil our expectations, but His promises.
Looking at the Advent markets, chocolate and nuts during the Advent season, it is hard to imagine today that Advent was once a time of fasting and repentance.
The four Sundays are symbolic of the four thousand years that people had to wait for the promised Redeemer to come (Genesis 3:17).
Others see four cardinal points, as the four seasons, the four elements (fire, water, air and earth) and the four cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, prudence, bravery).
In Revelation 19, at some point in the apocalypse, God is praised with four hallelujahs. “Hallelujah” means “Praise be to God”. It is the cry of victory, gratitude and praise. Christ begins his dominion.
At the Council of Lerida in 524, Advent was established for four weeks.
The Orthodox Church celebrates Advent for six weeks.
The year of the Catholic and Protestant churches begin on the first Sunday in Advent.
What does the Advent season mean to you?
Matthew tells us that Jesus will be born as King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2). The astrologers from the east call him that. In John, after the multiplication of bread, the people’s desire was to make Jesus king (John 6:15). He refuses.
Being a king according to their ideas is not his.
Continue reading Christ the King Day
Although the people have experienced God’s care and see his presence in the pillar of cloud and eat his bread daily, they long for Egypt. Instead of turning to God, they harass Moses. It even gets really dramatic. Moses fears being stoned (Exodus 17:4).
The past always looks better in hindsight. We forget suffering.
Endurance and trust is a sticking point in our lives.
What is striking is that God’s solution is always different. Now Continue reading The past always looks better in hindsight
The manna that travelled with the people of Israel when they left Egypt has a deep meaning.
The manna that kept the people of God alive is a perfect illustration of Jesus, the gift of true life. Manna is a symbol for the daily mysterious care of God through Jesus in all eternity.
Jesus says in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew 6:11: ” Give us this day our daily bread“.
We need our bread every day. This means that we allow ourselves to be inspired and fascinated by God daily. Faith lives from the daily encounter with God.
What is also interesting is, that the manna could not be carried over from one day to the next, except on Friday for Saturday. This indicates that it was not simply a desert phenomenon but a daily miracle. This can also be seen from the fact that the manna began on exactly one day and ended on a specific day and accompanied the Israelites on their journey.