The Shepherd's Call

      I was reading a web page written by a shepherd of Icelandic Sheep. He actually raised Icelandic Sheep in Virginia. He was under the considered opinion that sheep are not that discerning when figuring out what their names are or what exactly the shepherd is saying. According to him the naming of sheep is quite an art form and a complicated industry. Even so, he goes on to say, the sheep are very responsive when the shepherd calls. It does not seem to matter what animal or name he uses when he calls. This particular owner claims they, the sheep, come running when he calls "kttty, kitty, kitty", at the cat's feeding time, or if he whistles in the pasture for the horses. The sheep "hear his voice" and know the sound of it, but they may not  be that discerning about what he is saying.
          This guy had a complicated system for naming his sheep. Jacob I am sure had some thoughtful systematics too. Knowing the names of the sheep is the shepherd's responsibility.  It may be for the shepherd who is responsible before God that he knows the sheep's name, but is it the main issue for us, His sheep? Do we need to know if God knows our names? The Icelandic shepherd still will take care of his sheep, even if they don't know their names. So whats the dif?
        I have to admit it is disturbing to me that the sheep, according to this Icelandic sheep herder, don't know their names. I am sure he is wrong and just  has not invested the time to get to know his sheep.  There are two reasons I know he is wrong. (1) John 10:3 clearly states that the "good shepherd" knows his sheep by name and calls them by name,  τὰ ἴδια πρόβατα φωνεῖ κατ’ ὄνομα,  and they follow him. Jesus knows His sheep by name and he calls them (us) by name and they follow.
   (2) Years ago I heard a preacher say that every Christian should stay on his/her knees until she/he hears the Lord call him/her by name. Now that struck me as something I wanted. I searched the scriptures to see if God called people by name, and He does. He does it in the OT and the NT. So I spent a lot of time on my knees, mostly, falling asleep  until one day I heard Him call my name, "Doug". I have had that experience many times since. I know He knows his sheep by name and calls to them. I know because I heard him!

       "My sheep hear my voice, and I call them by name they follow me." There is a quality that is in sheep that wants to follow their shepherd. This quality is very important. Once He has named you, you belong to Him and are responsible to follow Him. His name becomes greater in our lives as we realize we are His sheep. Then His name is honored about every other name. To me His name is the one I enthrone as my Lord.  John Stevens in an article that he wrote called To Be A Christian said, "It (being a Christian) means that I honor His name above every other name, and place obedience to Him above every other obligation...It is His responsibility to lead, my to follow."
     A dear Christian friend of mine just had his 60th birthday. At his party he said the most important thing now for him was letting Him (Christ) lead. His days of independence, were over. This was an eye opener. This guy to my estimation has always had a close walk with God. It reminded me of what Christ told Peter about how to shepherd the sheep. When you were younger you went where you wished. You are older now and another will gird and take you where you would not (John 21:18). A good shepherd is a lead sheep. Learning to follow is prerequisite to leading. Christ said "Ego eimi" the good shepherd. He was because he followed the Father in perfected obedience. He did what the Father told him to do and said what the father told him to say. I would like to develop that instinctive ear that responds positively to the shepherds voice no matter what His voice is actually saying and follow Him even if it is where I would not have gone before. I want to be responsive when the shepherd calls.

Magical Caroling Christmas People

Santa and his train 

    Every Christmas Eve for the last 25 or more years on the streets of North Hollywood and Taluca Lake during the time when  tiny tots find it hard to sleep and mom and dad finish wrapping the presents the Magical Christmas Caroling Truck comes to town. Santa in his sleigh, er.. ah train,  is accompanied by a very large truck filled with carolers and followed by at least 11 ladies dancing. The whole procession, for 6 to 7 hours, goes up and down the neighborhoods to the great delight of all who dwell along Santa's run.
     Of course the wonderful residents along the route line their front yards and intersections where the truck often stops and the carolers and dancers put on their magical show of Christmas cheer and expectations that warms every heart and brings to mind once again the real meaning of why we celebrate Christ's birth. They sing and dance to songs that ring in our hearts and minds and deck the halls of our memory of great Christmases past, present and those still to come.

Dancers dancing

      And the birthday celebration goes on along back streets of a Los Angeles suburb and, I am sure and reassured every Christmas Eve, that it is happening along the roads, streets and neighborhoods of  middle America. I know this for sure because I have had the privilege of driving our support vehicle following and watching the movable celebration. As I roll past the crowds, they are standing,  basking in the after glow of the truck. When I pass by it is easy to see how wonderfully touched and equally grateful all the people are. I am one of the lucky recipients of all their gratefulness. As I wave and wish them a last "Merry Christmas", I hear, "Thank you so much you made our Christmas", "I wait all year for this time", "God bless you all" and on it goes. America expressing gratitude not to me,  and really not to the show itself, but to the heart being expressed that they identify with. There is so much in the news, however you get it, that paints America and the world as a dark, ugly, glacier melting event. Sometimes it can leave us thinking that good and goodness, has hidden itself in a cave. But as I watch everyone as they come out of their homes and stand arm in arm, husbands and wives, boys and girls, friends and lovers, I know that goodness is alive and living in the hearts and in the homes along the streets of North Hollywood and Taluca Lake. That the warm home fires are still burning with hope and faith for tomorrow. And I feel that this is reflective of the true America and the real meaning of Christmas. "And so I'm offering a simple phrase, to kids from 1 to 92, although it's been said, many times, many ways", let this be a very meaningful Christmas to you.

Not the Daddy

Not the momma?

      In John the eighth chapter, we see Jesus talking with the "Jews" in Jerusalem. There is a very interesting theme that runs through this discourse, vv 30 - 59.  This theme can be summed up in one statement, "not the daddy."  Jesus and "the Jews" go toe to toe over who is their father.
      C. H. Dodd has remarked that Jewry of the first century had an almost if not complete sub-conscious understanding that since they were "Abraham's seed" that that alone would make them blessed (Brown p.360). They believed that all nations would be blessed through them  (Genesis 22:17-18).  Abraham had in himself the power to save. This idea can be seen in the story of Lazarus who was in the bosom of Father Abraham and the rich man prayed to Abe to "let Lazarus dip his finger in the water and come cool my tongue for I am tormented in the flame".  (Note to self: Once a person has been rich and spoiled by being waited on hand and foot, its a hard to break the habit, even in hell.) Anyway, they had internalized this idea that all Jews are blessed because Abraham was chosen of God and they were Abraham's sons. Jesus had to fight this same conditioning in Nicodemus (chapter 3- Born of the Spirit). He was not a spiritual man, but earthy. Here, these Jews thought the same way. Their right to righteousness cames through a natural blood line. But Abraham had received the blessing through acts of obedience (Hebrews 11:8).
       Paul attacked this same thinking in Galatians 3. "If you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed". Interestingly the Jews base their thinking on Genesis 22:17-18. Exegetically, Paul saw the word "seed" as being singular, sperma (LXX), ergo Christ. It is in Christ that all the nations shall be blessed. Christ is the true seed of Abraham, son of God. Christ obtained the blessing the same way as Abraham, through obedience to the Father (Genesis 22:18 and Heb. 5:7-8). And we obtain sonship through obedience too. There is no blood line of the righteous, not natural anyway. You can not be born a son of God or raised a son of God. Just as the Jews could not be born a son of Abraham or God. Like them we, in and of ourselves, alone, can become a son.  Who is the true Jew? Who is the true son? The one who does the will of the Father (John 5:30). {Hear more about this - Learn Obedience! }
       Even in extra-Biblical material we see this persuasion of the divine right of Jewry. In the philosophical discourse of the early church,  Dialogue with Trypho by apologist Justin Martyr we can see this same thinking. Trypho the Jew argued for Jewry's claim that the Jews as seeds of Abraham expected to receive the Kingdom of God, no matter what they did. It was promised to them (CXL 2; pg. 6:797). Yet in Matthew 3:7-10  John the Baptist claimed to the circumcision that God could raise up sons of Abraham from the stones on the ground.  And just as pointedly Jesus threatened the Hebrews that strangers would sit at the feasting table and the children could be thrown out (Matthew 8:11-12). And more to our point here, Jesus warned that you should "call no one your father, except your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9).
      All these warnings, threatenings and pointed comments will lead us straight to the heart of this discourse. In the end the Jews called Jesus fatherless, a bastard.  Jesus countered that they are the sons of their lying father the devil. All in all it was an ugly name calling event; an event ending with the Jews wanting to stone Jesus as they had earlier in this chapter wanted to stone the adulterous woman.  Jesus miraculously slipped out from their midst going as he came to the feast, encrpto, in secret.
    What does this exchange mean to me? I remember a sitcom that had a brief stent about 20 years ago. It was about dinosaurs. It began with the baby dino sitting on the shoulders of the father dino with a milk bottle in the baby's hand. If I remember correctly the baby was hitting the daddy on the head with the bottle and saying "not the momma, not the momma".  I know it is "the momma" the baby is saying and not the daddy, okay. But in a strange way it reminds me of this scene. Jesus is hitting the Pharisees on the head and saying "not the daddy, not the daddy".

Feast of Dedication, Chanukkah

Feastival of Lights

        In John chapter 10 we have the only mention in the Bible of the feast of dedication, or as we know it today, the feast of lights, or Hannukkah,  Chanukkah, Hanukkah, et al. I am not sure how Jesus spelled it, probably "dedication". I am kidding of course.  In Hebrew the word for dedication is "Chanukkat". In any event, in Jesus' time this was the feast that celebrated the miracle of the lamp not going out for 8 days. John 10:22 tells us that Jesus had returned to Jerusalem for this purpose.  This verse gives us a window into the life and times of first century Jewish culture. Many modern Rabbis read the NT as a historical record for them. No where else do they have personal accounts and records of what Jewish life was like 2000 years ago. This passage is an example. What a great confirmation for them. Here is the only record of this celebration in the NT.  A. J. Robertson says that this verse reflects the feast of lights and that it was set up "for eight days about the middle of our December, and was instituted by Judas Maccabeus, B.C. 164 in commemoration of the cleansing of the temple from the defilements of pagan worship by Antiochus Epiphanes (1Macc. 4:59)." It is fun to think of Jesus going into Jerusalem to celebrate during this time of feasting. I wonder if they exchanged gifts? Did they light candles on their Menorahs? Where did Jesus celebrate it?  Even though Jesus went to C.J., many scholars think that this was one of the few feast one could celebrate locally without going up to the City of Jerusalem. 
         As we watch our "elder brothers" begin celebrating their Hannukkah festival, we are reminded that our Lord thought it was important enough to travel to Jerusalem to participate in it in the middle of winter. I have been in Jerusalem during March and it snowed! So I know it can be cold. If it was important to Him then I think it should be important to us. We should respect it and wish all our Jewish friends Happy Hannukkah!!  
     
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvY337zKttA&feature=pyv&ad=7216194952&kw=chanukah