The Word At Christmas

MON., DEC. 5, 1988, 6:30 AM
FARM, STUDY

This is the Advent season, the time of anticipation, waiting for the birth of Jesus. The Word is Jesus, in one sense, and in that Advent is a time of waiting for the Word. The Word is here only in imperfect form until the Babe is born. This is truth, but it is more mystical than most in the Church can deal with.

In another sense, the Word is the Holy Scriptures, and these are both perfectly complete and only a fragment of what could be said about My relationship with humans. So Advent must include the reading of Scriptural passages that are part of the prophetic tradition, and, when Holy Communion is celebrated, the Scripture and liturgy must skip from My birth, as Jesus, to the night before My death. This is both traditional and unreasonable.

You do not react well to some of the prophetic Scriptures. Remember some old, old advice. All Scripture is worthy of reverent reading, but all is not relevant to each Christian or each seeker. You needn’t force yourself to accept or revere the words of Isaiah that are offered as prophesies of My coming, as Jesus, but you should respect them as part of the Christian tradition. For some Christians it is important that this birth was heralded and prophesied. Your Christian path is a good one, even as you feel no need for such a contrived relationship.

The best you can do with “the stump of Jesse” is to acknowledge that I arranged it so that Jesus’ earthly “step-father” would be Joseph, whose lineage, traced by Matthew, was back to David and Jesse. Symbolically, this puts Jesus in the tradition and lineage of the great king of the Jewish nation. It also put him in the line of some who served Me not well or without distinction. It is both an important and an unimportant point. Just accept it as part of the Advent story.

“And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” This prophesy, that you learned in singing the Messiah, lo, these many years ago, is actually prophesy of the Triune God… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As I have told you, I, as Holy Spirit, was active in the world before Pentecost (including serving as the “father” of Jesus). I was helpful, and, of course, I was ever a functioning aspect of Almighty God. Yet this prophesy, above, went beyond names for Jesus, the Nazarene, who preached, taught, healed, and influenced for a few years. It prophesied Jesus as an aspect of Almighty God, Everlasting Father. It prophesied Jesus as an aspect of Me, the Counselor. He came to be the Prince of Peace, and it was a peaceful time in which He lived. The prophesy, however, was of the One God, Who also is Three. This is traditional and liturgical, but irrational.

I must comment on your growing objection to “every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight, and the rough places plain.” Accept this, if you can, as a statement of potential power and the potential for reducing or removing the sense of burden about life that some folks have. Match it with “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me… for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Reject the literal sense of bulldozing the earth flat. I love mountains and hills, deep valleys and shallow gullies. The rough places are often more interesting than the flat plain. As, as you know, in a more literal sense, I often allow or even arrange for a person to have a rough path in order that spirit might grow.

Christmas is best seen as a mystical season. It is a season of remembrance and anticipation of the same event. It is the story of a babe, of the house and lineage of David, being born in a stable/cave. It is of angels who come not to the synagogue, or to the rabbis, but to poor, frightened shepherds. It is of a young woman giving birth, without assistance, when today there is much concern about teenage mothers and the risk to the baby. Then comes the star and the improbably journey of wisemen, with an unknown chronology.