The Time of Christmas
Pastor
Scripture
But when
the time[1]
had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem
those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you
are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls
out, "Abba, Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and
since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
When
we read about Jesus, his first words are important. Not necessarily his infant words, but his
ministry words. In Mark’s Gospel, the very first words that Jesus speaks are the words, “The time has come!” It
is not just any time. It is THE
time. The field of the world had been
plowed, it was now planting time. More
than 300 specific prophecies had pointed to this place and this time. It had now arrived.
When Paul thinks about the birth of Christ, he is already thinking about the Lord’s first words in his ministry. This is an important thing to notice. In the ancient world, they did not remember the birth day. They observed the death days of important people long after they had died. The early church did not observe Christmas until the fourth century because it wasn’t important in the culture to do so. So when Paul talks about the birth of Jesus, he goes directly to the purpose of his ministry. On the other hand, the birth of Jesus is important and deserving of observance otherwise Luke gave us a lot of unessential details in his extensive birth narratives.
I won’t be able to cover all the “time” related elements of the Christmas story, but I would like to talk about a few.
Here is my theme and question for this message. When Jesus came, the cultural and social
context was ripe for his arrival. The
question is, if our times are much like the time of his first arrival, does it
signal the Second Advent is near?
Jesus came at
the right time. The conditions were
right for his Gospel to spread.
When Jesus came
the first time, there was only one super-power left. There had been several before, but only
Surprisingly,
the last super-power, the Greeks under Alexander the Great, had left quite a
legacy. The Greek language was the
language of commerce and international relations. Everybody who wanted to be anybody spoke it.
In the 21st
century, English is the language of commerce and international relations. People all over the world speak English. In all my travels over many years, I have
never been to a place where people did not speak English. As a college student traveling in
The Greek Culture had been
absorbed into the Roman world. Greek
gods became Roman gods. As a result, for
the first time in history,
It is
astounding and in some ways pathetic that American culture dominates the
world. All over the world they listen to
our music, watch our movies, wear our clothes, and copy our culture. When you visit
With Roman
dominance came the Roman Peace (Pax Romana). Legions of soldiers moved easily about the
empire on their incredible system of roads.
The Roman roads were to
The Roman Peace
gave rise to a new level of commerce.
Their ships traveled the seas.
Out in the
At the time of Christ, the gods
that had been their mainstay for centuries were disappointing them at every
turn. For example the religion of
Artemis was a prosperity cult. She made
you wealthy. I have several examples
like this coin of the Emperor Hadrian who put her image on the back of his denarius. She holds the bow and arrow as a symbol of her
control of nature itself. By the time of
Christ’s crucifixion, Artemis was in financial trouble. There are several
inscriptions from around 44 AD, which deal with the efforts of the Roman
proconsul to repair the finances of the temple.[4] They were in constant need of financial help
from the government because the goddess of prosperity couldn’t make a go of it
financially. At some point the people
said, “Do you think it might be time for a new god?”
Even as we are speaking today, that very thought is going through the minds of tens of millions of Muslims around the world. They are saying, our religion says we should be prospering and replacing the Jews and the Christians. Instead we are poor and getting overrun by their culture and their wealth, to say nothing about their armies. Besides that, Allah is always ticked off at somebody and starting a war somewhere. Maybe it’s time for a new god.
“To cities filled with the
homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope.
To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an
immediate basis for attachment.
To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christian provided a new and
expanded sense of family. To
cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for
social solidarity. And to cities
faced with epidemics, fires and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing
services. The gospel brought not simply
an urban movement, but a new culture capable of making life in
Greco-Roman cities more tolerable.”[5]
When Paul wrote, “the time had fully come” he could see all
these things taking place. There was no
doubt in his mind but that Christ had come at just the right time.
Here is the thought question for
the day. If all these conditions brought
about the first advent, what might the repeat of those conditions bring in our
day?
This is an important day in the history of the world. The conditions are right for the Gospel. The world is ripe for harvest. God is giving us a moment in history to gather in the souls destined for heaven. Once again, we live in “the fullness of time.”