The First Advent: The First Shepherd

The first shepherd comes and angels announce his arrival.  The skies are full of singing and proclamations of good news for all people.  The skies light up, and people come from all around to see this shepherd lying in a manger.  Other, older shepherds arrive to see the first shepherd.

Older shepherds come to see the first shepherd?  How can that be?  I mean, after all there are shepherds all over the bible.  They are in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  King David was a shepherd before he was king.  Jacob, Abraham, Amos were all shepherds.  How can older shepherds worship the first shepherd?

Israel (Jacob) blessed his long, lost son Joseph with these words and shows us who is the First Shepherd:

And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys;
    and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
    and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Jesus is our eternal shepherd. He is the I AM.  This is the season the world celebrates the First Shepherd’s arrival to earth.  This is when He incarnated to save sinners from their bondage.  This loving Shepherd came as an infant to redeem you and I and free us from our sin, from the sin of all mankind. 

This is our loving Shepherd shepherding a crowd:

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Here is what He tells us of himself:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

You can read the account of the First Shepherd’s birth in Luke 2 during this Advent Season.

Happy Advent!

Here is a link to another The Second Advent.

Your King Comes

And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they hear or refuse to hear."  Ezekiel 3:11

Your King comes in words of the Gospel.  He seeks you out by using the mouths of others, or by reading of scripture.

The man had dialed a wrong number and reached me at work.  I did a little bit of digging to refer him to the correct phone number.  I talked with him a little bit, and then he began confessing some of his doubt and insecurity to me.  I was able to remind him of Jesus’ forgiveness of sin, and the assurance we have.  “You are baptized, right?”  “Yes.”  “You are adopted.”  He hung up the phone and we were both in Christ, peaceful.

In the downtown Holiday Parade, our church had a float.  I walked alongside the float, wishing onlookers “Merry Christmas” and handing out Nativity stickers to children whose parents gave permission.  I was smiling, most people smiled back.  A few said “No thanks” to the Nativity stickers, so I just continued on.  There were a lot of people ahead of me to greet for Jesus’ sake!  I came to one man, and said “Merry Christmas” to him and his response was, “Stop the brainwashing”.  I carried on, but could hear him behind me yelling “Stop the brainwashing” louder and louder.  It was evident the gospel message was coming through the float loud and clear. 

Your King comes in sacraments.  He names you and claims you in baptism.  He continues to come by giving you grace in the Lord’s Supper, where He tells us, “This is my body for you” and “This is my blood for you”, the blood of the new covenant.

The first time I partook of the Lord’s Supper while believing Jesus’ words of what the elements are I was giddy with joy.  It is unexplainable other than to say Jesus’ words are true.  He does not lie to us when He says He is the bread of life, and His  blood is the new covenant.

Your King comes to you as a human, born as a dependent baby, to insignificant parents.  He was born to forgive the world of sin, to become sin for us. He became one of us to save us. 

Your King comes.

To see more of Your King Comes:  http://luthermatic.blogspot.com/

Seeds of the Atonement of Jesus

And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Mark 4

In this tiny parable, Jesus tells us that the Good News of salvation is to be spread without a care as to who hears it. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that produces the faith in us. We hear the good news of forgiveness of sin, and we believe.

We cannot explain how it happens as we are not told how. In fact, in this little parable it says the man that scatters seed does not know how it happens, and that the earth produces by itself. It is the Holy Spirit using the Gospel that does the work.

And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12

In this parable, Jesus speaks of his own death, burial, and resurrection. It is He that bears fruit, it is He that brings us life. We are the fruit that Jesus has borne. It is because of Father's great love for us that Jesus fell into the earth and died. After three days in the earth, He rose to life. We have heard the gospel, it has killed our old man, and raised up the creature of faith.

Happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!

http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/2011/04/jesus-our-mercy-seat.html
http://luthermatic.blogspot.com/2011/04/cross-and-idolatry_22.html