Hope: 1st week of Advent

I noticed how in the pas I always just complain about how commericial Christmas has become and how the holiday is depressing for the less social. Well, I know how much you people don't like me complaining. I know I haven't said anything to change it. I thought of a way to do this, and the way I came up was to prepare the mind for a spiritual Christmas. Come to think of that, advent does that. Many of today's churches don't focus on advent. Only the more "traditional" churches do. Both my church and my school are focusing on the pre-birth scripture (Luke 1). That's cool, but I think Advent gives a better mindset to prepare us on the ultimate Christmas gift: Jesus Christ. Here are my thoughts on the advent theme of the week.

"David said about him: 'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." -Acts 2:25-28

This one of th 174 verses mentioning hope in it. One of the books of the Bible where hope is dominant is Job. The man who lost everything still had hope. I thought back of what could be the first instance of hope. I guess the earliest instance could be right after the fall. Adam and Eve must been pretty hopeful that the messiah God promised would come rescue them from the hard labor they now had to do in the sinful world. But you really don't see it in Genesis. Most of the time, they are more consentrated on starting a great nation. Enoch was the only one proclaiming about the Messiah. It wasn't until Israel went through a series of on conquerers and rescuers that they wanted a rescuer that could deliever them permantently: the Messiah.

During the opening years of A.D., there was a bit enflared feeling of the returning messiah. The radical Zealots wanted the Romans out. The flare of hope must have been strong. I would guess that just like now, their were expecting him to come out of the sky, or someone, who was a high leader or very spiritual, to get a diving calling while doing a spiritual ritual to lead his people in revolution. If this was so, how much more Mary must have been suprised with the news. The Messiah was now going to be a baby, growing to a small child, growing to a teenager, and finally becoming an adult. On top of that, he would come out of the humble home of a carpender. If word got around, people would lose hope. "Oh great, the one Messiah God sends is a nobody."

The passage above is actually Simon Peter quoting a Psalm. Peter explains that David in this Psalm was talking about the Messiah, Jesus. David says his body now lives in hope. Since Jesus died on the cross, how much hope he has given us for a happy ending! I think if I was living in Old Testament atonement, I would always be worried. Did I do the right amount of sacrifices to cover up my sins? Did I cover all my sins? I did it all correctly, right? No sense of being sure. But now, with Christ as the perfect sacrifice, we can be 100% that all who call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved from their sin. What hope we have in Christ that will have a better life.

Let's go back to the first arrival of Christ. Think about the mindset of the few who knew the baby Jesus would be the Messiah. There's Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the magi (which are not necesarily 3 in number). As they gazed upon the infant, they must've needed hope. It looked like any other infant, just in a low and humble surrounding. How could we be sure this is it? Maybe they wanted to say, "That's it?" Imagine the shepherds following the directions of the angels, or the magi, following the star. Maybe they were expecting a palace. But what they didn't get that. Not even the inns would have a room for the upcoming Messiah. Heck, maybe Joseph even tried that! "Don't you understand? My wife is giving birth to the Messiah! You're turning down the Savior of the World!" But I think God had placed His Son's birth in a lowly place so even the lowest would relate. I believe that if Jesus had been born in 21st century world, his would have been born in an alley, lying in a barrel or a shopping cart. Now even the homeless can relate to Jesus, and have hope in being rewarded in heaven. So whoever you are, high or low, rich or poor, popular or unpopular, you can put all your hopes in Jesus.