Chrismon<\/a> ornaments, decorate our halls with garland, and light the Advent candles. Once the decorating is done it\u2019s time for the Christmas parties, the meticulously planned Advent services, and, of course, no church Christmas is complete without an elaborate retelling of the Nativity story or at the very least a choir cantata.<\/p>\nBy the end of it all, most of us are exhausted and looking forward to the beginning of the new year when there\u2019s not so many important programs to plan or services to orchestrate.<\/p>\n
The community of faith in Isaiah\u2019s day wasn\u2019t all that different. Granted, they were not getting ready for Christmas, but they had plenty of other festivals and holy days to\u00a0commemorate\u00a0and celebrate. That meant lots of feasting to prepare for and plenty of ornate temple \u201cservices\u201d to coordinate. The time\u00a0in between\u00a0those festive moments was much like ours today. They had regular temple worship, community gatherings that would probably have put our potluck dinners to shame, and, I want to imagine, they found time for whatever the ancient equivalent of church softball would be.<\/p>\n
From all\u00a0appearances\u00a0temple life was\u00a0flourishing. Worship was devote and \u201cservices\u201d happened regularly, holy days were celebrated, and all of it was enjoyed in the midst of a temple whose beauty rivaled anything before or since.<\/p>\n
Into this apparently vibrant and healthy community of faith God spoke these words through the prophet Isaiah,<\/p>\n
\u00a0Hear the word of the LORD,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you rulers of Sodom;\u00a0<\/em>
\nlisten to the instruction of our God,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0you people of Gomorrah!\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u201cThe multitude of your sacrifices\u2014\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0what are they to me?\u201d says the LORD.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u201cI have more than enough of burnt offerings,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of rams and the fat of fattened animals;\u00a0<\/em>
\nI have no pleasure\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.\u00a0<\/em>
\nWhen you come to appear before me,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0who has asked this of you,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0this trampling of my courts?\u00a0<\/em>
\nStop bringing meaningless offerings!\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Your incense is detestable to me.\u00a0<\/em>
\nNew Moons, Sabbaths and convocations\u2014\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.\u00a0<\/em>
\nYour New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I hate with all my being.\u00a0<\/em>
\nThey have become a burden to me;\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am weary of bearing them.\u00a0<\/em>
\nWhen you spread out your hands in prayer,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I hide my eyes from you;\u00a0<\/em>
\neven when you offer many prayers,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am not listening.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Your hands are full of blood!<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0Wash and make yourselves clean.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Take your evil deeds out of my sight;\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0stop doing wrong.\u00a0<\/em>
\nLearn to do right; seek justice.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Defend the oppressed.<\/em>
\nTake up the cause of the fatherless;\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0plead the case of the widow.<\/em><\/p>\nNot exactly what you\u2019re expecting to hear after making sacrifices and orchestrating elaborate worship services. Imagine that your church held a special service in which they had a full orchestra or band playing the best worship songs, your choir or praise band gave their best, most passionate performance ever, the pastor\u2019s sermon was eloquent and amazing, and the altars are full of people praying.<\/p>\n
Then God shows up, in the form of a prophet, and says \u201cI hate it. I mean I really<\/em>, really<\/em> hate it.\u201d<\/p>\nTalk about a punch to the gut, and a confusing one at that. After all, weren\u2019t they doing the things God had commanded them to do? Aren\u2019t we<\/em> doing the things God commanded us to do?<\/p>\nYes\u2026.and no.<\/p>\n
Yes, God\u00a0instituted\u00a0the festivals, the temple, and the sacrificial system. Yes, the people did those those things well. Yes, God wants us to come together today as a body and have church in all its various forms.<\/p>\n
But the children of Israel made the same mistake with the law that I think we make with the writings of Paul. We both turn those things into the formula for salvation.<\/p>\n
For Israel, they believed that all they needed to do to be \u201cright with God\u201d was follow the law. Today, we believe our salvation is based on a magic prayer and intellectual ascent; say the right words, agree to the right doctrines, and you get to go to heaven.<\/p>\n
But if that becomes the full expression of our faith, we\u2019ve entirely missed what it means to be the people of God. We\u2019ve missed what salvation is all about. We\u2019ve missed why the gospel is actually good news.<\/p>\n
The reasons for this are many, but\u00a0chief\u00a0among them is our success. Granted most of us are not part of \u201cthe 1%\u201d, but like ancient Israel, those of us living in the United States are, whether we realize it or not, blessed beyond imagination. Unfortunately, like ancient Israel, we\u2019ve become complacent and numb to fact that those blessings come from God and are given to be shared with those around us.<\/p>\n
Like our forefathers in the faith, we do a great job of putting on incredible worship services and wonderful programs, but on our way to those things we drive by homeless men living under a bridge, we go out of our way to avoid the \u201cbad parts of town\u201d, and we ignore the hurt and dying people we encounter in the week leading up to our encounter with the God we believe to be the source of healing.<\/p>\n
This was the fatal flaw of ancient Israel. This is the fatal flaw of the modern church. And this is the context in which me must understand both Christmas and the gospel. For when Isaiah prophesies the coming of Immanuel\u00a0only six chapters later, he is proclaiming hope and salvation for the oppressed, the fatherless, and the widows the people of God have ignored. He\u2019s not telling Israel about their ticket to heaven. The Messiah will come to give hope and new life to people who have no place to live, who can\u2019t afford to put food on the table, and who are generally ignored, if not oppressed by the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
He will be what the people of Israel were meant to be. Not legalistic, worship performers, but people defined by their\u00a0willingness\u00a0and\u00a0ability\u00a0to care and love for those around them. The salvation Isaiah prophecies in the Messiah to come is not about being taken away into heaven and out of hell, it\u2019s about redefining life in the here and now, so that oppression, injustice, suffering, pain, and death are no more.<\/p>\n
Only in this light, can we begin to understand why a baby born in\u00a0Bethlehem\u00a0is a moment for which angels would come down to heaven to sing for shepherds. The world is about to be remade. Injustice, oppression, suffering and death will soon cease. Immanuel has come to bring the kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. And this is exactly what Jesus does.<\/p>\n
The Gospels are not simply a three part act of birth, death, and\u00a0resurrection\u00a0that results in a cosmic \u201cget out of hell free card.\u201d Though, surely that is what the good news has been reduced to. The bulk of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are spent not providing a formula for getting out of hell, but describing a\u00a0Savior\u00a0who embodies another way of living in the here and now, a prophet who\u2019s message to His people is not \u201ccome down to the altar and get saved\u201d, but turn the other cheek, love your enemies, and care for the poor, then the kingdom of God will be established on earth as it is in heaven.<\/p>\n
Yes, Jesus talked about hell, but not as punishment for people who didn\u2019t believe the right things. It was the destination of anyone who chose not to participate his reordering of creation. As we see throughout Jesus\u2019 teaching in the Gospels, his good news isn\u2019t really that focused on getting out of hell. Jesus\u2019 news is good because those who had not been allowed to participate in the community of faith, like the Samaritans, tax collectors, the diseased, prostitutes, and sinners, could now find new life as part of the people of God.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re on the other side of that equation, when you\u2019re like most of us today who have relatively comfortable lives and don\u2019t really want for anything, it\u2019s hard to understand why that sort of gospel is good news. So, we replace that sort of good news with the good news that we\u2019re going to be getting even more stuff than we already have. Then Christmas becomes something worth getting excited about again.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s exactly when we need to hear the words of Isaiah once more.<\/p>\n
So, then how do we make Christmas a time of genuine, rather than superficial good news? And how does that gospel of Jesus regain it\u2019s relevance, not just at Christmas, but throughout the life of the church?<\/p>\n
Well, as cheesy and clich\u00e9 as it sounds, I think we could begin by\u00a0actually<\/em> putting Christ back into Christmas, just not in way the popular campaigns tell us to. We need to recover this moment as a time of hope and healing for a broken world. Instead of blowing all of our money on more stuff for ourselves, we should try the unthinkable and actually be Christ-like, using this time to bring miracles to families on the brink of bankruptcy, children suffering from\u00a0malnutrition, or prostitutes stricken with AIDS. That is the true\u00a0proclamation\u00a0of the gospel and the true miracle of Christmas.<\/p>\nIf the gospel is going to matter for the church today, then it must be about much more than conversion and getting out of hell. The good news isn\u2019t a new set of doctrines to believe. The good news is that God has come, dwelt among us, and begun to establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.<\/p>\n
So, does the gospel still matter? Yes, but only if it is the gospel of Jesus which heals the lame, gives the blind back their sight, and sets the prisoner free. If the gospel is nothing more than a list of doctrines to agree to or a prayer to be said, then it is irrelevant in the face of a lost and dying world. But if the gospel is what see embodied in the birth, life<\/em>, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, then the good news is nothing short of world changing.<\/p>\nThis Christmas don\u2019t just go and \u201ctell it on the mountain\u201d, rather be<\/em> the good news for someone in need. Be the gospel this Christmas and it will truely be a season worth celebrating.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 The other day Matthew Turner posted these videos from The Daily Show over at Jesus Needs New PR. They feature Jon Stewart, um, \u201crebuffing\u201d Fox News\u2019 coverage of the eternal \u201cwar on Christmas\u201d. As usual, it was pretty funny. And, as usual, it got me thinking. But maybe not exactly for the reasons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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They feature Jon Stewart, um, "rebuffing"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2011\/12\/does-the-gospel-still-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-09T15:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/christmas-service-1024x680.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2011\/12\/does-the-gospel-still-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2011\/12\/does-the-gospel-still-matter\/\",\"name\":\"Does The Gospel Still Matter?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-09T15:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-09T15:00:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\" The other day Matthew Turner posted these videos from The Daily Show over at Jesus Needs New PR. 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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/christmas-service.jpg\" "\\"christmas")
<\/a><\/p>\n