It's the third line of, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". We've probably sung this 18 million times. We might even know that we should be preparing our hearts to receive Him there in just a few days on the great feast of Christmas.
But do you realize that this one line in the title of this post perfectly summarizes the context into which Christ came? A faithful Jew of the first century would know exactly what this line means. If Exodus 12 and the events surrounding the first Passover were the great salvation event for the people of the first covenant, and the giving of the Law was the setting of the terms, then the Exile was the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. The siege of Jerusalem in 586 BC was awful. They starved to death. Parents ate their children in desperate attempts to stay alive. And for the next several hundred years, God's People were trampled by foreigners, by vicious men, who cared nothing for God and His Law. Jeremiah the prophet tells us more detail about that suffering than we probably would want to know. After the exile, prophets like Amos and Joel, while saying that Israel still had ways to amend, started to speak of a new covenant, and a new day when Israel's reproach would be removed. A king in the line of David would lead his "armies" in "battle" against the Gentiles, and they would convert. The kingdom was long gone by that time, but the line persisted.
Have you ever wondered in the Gospels why Symeon, Anna, and the Blessed Mother talk so funny? So Jewish? Because this is the story they are telling. The New Covenant is a Jewish story. Those are the three faithful people you meet right away. They have been waiting and hoping a long time. Look at Luke 19:41-44. Jesus didn't want to speak these words of judgment any more than Jeremiah did. Taking nothing away from the Church Fathers, (obviously) who give us many applications of a spiritual nature as the Church age moves along, there is so much in the literal sense we can miss, because we (Gentiles) are so fortunate and blessed. We say Jesus is prophet, priest, and king, and this is right. But in your mind at least once before Christmas, put "Jewish" before each one of those. Read the Gospel narratives as if you were Anna, who had heard and lived all the stories of trial her whole life. If your buddy Phillip came by and spoke the words of John 1:45 to you, how excited would you be? How fast would you leap out of that tree?
It's easy to miss, because we struggle ourselves--maybe mightily--with the life that the Lord is calling us to live. Or the life of the Church seems common and boring. But the next time you walk into that confessional, think of all the patriarchs and prophets, how they hoped and longed for Him you know by name. Every time you rejoice, you rejoice with them, and for them. If you're longing for Him, go back in your mind to their longing. Share it with them! In some way, we owe it to them.
But do you realize that this one line in the title of this post perfectly summarizes the context into which Christ came? A faithful Jew of the first century would know exactly what this line means. If Exodus 12 and the events surrounding the first Passover were the great salvation event for the people of the first covenant, and the giving of the Law was the setting of the terms, then the Exile was the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. The siege of Jerusalem in 586 BC was awful. They starved to death. Parents ate their children in desperate attempts to stay alive. And for the next several hundred years, God's People were trampled by foreigners, by vicious men, who cared nothing for God and His Law. Jeremiah the prophet tells us more detail about that suffering than we probably would want to know. After the exile, prophets like Amos and Joel, while saying that Israel still had ways to amend, started to speak of a new covenant, and a new day when Israel's reproach would be removed. A king in the line of David would lead his "armies" in "battle" against the Gentiles, and they would convert. The kingdom was long gone by that time, but the line persisted.
Have you ever wondered in the Gospels why Symeon, Anna, and the Blessed Mother talk so funny? So Jewish? Because this is the story they are telling. The New Covenant is a Jewish story. Those are the three faithful people you meet right away. They have been waiting and hoping a long time. Look at Luke 19:41-44. Jesus didn't want to speak these words of judgment any more than Jeremiah did. Taking nothing away from the Church Fathers, (obviously) who give us many applications of a spiritual nature as the Church age moves along, there is so much in the literal sense we can miss, because we (Gentiles) are so fortunate and blessed. We say Jesus is prophet, priest, and king, and this is right. But in your mind at least once before Christmas, put "Jewish" before each one of those. Read the Gospel narratives as if you were Anna, who had heard and lived all the stories of trial her whole life. If your buddy Phillip came by and spoke the words of John 1:45 to you, how excited would you be? How fast would you leap out of that tree?
It's easy to miss, because we struggle ourselves--maybe mightily--with the life that the Lord is calling us to live. Or the life of the Church seems common and boring. But the next time you walk into that confessional, think of all the patriarchs and prophets, how they hoped and longed for Him you know by name. Every time you rejoice, you rejoice with them, and for them. If you're longing for Him, go back in your mind to their longing. Share it with them! In some way, we owe it to them.
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