The Light of the World--by Linden Malki

       It is fitting that the celebration of Christmas, the coming of the Christ Child, happens very near the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (in the northern Hemisphere). A major part of this celebration is lights—in our houses, on our houses, our streets, our churches. Yes, it is possible that the actual birth-day may have been at some other time of the year, but it was God Himself who created the seasons and the cycle of the year, and the symbolism is appropriate—the coming of the Light of the World as we use more lights, and look forward to the longer daylight.

     Lamps were an important part of the worship in first the Tabernacle in the desert, and later the Temple in Jerusalem. We find the instructions for the lamps in Exodus 25, and the design was used until the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. These were oil-burning lamps, most commonly olive oil. These lamps had a stand with seven branches, each topped with a pot for the oil. We see the lamp mentioned in I Samuel 3, in the sanctuary at Shiloh, and it would have been part of the furnishings of the Temple of Solomon. We find the lampstands mentioned as having been taken when the Temple was looted by the Babylonians. We know they were replaced when the Temple was rebuilt after the return from Babylon, around 400BC.

     The lamps have an important place in a major historical event in the period between the Testaments. At the end of the historical and late prophetic books, we see the rebuilding happening under the rule of the Persian Empire, which was conquered by Alexander the Great, in 332BC. Unfortunately, Alexander did not live to actually rule his empire; he died of a fever in Babylon, on his way back to Greece. His generals split the empire between them, with Ptolemy based in Egypt, ruling Judea. There was a large Jewish diaspora community in Egypt, and the Ptolemies got along with them reasonably well. The Seleucids, who ruled from Syria eastwards,  took over Judea in 198BC, and were determined to bring Greek culture to their dominions, and wipe out the worship of God. It got to a point where the Temple in Jerusalem was defiled by the sacrifices of pigs on the altar. When a 

Greek official tried to force a priest named Mattathias to make a sacrifice to a pagan god, the Jew

murdered the man. There were reprisals, but in 167BC the Jews rose up behind Mattathias and his five sons (known as the Maccabees) and fought for their liberation. It turned into a guerilla war, and in 164BC they were able to liberate Jerusalem and the Temple. When they were preparing a ceremony to purify the Temple, they found that there was only enough consecrated lamp oil for one day, and no way to provide more without the Temple up and running. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This is still celebrated as the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, with the central symbol a nine-branched lamp: eight days for the festival, and one to light the others.  (In John 10:22-23, we see Jesus at this Feast.) The original menorah in the Temple was a seven-branched lamp, but when the Temple was destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, the golden lamp was taken to Rome as loot, and has disappeared. There is a legend that the Temple menorah’s central branch, which was always filled first, burned longer than the others up until 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, which would be 30AD. I wonder if that is related to the triumph of the Light!   

   

The Greatest Gift--by Linden Malki

We live in a world that itself is a gift.  We didn't make it,  aren't always the best stewards of it.
Our lives are a gift; we were made by a loving Creator.  Going all the way back in history, people knew that there are things in life that are  more important than our most prized possession, and need to be gifted.We owe our Creator that recognition!

For a man named Abel, only the finest lamb in his flock was worthy to be offered in obedience to God. His brother, however had different priorities. and following instructions was not one of them. His reaction to God's willingness to give him another opportunity to do it right was to make it worse:he, in effect, sacrificed his brother and his relationship with his family in his insistence on having his own way.  Our own way doesn't usually work well.

All through Scripture, we see that a relationship with God was always associated with offerings--the best of what they had.  But this was a constant thing; the offerings always needed to be repeated because the relationship was always endangered.  And God promised from the beginning that there would be a better way.

We are celebrating God's gift--that He Himself would supply the perfect offering on our behalf--it came as His Son, as a human baby.  From before His birth, it was promised that He would be the One to save His people from their sins.  On the baby's traditional presentation in God's Temple, a wise man of God gave thanks that he was allowed to see the one who would be God's salvation, at the cost of great suffering.  This baby--the one pictured on a zillion Christmas cards--grew up to be a Man like all of us, but also unlike anyone who had ever lived on earth. He told truth about God, told stories that gave us demonstrations of what God is like, and lived a life that we are called to imitate, with His help. And then the priests, in a week that saw the sacrificing of thousands of lambs, were the ones forcing the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb, the only perfect living being on the face of the planet.  And as He died, He pronounced the end of the imperfect sacrificial system: "It is Finished."  The system survived for a little while, but within a generation, the same social and political movements that led to this Sacrifice led to the sacrifice of the Temple itself and the end of the whole sacrificial system.  But it didn't end the results of the sacrifice--it was a once and for all permanent atonement for all who will give themselves to following the Lamb.

The lesson is still the same: we are not our own property. We were made by a Maker;  our "stuff" and our own way are not good enough.  We can have a different life here; and we can have a life forever in the presence of our Creator, if we accept the relationship we are offered through the Greatest Gift ever given.

And we sing in celebration: "A long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say; Mary's boy-child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day. Hark now hear the angels sing: A new King's born today, Man will live forever more because of Christmas Day!"*
*(Written by Jester Hairston, 1956)

We Will See Jesus as Priest!--by Linden Malki

In the earliest descriptions of God's dealing with man, it is direct. God was there in the Garden at the beginning, and the relationship, even after the Fall, was "one on one". We see Cain and Abel bringing their personal offerings to God, and God meeting them. We see Noah called by God to build the ark, and after the flood, bringing an offering. God's communication with Abraham was personal, even conversational. The first recorded mention of a "priest" bringing an offering on behalf of another person in Scripture is in Genesis 14, where Abraham, returning from a rescue expedition, is met by a mysterious man called "Melchizedek, King of Salem." One possibility is that "Salem" is the city that became Jerusalem; or it might be a figurative name: "Melchi" is a Hebrew root for King, "Salem" is Peace, and "Zedek" is Righteousness. Somehow this person is a representative of the Hebrew God, and Abraham gives him a tenth of what he recovered from the raiders he had been chasing. We never see him again, and have only a mention in Psalm 110 and then a description in the book of Hebrews (chapters 5-7) where he is described as being a "priest forever" because we know nothing about his background or his later life. 

The contrast is with the priesthood that we see for most of the Old Testament, based on Moses' brother Aaron. Moses is told by God to ordain Aaron and his sons as priests, to oversee the Ark of the Covenant, that contains the law given to Moses by God, and the tabernacle (and later the Temple) built according to instructions given by God, as the place that God will meet with the priests and accept the offerings of the people. Aaron and his descendants were people, with their flaws and sins--and had to make atonement for themselves as well as the people. With first the Tabernacle and then the Temple in Jerusalem, the priests became a major organization, based on the tribe of Levi--especially Moses' and Aaron's families and descendants. They were the custodians of the Temple, the teachers, the advisors, and judges--and the ones who offered the sacrifices of the people for the people. The royal family of David was from the tribe of Judah, so they was little overlap between the priestly authorities and the government, but they advised each other and power shifted between them depending on circumstances. It was not actually a theocracy, until the Maccabee rebellion in the 160 BC's, when the ruling family was the priestly family. Under the Romans, the next layer of authority below the Roman governors or puppet kings was the religious establishment. The priests and Sadducees--descendants of Zadok, Solomon's High Priest--lost their function (and often their lives) during the rebellion against Rome in 65-70 when the city and the temple were destroyed. 

Jesus, being of the Judean House of David, was not part of the priestly establishment; in fact, they considered Jesus a rival who should have operated under their authority. He did fulfill the role of priest in that he did preach the word from God to the people, and was a connection between God and His followers. This is most marked in John 13-17, when he told the disciples who He really was and prayed for them. The writer of Hebrews builds the concept of Jesus as a heavenly High Priest forever, which is closely related to the concept of sacrifice. 

As the church grew and needed leadership, a priesthood developed partly to replace the political vacuum as the Roman empire collapsed. One of the legacies of the Reformation of 15th Century and later in Europe was the concept of a "priesthood of all believers", that each Christ-follower has the right to approach God for himself, that we can minister to each other, and we do not need any intermediary before God except Christ Himself. 

We Will See Jesus as King!--by Linden Malki

One of the first descriptions of Jesus that we find in the Gospels is in Matthew, where we see visitors from the East, wise men from Persia, astrologers who study the changing patterns in the stars.  They say that they have seen a new star that according to their tradition signifies  the Kingdom of Judah (Judea) and the birth of a King. In the political climate of the times, it was not easy to be a king. Judea had a king, not of the royal line of David as prophesied, but a distantly related tribe who was given the job by the real rulers of the "world" of that time, Rome. Herod's job was to maintain the precarious balance of power between Rome and the Judean political powers, both those who were part of the religious establishment of the Temple in Jerusalem and had made an uneasy peace with Herod, and those who wanted to see the restoration of the kingdom of Israel and the Gentiles gone. Herod's answer was to tell the visitors that the ancient prophecies indicate Bethlehem was the source of Jewish royalty, and then to have all the baby boys in Bethlehem killed. He thought he was safe.  Meanwhile, the visitors had found the baby that they believed to be the one indicated, worshipped Him, left gifts suitable for the prophecies, and left without informing Herod. Nothing more was heard of a potential king in Bethlehem.
About thirty years later, a man resembling the traditional prophets appeared in the Jordan River valley preaching repentance and quoting Isaiah's prophecy of the Kingdom of God, and pointing out the man Jesus,  who he said was the one prophesied to bring the Kingdom.  The first reaction of  Nathanael, who became a disciple, said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” After Jesus had miraculously fed a large crowd, some of the men who saw what Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized  that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He left them and went to a mountain alone. Both his friends and enemies kept expecting Him to establish the Kingdom of God then and there, but Jesus tried to teach them that the Kingdom was about a spiritual relationship with God, rather than a political organization on earth.  Even then, there was growing restlessness among the radical political revolutionaries and the religious/political establishment. Ironically, it was His enemies who claimed the loudest that He was claiming to be King of the Jews.  In fact, that was the accusation that led to His arrest and hearing. At that time, the province of Judea was ruled by a Roman governor, who found himself facing an hysterical crowd of accusers and one accused man.  Pontius Pilate " called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”... 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”"What is Truth?" Pilate asked, and eventually sent Him to be crucified, with a placard that said "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews", in three languages. (John 18-19). Pilate had no problem calling Him King, as long as He was a dead King.
We know the rest of the story: Jesus didn't stay dead; He commissioned His followers to build the Kingdom with the power of the Holy Spirit, and returned to His Father, and to be King of all those who are subject to Him on earth, and will experience the full glory of His Eternal Kingdom.

Happy St Nicholas Day!--by Linden Malki

Today (December 6) is a church festival that has gotten blended into Christmas: St Nicholas' Day.  Yes, there is good evidence that there really was a Saint Nicholas.  He lived in the 300's AD, in  Myra, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor (now Turkey), at that time a Greek area.  It was a major trading city; is mentioned in Acts 27:4-6 as a stop on Paul's journey to Rome from Caesarea for trial after his arrest in Jerusalem.  There were churches in this area before 100 AD; the first bishop of the area was martyred by the Romans in 95 AD.  Nicolas was born here to a wealthy Christian family, but his parents died when he was  young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the
money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

The most famous story we have of Nicholas is his generosity to a poor family whose three daughters faced a situation where the parents were too poor to provide financially for them to marry, which left them with an uncertain future after their parents would be gone.  As each of the girls grew to marriageable age, a bag of gold pieces appeared through a window (or possible down a chimney) and traditionally landed in a shoe or stockings.  He became a well-known and respected leader in the Christian community of his day.  There are many stories of his care for children, and his anonymous generosity.  Within a century of his death on December 6, 343 AD,  he was considered a saint, and a church was built and dedicated to him in Myra in 520 which is more or less still standing. That area was overrun by Moslems in 809 and then again in 1087, but there is still a bishop assigned to the area.  The church was acquired by the Russian Tsar in 1868, who began a restoration, which is still underway.  The first worship service in several centuries was held on Dec 6, 2011.

The stories of St Nicholas and the tradition of giving gifts to children in his name spread throughout Europe, and came to America with the English and Dutch settlers. The Dutch  "Sinte Niklaas" got transformed into "Santa Claus", and folk stories grew and spread over the years, with his bishop's dark red robe and pointed hat turned into a red furry suit and tassled cap. With a festival day in December and the tradition of gift-giving, in modern America Santa became part of the Christmas celebration, which also celebrates a special Gift to mankind.

When I was a kid asking about Santa, my mom told me that we see many Santa's helpers around town at Christmas time, but the real Santa Claus was the Spirit of Giving.  I told my kids, and Sunday School classes, that "Santa" gifts are gifts given without wanting thanks or returns, but given in the spirit of a man of God who is remembered for his love for children and those in need.  As our children grow up, we can teach them to honor this memory by  giving out of love, as part of a community of people who love in the name of God's Son, the most important Christmas gift of all.

Have an Attitude of Gratitude--by Linden Malki

                                                                                                                                                             
"Thanksgiving" is a multi-faceted holiday.  The first thing that is usually mentioned is the historical instances of people getting together to give thanks to God for a successful harvest. This goes all the way back to the ancient Israelites; there were several celebrations of harvest at different times of the year. The main one is Sukkot, the "Feast of Ingathering" at the end of the agricultural year (Exodus 34:22). It also commemorates the Exodus and the care and keeping of God during a long and arduous journey. (Leviticus 23:42-43). There is also a spring festival of the wheat harvest, called Shavuot, counted as seven weeks and a day after Passover. It is also celebrated as the day on which the Torah was given to the Israelites. This translates as "Pentecost", 50 days, which is the festival being celebrated in Jerusalem on which the Spirit fell on the followers of Jesus and was the birth of the church. These are all things we should be thankful for!   Almost every culture in the world, ancient and modern, has some special recognition of thankfulness for the harvests and major turning points in their history.

The Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate in November is traditionally based on the stories of the early settlers of this country, as they survived their first years in a New World.  There is some  dissent on the historical  bases of this tradition, and there are those who object to celebrating events that led to conflicts and suffering for indigenous peoples.  Another side is that probably a majority of today's US citizens are descendants of immigrants later than the original settlers, and who have good reasons to be thankful for the freedom that they found here, compared with what was going on in their original home countries, as were my grandparents and inlaws.


I have been seeing more discussion of the importance of gratitude in our everyday lives, not just one day in the year.  Parents are being advised to teach their children to be thankful, not just in special occasions, but in their daily lives. This means that a lot of "stuff" and getting away with every whim is does not actually generate happiness.  Reasonable limitations and being appreciative and respecting others are things that we need to learn not as much by nagging as examples.  In general, God supplies what mankind needs, but not in easy ways. It takes effort to grow food, to raise animals, to build shelters, to do enough to take care of ourselves and each other. If we don't expect everything handed to us because we're so entitled, we will be able to be genuinely recognize that we aren't more important than God, and genuinely appreciate God and each other.