So many ways to consider what we mean by being “blessed.”  Some of us have been blessed out before.  Or tried to receive a father’s blessing to propose to our future bride.  We bless sneezes.  We have more substantial blessing, with prayer and anointing, crossing ourselves or having hands laid on us.

In the south we’ve been blessed every kind of insincere way.  You might here somebody say, “She’s dumber than a bag of hammers, bless her heart.”  Or, “Bless his heart, he can’t help being ugly, but he could’ve stayed home.”  So what’s it worth?

A good place to start wondering about blessing is to ask yourself if you feel blessed, truly?  When we try to answer that most of us by habit jump into listing the stuff we’re thankful for, we “count our blessings.”  But, really, take a minute and think about what makes you consider yourself blessed or not.

Our blessings are all different, some will list things:  water, food, clothing, a home, a car, an income.  Others will list relationships:  family, friends, God.  Or maybe experiences/ideas:  love, forgiveness, general safety, a “free country”, life in general.

I ask because we’ll all answer so differently, we reckon blessings so differently.  I mean, take two people whose lists above are identical, with virtually the same life situation, and they’re probably going to feel differently about how blessed they are (or even if they think they’re blessed).  So it’s hard to wonder what blessing means.

This isn’t something new.  People in Jesus’ day probably wondered the same.  And the word they used for being blessed, makarios in the Greek, has a range of meaning that proves the point.  It can teach us something, I bet.

For one thing, makarios, blessed, was originally a word used to describe only the gods.  The Greek gods were the blessed ones, and that makes sense, according to their beliefs these gods were in a state of happiness and contentment that was beyond all cares, labors, and even death.  They were beings who lived in some other world far away from the problems of ordinary people.  The blessed ones.

So it makes more sense that in day to day life, there was another group that was also eventually known as “blessed”.  The elite, the upper crust of society, the wealthiest and most powerful.  Because, like the gods, their riches and power put them above the normal issues and worries of ordinary people.

Even sometimes among those who believed in God, the One true God, this same idea of being blessed was reserved for those who were rewarded for their right living.  Remember, some felt like if you lived righteously then even earthly success would come your way -- a good husband/wife, many children, abundant crops, etc.

I bring that up because I bet it sheds light on why an idea of blessing is hard to nail down even today.  Because our culture, just like back then, throws around the language of blessing in an assortment of circumstances.

So, like, I couldn’t help but notice a Tweet from CJ Spiller recently that mentioned something about his “feeling so blessed.”  I’ve heard him talk that way before and most of us wouldn’t disagree.  I mean, quite right, this outstanding high school athlete who came from humble beginnings and made it on to an awesome college football career, and now further to the big time in the NFL.  And not just in the events of his life’s story, but in his natural talent – insane speed and agility on the field – it’s easy to grant him that title, “blessed.”

Or for our Oprah fans, she’ll often use this language of being blessed – this woman who is literally one of the most wealthy and influential in the world, again having come from humble beginnings and through life’s traumas to the top.  Blessed?  It’s easy to say so.  And I’m not knocking their use of that language, they’re also both faithful people and they certainly do good things with what they’ve been given, and we can give God glory for that.

But I think it’s too easy for some of us, and even probably them and other folks in positions like them, to think certainly these folks are blessed.  Why should any of us be quicker to use blessing language with CJ or Oprah, than with ourselves or others we know?

I think it’s no wonder this same word is sometimes translated as “happy.”  Happy.  Which, in English, is connected to “luck.”  As in, when you leave things to “happenstance”, you treat life like a shot in the dark.  Whatever happens, happens.  A “hapless” person is somebody who’s just unlucky.  But the lucky person, who has things going his/her way, we can call “happy.”  Somebody with good fortune.

As in, being blessed is for those who are above the ordinary things, safe and secure and successful, like the gods, the “happy” ones who just seemed to have been born under a lucky star.  Maybe that sounds silly to you, but lots of these feelings mess with our understanding of blessing.  Let that sink in.

And now we’ll hear from Jesus’ words to a crowd that certainly wrestled with the same feelings.  Famous words.  Here at the beginning of his preaching and ministry, with the first crowds gathering together, made up of every kind of person, Jesus went up and sat on a mountainside to speak to them (hence, “the sermon on the mount”).  And he started with words about blessing.  It’s in Matthew 5:1-12 if you’ll read it

How does Jesus speak to being blessed?  Up and against most of what culture told the people back then, and what it tells us, Jesus offered up another option, and he spoke matter-of-factly of what is and what will be.  In the face of everything that makes sense in what we think of as the real world, Jesus offers a different reality.  Where blessing might mean something very different.

If the world defines blessing in terms of being “god-like”, above the ordinary, luckily “happy”, then I think Jesus paints a picture that is, overall, Christ-like…blessedness that he describes as in touch with his way and his kingdom.

So taking the cue from Jesus, we can answer some basic questions about life from both perspectives:  the cultural/wordly “god-like” mentality and the “Christ-like” view.  Then we can see which reality rings truer to our hearts.

1.       Who are those that will find true comfort?

god-like:  Those who do so much good God essentially owes it to them.  The best-behaved, most holy and devoted among us.

Christ-like:  The poor in spirit.  Like some say, maybe particularly those who see their own brokenness and their need for being saved.

2.       Who are those that will find true comfort?

god-like:  They who take comfort in their material wealth/security and possessions.  The ones who fill the void themselves with something else, who comfort themselves.

Christ-like:  Those who grieve and will be comforted in a deep way, by the presence of the One who swallows up death for us.  And by the Spirit of God, the comforter who lives in us.

3.       Who are those who will take possession of the earth?

god-like:  The ones with the biggest weapons, who are most aggressive, conniving and cut-throat.  The wealthiest who can buy it all.  The most cunning who can acquire it from the unwary.

Christ-like:  Those humble to the God to whom it truly belongs.  Those who receive an inheritance from the God who created it.

And you can go on down the list from Matthew 5 and consider the depth of how Jesus’ answers here to some of life’s basic questions can drastically redefine “blessing.”  Having considered it, which reality do you feel more kinship to?  Which one do we each try to live into and propagate on the face of the earth, consciously and unconsciously?  What kind of blessedness do we want to be connected to?

Because to me Jesus' tone on that mountainside wasn't one of persuasion.  It wasn't one of being talked blindly into something new.  It was and is a challenge to the status quo of our life's reality.  And where we go from there is in our hands.

Ever tried God's shoes on?  Even the simplest of ways.  Have you ever wished for a fleeting second that the temperature would stay a constant 70 degrees year-round?  Ever wonder "why" with the mosquitoes, snakes, spiders, fill in the blank?

With a baby on the way, we were talking to some friends who're in the same boat, about what it is to try to be prepared for the kid.  We've registered at Babies R Us and seen eight different types of baby bottle and all that.  So many options, so many choices potentially gone wrong.  So, why oh why, God, not just have babies pop out as three-year-olds, potty-trained and talking?

These are wonderings, questions, towards God or whoever/whatever you might think is responsible for the order of things:  why is it this way?  How else could all this have gone?  I like asking those questions of God like right now during "Epiphany" season when we spend a lot of time considering God as a man in Jesus.  Talk about, "how else could this have gone?"  It's a wild time in earth's history, for God to do what God does here.  Particularly in John 1:29-42, right after Jesus is baptized.  Read it if you will.

And look at the scene, as we watch the absolute starting point of this whole movement that would follow Jesus.  And, I say, wonder how else this could have gone.  Because it's honestly a little strange, a little willy-nilly.  Here John the Baptist, Jesus' own cousin who was the special man sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, who has a following of his own, has just baptized Jesus and now realizes just who Jesus is.  And to me it almost sounds like he is overwhelmed with the excitement of it, the surprise even -- during these couple of days after the baptism, John and his followers are hanging around, and whenever Jesus comes by John just bursts out like he can't hold it in, "LOOK, THE LAMB OF GOD!"  And if he was so surprised, if he's just finding all this out, him who should be Jesus' right-hand man, what a strange way for God to operate.

Then, even more, when some of John's disciples hear who Jesus is and decide to go follow him at a distance, curious about where he's staying, Jesus turns to face them.  And he doesn't exactly sound cordial, does he?  I mean, you can read it as almost rudeness.  Here his first disciples ever are starting to feel him out and follow, and he turns around to ask, "What do you want?"  We can wonder how this whole thing even panned out, eh?  What's God up to?  Why not do it differently, like, to ensure a little better that this Jesus thing would stick.

So let's take a minute to consider how else this could've gone.  To do that, we're stepping into God's shoes a little bit, temporarily.  Call it sacrilegious, but if you will, take a minute and really settle into pretending that you and I are God (it's not real hard, we do it all the time).  And we have all power and know-how at our disposal.  And the universe actually does revolve around us:

So...what do we desire here by the Jordan with John and Jesus and these disciples?

Well, that'll take some review.  As God, how'd we get ourselves to this point?  Real quick, let's think back.  We just got done, moments ago, finishing making everything.  Creating the universe, right?  Finishing our masterpiece creature, the humans.  Then resting.  And it was all "good."  Remember that?  Okay.

And the very next thing, right after our humans jacked everything all up...we decided to save them.  And to save everything.  But how to do it...?  Well we let the cat out of the bag over the years, through the prophets and lots of other things, that through the Jews in particular, and through one man, the Messiah, we would save things.  And, truly, that Messiah is God, God in the flesh.

And what would we do in the flesh?  What's the Messiah up to?  If we're honest then, frankly, we sent him to die.  We know that, and so does he.  He knows that he came to earth to give up his life at the hands of evil men, so that he could enter into death, charge straight in, and destroy it once-and-for-all.  He knows his mission.

But there's more to the mission than just him dying.  If that was all then we could just wait until he hit a ripe old age and let him pass painlessly in his sleep.  We didn't just send him to die, but to live.  Because we need for people to get to know him, to believe in him, and to choose him as their Messiah to be saved.  Otherwise his death would seem in vain.

Alright, so here we are on this day.  Look at him, Jesus, he's here on earth.  He's a good-looking young man (at least we think so).  Maybe in his 20's, just baptized, and it is GO time.  I mean, he has a short time here while he's still alive to teach, and do some discipling, and start a movement so he leaves some believers in his wake.  Because, oooh, if we do a really good job the people won't just believe and be saved, but even after Jesus leaves the earth, they'll carry on without him.  Think what that could mean!  The movement won't be limited by time - generations after generations can believe and be saved.  And distance, geography, or culture won't limit this thing - we'll go way past just the Jews or Jerusalem, but to the ends of the earth.  All that, we can redeem everything and bring it all back to us, if his followers are devoted enough and filled by our Spirit.

What an idea.  That's what we want.  We want to bring them all back.  And we'll need serious enough followers that this movement will work and keep working and survive the wild/terrible days to come.  After all, as God everything we've ever done in creation will depend on this.  How to find true disciples...followers...how?

That's the question we're stepping into God's shoes to answer.  Forgetting how the story really went, standing here by the Jordan, how else would you or I go about starting this movement?  How will we take this 20-something unknown named Jesus, who has no real credentials as far as we know, and have him generate a following that will last?  There's too much at stake here to mess around, we should be looking for a sure thing.  So, how?

I'll give you a hint, a starting point:  think about the movements around us, in history and our culture, that are really strong.  That have withstood time, or swept us up into them and have strong influence over us.  Where do you see strong followings? Here are some that I think of, or that others offered up:

1) KISS fans.  That's right, my friends.  The rock band.  But think of other music groups, too.  Do you know those devoted concert-followers?  Whatever genre of music, there are some die-hard fans.  Why?  Maybe it's the gimmick, the marketing.  Throw on some face-paint and costumes, this whole image that KISS portrays, and maybe add to it the "sex, drugs, and rock & roll" deal.  They invite their fans to share a wild experience.

So why not harness that kind of movement for Jesus.  Here by the Jordan, let's have him costume up, set off some pyrotechnics, stick out the long tongue, and invite the crowds into a rocker following?  Promise them that lifestyle?  It's an option.

2) Football fans.  Another type of fan, because we're trying for Jesus to draw some devoted "fanatics."  So what about sports fans?  Why do some of us go so hardcore for our team?  My dad said, "Being raised right" is what produces Gamecock fans.  Okay, so indoctrination, even as children.  We connect a team to childhood and family and happy memories (or unhappy) and it shapes us for life.  We see the same effect gone way too far with child soldiers in conflicts like that in Uganda, where young children are forced to kill and see/do dreadful things to desensitize them.  It warps them into killers, ruthless soldiers.

If we're God looking for a sure thing to produce loyal disciples, why not turn to this kind of method?  Indoctrination, desensitization.  That leads us to another useful option...

3) Use of force.  Like child soldiers, gangs, and so much more, why not go with outright coercion?  Playing on fear, there are ways to threaten people into following.  A gun to the head, "get in line or die."  If that doesn't work, we could always take people's loved ones hostage and threaten their lives.  Now that's persuasion.

Here by the Jordan River why not move King Herod to drum up the army and force people to bow down to Jesus?

4) Addiction.  Think about the drug dealer's trick:  give somebody a free little taste of the product, and you've got a client hooked for life.

Jesus could set up as the number one crack dealer in Israel, or whatever else.  Could slowly get us all hooked and - suckas - you're stuck following him for life.  Can't do without him then, can ya?

5) Debt.  Okay, we can establish Jesus as the head loan shark in Palestine, and sooner or later everybody will owe him and he can own them all for life.

6) Bribery.  Maybe easiest of all, we can just try to "reward" everybody.  Say, give them all a salary for life and a beautiful pension if they follow Jesus.  Ooh, if not wealth then status.  We could set Jesus up as some famous playboy cruising the Gaza coast in his yacht.  Make him one to be desired that way, a trend-setter, the elite.  That throws in an air of this movement being exclusive, too.  Only the few get past the velvet rope.  That's a powerful following.


The list can go on and on.  Mighty influences around us, and there are plenty of other versions.  The worst part is that so much of how we the Church approaches Jesus' movement looks like some of these.  Because some of these methods are just easy, they tap into deep human needs, and they can be about as close to a "sure thing" as we can get.  If we're God trying to create a solid movement, which do we choose?  Think on it.

And compare now to what actually happens in John 1, and now today. Does God work any of these ways?

No.

Why?

It won't last. God wants us to choose.  Jesus will never force himself on anyone.  Ever.

And above all, God is love.  Do we see any love in that list up there?  Any goodness?  Maybe a little here and there (music and sports, come on!).  But not a whole lot, and I think none if anything on that list dominates our devotion and consumes all our following.

God is love and wouldn't resort to schemes that would ruin the very creation God set out to save, just to hang onto it.  So think carefully then about how God really worked (and works).  All of those other options were at God's disposal, but he loves us so much that he works this way in John 1.

It looks like a terrible long shot.  There's no good reason that John the Baptist, this raving lunatic in the wild, should've really attracted folks like he did.  No promise of reward there.  No coercion.  But people started to follow.  Why?  Because something about his message rang true in the hearts of the people.  They felt the truth and love of God in him.  And because he was trusted, because of the credibility that the truth had given him with the people, when he vouches for Jesus it's the beginning of something.  He passes his credibility to Jesus, some of John's own disciples believe it and start following Jesus instead.  Those would-be disciples creep up from a distance, scoping out where Jesus is going.  When Jesus stops to ask, "What do you want?" I don't think it was rude.  But he was clearly asking for the followers' intentions.  The disciples beat around the bush... "Where are you staying?" they ask. And Jesus replies:  "Come and see."

A wide open invitation from the King of all kings, from God in the flesh, to come and spend his time together.  And the passage says, "they spent the day together until late in the afternoon."  By that time, the would-be disciples are full-fledged and on board.  Followers for life.  That was it.  And lastly, they go off to their loved ones, Andrew goes to his brother Peter, and now they vouch for Jesus.  And because of their intimate connection, their personal credibility together, Peter believes Andrew and comes to meet Jesus for himself.  The cycle starts over again.

He didn't pick any of the options on our man-made list of disciple-making techniques.  Instead, they and we receive a chance to choose, an open invitation to follow or not.  It's a choice that takes intention ("What do you want?") but that also leads to ultimate life in intimate connection to the One, True, Living God.

So it seems pretty standard that people bond over common experiences, eh?  Fraternities think of it maybe as the "pledge class" effect, wherein you lump together any odd mix of dudes and force them to undergo all sorts of anguish and/or triumph together to cement the "brotherhood" bond.  As in, "Hey, they just made me eat dirt and do pushups all day in the pouring rain, and they did the same thing to you.  We're brothers now."  Then you hug it out.

That pattern shows up all over the place.  If you and me share an experience, it can be the common ground that breaks the ice, or lets down our personal defenses some, or builds trust and credibility.  I think it's what goes on with CBS' Undercover Boss.  Watch the clip:

So, CEO's and presidents and owners of huge corporations take time to head down into the daily trenches of the company.  The owner of 7-Eleven stores does a graveyard shift as a stockboy, or the the CEO of 1-800-Flowers sweeps up flower clippings, etc.  They get an idea of the what makes their business great or terrible at the ground level; and in the end, the employees probably lend their boss some more credibility.  Because they can say, "He/she, the big cheese, knows what I do every day."  There's value there.

I wondered this week if it's the same thing with Jesus being baptized.  Every year this Sunday comes around, and we consider that Jesus, God in the flesh, came to the Jordan just like everybody else to be baptized by John (in Matthew 3:13-17).  In part, on the surface, I appreciate Jesus' baptism because, yes, it's the biggest of big cheeses, the owner/operator of all things, coming to do what the average person does.  Rubbing elbows with the common folk.  I think that's some of the meaning.  But surely not everything, because unlike the TV show, Jesus came to stay through to his death...it wasn't a temporary experience before he jumped right back to the CEO's ivory tower penthouse.

And we have some clues that this is a really significant event, maybe not just Jesus doing it 'cause everybody else was and this would be their shared common experience.  What clues?  Well, God is present in a particular way, the voice speaks from heaven and the Spirit appears like a dove -- a one-of-a-kind event.  And another clue for me is that John the Baptist seems not to even expect this move.  John, Jesus' cousin, the special one chosen to preach and prepare the way for the Messiah, maybe should be the single person most in touch with Jesus' mission -- and he seems clueless, even almost upset, trying initially to prevent Jesus from doing it.  Something is afoot here.  So...what?  Look around the scene there, and ask questions.

A couple more clues are below the surface, found in the deep story of God's people over time.  For one we go back to one of the most famous ancestors in their history, Moshe (sounds like "Moe-Shay").  He was given that name because as a child in ancient Egypt the Pharaoh set out to kill little Hebrew boys like him, his parents floated him in a basket in the river so he might survive, and he was drawn out of the water to safety.  Moshe, or Moses.  And when he grew up he served as the voice/hand of God to deliver the people from slavery.  And then a second time he and all the people were rescued by being drawn through water, the sea.

As the story continues, through decades of wandering through desert, fighting and hard work, as God's people drew close to the land they had always been striving towards, that God had promised them, they hit a river.  The Jordan River.  And it might as well have been named the "It's go-time" river because the people on the other side were fortified in the land, hostile to God, and the biggest battles were waiting there.  There was another leader there, not Moses now but Joshua.  His name, Yeshua, meant something special, too, "The Lord saves."  And to cross the river he sent the Ark of God ahead and the rushing water parted for the people to cross into new territory.

So if we were in the crowd the day Jesus was baptized, maybe these things click a little, from somewhere deep inside.  The Jordan River has significance.  The story of our people is one that has been marked by God's rescuing us through water, and then plunging on into a new adventure.  And the biggest theme there is that when those things happen, God is there personally present to do it.  Working wonders through Moses and the others, present in the whirlwind of fire and pillar of cloud, in the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, and so on.  Journeying all along with us, and never abandoning us.

When the big wonders had been done before Pharaoh and the people were set free, God didn’t say, “Well, I got you started here, good luck, see you later.  SEE YA!”  No.

When Joshua and those met the Jordan, God didn’t say, “Got you this far, opened the way across the river, now head in and see if you survive on your own.  SEE YA!”  No.

And when Jesus shows up to be baptized, he didn’t say, “Okay, John, I’ll take this baptizing thing…(baptize, baptize, baptize)…alright now y’all go start this Christian movement thing… SEE YA!”  No.

He chose to be baptized.  And like had happened in God's story before, it's the beginning of something that he is personally present with.  Like God saying, "I'm here on the ground with you in a special way, and we've got a journey to make."  A journey of salvation marked by water, a journey into newness.  It was no accident that Jesus' own name was quite special, reminiscent of Joshua's, meaning "The Lord saves."  And in Jesus it's very much as if God says, "And as I go with you, don't doubt how truly here I really am.  I'll feel your hurts and joys, I'll be tempted just like you, and come under attack just like you."

So it seems like through the ages God had been, and is, trying to teach God's people about the nature of God's character.  Not just that there's some little shared experience to bond us together before God goes back to heaven to leave things to us; not that we have some half-true "pledge" bond of brotherhood.  But that God is here, has been and will be.

Even when it seems absolutely not the case, God has gone nowhere, for Jesus and this story teach us that God never abandons.  So we are invited into the same baptism, the same mark of God's grace, the same sign of being rescued, and the same beginning to an adventure story.

In the third or fourth grade there was a teacher in our school named Mrs. Rapp.  And by most of the ways that kids judge a favorite teacher, Mrs. Rapp didn't do real well.  RARE to even crack a smile, never tolerated misbehavior of any kind, quick to reprimand and punish, always in control of the entire classroom, authoritative and heavy-fisted.  There's probably a little exaggeration in there, and I'm not trying to knock her as a person, but through 8-year-old eyes she was pretty tough.  If you know how big a deal it was in the 3rd grade to be sentenced to "silent lunch", when a teacher could call for the entire lunchroom to sit and eat without a word to each other, then know that Mrs. Rapp would declare silent lunch at the drop of a hat, and we all knew it was for real.

So guess whose number came up when it came time to be drafted into her classroom in the 3rd grade?  No, not mine.  My brother's.  And where I was always absolutely sheepish and shy, especially in the face of authority, my brother was more sure of himself, and bold, creative, energetic, and too smart for his own good (maybe making him hard to motivate/entertain in class).  So needless to say sometimes I think he and Mrs. Rapp had their clashes.

One of the ultimate means of punishment at our school was "the wall".  The long brick wall of the school-building directly adjacent to the playground.  Right there close enough to the action that it was torture to be stuck with your back to it at recess, watching but unable to even talk to your friends.  I hated the wall and spent maybe a collective ten minutes on it all my years a the school.  Sometimes it seemed like my brother had a permanent membership card.  Now, he was a good kid like I said, and mostly I think just talkative, but with Mrs. Rapp that was trouble.  At the time I was scared for his life, but looking back I like it a lot.  I appreciate the way he did, because looking back it's how most of us felt and wished we'd done -- he stuck it to the "woman", he wouldn't take her junk sometimes, her tyranny.  He stood up for himself, the "little guy."  Well done.

Because I, and most all of us, know what some of that feels like, the desire to stand up for ourselves and not be controlled, or kept quiet or held down.  Seriously, does anybody like those feelings?  Do you like backseat drivers, or people looking over your shoulder or being harshly critiqued?  Do we like being babied against our will?  Or told you can't do so-and-so, or just don't do it. Do we like having our choices made for us?

No.  No.  No.  We hate it.

However.

For all of us there are those times when we do want something akin to all that.  I bet you.  What about when we have a ridiculous decision to make, and all the options sound equally good or bad, and we just don't know what to do?  Do we ever wish even slightly that somebody would just step in and choose for us and let it be done with?

What about when we face something we don't feel prepared for or equipped to succeed at?  Do we ever wish somebody would swoop in and do it for us, or at least get it started?  Okay, back to the third-grade mindset, what about something like a science project?  "Aww, Mom!  I don't know where to start, you do it."  That's not usually a cool feeling to me, to be ready to ask that, besides our parents weren't ever much to do that sort of thing for us -- but have you ever known the wish for that kind of crisis-intervention?

And what about when we just don't know what the future holds, and there's big stuff on the line?  Do we ever wish somebody could step in and assure us of the road ahead, or map out how it's going to go?

Okay.  Then as much as we say sometimes, "Let me be me!  Don't tell me what to do or how to do it.  Don't control me."  The next breath, under certain circumstances, can be, "Why didn't somebody step in and stop me?  Or stop them or that from happening?  Why didn't somebody warn me?  Why did I have to choose?  Why wasn't I given all the info ahead of time!?"  And so on.

Does it sound very fair?  Particularly when I bet that most of us put responsibility for all that on God's shoulders, one way or another.  I mean, think about it, I bet some of the times we get maddest at God, the times when our relationship with God is most in danger, are those when God doesn't step in and take the reins the way we demand it.  If our relationship with God is going to begin in a deep way, or even just survive over time -- if we're not going to totally resent God -- maybe foremost it will take FLEXIBILITY.

We see that at work in Matthew 2:13-21.  The basic Christmas story has kinda wrapped up, the part we put into pageant form.  We're at a point when things are supposed to finally just be fine for Mary, Joseph and their newborn Jesus.  They weathered the scandal in Nazareth, survived the trek to Bethlehem, have met the shepherds, heard about angels, been visited by strange wise ones who followed a star -- altogether they've had, literally, that "halleleujah" moment.  Because Mary and Joseph's crazy faith/hope have finally been confirmed.  Things have come true and the great work is done -- the baby is here now.  Mission accomplished.  But the very next thing we hear, immediately after the wise men left, Mary and Joseph receive another message, because of the danger posed by King Herod:  "GET UP AND GO."

We can relate, some of us.  Do you ever work for carrots?  As in, don't many of us work towards something that we dangle out in front of ourselves as motivation to get through the work day or week?  What are they?  Our pay, our salary.  Weekends, vacations, happy hour.  Personal satisfaction maybe.  A certain meal or certain comfort or certain person at the end of the day?  So imagine that at the end of the 14-hour day from hell, with the perfect bubble bath already warm and drawn, candles lit, music playing, and afterwards the perfect meal with the special someone waiting, just as your toes hit the water, the phone rings and you gotta go back in.  After all the preparation, just about to enjoy the reward...time to get up and go again.  Hello, Mary and Joseph.

Can you imagine the conversation between Joseph and God?  It's the middle of the night in Bethlehem after all these wonderful events, and God speaks through the angel:

God:Get up and go, they're coming to kill you.
Joseph:Wha?!  What?
God:Get up and GO.
Joseph:Now?
God:Now.
Joseph:Go where?
God:Egypt.
Joseph:But what will I do?  How will we survive, will they need carpenters?  How do we know Herod won't catch us on the way?  ... Wait, wait.  ... Why not send those angels right back?  ... They can take care of Herod.  And we can go ahead and set Jesus on his throne now, and it'll all be already done...  The Messiah's rule can begin...  Aww, I bet this is what you had planned all along--
God:Get up and go.  Now.
Joseph:How long will we stay in Egypt?
God:I'll let you know.

Would any of us struggle with that? Maybe some of our very calendar-keeping people... "How long do we stay in Egypt?" "I'll let you know, so pay attention to your dreams." Whaaat? Flexibility is the word.

And now the bigger deal, what's huge here, is that it's not just Mary and Joseph whose lives are on the line in this moment...but also Jesus'.

And with Jesus in danger, so is the fate of humanity, and of all creation, that Jesus came to save. Everything God had ever done in all creation, everything prepared since the beginning, hung on Jesus' life. And STILL God entrusted it to the decisions Mary and Joseph were making, because God's not a "take the reins" kind of God, as much as they might have wished it.

He is severely invested in our freedom, and leaves it to us. Think what that means for us, and our relationship, for God to put that much at stake in the hands of this carpenter and wife, to hear the dream, actually listen, get up and go. Now think what's entrusted to you. And realize that God loves you and me enough to never force us to do anything. God has never forced anybody to do anything.

So we also see the danger in Herod of an abuse of our freedom to choose. He decided, "I'm not on board with what God's doing here, I'd rather hang onto this kingdom for myself." And his choices produced great suffering for many, many of the innocent. That's the weight of our freedom.

But ultimately we also see the great gift of obedience in Mary and Joseph and later in Jesus. That to get up and go, to follow, even to the death, is where we find our fullest, most abundant life.