Good morning, Nativity!
In Wednesday’s Morning Prayer the appointed reading was from Ephesians (Eph 2:1-10). The first verse of that lesson tells us:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…”
(Eph 2:1, ESV; the bold emphasis is mine)
The night before doing Wednesday’s Morning Prayer, I had finished a sermon for the Wednesday Healing Service. The appointed New Testament reading for the Healing Service was from Hebrews (Heb 2:14-18). The first verse of that lesson contains:
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things…”
(Heb 2:14, ESV; the bold emphasis is mine)
My Wednesday sermon contrasted the choice of sin, made by man, and the choice of Love, made by Jesus. Both the Morning Prayer and Healing Service readings highlight the impact of sin and Love upon the human condition, flesh and blood.
I apologize to those who attended the Healing Service on Wednesday, some of this will be a repeat. But two bible passages at two different services on the same day on the same thought tells me that it is worth exploring a bit more thoroughly. A larger audience, more than the five of us at the Healing Service and the two of us at Morning Prayer, was supposed to hear the message of those two readings!
Humankind chose sin, which resulted in the weakness of human flesh and blood. That choice resulted in death.
The human condition of flesh and blood implies weakness and frailty. We all know that our flesh and blood will one day pass away. The weakness of our flesh and blood was not God’s design. He made us flesh and blood with the expectation of immortality. After finishing His creation, which included us as flesh and blood, God proclaimed it “…very good…” (Gen 1:31, ESV). Humankind chose sin in the fall, introducing the weakness of flesh and blood, resulting in our mortality.
Jesus also made a choice concerning flesh and blood. Jesus chose to give up His immortality, to assume our weakened human condition, to die as one of us. “…He himself likewise partook of the same thing…” (Heb 12:14, ESV). Jesus did not make His choice out of sin – for He was sinless. Instead, Jesus made His choice out of Love for His creation.
Note that Paul in his letter to the Ephesians used the past tense (“were dead“). Because Jesus Christ chose Love and became flesh and blood, because He died for our sins, death is no longer the end. Those who have chosen Jesus Christ will still die but will rise again as Jesus rose.
It is a choice between sin and Love, between death and Life. We still face that choice. By choosing Jesus Christ, we choose Love, and we choose Life.
In the Peace and Love of Christ,
Fr. Tim+
(941.321.6376; tmac_84@yahoo.com)