The Joshua Victor Theory

Who is Jesus? That’s the most important question that we can ever ask, and should be asking this Christmas. We’ll find the answer in reflecting on God’s Christmas gift to us tonight: the Gift of Two Names—Jesus and Immanuel. Those two names will help tell us Who is Jesus? Matthew 1 is Jesus’ genealogy. His earthly family tree. A genealogy has a rather monotonous rhythm: “so and so the father of so and so the father of so and so…” and so on, down through all the names. But there are a couple of key places where the cadence is broken, like this one: “ Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.   The cadence doesn’t end with the predictable “Joseph, the father of Jesus”—because J esus is not the son of Joseph, but as the angel told them, He would be the Son of God. The Virgin birth! Jesus the Son of God, the Son of Mary. Joseph, her betrothed (legal) husband is only Jesus’ adoptive father , not his natural father; the relatio...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Though on Maui it might be a stretch—I want you to imagine two people huddled outside in the cold snow, perhaps under a dark shelter—but they are shivering, freezing. Then the sun breaks through the clouds with brilliant force, casting warm beams to the earth. But hidden under the shelter, the two are still frozen cold. Then one enters the sunlight, and suddenly feels the warmth soaking into all their body, face, fingertips, and toes. The other is still miserable, shivering cold in the dark. If the first simply says, “hey, quit shivering, just warm up!” but doesn’t bring them out into the sunshine, it does the person no good—they’ll still be frozen. Their words are empty sentiment. But if they’re brought into the warmth of the sunlight, they will immediately feel the chill and the cold fading away. Another example. In James 2:14-17, James describes a faith without works. He says what if a person was hungry ...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The cross of Jesus Christ is the convergence, the intersection, and climax of all the Old Testament prophecy, all of God’s plan of salvation, coming to realization in a crucial moment, the excruciating hours of obedience, and self-sacrifice. The Gospel reading from Luke documents the events as they unfold. We see how Jesus was treated, and we see how He, in return, treated those who accused, mocked, and mistreated Him. Jesus’ actions put flesh onto the words of Psalm 103:8-12, “ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us .” At th...