Does life make any sense? In the face of tragedy and loss do
people of faith have anything to offer?
Yet we too live in such a world. There are Herods yet
remaining in this world, children die needlessly, and we all are touched by
tragedies and loss. People seem particularly prone to illness, flu season hits
hard, and depression and mental illnesses lurk at every corner. Some suffer
from “post holiday blues.” Despair can appear to be normative.
The way Matthew tells his story, Jesus coming to be with us
(Emmanuel) did not immediately change all realities. Herod was still Herod,
wielded terrible power, and used it inhumanely. He did not, like the wise men
traveling from the East, recognize that there was a shift in the pattern of
things. Yet Matthew is persistent: Jesus had come. A new king had now appeared.
The power of God was real, even if it seemed hidden or obscured by the work of false
gods and kings.
Without a biblical worldview, it can seem like words are
meaningless, the universe is pointless, and our presence is irrelevant. Yet
from within the context of Matthew and the rest of the Bible, we learn that our
perceptions can be wrong. Sometimes our vision is cloudy, our thoughts wander, our
willpower is misdirected, and our emotions can trap us. Yet God is still at
work in this fallen world. God is working so that nothing good is lost and so
that all will ultimately, if not now, be made complete and whole. There is
continuity between the God of then and the God of now. And slowly, step by
step, breath by breath the God of next will lead us forward. This is the Hope which
will see us through until all things are made new. -- David
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