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The Virgin Birth (Advent 2012)

Joe Harby on December 16, 2012

Introduction

Last week we considered the meaning of the Incarnation. This week we will be considering another doctrine with a Christmas theme, and that is the biblical teaching about the virgin birth. You don’t need to be a Bible reader to know that the prophet Isaiah prophesied that a time would come when a virgin would conceive and bear a son. The passage has been included on countless Christmas cards, and so many non-believers of many stripes manage to get a dose of this doctrine just by opening their mail.

The Text

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14).

Summary of the Text

Theological liberals like to point out that the word rendered as virgin here is the Hebrew word almah, which can mean virgin, but it can also be legitimately rendered as young woman. So then, the thinking goes, you conservatives ought to think about this a bit harder, and join the rest of us in the 21st century as soon as you are able. But centuries before Christ, when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek by Jewish rabbis (seventy of them, according to tradition), the Greek word they chose to render this word almah was parthenos—and parthenos means virgin, as in, virgin. The famous Parthenon was a temple built in Athens to the virgin goddess Athena. With the use of this word, there is no wiggle room whatever.

So this means that centuries before there was any Christian agenda around to influence the story, the expectation among the Greek-speaking Jews (at a minimum) was that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. This is certainly how Matthew takes Isaiah’s words (Matt. 1:23). And Luke records the fact that Mary was a virgin as well (Luke 1:27), and Mary herself objects to the angel’s promise to her on the basis of it (Luke 1:34). So we know that the Bible teaches this doctrine. But does it matter, and if so, why?

Not Incidental

This is not an incidental point—our salvation actually depends on it. In order to serve as a sin sacrifice for us, the Lord Jesus had to be a true human being, and the Lord Jesus had to be sinless. If He were not truly human, the sacrifice could not have been the work of our representative priest (Heb. 4:15). And if He were not entirely sinless, then like the Levitical priests, He would have had to make an offering for His own sin first. This means He would not have been in a position to die for ours (Heb. 7:27). He could not be the sacrifice for us unless He was a sacrificial victim entirely without blemish (1 Pet. 1:19). And so—for the sake of our salvation—it was necessary to find a man who was a true man, and yet who was without sin.

Where can you get one of those? So how can God fashion a true human being out of this existing human stock without that “new man” being corrupted from the outset? The Bible says that we are objects of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3). So if Jesus was born into the human race in accord with the normal, natural process, He would have been an object of wrath also. So God needed to perform a supernatural act, but perform it with a true man-child. He did this through what we call the virgin birth.

Joseph, Begetter of Sinners

The Bible is clear that Jesus had a genuine human lineage, all the way back to Abraham (Matt. 1:1-16), who was himself descended from Adam. But the Bible is equally clear that Jesus never sinned (2 Cor. 5:21). The fact that He was sinless was obviously related to who His Father was (Luke 1:35), but also because of who his father wasn’t (Luke 3:23). The other sons of Joseph were sinners in need of forgiveness just like the rest of us. For example, James the Lord’s brother tells us to confess our sins to one another (Jas. 5:16), and then he goes on to tell us that Elijah had a nature “like ours,” including himself in this (Jas. 5:17). And earlier in the gospels, we even told what one of those sins was, the sin of unbelief (John 7:3-5). Joseph was father of one who became a great and godly man, a pillar in the church, but Joseph was not the father of a sinless man. If Jesus had been born to Joseph and Mary in the ordinary way, He could have been a great apostle—like His half-brother became—but He could not have been our Savior.

While we shouldn’t start speculating about the half-life of original sin, it seems clear from all this that sin is reckoned or imputed through the male line. This is fitting because Adam was the one who introduced sin into the world in the first place (Rom. 5:12).

A Real Miracle

Because Jesus did not have an immediate human father, He was not entailed in sin with the rest of us. Because He had a true human mother, He was as human as we are, and because He was without sin, He was more fully human than we are. From this we can see that the virgin birth is not just a random miracle story, designed to impress the gullible. It is a miracle, all right, but it is a miracle like the other miracles connected with the person of Jesus Christ. Like the Incarnation itself, this miracle is necessary for the salvation of lost and sinful men.

Jesus Christ was “made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3-4). The Spirit who worked powerfully in that resurrection was the same Spirit who exercised His power when Mary first conceived. It was the same Person, the same purpose and plan, and the very same power (Luke 1:35).

Nowhere Close to Done

And the glorious thing is that this same Spirit is not done. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:11). From beginning to end, the story that God is telling is a story of power. It begins with a virgin birth—but it certainly doesn’t end there.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Annotated (Advent 2012)

Joe Harby on December 13, 2012

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Introduction

We are accustomed to our Christmas carols, but we have to take care not to get used to them in the wrong way – where we are somehow singing and celebrating on autopilot. The word carol comes from the word carola, which means a circle or ring dance – a folk dance. Christmas carols, rightly understood, are a sacred kind of folk music, making them much more traditional than many of our other songs. This means they are more potent, both for good or ill.

The Text

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men'” (Luke 2:13-14)

Summary of the Text

You almost get the impression that the angel of the Lord had to tell somebody was just happened, and the shepherds were the only ones up. And then the angel was joined in the refrain by the multitude of the heavenly host (stars), and they were all singing about the most glorious thing that God had ever done for our sorry world.

Some Background on this Carol

This carol was first published in 1739, just a year after Charles Wesley was first converted. It was modified slightly for George Whitefield’s Collection (1753). Wesley wrote over 6,500 hymns and this one and Jesus, Lover of my Soul are usually reckoned as being among his finest. The Jewish/Christian composer Mendelssohn wrote the tune over a century later (in a work celebrating the 400th anniversary of the printing press), to which these lyrics were set by another composer, and published in the form we use in 1857. One of the things that Wesley was able to do, in a magnificent way, was combine high poetic worth with high theology. This hymn is actually a short course in systematic theology. And that is how we are going to treat it now. First, look at just some of his likely sources.

The Carol, Annotated

Hark! The herald angels sing (Lk. 2:13), Glory to the newborn King (Mt. 2:2); Peace on earth, and mercy mild (Lk. 2:14), God and sinners reconciled (2 Cor. 5:19); Joyful all ye nations rise (Ps. 117:1), join the triumph of the skies; With th’angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2); Christ by highest heaven adored (Lk. 19:38), Christ the everlasting Lord (2 Peter 1:11); Late in time, behold Him come (Gal. 4:4), offspring of the virgin’s womb (Is. 7:14); Veiled in flesh the Godhead see (Heb. 1:3), hail th’incarnate Deity (Phil. 2:7); Pleased as man with men to dwell (Jn. 1:14), Jesus, our Emmanuel (Is. 7:14). Come, Desire of nations, come (Haggai 2:7), fix in us Thy humble home (2 Cor. 13:5); Rise, the woman’s conquering Seed (Gen. 3:15), bruise in us the serpent’s head (Rom. 16:20); Now display Thy saving pow’r (Rom. 8:11), Ruined nature now restore (Heb. 2:8-9); Now in mystic union join Thine to ours (John 17:21), and ours to Thine (Heb. 2:11). Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface (Eph. 4:22), stamp Thine image in its place (Col. 3:10); Second Adam from above (1 Cor. 15:45), reinstate us in Thy love (Rom. 5:5). Let us Thee, though lost, regain, Thee, the Life, the inner man (Eph. 3:16); O, to all Thyself impart (Col. 1:27), formed in each believing heart (Gal. 4:19); Hail, the heav’n born Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6), Hail the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2); Light and life to all He brings (John 1:4), Ris’n with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2); Mild He lay His glory by (Phil. 2:7), born that man no more may die (Rom. 6:6); Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth (John 3:3); Hark! The herald angels sing (Lk. 2:13), Glory to the newborn King (Mt. 2:2).

Real Theology

Theologians sometimes say that true theology should be followed with doxology. This is because theologians like to use words with -ology in the suffix. What they mean is that doctrine should be followed by praise, and I would want to make the connection even tighter. Doctrine should be mingled with praise. Look at Paul’s response at the end of Romans 11, a hard passage of hard theology – it makes him burst into song. This hymn is a similar model for us. Hymns of praise need not be composed of fluffy clouds and sparkly unicorns. Poetry need not be heretical in order to work as poetry. We need to re-imagine the whole enterprise – Berkhof’s Systematic Theology: The Musical.

We need a name for the soul-damaging practice of making stupendous things dull. Jesus taught with authority, and not like the scribes (Mt. 7:29). Remember the three-fold aspects of true teaching, according to Augustine. It needs to instruct, delight, and move. We need a name for principled dullardry so that we might be able to post warning signs on every side. We must have a wedding between the content of what we say we believe and the shape we put it in.

What Then?

What do we have here then? We have, in the first place, joy (the herald angels sing). We have the message of salvation, the message of the gospel (God and sinners reconciled). We have a postmillennial vision (all ye nations rise). We have fulfilled prophecy (born in Bethlehem). We have the exalted Person of Christ (highest heaven adored). We have the virgin birth (virgin’s womb). We have the Incarnation (incarnate Deity). We have the indwelling Spirit (humble home). We have the defeat of Satan (conquering Seed). We have the new humanity (now restore). We have perichoretic union (Thine to ours). We have the doctrine of regeneration (give them second birth). And all this is just a portion.

We are not simply to sing our way into a particular emotional frame of mind. We are to sing with knowledge, and into knowledge. As we sing we are “teaching and admonishing one another,” as Paul says to do (Col. 3:16). We are to sing our way into knowledge – but it needs to be the kind of knowledge that provokes more singing. And all of it is get to, not got to.

A Christmas Conundrum (Advent 2012)

Joe Harby on December 9, 2012

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Introduction

Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus. But lest this become an exercise in jargon, we need to think through what we mean by it. If we were to reapply the apostle Paul at this point, we should celebrate with the fudge, but celebrate with the mind also (1 Cor. 14:15).

The Text

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4).

Summary of the Text

The apostle Paul was a servant of Christ (v. 1), called as an apostle (v. 1), and separated for his service in the gospel of God (v. 1). This gospel was promised to us all beforehand through the prophets in the holy Scripture (v. 2), and the gospel concerned the person of the Lord Jesus. Whenever we think about the gospel, we must think in two categories—in terms of the person of Jesus, and in terms of the work of Jesus. Paul here alludes to His work by referencing the resurrection (v. 4), but he is emphasizing the person of the Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ was made according to the flesh of the seed of David (v. 3). He was a Davidson. And He was declared to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (v. 4). Now Jesus was the Son of God the entire time, but He was not declared openly to be such until the resurrection established him as the first born from among the dead (Ps. 2:7; Acts 13:33; Col. 1:15, 18).

A Delayed Fuse

So what we find is that God placed certain truths in His Word, and the ramifications of these truths took some centuries to work out. The Church finally settled them in the Council of Nicea (325) and in the Definition of Chalcedon (451). Nicea settled that Jesus is God, and Chalcedon settled what that has to mean since He was also a genuine man.

So Start With Jesus of Nazareth

We know from Scripture that Jesus was a true human being. John makes a point of saying it bluntly. Their eyes saw Him (1 John 1:1), and their hands touched Him (1 John 1:1). He had a true body—He had bones (Luke 24:39). He got thirsty (John 4:7). He knew what it was to be hungry (Matt. 4:2). One time He was so exhausted that He slept through a storm (Mark 4:38). Scripture makes the point in countless ways—Mary gave birth to a baby boy (Luke 2:7). So whatever else we are dealing with here, we dealing with a fellow human being, someone who is not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb. 2:11). Jesus was a true man.

Start With Jesus Again

But He was such a remarkable man that to say He was just a man does not begin to cover it. This reality extends beyond His miracles—many of which had been done in the power of the Spirit by prophets before Him. From the very first, Jesus was identified by His followers as God. When Thomas saw Him after the resurrection, He said “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). God the Father speaks to the Son, and says, “Your throne, O God . . .” (Heb. 1:8). The Word was with God in the beginning, and the Word was God (John 1:1) and, lest there be any confusion on the point, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Word created everything, including the world He was born into (John 1:3). The fundamental Christian confession is that Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9-10). Further, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:13; Joel 2:32). The Hebrew in the passage Paul cites is talking about YHWH. Jesus is YHWH.

Jesus Himself had made this identification, and the fact that people still want to call Him a great moral teacher (only) is simply another argument for how remarkable He was. As Lewis points out, this is actually like claiming that you are a poached egg. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders that “Before Abraham was, I am.”They got His point, and picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy (John 8:58-59).

Yet Another Antinomy

Some people want the object of their worship to be fully in accord with common sense. But one of the first things common sense tells us is that this is an impossibility. Is God infinite? Yes, of course (Ps. 147:5). But can we conceptualize that? Of course not. Did God make everything out of nothing? Yes, of course (John 1:3). But can we imagine nothing and then something, on the basis of a Word? Did God ordain every word that we speak, before we speak it, and yet we are the ones who speak? Yes, of course (Ps. 139:4). It is the same here—we cannot do the math, but we can bow down and adore. This is not contrary to logic, but it certain goes well beyond our abilities in it.

Right Worship

So what are we to do? We begin with right worship, which in its turn—just as it did with the early church—will lead to right definitions. Right worship shapes our theology. In this case, we echo what our fathers at Nicea and Chalcedon said. Jesus of Nazareth is one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This one person had, unlike us, two natures, one divine and one human. These natures were not blended together, but were rather united in a person. They were not mixed up. They were not parceled out. The Incarnation was not God in a man-suit. It was not as though He had a human body and a divine soul. No—He had a complete human nature, and He was fully God.

As Chalcedon put it, that which can be predicated of one nature can be predicated of the person. That which is predicated of the other nature can be predicated of the person. Jesus is true God. Jesus is true man. But that which is predicated of one nature cannot be predicated of the other nature. Humanity is not divinity, and finitude is not infinitude. And glory goes to God in the highest.

Concentric Circles (Advent 2012)

Joe Harby on December 2, 2012

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Introduction

This might seem an odd Advent text, a text more in keeping with Ascension. But as we remember the Lord’s life, we want to remember the beginning at the end, and the end at the beginning. In the blessing of Simeon, Mary was told that her heart would be pierced through, and here, when Jesus departed, He told them that they would be witnesses “unto me”—witnesses of the whole story, as we can tell from the story these men went out and told. When they served as these witnesses, they started with the Lord’s birth.

The Text

“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:7-11).

Summary of the Text

When Jesus came to earth, the shepherds were on the ground, the angels were in the sky, and the Lord Jesus was in a manger. When He left this earth, the angels were on the ground, the future shepherds of the Church were on the ground, and the Lord Jesus was ascending into the sky.

The disciples asked when the kingdom was going to be established, and the Lord told them that it was not for them to know the times and seasons, which the Father kept in His own power (v. 7). At the same time, they were going to receive power when the Spirit was poured out upon them (v. 8). They were going to receive power, not talking points. When they received power, the gospel was going to spread in concentric circles outward, as when you throw a large rock in a pond—the splash was Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and then out to the rest of the globe (v. 8). After He spoke this, He was taken up (v. 9). As the disciples were gazing skyward, two men in white appeared next to them (v. 10) and asked why they were doing that (v. 11). Jesus is going to come again, the same way that He left (v. 11).

You can take this passage as almost a table of contents for the book of Acts. The Spirit falls in the next chapter, in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12; 2:1ff). That initial splash reached the men of Judea (Acts 2:14). We see by the ninth chapter that there were churches throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria (Acts 9:31). The rest of the book takes us out through the rest of the Roman world, with intimations of more to come after that—and here we are, on the other side of the world entirely.

Power and Place

The angels didn’t tell the disciples to hit the road as soon as Jesus left. They were to wait for His divine replacement, the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God, when He manifests Himself, is not shy and withdrawn. In the Christmas story, He overshadows Mary so that she conceives, and here He overshadows the 120 in the upper room in Jerusalem, so that the world might conceive. The power and Spirit of God came upon Mary (Luke 1:35), and the power and Spirit of God came upon the disciples (Acts 2:1-2).

Places don’t give you power. Power takes you places. Your spirituality is not a function of your GPS coordinates. The first place it takes you is right where you already are, the way you are. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that becoming a missionary will fix your problems—in many cases, it will only amplify them. Mission-heartedness will address your selfishness problem to the extent that such a heart gives itself away to people here. The power falls where you are first, you see the results of it there first, and then you take the show on the road. Power is in the drive train. Place is just the steering wheel.

The Church and Mission

The church does not do missions; the church is missions. So what is the assigned task? Think about this for a moment. Jesus did not say to go out into the world and get a representative sampling. He did not say to get a smidge from here and a smidge from there. He said to disciple the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). How discipled is discipled? Well, how wet is the ocean floor under the Pacific (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14)?

Mission Accomplished?

One of the dangers in sending out church planters and missionaries to Judea and Samaria is that this might make you think you can check Jerusalem off the list. But it doesn’t work this way.

You send out church planters and missionaries to establish a foothold or a beachhead in a new place as soon as you have consolidated a foothold or a beachhead in the old place. The fact that we are ministering in places like the Ivory Coast, or are involved in planting churches in other places in the Pacific Northwest does not mean that we have become a sending church in distinction from a mission church. We remain a mission church (as well as a sending church), and we must remain a mission church so long as a mission remains.

Resisting Mission Drift

Mission drift occurs in different ways. One of them is when the mission is redefined. Why are we here? What is the point? The point of the church is two-fold—birth and growth. But if we get our building (as we may in the foreseeable future), how easy would it be for the mission to change, and turn into “pay for upkeep on the building,” “keep attendance at acceptable levels,” and “become a community fixture?” No—building are staging areas for the next offensive. The mission is not done here until there are only three unbelievers left in town, and they are acting pretty worried.

Politics of Christmas

Christ Church on December 25, 2011

Introduction

The carnal, unbelieving mind always understands political rule in a particular way. The names may change—Pharaoh, Caesar, pope, or president-for-life—but the underlying realities are always the same. These realities have to do with tyranny and coercion, and the imposition of a right-handed power, the kind of power that is necessarily suspicious of biblical liberty. This is a carnal political power that breaks the two greatest commandments—it does not love God, and it refuses to love its neighbor. This is what denial of human rights amounts to—a refusal to love.

The Texts

“When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matt. 2:3).

“Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared” (Matt. 2:7).

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men” (Matt. 2:16).

Summary of the Texts

Jesus taught us that the children of this age are often more shrewd than the children of light are. They are often more aware of the ramification of what we say we believe than we are. When Herod heard of a king of the Jews, and of a star in the east, and of the wise men’s intent to worship Him, he was troubled (v. 3). And given his position and disposition, this was an entirely predictable and natural response. He was not imagining things. Second, Herod took the news that the magi brought seriously. He investigated their time line (v. 7), and he did so diligently. The birth of Jesus was a threat to him, and to his kind of rule, and he knew it very well. The seriousness with which he took these omens can be measured by what he was willing to do about it—which was to have the young boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas slain (v. 16).

From the Very Start

From the very beginning, the life of Jesus presented a potent threat to the status quo. This threat was not the result of Herod’s paranoia—Herod knew what many Christians do not. The birth of this child was intended to mean that the old way of ruling mankind was doomed. The transition from the old way of rule to the new way of rule was not going to be simple or easy, but it was going to happen. Of the increase of the Lord’s government there would be no end. But whatever it meant, Herod knew that he was against it.

Our Political Sins

But there are all kinds of workarounds that we have come up with, workarounds that enable timid Christians to rush in to assuage Herod’s fears. “There is no need to panic, no need to kill anybody, no need to do that.” But when we try to allay Herod’s fears by telling him, in effect, that Christ’s kingdom is an ethereal, spiritual, floaty-kind-of-thing, the problem is that we are bearing false witness.

Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins, and our political sins are not exempted from this salvation. Why would our political sins (which frequently have been among our foulest sins) be excluded? Jesus came as a Savior of our race. If that race was beset with seventeen different terminal diseases, why would Jesus come down only to heal two of them? And why would he leave the very worst of them untouched?

Too many Christians need to be reminded not to rob Christ of the greatness of His offered salvation.

A Bookended Life

When Jesus was born into this world, the attention of the existing rulers was drawn to that fact. The political leaders were told about it. A star appeared in the sky, and respected wise men cam on a long journey and they brought their news straight to the court. And when Jesus was condemned to die, He was condemned by the Roman governor, at the insistence of a mob stirred up by the national parliament of the Jews. The life of Jesus, from beginning to end, was a public life. He was born in poverty, but not in obscurity. Given the physical circumstances, it would have been obscure if the God of heaven had not made a point of leaving the rulers without excuse.

A New Way of Being Human

We have said many times before that Jesus came to show us a new way of being human. But this is not a lesson that we must learn “down in our hearts,” and nowhere else. No, humanity is what it is in the recesses of our hearts, and it is what it is in the public square. Mankind is what it is both within and without. It is what it is inside and outside.

If it is true that Jesus was born into this world to show us a new way of being human, this must necessarily include what we do in every place in which we find ourselves. This includes when we are alone, when we are in bed, when we are at the dinner table with our families, when we are out around town, and so forth. Of course it includes every aspect of our lives.

But it also includes every aspect of everyone’s life—from the lowest hired hand up to the CEO of the corporation, from the most obscure citizen up to the greatest political dignitaries. God wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, from the king on down. The transformation that Jesus has inaugurated is no partial thing.

A Political Act

And so your celebrations are all to be conducted in the name of Jesus, of course. He is the reason for the season. But more than this, He is the Lord of the season. He is the Lord of the season because He is the Lord of the earth. He did not come down here, He was not born on this earth, in order to work out a power-sharing arrangement with Caesar.

Let your Christmas celebrations be joyful therefore. But in order for it to be the right kind of joy, those celebrations should be one of the most political things that you do. It should be the sort of thing that carnal kings worry about.