Welcome to Naznet's
Advent and Christmas Celebration

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 4: December 28

Ron Pruitt

Please, click on the midi player to hear the music. The music is Emmanuel

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The Fourth Day of Christmas

The Four Gospels (four calling birds)

There has been an injustice done. Only one.

The only absolutely sinless man to ever live has died. Just four days ago we celebrated his birth. Mary gave birth to God’s only begotten son.

We rejoiced.

We sang carols.

We feasted.

We gave.

We received.

What a celebration it was. We thought about it late into the night.

This is considered the fourth day of Christmas. On the fourth day of Christmas my true love (God) gave to me -- Four calling birds (The four gospels).

What are they calling? They are telling us the story of the injustice.

A story of a virgin giving birth to a son. A son who never needed punished his whole life. I believe we have recorded the only possible scolding Jesus ever received when he was twelve years old.

It is a story of a love being the absolute perfection of 1 Corinthians 13. It is a story of one who had the favor of all the common people. One who taught like no other could. One who was totally obedient to the Father.

Then disaster. Injustice. Death to the only innocent man to ever live.

We look at all the hurts in this world. We see Adam and Eve disobeying God. We see Cain killing Abel. And we would have liked to have been able to prevent it.

We see a president shot and killed. We see a bomb dropped on a city that wiped out all the living for miles around. We see a Challenger space shuttle explode, one of the passengers a beloved school teacher, her students watching the explosion.

We say, "What an injustice!" "What an atrocity!" We want to change it. We want to go back and correct it. We all feel the pain. We want to justify it in our own thinking and for all who have gone through the pain of it.

But as unfair as we see it, as much pain as there is by it happening, it is the result of missing the mark. Not being perfect. Making the wrong choices. All the way from the choice of Adam and Eve.

Yes, as unfair as it seems it will never compare to the death of Jesus on the cross. He did not make wrong choices. He did not sin. He could never deserve death for the life he lived.

The rest of us do. We say the means of death is sometimes brutal, but it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement.

Jesus had no judgement to face. He did not deserve death. Yet, he died. It was finished. There is no reversing it. A true injustice has been done and it is the result of our lives and choices. There is no restitution for such an injustice. No way to make it right. It is an infinite injustice and the gospels tell us about it.

But that is not the end of the story. The injustice was not the finalé. The grave could not hold him. Death could not get a grip. He overcame and because he has gone through the same suffering we go through. Because he died as we deserve. Because such an infinite injustice was done he has paid the price that makes all of those who will receive the gift from him free from our sin and death. He is the sympathetic high priest. He can say to the Father, “My death was unjust and will never be made right. Even if you put the sins of the whole world on me, they are not my sins so I can toss them off and free the sinner.” He holds the key. He calls us brothers. He was the perfect sacrifice that can never be reversed. Whose blood will never lose its power. The blood of Abel calls out to us as does the death of so many who have had a horrible death, but the blood of Christ does more than call out to us. It cleanses us completely.

Jesus, thank you for the calling of your blood as described in the four gospels. I cannot begin to comprehend how you lived a sinless life on this earth, but you deserve every praise and honor, the highest respect, the greatest majesty, the gift of ourselves to live such a life, as you enable us to, for you. All things have been given to you and rightfully so.

Amen

~ Ron Pruitt
Sarasota, Flordia, USA

Daily Scriptural Readings*
[Psalm 18] [Isaiah 12:1-6] [Revelation1:1-8] [John 7:37-52]

Lord Jesus,

Thank You for bringing us good news, God spell, Gospel. We have never needed anything else so greatly. You warned of days of wars and rumors of war. All through history and even today such concerns abound. But, in You we have the victory. You have won the battle and the enemy IS defeated. You have paid the great price for our freedom, our salvation, our deliverance. And all you asked is that we keep Your commands. Help me, Brother, to love.

Amen

*These readings are adapted from the Daily Office of the Book of Common Prayer, Year 2. For Year 1 readings, see Daily Readings, Christmas 1.

Music provided by The Sounds of Christmas. Background provided by The Bud.
Graphics for the Twelve Days of Christmas by Detroit News
The Animations were designed by Nathan Harris. These are used with permission.