God the Father makes a deal with his Son: you redeem the earth like Adam was supposed to do, and through you I will fulfill all my previous eternal covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. The Son keeps his part of the deal. So the Father keeps his.
Paul starts off nicely enough, but quickly begins to sputter curses and then launches into his personal testimony.
Paul relates how he visited the bigwigs in Jerusalem, and then had to rebuke one of them. Is the Gospel really all about eating and drinking and body modification, or is there something deeper going on?
Paul gets into the meat of his message: God’s law is great, God’s law is good, but it could never transform you into God’s child. So why oh why are you trying to use it that way now?
Those who demand circumcision are saying, “God wants you to be a Son of Abraham!”
“That’s true,” Paul replies. “But which son?”
The Galatians have been set free to be free. “So be free!” Paul says. “But what does that look like?” they wonder. “I’m so glad you asked!” Paul says…
As Zechariah the Priest contemplates the first Christmas ever, he begins to realize that the Roman empire is not the enemy — he is. And then he realizes it doesn’t matter, because God is a “me for everyone” kind of God.
Luke describes the prince’s birth and early years, a story featuring migrant workers, a few shepherds, and some old people. The reader is told to wait: it’s going to get better!
A crazy prophet shows up in the desert and announces that a new Prince Joshua is coming to conquer the land, defeat the dragon, and bring on Judgement Day. Some people ask how they can join the prince’s army when he arrives. Other people throw the prophet in prison.
John the Baptist anoints a guy named Joshua (Jesus, in Greek), announcing that he is the prince everyone has been waiting for. The prince visits the dragon’s desert stronghold to announce the coming war. The dragon tries desperately to negotiate.
