Tower 20 - 2011 Christmas message -
In November 2011, The Lord gave me a Christmas message to share with men recovering fromphysical, emotional or sexual abuse,
as I stood at the wall in the park in Newington - overlooking Olympic Boulevard
the place where the world's athletes lived in our Olympic Village in 2000.
and so at Christmas we come to Bethleham
to a stable the only place made available for Mary and Joseph
even though the town had many of Joseph's relatives
their homes were full because of the cencus. Luke Chapter 1 verses 1 to 7.
it was really quite outrageous - baby born in the stable
a smelly, unhhygenic stable with animals.
we would say it was humiliating.
further the neglect of the baby Jesus occurred when he was placed in the manger (food trough)
lying in smelly unhygenic but soft hay.
abondonded by their extended family.
He is the Son of God, saviour of the world
the great contradiction is He was already suffering neglect.
He came into our world - a world with dark places
a world where innocent suffer
a world where He came from the wrong town - Nazareth
His parents fled Herod's tyrany - the jeoulous King sent soldiers to kill every child under the age of two.
Matthew Chapter 2 veres 13 - 18
they were assylum seekers.
in Australia we call them que jumpers , who are arrested and detailed to check if they are genuine refugees.
they lived in Egypt - a foreign land. we would assume they were marginalisd.
and yet this was an intervention into human history by God who
placed a star in the east which wise men saw and followed to pay homage to the new born King.
Matthew Chapter 2 verses 1 to 12
and heralding angels appeared to shepherds out in the fields Luke Chapter 2 verses 8 to 20
they were about as socially acceptable as bikies gathering out in a lonely park on a country road.
not the usual invitees to a palace to see the new born Prince.
but this King lived with the people
He had no priviledges
when He grew up He wasn't the usual preacher / pastor -
- He turned water into wine at a Wedding where they drank so much wine the host ran out
- He visited and ate with publicans and "sinners"
- He asked fisherman, a tax collector and common men to be His team members
now it's Friday night - the night before Christmas eve
I'm at my study desk writing up whhat the Lord showed me today
After only three years ministry He was arrested
found innocent then sent to be executed because the leader gave into the demands of the crowd.
a miscarage of justice
And so Jesus Christ took on Himself the sin of the world
including the shame of perpetrators laid on inocent kids to release us from the heavy loads we the adult survivors carry.
He took false guilt, shame, our pain and destroyed it on the cross
He took our demands for justice and our anger at the perpetrators
and had it destroyed under the lashings and the pain of the nails
He took our pain. like a thief He took it. I'm glad He did.
He showed me that He broke the power of the sin against me.
yes Jesus - who told the parable of the Good Samaritain ( the parable of the robbed man)
yes Jesus who told the parable of the lost sheep
yes Jesus who forgave the woman caught in adultary
He is the annointed one which the prophet Isaiah said would come ( Isaiah 61 verses 1 - 9)
the one with a ministry to us, the survivors of physical, emotional
or sexual abuse or violation when we were children - boys and girls.
and sexually abused adults - men and woman
He is the one who is the light of the world
His light shines into the dark places in our hearts and minds
where we locked away our trauma, our fears, our pain,
and our memories of things no adult or child
should be subjected to.