The Apostle Paul said, “When the time had fully come God sent his son…” He came from heaven, from his sovereign grace and throne to earth with the full confidence and authority of the Father. This is the full mystery of the Incarnation that God became man without ceasing to be God. Jesus came at a particular time to a particular place. What can we say about that place? POLITICALLY Palestine was a third grade province ruled by a Roman Procurator or Governor who, in the days of Jesus was the one we know as Pontius Pilate, who acted rather like a modern Secretary of State in Northern Ireland. Rome was in complete control and her soldiers walked the streets of Jerusalem just as they did for some 100 years. This was a great humiliation for a proud people who responded in a variety of ways-some, like the Sadducees and Herodians co-operated completely on the one extreme while others like the Zealots acted as modern day terrorists determined to get the Romans to go home-the equivalent of the IRA’s Brits Out or the Nazi cry of Juden Aus . Simon was a Zealot but was chosen by Jesus even before he came to faith [?] to be an apostle. A kind of prevenient grace as at the Baptism of an infant? This was an occupied territory and, let’s face it, the only interest the Romans had in it was that they needed to have a presence in the Middle East to keep her position in the world pecking order. The Sadducees and the Herodians were prepared to co-operate completely in order to keep their position in society. The Sadducees were the aristocrats of the day a bit like the old Anglo-Irish families who belonged and some still belong to the peerage so that they are in the rather strange position of sitting in the House Of Lords while being Irish citizens and not British! [people like Lord Longford and Mountcharles] RELIGIOUS GROUPS Included the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes and the scribes. The Sadducees were a conservative group in religious terms as well as in political terms. They did not believe in life beyond the grave so for them there was no resurrection or eternal life. The Pharisees were nearer the coal-face of life because they came from the ordinary people but they sat with the Sadducees on the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. They saw their task as keeping to the letter of the Torah, the Law [what we would understand to be the entire OT] In Ireland today we hear a lot of rhetoric but recently we have become accustomed to the language of a new breed of politician as the talk about their political analysis. The analysis of the Pharisees was that the reason for the hardship experienced by the people during the Babylonian exile & subsequently was caused by the sin of the people-this was entirely right-that is what God had told them in the covenant with King David. They decided that this was not going to happen again and the way to make sure was that they would obey the Law to the letter-while their analysis was right their corrective course of action was wrong-because it seemed to be based on a false concept of God- a concept which seemed to think that one step out of line and their were for it-they understood God to be a despotic tyrant. They developed a system of rules to govern the minutest details of behaviour. For instance, there were 39 types of work prohibited on the Sabbath, and there were regulations to cover the swearing of oaths, the washing of cups and plates, and the maximum travelling distance allowed on holy days. They said that the Torah had 613 commandments-248 positive and 365 negative and all were to be obeyed. The next issue was how to understand them and so the people were “hedged” by the understanding of the Pharisees-this led to them to interpret things like what is work on the Sabbath-so they understood that when Jesus was walking with his disciples through the countryside and when he picked some corn and rubbed it in his hands he was working. Jesus had some very severe things to say about these men-he called them white washed sepulchres and vipers because while they began with the right analysis they went very wrong and were leading the people wrongly-that is why teachers of the scriptures will be judged more severely than other people. They were using the Law to burden the people. ESSENES They were different to other groups in that they withdrew from normal life. They lived like monks in the dessert-some say that John the Baptist was an Essene. What they did was probably to write and copy the large number of manuscript known to us as the Dead Sea Scrolls. They also longed for the day when the Lord would come and liberate the people. SOCIALLY Today sociologists tell us that a good judge of a society is to see how it treats the weak and marginalized- the old The infirm Women and children etc. J.F. Kennedy said at his nomination for he presidency “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich” Women and children did not enjoy a good position in that time. Women had no rights and were regarded as the property of her husband-he could divorce her if she displeased him-some Rabbis said that burning his dinner would be sufficient grounds. Children had no rights either and were considered to be slaves of the father who could literally do with them as he sought fit. The action of Herod in killing the children was not unique. It was into this world that Jesus was born and lived and worked. The impact he made on that society was that he transformed the thinking of the world by transforming the people he came into contact with. Look at how he treated the children- Matt 18:1-6 "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 19:13ff 13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." As we look at the faith and trust of the child we are reminded of the kind of trust we are to have in Jesus Christ. In the baptism of a little child we are reminded of a grace which God extends to us even when we are unable to respond-a kind of prevenient grace which draws us to God and anticipates faith. A faith which is ratified and fulfilled when we make our own decisions. Women – Jn 4 demonstrates that Jesus was willing to reach out to women and even to Samaritan women at that with the good news. Jesus seemed to make all those who were marginalized feel accepted; the sick and the infirm, the blind and the demonised. He felt for the widow and the poor and he told the rich to give what they had to help them. The secret of Jesus attitude was not that he knew the Law and his responsibility but that he too had stood where they stood-he was born of a woman and in Mary he received his humanity. In his family life he learnt about life-life in all its fragility and weakness. So he understood and understands us. In all of this we give thanks for the way Jesus has reached out to us to give us life. What is our reponse to be? Simply that of the little children-to love him and to spend time with him and to obey him . He loved it when Mary sat at his feet in conversation. Quite simply because as our father he knows everything and has our best in mind. Our response? Simply LOVE HIM.