Christmas Musings #6 Operational Zeal

 ⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:7 English Standard Version

“Well, I think it’s stupid. You’re about to go some place where there are men who will try and kill you, and you think it’s a good thing. I think it’s stupid.”

Christy sat on our bed in Medenbach, Germany, watching as I packed my ruck for deployment to the invasion of Iraq the next morning. I had tried to explain it to her; but, there was no changing her mind, or mine for that matter. I’d been in the Army for fifteen years, and aside from a short deployment to Kosovo, had never really deployed to combat. Now at last, I had my chance to put all my years of training and experience to the test. Needless to say, I was quite excited, zealous in fact. I would not head out for future deployments with the same zeal. After the first deployment, I knew first-hand the peril and the wounds spiritual and mental armed combat brings. I would go without dragging my feet and willingly complete my assigned mission; however, experience diminished the zeal. When Jesus faced His deployment, He like any good soldier, did so with zeal.

The Marriam-Webster dictionary defines zeal as: eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something : FERVOR. Jesus approached His incarnation and time as one of us, knuckle-dragging Cro-Magnons, with zeal. He wanted to come. He eagerly sought out this chance to do His father’s bidding. Hebrews 12:2 puts it this way, “² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” For the joy set before Him! Jesus approached all of His human experience with joy. This is why, at its core, advent is a joyous time. We celebrate the advent of the Christ, and He set the example.

Jesus did not come to earth dragging His heavenly feet. He came with zeal, ardor, enthusiasm, with joy. Our redeemer longed to bring in His lost sheep, and willingly came into our darkness to do so. Often when facing an unpleasant, but important task, I moan and complain about my sorry lot. This is unlike Jesus. Deployment to a combat zone is tough. I went from May until October without a hot shower. I bathed out of a bucket. I got very little sleep, about three or four hours a night when I got sleep. I wore two uniforms for a year, wash one wear one. I found out that getting shot at, IED’d, rocketed, and mortared was not fun. I had to do things that still give me the chills, and I saw things I’d like to forget. But I did all of that without changing who I am. I remained Matt Robinson, human being. It was different for Jesus. His deployment came with an incredible transformation, the incarnation. In the next few days we will look at this wild spiritual transformation, an act that still defies easy comprehension. But for today, let us think on the fact that Jesus moved from heaven to earth with great zeal. He took on this mission with joy. He set aside His glory to save us with great ardor. So when we celebrate advent, we’re joining Him in a joyful celebration.