Part 3/4: Rescued with Joy

3rd Sunday of Advent We were created by God for the kingdom of eternal life with him; by our own free choices to turn away from God and 'go at it on our own' we've been captured by the kingdom of sin, death, darkness and Satan.  Jesus becoming a baby at Christmas is the invasion of one kingdom (the kingdom of darkness, hell, death, sin and Satan) by a stronger kingdom (the kingdom of God).   Jesus came as a warrior, a predator.  He became one of us, waited 33 years, lived and taught the kingdom of God by example, both showing us the way and luring in his quarry — Satan, the devil — and then finally on the cross Satan fell prey to the trap set for him in a manger decades earlier! Jesus on the cross is not poor or helpless. He's not the hunted. Jesus on the cross is the aggressor and the hunter.  And so when death unknowingly took in its jaws, chewed up and swallowed the Author of Life, something extraordinary happened: death itself was slain from within!  That's the good news that we have to share, that's why we can be full of joy this Advent -- Christ has conquered, and we can now live in His kingdom, if we so choose.