Devotional 12-7-10

How Will We Know Him?
The Lectionary readings for the week of December 6th include Luke 1:46(b)-55 and Matthew 11:2-11. The former appears in Luke’s birth narratives and tells the story of John the Baptist leaping for joy inside Elizabeth’s womb when she meets Mary while Mary is carrying Jesus. The latter is the account of an imprisoned John the Baptist sending a message to Jesus at the start of His ministry inquiring, “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” These two passages when laid side by side contain a little wrinkle for modern Christians. How is it that John recognizes Jesus so definitively in utero but falters in his recognition of Him, for sure, some thirty years later?

When sacred scripture is read metaphorically, there is no Christocentric contradiction here. The nature of Jesus’ identity has not changed nor has His role in salvation history been altered in these two passages. Rather the problem which creates the wrinkle is in John’s inconsistent perception or recognition of Jesus. As a baby, he knew Him instantly as Messiah . . . but, later as Savior, he was not so sure. In the above-identified Matthew text, John is in reality saying, “the miracles which this Jesus performs are persuasive evidence that He is Lord, but I really need for Him to come right out and say ‘I am ‘The One’.”

For us Christians, Advent is the season of unabashed joy. The Advent road is always adorned with the same familiar hallmarks: we neither get lost nor tired in traveling upon it. There is the star, the manger, the shepherds, and the wise men and the story culminates with the arrival of the baby . . . our Messiah. Despite the passage of each succeeding year without exception, we know and recognize Jesus as Messiah instantly on Christmas Day

What about the other eleven months of the year when the roads on which we travel are less certain? How will we know Him when we sit in the board rooms of corporate America and weigh profit margins against community obligations . . . or when we sit on juries to decide the guilt or innocence of defendants in courts of law . . . or when we reap a harvest which yields a thin crop . . . or when we look squarely into the eyes of the homeless on a cold winter night? The answer is that at all those times, in one form or another, we will ask John’s question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Christmas is easy. Faith is hard. Thank God for Christmas; its majesty sustains us all the year long.

And, as always, there is no small amount of irony included in the conclusion of this text from Matthew’s gospel. After Jesus answers John’s question by deliberately refusing to declare that, “yes, I am ‘The One,’” Jesus says this: “and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Biblical commentators tell us that the Greek word “offense” in this passage literally translates into “stumbling block” or “Happy is he to whom I shall not prove a stumbling block in their understanding of Almighty God.” Happy is he who, despite the poverty and obscurity of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, sees evidence of Messiah in Him and believes in Him as Savior. We have a basis for such faith. We have already welcomed Him as Messiah on Christmas Day when He was born in the humility of a manger.

Tom Craig