John the Baptist had a question
for Jesus that many others since the time of John's initial
question have also asked. "Jesus, are you really who you
claim to be?" Keep in mind that John had noticeably stirred
within his mother's womb when she had greeted the pregnant
Mary. John was present at Jesus' baptism and had declared
that Jesus should have been baptizing him. Although John was
present we do not know if anyone other than Jesus heard the voice
from heaven following Jesus' baptism declaring, "This
is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." Still,
in the early going John was convinced that Jesus was the real
Messiah, the Anointed One of God.
But things change. John's boldness in his preaching got
him into trouble with political leaders and their so-called spouses.
Sitting in prison during the early months of Jesus' ministry
was probably not very easy for John. He was not the type of guy
to be missing out on the action. John's followers kept
him apprised of what Jesus was doing and quite frankly, it was
not what John had expected. He had prepared the way by declaring
that the Messiah was coming with fire and sword to bring judgment
upon the land. His message was a warning: "You had better
be ready."
However, John's disciples were telling him something
different about Jesus. He was blessing the poor and the weak.
He was asking people to be peacemakers and to rejoice when they
were persecuted because they followed Him. People were to put
away their anger. They were to not judge others. They were to
search for the Kingdom of God and to engage in doing good for
others. These words hardly sounded like the fire and brimstone
preaching John the Baptist had used and had predicted the Messiah
would also employ.
Then there were the reports of how Jesus was healing those
who were unclean, even Gentiles. He calmed storms and chased
away demons. Crippled people walked after Jesus forgave their
sins. Blind people saw again after Jesus touched their eyes.
What John the Baptist was told was that Jesus taught a message
of good news and then backed it up with His powerful healings.
This was not what John had expected of God's Messiah so
he sent his disciples to Jesus asking Him, "Are you really
the One we are expecting to come from God?"
That question still gets asked in a variety of ways today.
The Church in many places is being rejected as being irrelevant.
Jesus' message doesn't play well in a world where
power is held in great esteem. People are asking, "Where
is your God?" in light of an AIDS epidemic that is spreading
and devastating whole countries. People wonder where God is when
people who claim to be following God are taking dozens of lives
each day. Poor people wonder where God is when the rich seem
to get richer while the working poor cannot afford housing nor
have access to health care. People wonder where God is when more
than half of all married people get divorced and the courts are
full of people who have abused their spouses, their children
and their elderly parents. People wonder where God is when billions
of dollars are spent on drugs and alcohol as some try to avoid
having to face reality. Some need something to excite them because
reality just doesn't provide enough. Look at the recent
television shows. Everyone and everything is being made over.
In reality most of these so-called changes are really only skin
deep and nothing is really changed all that much.
Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip
has character Charlie Brown, a loveable loser, say, "I've
developed a new philosophy — I only dread one day at a
time." He cannot trust his friend to hold a football still
while he kicks it. His baseball team never wins. He cannot afford
a pair of gloves to give as a Christmas present to a girl he
likes. He can only handle so much.
Kent Nerburn writes in Small Graces (New World Library
1998), "Ours
is a transient life, lived on the run, with an endless sense
of process, of movement, of chasing the future. We seldom pause
to shine a light upon the ordinary moments, to hallow them with
our own attentiveness, to honor them with gentle caring. They
pass unnoticed, lost in the ongoing rush of time."
"Yet it is just such a hallowing that our lives require.
We need to find ways to live the moments of our daily lives — to
celebrate and consecrate the ordinary, to allow the light of
spiritual awareness to illuminate our days. For though we may
not live a holy life, we live in a world alive with holy moments.
We need to take the time to bring these moments into the light."
In Isaiah 35 the prophet declares that God will water the desert
places and bring life to them. The weak will become strong; the
blind will see; the deaf will hear; the lame will run. Sorrow
and sighing will disappear as the redeemed of God will be led
on a path into God's presence.
John asked Jesus, "Are you really God's Anointed
One or should we look for another? Jesus told John's disciples
to tell John, "the blind see; the lame walk; the deaf hear;
lepers are cleansed; the dead are raised; and the poor hear good
news."
This past weekend I listened to 93.3 radio out of Peoria. They
were raising funds for the Children's Hospital and had
many interviews with people who told of the miracles there. The
local paper had a story about college students at ISU who live
together because they want to do positive things to help those
in need. It never seems like enough but thousands are fed and
sheltered each day. Miracles of modern medicine cure illnesses
and prolong quality of life. Hearts, lungs, kidneys and other
body parts are transplanted. Artificial parts replace worn out
or damaged ones.
I am not trying to turn my back on what is wrong in our world.
I am painfully aware of it and guilty of not doing enough to
help correct it.
But there are lots of things that are right and are getting
better. Millions of people came to Christ this past year. Thousands
of people were moved into Habitat homes they could afford. If
we don't see the good taking place in the midst of the
suffering and the ugliness then we are being blind.
I think we need to ask two questions other than asking God
where God is. First, "God, have I really given my life
to you?" Related to this the second question ought to be, "Am
I truly making the best use of the gifts and opportunities You
give to me?" When we can honestly answer yes to these questions
I believe we will know that God has arrived and is in our midst. |
