A
funny thought occurred to me just now. What if Christians, who know the Church
Calendar, would lovingly answer back, “Yes, and Merry Christmas to you,” when greeted
by someone who simply says “Hello,” or “Good to see you” during the Christmas
Season (especially as days seven and beyond come and go)? Would it be
newsworthy? Would a “War on the Christmas Calendar” news thread begin on our
news stations when people do not respond in kind? OK, facetious part of post
now done; moving on...
On
this last day of this Christmas Season, we will briefly reflect on a common
story heard when people start to follow Jesus. The story, which is wonderful
and I praise God for them, basically says someone’s life was “a mess,” and then
they met Jesus...after this encounter their life got “straightened out,” and
here we are. Again, I am thankful for stories like this. They show us how God
meets people where they are.
Yet
we need more (and more) of another type of story. The type of story we need to
hear more of goes something like this... “my life was great and I ‘had it all’...and
then I met Jesus and He turned my world upside down.”
I
know there are stories like this, we just need more of them – especially in our
culture where pursuing the American Dream is so prevalent. After all, Jesus is
not merely Savior; He is also Lord.
What
I mean is the “my life was a mess until I met Jesus” story has a Savior bent to
it. Yet the, “my life looked like the epitome of success until I met Jesus...”
story has a Lord bent to it.
This
reality does not make one story better than another. Nor does this reality mean
Jesus is more Savior than Lord or vice versa. Jesus is both, and we need a
growing realization of both if we are going to truly follow Him – wherever He
leads us.
Interestingly,
while I said the “my life was a mess” type of story has a Savior bent to it,
the aspect of Jesus is Lord/King is not absent from this story. E.g., there are
ways citizens of a kingdom behave – because their King says so (and this is
bigger than morals).
Likewise,
the “my life was great until Jesus ‘messed it up’” type of story has a
Lord/King bent to it. Yet it is not devoid of the reality of Jesus as Savior.
E.g., the person who has been rescued by Jesus (saved) had been deceived by the
cultural influences around them. While they need a King to submit to rather
than their own wants and desires...they also need to be saved from the hole in
which they live (perhaps after having dug it for themselves).
Yes,
Jesus is Savior and Lord. If your picture of Jesus does not include
both....then something is askew, and you are not following the Jesus of the
Bible.
And
let us not forget that on this Epiphany Day we remember how the magi came to
see a toddler Jesus; the One who, as a baby, was born King of the Jews (Mt2:2) as He would also save people from their sins
(Mt1:21) some two years earlier. A significant aspect of this is those magi
were Gentiles – not ethnically Jewish. Praise God for revealing the mystery
hidden for ages through Jesus at the visit of the magi (as non-Jews worship Him
– cf. Mt2:11), as it became crystal clear that God was undoing the effects of
sin on all of His creation –
including those who are not ethnically Jewish. I, for one, am very glad for
this truth.
Praise
God for the Miracle of the Incarnation. May we be increasingly shaped by it as
2014 progresses. May we be able to look back on 2014 (and grow to realize in
the moment as well) and see a combination of how Jesus both “straightened out”
our lives and “messed them up” for God’s glory. And may we desire no other way.
No comments:
Post a Comment