About eight years ago I met up with three of my cousins for the first time in over , well more years that I care to admit, when I was a teenager and they somewhat younger. It was interesting and in some ways strange, we may not have had contact for a long time but we could talk as though we had spent all our lives together, we understood each other, our minds seemed to work in the same way.
We know so little of Jesus’ childhood that we do not know how much time Jesus and John the Baptist spent together, whether John truly understood his cousin, understood what Jesus’ mission was.
John the Baptizer was so confident when Jesus came to be baptized by him, but now he was in prison, and he had those doubts about his cousin in the back of his mind. For John had lost everything, he could no longer preach, this mission he thought he had to tell everyone about Jesus had been taken from him, the opportunity to call others to repentance, it had all gone. It really must have seen pretty hopeless.
He had been imprisoned by Herod. But apparently even in prison John heard reports about his cousin Jesus and his ministry. But John hadn’t heard of any change in the system the Romans and the high priests had established.
His mother Elizabeth must surely have shared with him the story of the visit from the Angel. However John is asking “Why is nothing happening concerning the kingdom, was he, John, this messenger Isaiah had talked about. From all the evidence John it seemed it had all gone wrong.
John’s fears had been passed on to Jesus, I wonder how Jesus felt. Was he angry at John’s apparent lack of faith, I think more likely he felt great sadness, but he sent them back with the message ‘tell him what you see. The eyes of the blind are being opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame are walking.
We don’t know what John said when he heard those words, which he must had remembered as being the ones spoken by Isaiah, but it seems that was all the reassurance he was to get.
But that is all the reassurance Jesus could give him. His kingdom not of power and vengeance and military overthrow of the enemy, but a kingdom of repentance, where goodness and mercy prevail and wrongs are made right.
Jesus went on to speak to his disciples and taught them about John the Baptist and the prophets, saying that John was the greatest of the prophets.
Jesus’ had very little to prove his authenticity as the anointed one of God. In fact, if you think about it some angels sang in celebration at this birth, some wise men brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. and then there was nothing until he was baptised by John and the voice from heaven said,” this is my beloved son, listen to him,” Jesus didn’t have much in the way of credentials, he didn’t come with a long CV, but Jesus didn’t need one.
He went around changing things, showing God’s love. At first glance we might ask, “How can anyone be upset by blind people being given sight, or deaf people being able to hear, or lepers cleansed, or the lame walk, or the dead raised, or the poor hearing good news?
How can this be regarded as troubling?” Well think about it. It unnerves people, it isn’t something they can do, they can’t really understand what it is all about. The images that Jesus uses are not only events, but they are also metaphors. The image of the deaf hearing is also a metaphor for understanding. We say, “I see,” when we understand something.
The whole concept of the poor is even harder for some people. Why are they poor, is it because they don’t want to work, aren’t they just lazy, for some people the concept that people may be poor through no fault of their own, that there is really nothing they can do about it, is really hard to grasp. Perhaps because it removes our guilt to think they have brought it on themselves.
On Friday I heard a
former ITV newsreader explaining how he had become a rough sleeper, what had
happened to turn his world upside down.
He had been made redundant, couldn’t get another job, lost his home
and now sleeps on a bench in
It reminded me of my
placement at the
I know I have mentioned it before but the most tragic case I came across was the man whose son was killed in a car crash, some three months later his wife committed suicide. His family and friends couldn’t cope with his grief, which isn’t surprising; he turned to drink, lost his job, then his home, and began sleeping in a doorway. Where was society, where was the church, at that crucial time in his life. Society doesn’t always reach people at times of great despair. It is to them that Jesus brings good news not necessarily to those of us who have everything.
Our role surely, and particularly in the Christmas season, is to do our bit to bring good news to the poor. Which as well as praying for them is striving to make society a better place, a place where people in great, unimaginable despair, cannot slip through the net, but find support and love. Not to find the concept of Christ bringing them good news an affront, not to feel angry when we have to walk round some pile of blankets and a cardboard box, but to remember that lying there is one of God’s dearly loved children.
Jesus said, “blessed
is anyone who takes no offence in me”. Instead
of blessed we could use the word happy. “Happy is anyone who takes no offence in
me.” Happy are those who see in
that rough sleeper that young couple who could find no place to sleep in
The changes that Jesus shows to John’s disciples are changes that lead to sight—understanding, compassion love. But the fact is people don’t like change, there is stability and comfort in what is known and understood.
But with change people are moved from despair to hope, to understanding, movement, knowledge, new life. These are powerful forces. These are forces that generate positive, God given change. When we are able to embrace them, we are happy. When we fear them, we are offended by those who bring the change.
John offended enough people to be killed, his message was simple, “ repent he is coming”. Three years later Jesus himself died on the cross for us, to save us, his promise to save offended enough people for him to be killed. But through that He bought for us the ultimate change, that death no longer has the final say over our lives.
But the choice is ours; we must answer the question for ourselves. Which is our path, is it the way of Jesus, or is it the way of the world?
Let us examine ourselves by God’s will and God’s law. Let us claim and accept that God loves us and seeks to give us a new life that is happy with change because we are not offended by Jesus. Remember the words of John ‘ Repent. He is coming. ‘
Amen.