May 1, 2015 – “J” is for Jesus (Of course)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1 – 14

We see throughout the Gospels the humanity of Jesus. The most evident to everyone would be the fact that he wept at the grave of his good friend Lazarus. (John 11:35) Then there would be the frustration he expresses on several occasions: “You faithless generation, How long must I deal with you.” (Matthew 17:17) Or the time he told his disciples “Why did you doubt.” (Matthew 14:31) And “Are you still afraid?” (Matthew 14:27) Then there is the anger he shows in the cleansing of the Temple. Many people, when they focus on Jesus, only want to focus on his divinity. They have a hard time picturing him with a certain eye color, how his nose may have looked, or in fact any part of his human body. But Jesus was not just G*d – he was both G*d and man simultaneously. Manuel Scott, a great black preacher, put it in a beautiful way. He said, ”The supernatural became naturalized. The G*d out there became the God down here. The celestial became terrestrial. The transcendent became imminent.”

We hear the confirmation in the beginning of John’s gospel:

“The Word became flesh and lived among us…the Word was with G*d, and the Word was G*d.”

If we want to know what G*d is like, we only have to look at Jesus. Jesus is G*d Incarnate, G*d Immaneul – he is G*d made flesh. When we think of G*d, we can think of Jesus, and we see the G*d of compassion, the G*d of love, the G*d of mercy and grace. The Word became flesh and lived among us. Imagine that sentence and picture in your mind the Jesus of flesh. Jesus is different from all earthly rulers – it is the ability to rule in G*d through the Holy Spirit – that is the power of Jesus to pull people to want to be so close to him – even to leave their families to follow him – just as he left his family for his own earthly ministry. We remember the famous confrontation that Jesus had with his family when they came calling upon him, because some thought he was possessed by a demon. Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:48)

James the brother of Jesus, in an non-canonical gospel, is described as spending days in prayer and fasting following the death of his brother, Jesus. He is filled with tension and grief – for days – until Jesus comes to him. And in Jesus’ appearance to James, it transforms him – it releases the tension to empower James to become a leader in the early church. But the call to be G*d’s Son, the Messiah, to minister to the last, lost, least, little, and the outcast of the society, to push the boundaries of what love of G*d and neighbor meant, to face down long-held religious feelings and practices, all of that had to be building up tremendous tension in his life. We speak of picking up our crosses to follow Jesus, but we cannot pick up the cross he bore for us. But thanks be to G*d that Jesus did bear that cross.

Pastor Dave