Word to the Wise
Friday, January 3, 2020 - Jan. 3
[1 John 2:29-3:6 and John 1:29-34]John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” [John]
The tree is on the curb. The decorations are back in storage. The wrappings are in the trash. Is the nativity scene still up? Or is Baby Jesus back in storage? Has Christmas come and gone? Not liturgically! Today is a "Christmas Weekday" and the season will be with us for awhile yet. But there is a very definite change of scene in the scriptures. Today we have an adult Jesus walking into the scene of John the Baptist's ministry. (It might help to read the Prologue to the Gospel According to John to get a sense of this, esp. John 1:6-9). There is no baby in the manger with all the usual figures gazing in admiration. We have "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" The Christmas/Epiphany season includes more than the events at Nazareth and all the traditions of the gospels according to Matthew and Luke. It includes the entire story of Jesus! The Gospel According to John shows a community that has been looking back on that story and writing it from a perspective sixty or more years later.
Here we are, more than 2,000 years later, reading and reflecting on all that the scriptures and the church have contemplated over that period of time and adding our own understanding as we hand on the story of Jesus. From a humble beginning in Nazareth to crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem to more than a billion believers today, the story unfolds in eternity and in time. Right now, liturgically, we are still waiting for the Magi to show up and the official celebration of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist. Those events will come on Sundays. On the weekdays, however, we fast-forward and move on in the story! AMEN