The Risk of Birth

 The scriptures referred to are John 1:1-14.

A reading from the gospel of John:

“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....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 the 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 1:1-5, 9-14)

A poem by Madeleine L'Engle:

This is no time for a child to be born,

With the earth betrayed by war & hate

And a comet slashing through the sky to warn

That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,

In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;

Honor and truth were trampled to scorn—

Yet here did the Savior make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?

The inn is full on planet earth,

And by a comet the sky is torn—

Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

John Cleese defined creativity as connecting two or more things that hadn't been connected before. My head intuitively connected these two poetic passages. And I want to explore the reasons the connection makes sense.

Madeleine L'Engle's poem is one we can relate to. Most of us have had kids. And we know that doing so is risky. Not just childbirth itself but raising kids. You don't know what will happen to them or how it will affect them. Life is inherently risky. There is pain, sickness, injury, death. There is heartbreak. Why do we risk it? Love finds the risk acceptable. Without birth there is no risk of loss. But there is no one to love either. And so we have children, daring the risk.

The point of Madeleine's poem is that God took this risk when he sent his Son to be born into this world. And being all-knowing, he knew the risk in a way we never do. We don't know what the future holds for our child. He did. He saw the cross dead ahead in the path of his Son. And yet he let Jesus be born.

But his decision was more vital than anyone knew at that time. Not even Mary and Joseph knew exactly what they held in their arms. Jesus wasn't just the Messiah. He wasn't just the promised savior of the world; he was the reason for the world.

When John says Jesus was the Word, in Greek he uses the term logos. And while it could mean simply “word,” in Greek philosophy and Jewish theology it meant so much more. To the Greeks the Logos was the rational principle that governs everything. It was the the mind that ruled and gave meaning to everything in creation. To the Jews it was not only that but the Word of God, the expression of his wisdom by which all things were created. So we might paraphrase John 1:1 by saying “In the beginning was the reason for and behind everything, and that reason was with God, and that reason was God.”

So it was that personal expression of who God is and why all things are that was born into the world. And once you see that, you see how infinitely risky this move was on God's part.

And as we said, he knew what would happen. He knew how people would react to someone who was right when everyone else is wrong. People don't like that. They don't like the truth when it is painful to accept. So they try to silence and bury it. God was sending his Son on what amounted to a suicide mission. Despite the cost, it had to be done.

But why? What is worth the death of the man who embodies the very principle of life and creation and reason?

Apparently we are. We are worth the risk. Because God loves us. Love decides what is worth the risk.

So think about that. God is willing to risk everything he is, everything that makes sense of the world, everything that gives value and meaning to the world, for you.

What are you willing to risk in return?

What's in a Name?

The scriptures referred to are Matthew 1:18-25.

My wife and I watched a very charming and delightful new Christmas movie. I say “new” but it actually came out last year for the holidays. I guess with everything going on that year we missed it. Anyway it's a story about a redheaded boy in Finland who goes on a journey to find magic and discovers a talking mouse and a friendly reindeer and a village of elves and becomes...Father Christmas! Which we should have worked out from the title, A Boy Called Christmas. Which, by last count, gives Santa more origin stories than the Joker. But it is a wonderful story based on a book by the wonderful author Matt Haig, who has written other books for both children and adults.

If I have one quibble it is a line at the end when a child asks the storyteller, her aunt, played by the marvelous Maggie Smith, “Is that really how, properly, Christmas really began?” To which the aunt replies, “Oh, well, it must be. You see I never lie.” Within the world of the film, it works beautifully. Except that earlier in the story within the story a character says, “Listen. The only thing in life that is simple and clear is the truth. But it can be painful.” When asked if the pain of loss ever goes away, the character says, “No...But you learn to live with it. And you get stronger because of it. And that's the truth.” It's pretty obvious that speaking the truth is one of the chief morals of the story.

So, sorry, no, that wonderful tale and the others with Santa and Rudolph and singing snowmen and all the rest are not the truth about how Christmas began. They may, like that last quote, contain truths. They may talk in vague ways about faith, hope and love, but not tied to any specific reasons that justify everyone having those feelings. Because these stories are like comfort foods. They make us feel good. But like comfort foods, they can end up being not all that good for you, especially if you make them your main diet. They can divert you from real nourishment for the spirit.

Christmas isn't named after a boy in Finland. It comes from Christ's Mass, the worship service commemorating the birth of Christ, in Greek, Christos; in Hebrew, Messiach; in English, the Anointed. And for what did God anoint him? That we learned in last Sunday's gospel. The angel tells Joseph that the child conceived in Mary comes from the Holy Spirit. “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” He is anointed to save his people, not from the Grinch, not from the Bumble, not from Oogie Boogie, but from sin. Which points to the painful truth of the climax to Jesus' story: the cross.

That is not something people like to think about at Christmas. They want to think of tinsel and trees and lights. They want to think of eggnog and hot chocolate and white chocolate and dark chocolate. Not dark sins. Especially not their sins.

In fantasies our big problems are monsters and evil sorcerers and witches. In science fiction, our big problems are aliens or robots. In truth, it is ourselves. Look around the world for what's really causing our problems. Nobody here but us humans.

And the cause of all of our problems isn't some special group of humans. Then we could get rid of our problems by getting rid of that group. Again that's how it's done in fantasies. Just send all the orcs and wraiths back to Mordor. Just destroy the evil empire. Just put on the magic glove, snap your fingers and all the bad guys turn to dust. Try that in reality and you end up instead with apartheid, reservations, concentration camps, massacres, total war, and genocide. And humanity is not the better for it but the worse. Because the fault is not just in some people but in all of us.

We are not perfectly wise. We are not perfectly good. But we like to think we are wise enough and good enough to take control of everything. And through our knowledge and technology we can control more and more. And yet things keep getting worse. Because we can also do more damage. Our ancestors couldn't destroy all humanity. We can. And all because of something we have known for millennia. The Greeks called it hubris, arrogance, the hero's fatal flaw. We can destroy ourselves but we can't save ourselves.

Who can?

It's all in the name: Jesus. In Greek, Iesus; in Hebrew, Yeshua. Which in English means “Yahweh saves.” God can save us.

But how?

Again in fantasies, it is by finding the magic sword or ring or amulet and killing the bad guys. And we have tried that in the real world over and over again and it doesn't work. We invented the sword and the longbow and the gun and the missile and the atomic bomb and—evil still exists. And what's more, evil can also use those things.

So what does God do instead?

He doesn't send us a magical item or a weapon to save us. He sends us his son. And he doesn't come as a warrior or even an earthly king. He comes as a teacher and a healer and...more. He comes not to get rid of evil by killing bad guys but by transforming them into good guys.

As a teacher, he both reinforces what the prophets said centuries earlier and reinterprets other things in the moral law. It is not enough to observe the letter of the law if you ignore the Spirit behind it. It's not enough to not murder others; you mustn't direct your rage at them or insult them or dehumanize them. (Matthew 5:21-22) In fact God's law, like the Ten Commandments, can be summarized in two principles: love God with all you are and all you have and love your neighbor as you do yourself. (Mark 12:29-31) And your neighbor isn't confined to those you know or like. It can be a stranger lying half-dead on the road. (Luke 10:29-37) And, Jesus says, you are even to love your enemies. (Matthew 5:43-48) Because that is what God does. And we are to be like him.

As a healer, Jesus demonstrates both love for God and love for others. He heals all who come to him for help. If their problems are physical, he cures their disease or fixes their disability. If their problems are mental and they are wrestling with their demons, he banishes what is tormenting them. If their problems are moral and spiritual, he forgives them.

But he is more than a teacher and healer. He is an example of how God wants us to live. He speaks truth. He acts in love. He doesn't lead an army. He doesn't kill anyone, even those who do evil. In fact, when he is confronted by soldiers sent by those in power, he offers himself to save his disciples. (John 18:8) This is so unlike the usual behavior of the leader of a rebellion that the soldiers stumble all over themselves. (John 18:6) And when he faces the representative of the evil emperor of that time, and is asked if he is a king, Jesus says if his kingdom was of earthly origins his followers would be fighting to free him. (John 18:36) In fact, earlier, when one of his followers did draw a sword to save him, Jesus rebukes him (Matthew 26:52) and then heals the man he wounded. (Luke 22:51) And later, from the cross Jesus asks God to forgive his executioners. (Luke 23:34) That is love.

But history is littered with the corpses of good men. What is different about Jesus?

Again it's in the name. When telling of how the angel reassures Joseph about the coming child, Matthew sees this as a further fulfillment of an old prophesy found in Isaiah, about a son whose birth would herald peace: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel.” Which, Matthew points out, means “God is with us.”

If Jesus was just a good man, his teachings might live on; he wouldn't. And we would be in the same quandary as before. We've got tons of advice on how to live as good people. We know what to do but we can't do it. We need the power to do so. But the man who had the power to heal people, mentally, physically and morally, to transform us into the people God intends us to be, would be in his grave. If he were just a man.

But if he is God with us...

Jesus said that Yahweh is the God of the living, not the dead. (Matthew 22:32) And Jesus didn't just heal people, he raised the dead: Jairus' daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. (Mark 5:38-42; Luke 7:11-15; John 11) And he didn't just speak in parables, he came right out and said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) If he didn't rise from the dead, and convince his demoralized disciples it was him and not a ghost, they would never have written down those words. They never would have proclaimed it to the world. They would have stayed in that locked room until it was safe to return to Galilee and obscurity. And we wouldn't ever have heard of Jesus.

The truth is that the first recorded celebration of Christmas didn't take place until 336 AD. But within the first century Christians were worshiping on Sunday and calling it the Lord's Day because that's the day he rose. (Revelation 1:10) If Jesus hadn't defeated death, we wouldn't be celebrating his birth.

Jesus rose again to life. That is our hope.

And then he poured out his Spirit on his disciples. And they spread the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, anointed by God to save people from their sins, is risen from the dead and offers eternal life to all who trust him. And they continued to do so even when facing those who need the fear of death to keep people in line. That is faith.

True faith, true hope, and true love are not based on a holiday that is supposed to magically create those things. They are based on a person, Jesus, on what he said and did for us. And Jesus, not more toys, not more eggnog, not more TV specials, is what we need.

And we don't need the “Christmas spirit.” We need Christ's Spirit, God with us and within us, guiding us as we walk in his footsteps, teaching, healing, and proclaiming the good news of the Prince of Peace. Peace: in Greek, eirene; in Hebrew, shalom; which in English means not just the cessation of conflict but complete well-being. When enough of us follow the teachings and live the life of Jesus, and our goal is the complete well-being of everyone, both friend and foe, there will be peace on earth. And that's the truth. 

Two Lives

The scriptures referred to are Matthew 1:18-25.

Roald Dahl is best known for his odd and somewhat dark stories for children, like James and the Giant Peach, Witches, Matilda, The BFG, and of course Willie Wonka. He also hosted a TV show for 9 years called Tales of the Unexpected, which dramatized short stories of his that were definitely not for children. I remember vividly one that was different from all the rest. Dahl said in the introduction that he had researched the details and, except for the dialog which he had to create, this story was true. It concerns a couple at an inn. The woman is about to give birth. She is worried because she has had 3 other children before and they all died. The doctor reassures her this one will live. Still, when the child is born her drunken husband says, “My God, Klara, this one is sicklier than the others!” The doctor and midwife beg the man to show his wife some compassion. And you really feel for the poor mother as she prays that her newborn baby will live. After he is done with the delivery, the doctor leaves the mother and child and, filling out the birth certificate, he asks the father what the boy's name will be. He answers, “Last name: Hitler. First name: Adolf.”

I checked it out and Dahl was right. Hitler was the 4^th of 6 children and the first 3, two boys and a girl, all died of disease or birth defect. Hitler's mother doted on him. He adored her. We even have a picture of him as a baby and he was cute. What went wrong?

Scholars have written books on this but I don't want to deal with that yet. For now I want to draw some comparisons between this person and another, not born in an inn.

Hitler was the son of a moderately successful customs official. He originally wanted to be an artist but after the first World War he became the head of a small political party and fancied himself a kind-of messiah, the savior of the mythical Aryan race from inferior races, like the Jews.

Jesus was born a Jew and raised as the son of a tekton, a Greek word that covers carpenters, masons, smiths and builders in general; in other words, a man who worked with his hands. (Matthew 13:55) Jesus himself took up that profession. (Mark 6:3) He was called by God to be the Messiah, the savior of his people, not from other people, but from their sins. And that did not stop Jesus from helping and healing non-Jews. (Matthew 8:5-13; Mark 7:24-30; Luke 17:11-19) In fact, he told his apostles to make disciples out of people from every nation. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Hitler was a powerful speaker and preached hatred towards those he saw as his enemies and enemies of his Reich or realm, both within Germany and outside it. He had his military personnel swear a personal oath to him and that they fight in his name.

Jesus was also a powerful speaker but preached love even towards one's enemies. (Matthew 5:44) He told his followers to turn the other cheek when struck. (Matthew 5:39) He told Pilate that the difference between his kingdom and those of this world was that his followers were not fighting for him. (John 18:36)

Hitler was obsessed with purity, especially when it came to ancestry. Since his father was born illegitimate, he vigorously defended himself against speculation that he was part-Jewish.

Jesus' culture was obsessed with purity, especially ritual purity that kept a person from touching lepers, or women who bled or the dead. Jesus ignored such things when it would prevent him from healing people. (Matthew 8:2-4; Mark 5:25-29; Luke 7:11-15) And as for racial purity, Matthew's genealogy of Jesus lists at least 3 Gentile women among his ancestors. (Matthew 1:3, 5)

Hitler promised his people victory and prosperity and to give every family a People's Car or Volkswagen, a promise he broke.

Jesus told his disciples that following him would mean persecution and possibly death. He told them to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him. (Matthew 16:24-25)

Hitler had excellent generals but didn't listen to them. He micromanaged the war and lost.

Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, giving them authority to preach and to heal. (Mark 6:7-13) Before his ascension he sent them to carry on his mission. (Matthew 28:18-20)

When the Russians took Berlin, Hitler killed himself rather than let himself be captured and humiliated.

Jesus let his enemies arrest, try and execute him in the most painful and humiliating way possible.

Hitler was responsible for tens of millions of deaths.

Jesus never killed anyone. His death saved countless people.

Two babies, two men, two paths. One chose the conventional way to power and his name is a synonym for evil. His remaining family members changed their last name and decided not to have offspring so as not to perpetuate his legacy.

The other chose self-sacrifice and his name is a symbol of good. His family joined his followers and oversaw the church in Jerusalem. His brother James wrote one of the books in the New Testament. He died as a martyr to his faith in his brother Jesus.

Hitler was raised Catholic and, like a lot of boys, once thought of being a priest. And we are left to ponder what would have happened had he followed through on that. He would have been a powerful preacher. If he truly opened himself to following Jesus, he could have done a world of good.

And yet when he became the Fuhrer, he had the New Testament rewritten to suit his ideas. There was nothing in there about turning the other cheek or about serving the sick or the imprisoned or the foreigner. While in public Hitler paid lip service to Christianity, but in reality he worshiped another god: himself. He lived only for his own glory.

Proverbs says, “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.” This is so true that Proverbs says it twice. (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25) And Jesus said, “What does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) And despite the fact that we see this over and over again in the lives of so-called great men, people don't seem to learn from it, not even when it turns out to be fatal. Out of 69 Roman emperors 43 died violent deaths. That's 62%. Most died from assassination, followed by suicide and then death in combat. Hitler survived assassination attempts but it left him addicted to multiple drugs when he killed himself. His allies, Mussolini and Tojo, were killed, one by the mob, the other convicted of war crimes and hung. In our time we've seen the deaths of people like Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, and Ben Ladin. They all pursued power through might and fear. They all died ignominious deaths.

You could say Jesus died an ignominious death, though it is no longer considered to be that by most people. Because he used his power to heal others and to feed the hungry.

Hitler promised his people a glorious Thousand Year Reich. It lasted just 12 years.

After two thousand years, 1/3 of the world's population, 2.4 billion people, call themselves Christian. They are found in every country on earth.

And, yes, not all who call themselves Christian are real followers of Jesus. And, yes, terrible things have been done in the name of Christ. But they clearly go against what Jesus explicitly said not to do. Jesus knew some evildoers would claim to act in his name. He said there is no place for them in his kingdom. (Matthew 7:21-23)

But every atrocity done in Hitler's name was explicitly called for by him or consistent with what he said. And using the numbers compiled in Matthew White's book Atrocities, even if we do not lay the entire death toll of the Second World War at his feet, Hitler and his followers still killed millions more people in 1 decade than all those killed over 20 centuries by so-called “Christians”. Hitler even beat the number of deaths attributed to Stalin and Mao—if you exclude the famines they caused.

Now let's ask it: why did Hitler choose the path he did?

Some say he was a psychopath. Which may have made a different life harder for him but not impossible. Professor James Fallon is a neuroscientist who discovered he was a psychopath when he saw his own brain scan and checked his own DNA for “warrior genes.” And his family tree includes 6 murderers including Lizzie Borden. His family and colleagues confirmed that he had no emotional empathy for others. But through using his cognitive empathy, consciously stopping and asking himself what a good person would do in a situation, he has changed. And his research shows that even the expression of warrior genes can change. This shows there are pro-social psychopaths.

Some point to the abuse Hitler received from his father as the reason he became the person he was. But people such as Beethoven, Brahms, Tyler Perry, Maya Angelou, and Eleanor Roosevelt, among many others, were abused as children and yet grew up to do things that made the world a better place. They chose not to pass on their trauma to the world.

Hitler's past need not have determined his future. Nor do our pasts.

We always have a choice. And we have the words and example of Jesus. And if we ask we can have the same Spirit as Jesus in us. And in Jesus, we have a God who understands the pain and trauma of living in this world firsthand and who forgives and heals and who is willing to walk beside us through whatever hell we find ourselves in.

And what's more, the closer we get to Jesus, the more we become like him. And the more we become like him, the closer we come to being the person he created us to be: loving and whole.

The choice is ours.

Jesus and John

The scriptures referred to are Matthew 11:2-11.

When you watch an action film these days, it usually builds to a final confrontation between the good guys and bad guys and the good guys beat and often kill the bad guys and then the film ends and we are happy that good triumphed. We don't like to think about the aftermath of all the death and destruction that took place. In Skyfall, the villain destroys a subway train in a trap to kill 007. How many people died in that trainwreck? In Man of Steel, Superman and his Kryptonian enemy General Zod destroy a good deal of downtown Metropolis before Zod is killed. Star Wars fans have debated if the deaths of all the contractors and support staff on the Death Star should be laid at the feet of Luke Skywalker. At least in Avengers: Age of Ultron the non-superpowered heroes spent most of their time saving the people of the city as the superpowered ones fought the evil robot army who were destroying it. And the sequel seriously considered the legal and global consequences of letting such people unilaterally decide to unleash their powers.

In the real world, there is a debate among historians as to whether Winston Churchill knew beforehand that the Nazis were going to bomb the English city of Coventry. And if so, did he not evacuate the city to protect the fact that the Brits had broken Germany's code? It was reasoned that protecting this secret this would help the Allies win the war. But at what cost to the unsuspecting citizens of Coventry?

One reason why the US had a huge post-war boom in the 1940s, 50s and 60s was that much of the rest of the world was devastated and had to rebuild. Some have argued that the Marshall Plan, wherein the US provided $13 billion to help rebuild Europe, was one of the most influential events of the 20^th century. By refusing to let the countries of eastern Europe take the funds, the Soviet Union not only kept tight control of them but also doomed them to decades of economic struggle, despite coming up with their own version called the Molotov Plan.

Unfortunately we did not learn from our own history and after supplying the Afghans with the arms to defeat the Soviet invasion of their country in the 1980s, we did not help them rebuild, giving extremists like the Taliban the opportunity to take over the shattered nation and offer Bin Laden a base for his terrorist operations.

My point is that we tend to see the defeat of evil as the ultimate triumph of good, and we rarely consider the fact that this is not enough. If you weed the garden but don't sewn seeds of what you want and water and nurture them, the weeds will come back.

If you pair last week's gospel passage with this week's, you can see that John the Baptist was really into the “evil must be defeated” idea. And it is something we see in the prophets of the Old Testament. And it is a legitimate concern. Before rebuilding Europe the Allies had to first defeat the Third Reich. An oncology patient can't get better until you rid them of cancer. So the Baptist is not wrong about the eradication of evil being necessary. He just doesn't realize that Jesus was going about it in a different way.

In a war you decide who is your enemy and you try to eliminate as many of their people as you can. But you can't do that surgically and as we mentioned a few weeks ago, many more civilians will die than soldiers. The enemy will not put their munition factories so far from their cities that you can blow up the factories without harming the cities where the workers live. And if you are fighting to retake a city street by street, the people living on those streets will lose not only their homes but some will also lose their lives.

Jesus told a parable about this, which again we touched on recently. A farmer sows wheat in his field but at night an enemy sows weeds. When the 2 kinds of plants grow up, the farmer's workers want to try to weed the entire field. But the farmer knows some of the wheat will be uprooted as well. So he tells them to wait till the harvest to sort the good from the bad. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) To Jesus saving good people is more important than rooting out the bad.

Of course it is more complicated than that. Nobody is all good or all bad. Whereas in action movies, the good guys eliminate the bad guys by killing them, Jesus wants to eliminate the bad guys by turning them into good guys. Jesus saw sin as a spiritual disease. That's why he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) As a doctor doesn't kill the patient but treats the disease, Jesus didn't come to kill sinners but to cure them. That's why in parallel with healing physical ailments Jesus often forgave the person's sins as well. (Luke 5:20) Not that disease was always caused by sin (John 9:3) but sickness is a good metaphor for sin. Sickness usually requires an internal susceptibility to the disease as well as an external trigger. Which is why some people get cancer and some don't; some get heart disease and some don't; some people get addicted to a drug and others, even if they try it, don't.

By the way, the word “addiction” comes from a Latin word that means “bound or assigned or delivered” to someone. In Roman law to be addicted was to become enslaved due to a court ruling. To be an addict is to be a slave, to be controlled by something. And Jesus compared sin to slavery. Jesus said, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34) In other words, sin is in the driver's seat; it is in control. So how do you end slavery? By killing the slaves? No, but by freeing them. And that was what Jesus came to do. As he says, “...if the Son sets you free, you will really be free.” (John 8:36)

The problem is that by letting something control us for so long, we make it hard to live freely. People who were enslaved and then freed after the Civil War often had trouble adjusting to being free: to making their own decisions, finding jobs and setting up their own businesses. Some continued to work for their former masters, supposedly being paid but not much. They were technically free but not mentally and so not really. In the same way a person who comes out of rehab, having kicked their addiction, still has to work not to fall into old habits that will bring them back under the control of the substance or activity that enslaved them.

Paul in Romans 7 tells about how hard it is to fight a sin we are especially susceptible to. He describes it as being “sold into slavery to sin.” (Romans 7:14) After talking of how he did the evil he did not want to do, he cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25) Freedom from our addiction to the destructive and self-destructive habits called sins comes from Jesus, if we trust and rely on him as we would a doctor who has a prescription and regimen that can save us from the disease of addiction.

But when John the Baptist heard that Jesus was not, as he expected, bringing down God's wrath on sinners and hypocrites, he wondered if he had been right in thinking Jesus was the Messiah. He was expecting a holy warrior who would cleanse the earth with fire. (Matthew 3:11-12) So from his prison he sends some of his own disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” Jesus replies, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Jesus is destroying evil, just not in the way John imagined. He is liberating people from diseases of the body and the spirit. And as with the paralyzed man lowered through the roof, Jesus realized that it is often easier to see the physical effects of his spiritual work.

So the blind see again: not just those who couldn't see the material world but also those who were blind to spiritual realities. Those who were crippled can not only walk by themselves through the physical world but those hobbled by sin are now able to walk with God wherever he leads them. Not only are lepers cleansed but those who were treated as moral pariahs are now made clean and able to join the assembly of God's people. Those who were deaf to the sounds of this world can hear again but those who were deaf to God's word now hear his call. Jesus restored life not just to those whose bodies died but to those who were spiritually dead. And good news was reaching not only those who lacked material goods but those who were spiritually impoverished.

Jesus adds, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Jesus doesn't say this as a warning to John so much as encouragement. Jesus is essentially saying, “Don't stumble, don't fall away because of what I'm doing.” In other words, “Have faith in me. I know what I'm doing and God will vindicate me and how I am going about fulfilling the mission he gave me.”

And then Jesus tells the crowd that John is indeed a prophet and more than simply a prophet. He is the herald of the Messiah, God's anointed one. But John's part is just stage one in this part of God's plan.

But what does Jesus mean when he says, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”? John is fixated on God's justice. He has not really considered the extent of God's mercy. That's why Jesus healing and praising peacemakers and commanding people to turn the other cheek and love one's enemies doesn't make sense to John. And he will be executed before seeing the ultimate act of mercy on Jesus' part: his sacrifice of himself to wipe away not sinners but their sins. This threw Jesus' disciples as well. They also thought that Jesus would usher in the kingdom of God by throwing the Roman empire out of the land of God's people. They saw Jesus' crucifixion as a contradiction of the Messiah's mission. They didn't see it as the paradoxical yet foreshadowed fulfillment of God's plan. Not until the resurrection. But now even the least in God's kingdom knows what the cross means: Jesus came not to punish sinners but to save us by taking our punishment upon himself. He defeats sin not by means of severe justice but through his loving self-sacrifice.

Sadly there are churchgoers who still don't see it. Like John they are looking for a Christ who is all about inflicting divine punishment on sinners. In her appropriately named book, Jesus and John Wayne, historian Kristen Kobes Du Mez documents how American Evangelicals have for more than a century been less in love with the pacifist Jesus found in the Bible and more enamored with stereotypically strong and even authoritarian leaders. Quoting their own words in articles, sermons and books, she shows how they have been willing to overlook abuses of power both within and outside the church by men who were perceived to be their side and fighting for their agendas. This dovetails with what Jeff Sharlett details in his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, about a group that runs Bible studies for elected officials and even subsided the rent of members of Congress. During his time as an intern with the group, Sharlett was exposed to their model of leadership which admired strong people like Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Bin Laden and Hitler for their power to command absolute commitment. When asked about Jesus saying stuff like the one who wants to be first must be the slave of all (Matthew 20:27-28) and how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom (Mark 10:23), the leader of this group dismissed such verses with a chuckle about Jesus sometimes saying strange things.

John never went that far. In fact, when people responded to his fiery warnings about sin and asked, “What then should we do?” he said, “The person who has two tunics must share with the person who has none, and the person with food must do likewise.” He told tax collectors not to collect more than they should and soldiers not to extort people by violence or intimidation but to be content with their pay. (Luke 3:10-14) Like we said, John was keyed into justice and that is not confined to punishment but also includes being equitable and treating people fairly.

But as we've said before, justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting all of what you deserve. Grace is getting what you can't possibly deserve. If John is about justice, Jesus is the face of grace. He is about freeing those who are enslaved, even if it is through their own fault. He is about forgiving sinners, including criminals executed with him and even those who were crucifying him. He is about identifying himself with the diseased, the disadvantaged and the despised. He is about healing the spiritual sickness that afflicts us all.

John delivered the dismal diagnosis. Jesus delivered himself as the cure. John did his part well. We need to open our hearts and lives and let Jesus do his.

One on One

The scriptures referred to are Romans 15:4-13.

I was watching this video for Compassion.UK in which Danielle Strickland asks why didn't Jesus just heal everyone at once. Why didn't he just snap his fingers and make everything right? We know he and the disciples often didn't have time to rest or eat because so many were coming for healing. (Mark 6:31) Why didn't Jesus just wave his hand at the crowds and say, “You are all healed”? Instead, he healed people one person at a time. How inefficient is that!

But Strickland points out that means just about every person whom Jesus healed had a personal encounter with him. He spoke to each person he healed as an individual. Sometimes he touched them. When Peter's mother-in-law was lying down, sick with a fever, Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her. (Matthew 8:14-15) A leper came to Jesus and he laid his hand on him and healed him. (Mark 1:40) How long had that man gone without any human being touching him lest they get his disease? But Jesus did. When Jairus' daughter died, we are told “But Jesus gently took her by the hand and said, 'Child, get up.' Her spirit returned and she got up immediately.” (Luke 8:54-55) When she returned to life the first thing she heard was his voice, the first thing she felt was his hand, the first thing she saw was Jesus.

There is actually one healing where Jesus healed a group at once. Luke tells us that as Jesus was entering a village, “ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, raised their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.' When he saw them he said, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went along, they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:12-14) They were standing at a distance because that was what a leper was supposed to do, so as not to spread their disease. But the side effect of this rather impersonal healing was that they didn't feel a very strong connection to Jesus. Only one of them, when he realized he was healed, “turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus' feet and thanked him.” (Luke 17:15-16) People need a personal connection.

One time Jesus was actually stopped from healing someone in person. Matthew tells us, “When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.' Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.' But the centurion replied, 'Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead just say the word and my servant will be healed.'” (Matthew 8:5-8) Jesus is astonished at the man's faith in Christ's power and authority. He says to the centurion, “Go; just as you have believed it will be done for you.” Here Jesus is responding to someone's personal appeal on behalf of another.

But Jesus would rather get his hands dirty. Sometimes literally. When facing a man born blind, John tells us, “...he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man's eyes and said to him, 'Go wash in the pool of Siloam.'” (John 9:6-7) The man does and can see. Unfortunately the local religious leaders give the man a hard time for having anything to do with Jesus and expel him. When he hears this, Jesus goes to the man to let him know who he is and bolster his faith. Jesus does follow up.

He also follows through. Another time a blind man is brought to Jesus. Mark tell us, “He took the blind man by the hand and brought him outside the village. Then he spit on his eyes, placed his hands on his eyes and asked, 'Do you see anything?' Regaining his sight he said, 'I see people, but they look like trees walking.' Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again. And he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:23-25) Jesus didn't stop until the job was complete.

Then there was the time they brought him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. Mark says, “After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man's ears, and after spitting, he touch his tongue. Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, 'Ephphatha' (that is, 'Be opened'). And immediately the man's ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly.” (Mark 7:33-35) What was Jesus doing? First, he moves him away from the noisy crowd. Jesus doesn't want the first thing the deaf man hears to be a crowd shouting and exclaiming loudly. Then he mimes what he is going to do. He puts his fingers in the man's ears and on his tongue. That's to indicate what he is going to do. Then he looks up to heaven and gives a big dramatic sigh to show that he is asking God to heal the man. Jesus adapted his healing to a man who could not hear him. Because he needed understanding and faith on the man's part.

These are all things you can only get with personal attention. One-size-fits-all solutions can't do that. We must tailor solutions to the unique needs of the individual. And since Christianity is about becoming like Jesus, we need to be ready to minister to people one-on-one when we can.

Danielle Strickland, speaking for her charity, says that while widespread solutions are desirable, one problem is that they let us stay disengaged with others. I could inundate you with numbers: an estimated 552,830 people are homeless in this country. 37.9 million people live below the poverty line in the US. 10.5% of American households are food-insecure. Every year 4.3 million children are referred to child protection agencies. There were 48,832 gun deaths in the US in 2021. But we can't imagine those numbers and they just wash over us. As some cynic said, a single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic. And if we don't see it with our own eyes or it happens to someone we don't know, the distance from us and our experience makes it that much harder for us to care.

So as much as I urge you to give to Episcopal Relief and Development, and Lutheran Disaster Services, and Feeding America, and the Native American Heritage Association, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and others, I also urge you to get involved in a way where you meet and help individuals. Volunteer at the food pantry, at KOTS, at MARC House, or at one of our other local non-profits. Become a Guardian Ad Litum. Volunteer at the jail, a nursing home, or a hospital. I started as a Candy Striper.

Jesus said that whatever we do to the disadvantaged, we do to him. (Matthew 25:35-40) If you want to see Jesus face-to-face, help and get to know a person who's hungry, homeless, sick, suffering from a mental illness, working towards sobriety, trying to find a job, trying to start a new life after prison, or trying to start a new life in a new country. And in turn, you will be showing them what Jesus is like.

In today's reading from Romans Paul says, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.” When we come to Jesus, he welcomes us as individuals. We were baptized not as a group but one at a time. And the Holy Spirit bestows on each person their own gifts and abilities.

But that doesn't mean we are to be “Lone Ranger” Christians, working independently of others. Paul ties individuality to community in his metaphor of the body of Christ. Just as the parts of your body look different and have different functions, yet work together to keep your body alive and healthy, so also Christians use their various abilities to serve the mission of Christ and his church. So while Jesus welcomes us individually, he is welcoming us as citizens of his kingdom. We are baptized one by one but we are baptized into the body of Christ. The Spirit gives each of us gifts but that is so we may use them to minister to each other and to show God's love and grace to others.

Personalized service has gone the way of the dodo. Companies try to craft algorithms that seem suited to the individual with mixed success. Facebook thinks that if I like one picture of an old time movie star, I want to see nothing but pictures of old movie stars. Google thinks if I read one story about an event, I want to be flooded with every single story about that same event. And CVS still thinks that along with coupons for things I do buy from time to time, I also want 3 or 4 coupons for things I have never bought. Like Revlon makeup. It's there. Every. Single. Time.

And if you need help from a company or an agency, good luck trying to get a live person. You most likely will get an A.I. One artificial helper I got on the phone tried to sound like it was a real person looking up things on a computer. But having worked in radio I could tell the “person” was a recording made by a professional voice artist and the key tapping I heard was a sound effect. And if I get a call and it's a recording and not a live person on the phone, I hang up immediately.

In an impersonal world, where no one seems to listen, where people are increasingly being replaced by computer programs, just being a human being interacting with another human being is revolutionary. Being a human being who listens and is empathetic and understanding is radical. Jesus did his healing one on one for a reason. It's easy to say we should love everyone. It's harder when it means getting our hands dirty in the messy business of helping individuals, including those who don't seem lovable. But it's what Jesus did. As Strickland says, the kingdom is made up of people seeing and helping each other, one by one. So go and do likewise.