January 17th Reflection - The Messiah! - by Bill Lynch

John 1:29-42
 The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’
 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

Reflection - The Messiah!
Messiahs come and go, one after another; messiahs that claim to be the answer to the troubles of this world, messiahs that say they can save us or have the answer to all of our problems. Messiahs that I create, that you create, sometimes even messiahs that we make ourselves out to be that will save us from sin or some trouble of our own such as illness, homelessness, pain, suffering, poverty, hunger. We think we have all of the answers sometimes and we find and we follow some messiah that we are convinced will save us, sometimes even if that messiah is ourselves.

But these messiahs aren't Jesus. These messiahs are fabricated due to our wants and needs. We can't make up messiahs. Only God can send The Messiah. Only God can choose The Messiah. But, how are we to know the difference?  This passage holds the clue on how to know The Messiah.

"And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’"

God will show us The Messiah, the true Messiah will be made known to us and shown to us by God. Jesus is the Messiah... the Spirit descended and remained on Jesus. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), God the Holy Spirit --- All One. Yes, Jesus is The Messiah because the Father sent Jesus and the Spirit is with Jesus. Jesus is The Messiah, the only Messiah. All the rest of the messiahs we make up or follow are only futile attempts to resolve and solve temporary earthly problems that we have. It's Jesus that was sent by God into this world that saves us and takes us and folds us into his Kingdom which surpasses this world, this time, this space and adopts us as God's children as family into the eternal Kingdom of God.

This Jesus, is The Messiah that we can leave it all behind and follow into God's Kingdom. This Jesus, is The Messiah, that was sent by God the Father to save us from sin, death and the devil. This Jesus, is The Messiah, that takes us into the Kingdom of God in history, right now in our lives and will fulfill that Kingdom of God when Jesus comes again. This Jesus, is The Messiah we place all of our hope, trust and faith in. Yes we place our very lives in this Jesus, The Messiah. This Jesus is The Messiah!

This Jesus, is The Messiah that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus, takes away the sin of the world by becoming the Lamb that was sacrificed once and for all time, for the sin of this world. It's not the power of bombs or armies or prestige, or money, or anything that we can create that defeats sin; it's only through the power of Jesus, the Lamb, The Messiah that takes away the sin of this world.

John was called to do the earthly thing. He was called to baptize with water that we all can understand. John called the people out of the wilderness to come to him and repent of sin. John calls us to come to the wilderness and prepare ourselves for the coming of The Messiah, Jesus Christ, our only Lord, our only Savior. John was called to a divine call in a worldly place to lead us to Jesus, The Messiah. And Jesus comes! Jesus comes and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus. Jesus is The Messiah and we can see it through the eyes of John and those who stood in history at that time of Jesus baptism by John.

Yes, we too can see this Jesus, The Messiah, and we too can now be baptized in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We are graciously offered this baptism and we grow in faith to believe in all that God has done through the Father, through the Son and through the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we are called! We too are gifted by the Holy Spirit and we are sent with a purpose and a message of eternal life in the Kingdom of God into our world in which God has placed us. We too, leave all of ourselves with God and GO! We GO! following Jesus, The Messiah! We GO! not having found The Messiah due to our own actions; we GO! having The Messiah come into our world, our place, our river and shown himself and more than that, given himself as the Lamb that will take away our sin but also the sin of all the world. That's The Messiah! Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Along and beside John the Baptist I cry these words, dear Lord... Come Lord Jesus... come... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen