Journey to Sunday – Reflection by Jeff Koch
Isaiah 49:3,5-6; Psalm 40; I Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34
All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you, shall sing to your name, O Most High!
I have always been puzzled by a phrase in the gospel reading this Sunday, John said, “I knew him not, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he (the Messiah) might be made known to Israel. . . I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him, . . .” In the Gospel, twice John says, “I knew him not . . .” Wait a minute; didn’t know him? He leaped in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary spoke on her visit, I believe they played together when they were young. I am guessing as they all went to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12, John being 6 months older, that he may have been one, who with the family, were looking for Jesus in the temple area. They were cousins. I am pretty sure, with the family structure in Israel, John had many opportunities to be with him. I am sure John had heard the stories about both of their births. Also, when Jesus came to be baptized, their discussion gives us clues that, He knew him. But. . . maybe John is showing us that there are two ways of knowing him. He may have understood what the Apostle Paul gives us insight into, “Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16) There are two ways to know and see Jesus, according to the flesh, John’s cousin Jesus, OR according to God in the flesh, the giver of the new creation, the redeemer, the reconciler, the forgiver, the healer, the King of kings and Lord of lords; the Messiah, the anointed one, God in flesh, the Christ above all and in all, the one who holds all things together.
Hebrews quotes our Psalm of the day in 10:5-7, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” Jesus accomplished God’s will on this earth, His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus is more than just John the Baptist’s cousin. He is Lord; all our readings today seem to indicate things that this cousin of John will do: turns the lost and outcast back to God, brings light to the nations, announces salvation to the ends of the earth, he fills (baptizes) with the Holy Spirit, I am guessing that even John’s mind was blown away, by the reality that his own family member, was the one for whom they all had been waiting. This is the servant in Isaiah; that, as the Psalmist says, “stooped toward me and heard my cry and put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.” As I waited for Him.
So much more about John’s cousin we can learn. As I share this my mind keeps going back to Colossians 1. I want you to take a couple of minutes and go read that chapter and then come back. Go ahead, I’ll wait right here for you! . . . . Now, wasn’t that amazing. This ‘cousin of John’ not only created the world and all that we see, but he holds it all together and He turns us back to God, delivers us from the domain of darkness and brings us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. Wow! We could go on, but I am leaving that to the Holy Spirit.
Do you know him in that way? Or have we settled to just knowing him as the babe in a manger? There are two ways to know Jesus, knowing just the facts about his birth, life and death . . . even stories about the empty tomb. OR, you can know him as the Messiah, the Christ, the redeemer, the savior, the one who will pick you up and bring you home to His Father, our Father.
Epiphany is a time when we see new light shed on Jesus. We like those who lived in the days of Psalm 40, need peace in our day; peace and good will, as the angels announced to the shepherds in their epiphany of Jesus, and we are waiting for the LORD. The Lord has come! But we will have to know him more than just a man who lived in time and did great things. We need to know Him as the one who can come to our assistance, the one who can bring peace, the one who can save the world. Do you know Him? that Jesus? Not just John’s cousin, but the Christ. And knowing him, in that way, can change our world, can change your world. Now, “to you how have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!
Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth. Mercifully hear the pleading of your people and bestow your peace on our times. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.