Blogging Towards Sunday
August 24, 2008
(Matthew 11:1-6 & Matthew 16:13-20 [Lectionary Text of the week])

I know that Jesus is the Messiah, but how is he Messiah for me [us] today?

Matthew 16 tells the story of an existential moment, a life-transforming encounter between Jesus and the disciples. In a town dominated by several large monuments, temples and history of multiple religious sacred sites, Jesus asks those who follow him who they think he is. Peter comes up with the good brownie-point Sunday School answer "Jesus" or "you're the Messiah". Actually I think he thought long and hard about this...and he didn't quite understand what he was saying at the same time. Don't we do the same thing in life? We might speak truth to one another, name the elephant in the room, envision the future path that's before us...and yet do we really get it, are our eyes really open?

Matthew 11 tells the story of John the Baptist. At the end of his ministry and public work he's wondering what's up with Jesus - he doesn't seem to be living up to his (aka John's) expectations. What gives? Is he a slacker? Is he a hacker? What's going on!!! So Jesus responds with a question, as always in an Obama-style - long before Obama, "what do you see? " The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, lepers are made whole, the poor are given everything good and the dead resurrect. Life is transformed - made whole, real, vibrant, new! Resurrection Life is what I call it.

It's so easy for us - in particular in the more comfy-with-evangelical-talk-circles - to proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World. Yet rare is it that I hear someone talk about what that means for them. It's more than just dogma it's about ethics - action - pragmatism. I think we often get stuck on some sort of theological high-horse (not that our world cares at all anymore) seeking to articulate with the right lingo that Jesus is the Christ, yet we do so without concerning ourselves with our actions. How often have you heard of folks who claim to serve Jesus as Lord yet who don't care for the poor, seek to kill those who go for abortions, or to wipe out followers of other faiths - or merely talk one way for a couple of hours one-day-a-week and then live something else the rest of the time?

What do you think? If you call Jesus the Christ, how is he the Messiah for you today?