Eleventh Day of Christmas

Above:  An Eastern Orthodox Icon of the Twelve Apostles

Image Source = Stamp

What Do You Want?

JANUARY 4, 2024

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1 John 3:7-10 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Children, do not let anyone lead you astray.

Whoever acts uprightly is upright,

just as he is upright.

Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil,

since the devil has been a sinner from the beginning.

This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God,

to undo the work of the devil.

No one who is a child of God sins

because God’s seed remains in him.

Nor can he sin, because he is a child of God.

This is what distinguishes

the children of God from the children of the devil;

whoever does not live uprightly

and does not love his brother

is not from God.

Psalm 98:1, 7-9 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Sing a new song to Yahweh,

for he has performed wonders,

his saving power is in his right hand and his holy arm.

Let the sea thunder, and all that it holds,

the world and all who live in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands,

and the mountains shout for joy together,

at Yahweh’s coming, for he is coming

to judge the earth;

he will judge the world with saving justice

and the nations with fairness.

John 1:35-42 (New Jerusalem Bible):

The next day as John stood there again with two of his disciples, Jesus went past, and John said,

Look, there is the lamb of God.

And the two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.  Jesus turned round, saw them following and said,

What do you want?

They answered,

Rabbi

–which means Teacher–

where do you live?

He replied,

Come and see;

so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him that day.  It was about the tenth hour.

One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, brother of Simon Peter.  The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and say to him,

We have found the Messiah

–which means the Christ–and he took Simon to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said,

You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas

–which means Rock.

The Collect:

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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What do we want from Jesus?

Do we seek validation for all our opinions or do we look for a challenge?  Do we seek a road to wealth via faith or do we look for one who reminds us of our responsibilities to the less fortunate?  Do we seek a martyr and hero or a Savior and Lord?

Jesus refuses to fit into our neat, theological boxes, which are vehicles of idolatry.  He is frequently not socially respectable, keeping company with those at the margins of society.  The maxim, “He who lies with dogs, rises with fleas” does not apply to Jesus.  Jesus is neither a mighty warrior nor a meek, mild-mannered person.  This is a figure who knows how to use a whip yet is deeply compassionate.  He challenges our preconceptions.

And that is how it should be.  Thanks be to God!

KRT

Written on June 7, 2010

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