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"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto
John to be baptised of him." Matthew 3:13.
Dr James Moffatt translates the words, "Then Jesus came
upon the scene."
That phrase conjures up the thought of an empty stage and
the anticipatory quiet of an audience. Then the main character
walks on and the play comes to life. Imagination becomes reality
when it is recognised that the appearance of Jesus on the
stage of human history brought history to life. He was no
fictional character but a man made of the stuff of our own
humanity. He knew about gladness and sadness and all the emotions
common to our humanity.
The human Jesus has not always been sufficiently emphasised,
for He is often shown in the difference and magnificence of
the artists and craftsman in glass, canvas, wood and stone.
At their best they are partial portraits of the Jesus of the
Gospels. And to some this sense of unreality has been seen
in the treatment of His biographers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, who are regarded, not as writers but as Bible writers
and the Bible is an extraordinary book to be treated differently,
so that an incident recorded by one writer is expected, when
repeated, to be identical with another. As though facts were
being misreported and contorted. The reality is that Jesus
had experiences similar to one another, and He used some illustrations
time after time; as speakers do to make their points and with
slight variations. Read fairly the Jesus of the Gospels is
a man whose life was dedicated to the service of God and the
well being of people and He was made well aware of how he
was regarded by them.
When Jesus came upon the scene He found the people anxious
to hear Him, for by His words and deeds he attracted them
and got their attention so that it was said the common people
heard Him gladly and they came to hear Him in very large numbers.
For that the Jewish leaders saw Him as an enemy, a threat
to their beliefs and a cause of trouble in their policy of
appeasement with the Roman ruler. To those who had committed
their lives to Him He was the one who brought God to them
in person and with power. He changed them, gave them new lives,
so that others said of them, they have a faith in God more
meaningful and effective than we have ever seen before.
The dynamic power of Jesus changed Peter, a fisherman, Matthew
a customs officer, Luke a Gentile GP and Paul, a narrow minded
bigot into the great leaders, writers and teachers of the
Christian Faith.
When Jesus came upon the scene everything changed. How He
lived, suffered and died has been described as the greatest
story ever told; It has in betrayal, injustice and crucifixion
- horrors, but mainly it tells of the words and wisdom of
Jesus as the man who was God and in whose life, death, and
resurrection, and continuing presence with believers is what
Christianity is all about. Everything of value for which it
stands comes from belief in God who became man, Jesus the
Christ, to show everyone that He is like Him. We see in Jesus
Christ. God is like Jesus.
Alexander McLarnon describes it,
"The tears of Jesus are the pity of God. The gentleness
of Jesus is the long suffering of God. The tenderness of Jesus
is the love of God."
We can know the closeness of God when we live close to God
and we find that not a sorrow, not a burden, not a temptation,
not a care or a tear but has its antidote in the inexhaustible
resources of God.
The question is "What do you think of Christ?"
The answer to it will govern your lives and control our destinies.
Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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