Seeing Jesus

The interesting thing about the first part of John 1 is that it is not just an introduction to the gospel, but also a mini overview of what John's message is. People did not see their creator walking by, whether they were too busy, or too wrapped up in themselves (something we all need to be careful of, including me.) or even too wrapped up in worshiping God. We might think that we would notice if the Son of God walked into the room. Maybe it would be that magnetic personality, or the love that He has for His people, maybe it would be the miracles that He performed, yet people did not see Him.
Let's think about those who did see Him, John the Baptist, a strange man who ate locusts, dressed in camel hair shorts and had some honey to go with his locusts. His message really wasn't that popular, "repent for the kingdom of God is coming". We could say that he was an ultra spiritualist calling people back to God, I don't think the Pharisees would agree though. Peter, Andrew, James and John, common blue collar workers, not smart enough to follow a rabbi so they followed in their family's trade of fishing. Matthew a hated tax collector, Judas a man who misunderstood and did not fully realize what was going on around him. I could continue but the point is these people when faced with Jesus saw something different. Their expectations of the messiah were not in jeopardy, their theological understanding of themselves or their faith was challenged but they met with that challenge because Jesus started to make more sense than the religion. (Remembering that religion is how we practice our faith). They hadn't put God into a box and weren't as afraid of the possibility of a carpenter from Nazareth being the Messiah instead of some gallant warrior.

I think we need to be careful here because we live in a time when many people are saying that religion does not make sense. Not that faith doesn't make sense, but that the religions don't. If we were to look at each other in our churches could we start to see Jesus, and the work that Jesus is doing in each of us. Can we see Him in the people we pass on the streets. How are we as followers of Jesus going to be the Body of Christ in this world today. Old religious and denominational walls don't mean what they used to. My generation is looking for Jesus not a denomination and I think when we get down to it all people are looking for Jesus, whether they want to admit it or even know it yet. This is not to say that religion is wrong, without it we are missing a part of who we are. However when we idolize the religion we start to miss Jesus.

The divide is coming along theological lines. Where is Jesus in our churches, in His Churches? Do we still hold to the redemptive and life changing power of God or have we let it go to the simple act of pleasing people? When we look at the Gospels we see Jesus meeting people where they were at and changing their lives. It didn't matter whether the illness was physical or spiritual. I wonder if the deeper question is have we taken time to meet with Jesus?

I don't claim to have the answers but I do have some questions and many of the questions I ask are aimed at myself and maybe these questions resonate with where you are at. So what are your thoughts?