Read Micah 5:2-5.
As you read through the short passage, and think back on some of the other Old Testament prophecy, who is it, what is it, that you hope for? Does your hope and expectation match up with who Jesus really is?
I used to wonder how the Jews of Jesus time missed it. How the heck did they not think Jesus was the Messiah? The more I read some of these prophecies, the more I think maybe I understand a little bit. The Jews had a legacy of getting kicked around. (The novel “The Source” by James Michener gives a really great glimpse of this). In the midst of all this getting kicked around, they were promised a savior. Human nature alone would instantly conjure up images of revenge and destruction of enemies. Add that to some of the language that the prophets used, and it’s not too hard to have visions of a great warrior king who is really going to help the Jews start doing the kicking, once and for all.
But that isn’t who Jesus turned out to be. I am on the other side of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, I know who He turned out to be, and what I am supposed to hope for, but I still find myself hoping for someone to make my life easier, or create a quick fix to my problems, or exact revenge on an enemy. My expectations of what I want Jesus to be can be very dangerous as they can also end up shaping how I live my life.
What do you hope for? What do you expect with the arrival of this Christ-child?
carolss said...
1Josh-very good thoughts.
Maybe one of the reasons the Jews missed it was because who they perceived to be their enemy wasn’t really the primary enemy, just as Bethlehem wasn’t perceived as the right size for the tribe from which the Messiah would come? In this season of Jesus as ‘baby child, meek and mild,’ I know I forget that Jesus came to defeat an enemy…the primary enemy. Sometimes, the people I see as the enemy of my plans are only pawns of the primary enemy. I WANT Jesus to come with justice and exact revenge on an enemy, and I want to be part of the action, but I want it to be the true enemy. I know I need Jesus to bring an epiphany in my own life to be able to see the primary enemy, so I’m not just wildly swinging the (s)word of truth, slashing and wounding randomly. May God grant us more light for better sight to see the real enemy of his advancing kingdom.
12/15/09 11:07 AM | Comment Link
carolss said...
2epiphany addendum: Speaking of knowing who is the enemy, I think back to our first Advent reading (advent Blog 8), about Jesus coming to refine us, purify us. Sometimes the Jews were kicked around due to their own disobedience. Many times, I want Jesus to come and even the score, but what I’m often blind to is that my situation is a result of my own disobedience…log in my own eye, if you know what I mean. I’m glad that Jesus chose me where I was at, instead of waiting for me to first clean up my act…a good thing for me to remember during this time of being with friends and extended family.
12/15/09 4:32 PM | Comment Link
joshua said...
3Thanks Carol. Your follow up comment resonated with something I was thinking after I read your first comment. It is a little cheesy, but a friend once said, the Bible is a scalpel not a sword. It was meant to be used to help us go through that refining, and instead we like to grab it and wield it as a weapon to cut others down.
12/15/09 7:40 PM | Comment Link
Dan said...
4Wow. This idea has enormous ramifications. So if Jesus showed up and didn’t speak like Sean Hannity, or Jim Wallis, or Billy Graham, or…(you get the idea), would I crucify him? (likely not, we’re too tolerant today..I would simply mock and make fun of him on a religious blog) I think I need to incorporate this into my prayer life in a much more intentional way. Thanks for the reminder, Joshua.
12/15/09 8:45 PM | Comment Link
Ben said...
5The fact that God is hard to recognize when he shows up has haunted me for years. One thing I find interesting is later in the story, one of the gospel writers says that the tax collectors and prostitutes recognized Jesus as the Messiah because they had been baptized by John. But because the Pharisees refused to be baptized by John, they did not recognize him.
If we can maintain that “baptized by John” posture (repentance), I think we’ll be able to recognize Jesus when he shows up, even if he does surprise us (like the disciples).
12/15/09 9:52 PM | Comment Link