Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Finding Messiah
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Eleventh Day of Christmas
John 1:40-42
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah,” which is translated Christ. Then he brought him to Jesus.
In the mid-1970s I joined the Unification Church. We believed that Rev. Sun Myung Moon was the messiah, the third Adam, and was here to complete the mission Jesus began.
In those days I often spent hours walking and sitting on the UC Berkeley campus, looking for someone to tell about the messiah. Actually, we soft-pedaled our message quite a bit and mostly looked for people to invite home for dinner.
After dinner a local theology professor spoke about the unity of history and religion, and suggested the possibility of a much-better world if we could find a way to come together. Who would disagree with that goal, even while holding out very little hope?
We were encouraged to walk away from confrontations with Christians. Christians were essentially on the same mission we were, to win converts. Converts to Christianity. We wanted converts to the Unification Church.
Andrew didn’t want to convert his brother, though. He was just plain old excited to have been in Jesus’ presence. He had no idea what would happen next. He didn’t know what Jesus taught, but he felt his energy and wanted more. He thought his brother would too.
A few years later, when I became a Christian, that energy is what drew me in. First the energy of my parents and of Margaret, whom I had just met. Then the energy of Jesus, alone with me in a snowy patch of woods in northern Illinois. Then the energy of worship, and prayer, and presence, which has mostly only grown ever since.
When we find the Messiah and say so, people listen. Sometimes it might seem like they don’t. But then they find out for themselves, in their own way and their own time. We are all made by God, known by God, drawn by God, directed by God and freed by God. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus told his friends, over and over. God is alive and his magic never ends.
Andrew didn’t tell his brother about heaven, and he didn’t tell him about hell, Lord. Andrew told Simon about Jesus. There wasn’t anything else to say, except, “Come and see.” Your love changes everything, breaks all the chains, and fills everything in. We get to share what’s happened to us, and there is joy in heaven. Jumping up and down. Laughter never ending.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1232
