Following The Star: Searching

"Following The Star:  Searching"
Matthew 11:2-6

There was an editorial on one of the news magazines site about the trials and tribulations of the Republican and Democratic Parties, especially as that relates to the upcoming Presidential election.  The gist of the article had to do with the lack of vision in both parties, combined with the lack of a clearly defined and charisma-filled leader who embodies that vision.

One of the quotes that caught my attention reads:
America is now sauntering through her resources and through the mazes of her politics with easy nonchalance; but presently there will come a time when she will be surprised to find herself grown old--a country crowded, strained, perplexed--when she will be obliged...to pull herself together, adopt a new regimen of life, husband her resources, concentrate her strength, steady her methods, sober her views, restrict her vagaries, (and) trust her best, not her average, members.  (Time, November 17, 1986)

The thing that's amazing about this quote is it wasn't written this past week.  This quote was actually spoken a century ago by then President Woodrow Wilson.  That kind of vision and that kind of expectation seems to be a timeless expression of a people's hope.  David Anderson, a Religion Writer for UPI, in a recent interview made this observation:  "There is a vacuum, frankly, in church leadership in this country.  I just don't see where the next generation of mainline church leaders is going to come from."

So it doesn't matter if it's a political party or a church denomination.  There is a constant and ongoing search for leadership that will demonstrate itself in a purpose and a vision that can be caught and rallied behind.  As Woodrow Wilson stated, no ordinary person can fill such a role.  It has to be someone who is beyond reproach and untainted from the possibility of some kind of personal morass, or some political falderal.

Our personal problems and the issues facing the world loom too large and are increasingly complex.  The desire for someone to swing in our jungle, like a great Tarzan, give a mighty whoop and a holler that scares everything that is bad and oppressive away, is, in my estimation, a basic human desire.  Just look at the popular movies developed out of comic book heroes:  Superman, Spiderman, Transformers, Iron Man, Thor.  Even our comic book mythology is about some super hero who will do for us all what we can't do for ourselves.

It is also my estimation that we do not just sit around waiting for such a savior to swing into our lives--we go looking for them in all kinds of silent or expressive ways.  And it is further my impression that the reason we have this desire to search for a savior is because that desire has been planted in us by God himself.




II

Another thought, which forms the foundation upon which I am building my impressions is that our search for a savior who will rescue us from our problems comes also out of our felt and recognized needs.  If you agree with me that we are all in the midst of this kind of search, in one way or another, then you would also have to agree that one of the reasons we are looking is because our individual and corporate problems have grown past our ability to handle them or conquer them.  We need a savior!

And, our kinds of problems may determine what kind of savior we are looking for.  For example, in the political realm we have health care issues that go way beyond Obamacare.  We have military strategies that we are trying to make happen in concert with many other nations around the globe--but terrorism and a response to it are threatening to light one big fuse that would destroy that same globe.  We are moving faster than we first assumed toward global ecological disaster--and it's our own fault for creating the problem and then doing very little about it.

What compounds these problems is that our nation is paying for all this with money it doesn't have.  Our nations leaders are writing checks for all this that are bouncing out of the solar system.  And I read this week that the U.S. economy is no longer the number 1, most powerful and influential economy in the world.  According to the latest figures, China has finally passed us as the number one economy in the world, and that will remain so for decades to come.

Just looking at all these interrelated issues--and there are hundreds more I didn't mention--we certainly are going to need some kind of savior.

Add to this the moral and spiritual sludge the nation and world is in, along with all of our individual and personal problems, and you quickly and horrifyingly get a vision of a world out of control, in dire need of a savior.

III

So the search begins, some where in an individual's heart, or in the collective soul for a savior.  We search high and low, sometimes grasping at rumors, many times grasping at people and products which make false claims, setting themselves up as a savior, feeding, in a sick sort of way, on our dire need.

John the baptizer's day, not unlike our own, was filled with false claims made by many would-be-saviors, leading people not only astray, but to their doom.  The expectations were at a high.  But so were the hucksters with their crazy claims of a primrose path with all the easy answers.   Is it any wonder that John asked Jesus, "Are you he who is to come or shall we look for another?"

During his preaching a baptizing ministry, before his imprisonment, we get the idea that John was sure that Jesus was the One.  Twice John pointed Jesus out to his disciples and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, 36).  At another point John's disciples are asking him about Jesus, who is also now preaching and baptizing.  John replied to their questions with the statement, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).  There is an assurance early in John's ministry that is somewhere and somehow lost by him along the way.  So he sends to Jesus his question, "Are you he who is to come...?"

John, understandably, wants to be sure.  We would want to be sure.  We do not want to give ourselves over to just any fly-by-night savior.  How can John be sure?  How can we be sure?  Would John have accepted a simple answer from Jesus, "Yes, I'm the One," with no proof?  No evidence?  No assurances?  John's needs and the needs of his time were great.  And so are ours.  We need to be sure.

One of the only ways we can be sure that Jesus is the expected One, and that we need look no further, is to be in close touch with our needs.  What is it that any of us are searching for that we hope "he who is to come" will fulfill?  What do we want "he who is to come" to do for us?  To be for us?  Why are we searching?  For how long have we searched?  In what directions has our search taken us?

I read the story in a Readers Digest of a lady who was shopping at the supermarket.  She was in the dairy section.  It was September and a number of college students were in the store, who were now cooking and shopping on their own.

The lady picked up a dozen eggs, opened it up, lifting each egg to make sure none were broken or stuck to the carton.  One of these college students had watched her do this, and not knowing why, picked up his carton of eggs and started curiously looking underneath each egg.  Finally, he bent over to the lady and asked, "What is it exactly I'm supposed to be looking for?"

And so with the Messiah, the Expected One, the Savior, we need to know exactly what we are searching for.  Only when we are certain of our deeper needs, and then begin to have those needs fulfilled in amazing ways, can we begin to wonder, "Have I found the Savior, or should I keep looking?"

At one point in Jesus' ministry, after he had said some hard things about the demands of following him, many pulled back from him.  Wondering if those closest to him would also back away, Jesus asked them if they also wished to go their own way.  They replied, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  And we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God" (John 6:66-69).

The disciples expectations were tingling as well.  They wanted to know for sure.  They knew what they were looking for.  Jesus had come, began his ministry, and now they were wondering if he was the One.  Over a period of time, walking and talking with Jesus, witnessing the miracles, they had become convinced.  Notice in their reply to Jesus' question, the disciples say, "...we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God."  "Believed and come to know."  Faith and knowledge.  Their faith and their knowledge must fit, like hand in glove, with their own searchings, in order for that personal relationship with Jesus to grip their hearts.

It's like seeing movie previews.  You may not be sure you want to see a certain movie.  Well, there's an app for that.  You get out your smart phone, and click on iTrailers.  Those previews will either whet your desire to see the film, or pour cold water on it.  The more and more the disciples saw, the more they wanted to see the whole picture.  Finally they got to the point where they wanted to not just see the big picture; they wanted to be in it, a part of it.

That is exactly the same message Jesus sent back to John.  "Go and tell John what you see and hear."  Don't just believe because I say so, is what Jesus was telling John (and anyone else who may be listening).  Jesus didn't want, nor expect, that people would believe on his word alone.  That's why John called the miracles that Jesus performed, "signs."  These signs pointed to and authenticated Jesus is "he who is to come."

Look around you.  Look inside you.  What are the signs that you have seen and felt, to others and to yourselves, that leads you to believe and know that Jesus is the One?  What have you seen and heard?  Could Jesus possibly be "he who is to come" for you?

One Christmas season, members of a church were preparing for their annual Christmas Pageant.  A little boy who had been crippled since birth and who walked with crutches, wanted to play a part in the pageant.  All of the major male roles had been given out--Joseph, Wise Men, Shepherds.  The boy was understandably disappointed.

Finally it was decided that he would play the role of the innkeeper.  The boy was heartbroken because he was the only person in the play who would have to reject Jesus.  All during rehearsals this very sensitive young boy was deeply troubled by the role he had been given to play.

The night of the pageant had come.  The sanctuary was packed with parents and members of the church.  The play began, and it progressed to the point where Joseph knocked at the door of the inn.  The little boy's big moment had arrived.  He couldn't restrain himself any longer.  He threw open the door of the inn and shouted at the top of his voice, "Come in!  I've been expecting you!"

This Christmas, may your searching cease.  May we not have to ask the question of John anymore, "Are you he who is to come...?"  But instead, like the little boy who expressed in his own special way the true spirit of the Christmas story, cry out with joyous voices, "Come in!  I've been expecting you!"