Reflection for January 6
Johnnie Bird, Reaching Out
Jesus has just learned that John the Baptist had been arrested. It’s as if Jesus decided the time had come for him to take over John’s role, counseling others to “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand”— the very words John had used to urge his followers to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus is fulfilling the words of Isaiah, who foretells of a people sitting in darkness who have seen a great light, and to those who dwell in a land overshadowed by death, new light has arisen.
Jesus begins where John left off, quickly transforming John’s ministry into his own ministry. Jesus is the light. He is unafraid to accept this new role, quickly gaining the attention of the neediest among the Israelites. Those suffering from physical, emotional, and spiritual ailments flocked to Jesus.
In this reading no leaders of the community, no high priests or government officials are mentioned. Instead, there are those who are largely invisible to those in power. And yet Jesus welcomes them all. He truly lives out his instructions to his disciples: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Matthew 20:26-27). Can we chart the same course as Jesus? How many of us would willingly reject opportunities to hobnob with the muckety-mucks at the head table and instead wander to the more dimly lit edges of the room where the nobodies abide? And not just nobodies but paralytics, lunatics, the possessed. Many of us like to be recognized and given special treatment. That just wasn’t the way for Jesus.
Some may argue that Jesus could have used his skill as a preacher to access the upper echelons of power in Jewish society. Wouldn’t that have enabled him to do more good and to a larger constituency? Of course that is not what Jesus chose to do. Whether it is the least among us, or the child among us, we must begin there if we are to be authentic followers of Christ. And perhaps that means politely declining those invitations into the inner rooms, invitations that more often than not come with strings attached.
Tom Menner