ADVENT BLOG   Named by God - “SON OF THE LIVING GOD”

“Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God””

(Matthew 16: 16)

Most, if not all of you, will remember the story of being stopped by a total stranger in Saltcoats when I was walking along the main street.  This lady said with great confidence, “you’re Jenny Thorburn’s grandson!”  I had to agree but, I did enquire as to how she had worked that one out.  Her reply was simple, “you’ve got the Thorburn nose and upper lip”.  There was no answer to that whatsoever.  We all have something of our parents and grandparents within us, be it how we look, how we talk or even how we react.  People around us who know them or have known them ,recognise in our looks and our traits someone who has gone before us.

A minister in London tells the story of when he was addressing a Secondary School Assembly.  He was talking about faith and what it means to believe in God.  A lad at the back put his hand up and asked a bold question, “Have you ever seen God?”  As the sniggers of others subsided the minister calmly replied, “No, but if I had lived in Palestine over 2000 years ago I would have seen him!”  What a smart answer and a deeply profound one.

In this relatively short verse there are two titles - Christ as Messiah and as the Son of the Living God.  Messiah, or anointed one, indicates that Jesus came with a job to do and was sent by God with God’s blessing and with the full power and authority of God.  Next to that powerful image is the profound truth that the one who came to bring alive the promises of God wasn’t just sent by God but came from God.  Christ was coming and still comes as God to us which means that a whole new future in our relationship with God, was and is still possible.  If we had walked those dusty roads of Palestine all of those years ago then, we would have seen God if we had had that opportunity to even catch a glimpse of Jesus.

See Christ Jesus, see God.  Know Christ Jesus, know God.  Enter into a relationship with Christ Jesus, enter into a relationship with God.  We cannot see him physically in our midst but, when we open eyes of faith, we can sense him with us and see the change that he brings into the lives of those who embrace him.  We can learn from him about God and his love and we can know him through the same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the very beginning of time.

When you look at Christ in Scripture what do you see in him?  What does he tell you about God?  What are the signs of him at work in your lives and in the life of the world?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in his wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of his glory and grace.

(Helen H Lemmel, born 1863)