Anointed One

In March 2002, the former ruler of Afghanistan, the 87-year-old Mohammed Zahir Shah, returned to his homeland after 30 years of exile. Here's how an article in the Chicago Tribune described his grand and glorious welcome:

On Thursday, thousands of invited guests lined up for hours at the airport and people gathered on the streets leading to a refurbished seven-bedroom villa to see the former ruler. Delegations arrived from across Afghanistan's 32 provinces. Governors and their advisers, members of women's groups carrying posters of the king, most of the interim administration, royalists, warlords, men in turbans and others in suits all converged on the pockmarked runway where shells of bombed airplanes lay. Two red carpets were laid out. The newly trained honor guard was on hand, and young women and children in traditional embroidered dress greeted Zahir Shah with flowers and poems.

I hope you're thinking of the contrast when Israel's Messiah was born, when he came to his own people.

The Jewish magazine Moment asked a number of Jewish writers, professors, rabbis, artists, and actors the following question: "What does the concept of the Messiah mean today?" Here are some of the responses:

• Amoz Oz, novelist: "He may be around the corner, but that's where he should always be …. In the Jewish tradition … sitting idly waiting for the Messiah is a sin."
• Rabbi Peter H. Schweitzer: "Years ago, a popular evangelical bumper sticker read, "I found it." The Jewish version would read, "I'm still looking for it."
• Harris Lenowitz, literature professor: "Who at different times in their life hasn't had a belief … that someone, a messiah, can help them and help the world? And the messiah is the biggest answer to the biggest single question: 'Does God care about me?'"
• Lucette Lagnado, reporter: "People have stopped believing in God, in the possibility of miracles, in the mystical, and in that most mystical belief of all—the idea that somebody's going to come along and make the world all better. I think that's a sad development of the modern world."
• Deb Margolin, playwright and professor: "Most people think the Messiah has already come, but Jews are waiting. It could be anybody …. It's a very sexy idea. There's a blind date with the sacred that awaits you at any moment."
• Ruth Messinger, CEO of Jewish World Service: "The Messiah doesn't connote that some entity, deity or event will suddenly arrive and change the circumstances in our lives …. That's a notion of childhood wish fulfillment."
• Jack Dann, science fiction writer: "Twenty years ago I would have said that the idea of a messianic message was dying out in the popular culture, that it was being overtaken by a more sophisticated secularism. Obviously I was mistaken. More and more people seem to be embracing the idea that a messiah will appear to fix everything."
• Mayim Bialik, neuroscientist and actress: "The concept of a messiah is a general … notion that we are partners in making the world better, in moving the world forward. The Messiah is progress, participation, suiting up and showing up for life."
• Samuel Heilman, sociology professor: "For most Jews, the messianic idea has receded; it's not on the top of the agenda, and they don't see history as inexorably moving to that day."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Use these quotes to set up a sermon on evangelism, especially with our Jewish friends. There is a huge difference between Christianity and Judaism—Jews are still waiting for the Messiah (or some of them have given up on the Messiah), while Christians believe that the Messiah has come and is still alive. (2) You could also use these quotes to illustrate the character of Christian hope: Christ has come; Christ is alive; Christ will come again. (3) Use these quotes when preaching on Jesus as Christ and Messiah.

In her book Because He Loves: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life, author Elyse Fitzpatrick writes:

Just in case you're unaware, identity theft occurs when someone steals your name and other personal information for fraudulent use. Most of us are dismayed by this new cyber-age crime, and we wouldn't assume that the theft of another person's identity is acceptable behavior. The surprising reality, however, is that Christian's are, by definition, people who have someone else's identity. They're called "Christians" because they've taken the identity of someone else: the Christ. Not only have you been given an identity that you weren't born with or that you didn't earn the right to use, but you're invited to empty the checking account and use all the benefits this identity brings! This is so much better than identity theft—it's an identity gift!

Dave Dorr writes in an article on Resurgence.com:

Recently a firefighter in our church was told by one of his colleagues that belief in Jesus was for weak people. I found that ironic coming from a firefighter.

I have a fire hydrant in the yard that runs along the side of our house. I have never looked at the fire hydrant and felt any shame. I drive by a firehouse every day, and I never think, If this community didn't have weak people, we would never need firehouses. And when I pay my property taxes every month—taxes that help finance fire departments—I never get angry at myself, thinking, If I could just handle fires on my own, I wouldn't have to write this check.

Imagine a person whose house is on fire. The fire is raging out of control, and soon a fire truck pulls up, sirens blaring. The person runs out of their house in a rage and says, "How dare you come to my house and think that I can't handle this fire myself! Firefighters are for weak people—not for me!" What would you think of someone like that? You would think they were insane.

We know that fire departments are for "weak" people because a power exists that we simply can't deal with on our own: fire. Actually, we admire firefighters because they are people who have committed themselves to take on the power of fire at personal expense.

Christians are weak in the same sense that a community is "weak" for having fire departments. They are people who acknowledge that a power exists that they can't confront and live—the holiness of God. This, however, is not cause for shame, because there was a man, Jesus, who dealt with that power at his own personal expense on a cross. When someone is rescued from the flames, they're not thinking about their weakness; they're overjoyed that someone would risk it all to save them.

Used by permission of author.

Author and speaker Brennan Manning has an amazing story about how he got the name "Brennan." While growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated together, went to school together and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together and fought on the frontlines together. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the foxhole. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, dropped his chocolate bar and threw himself on the live grenade. It exploded, killing Ray, but Brennan's life was spared.

When Brennan became a priest he was instructed to take on the name of a saint. He thought of his friend, Ray Brennan. So he took on the name "Brennan." Years later he went to visit Ray's mother in Brooklyn. They sat up late one night having tea when Brennan asked her, "Do you think Ray loved me?" Mrs. Brennan got up off the couch, shook her finger in front of Brennan's face and shouted, "What more could he have done for you?" Brennan said that at that moment he experienced an epiphany. He imagined himself standing before the cross of Jesus wondering, Does God really love me? And Jesus' mother Mary pointing to her son, saying, "What more could he have done for you?"

The cross of Jesus is God's way of doing all he could do for us. And yet we often wonder, Does god really love me? Am I important to God? Does god care about me?

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.