It was a remarkable, tantalizing prophetic promise.
The Hebrew prophet Malachi, about 300-400 years before Christ, wrote, “Suddenly the LORD whom you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you take delight is coming, says the LORD of heavenly forces” (Malachi 3:1).
It came true–but in a startling, unexpected way.
God had worked with, communicated and guided humans throughout time—yet too often, humans didn’t fully understand or live out God’s purposes. So, in a climactic act of self-giving and revelation, God came in person. And when the time came, instead of striding onto the world stage like an all-conquering superhero, God entered this world as an infant supernaturally conceived by a poor peasant girl named Mary. They named him Jesus (Greek version of Joshua, which meant “God saves.”) Mary and her husband Joseph protected and raised him as a child. As the gospel of John put it, God put on flesh and lived alongside humans like one of us, facing our struggles and limitations (cf. John 1:14). God was no longer remote in any way from the challenges of the human condition because Jesus experienced them. People no longer had to guess what God was trying to do in the world because Jesus embodied God’s purposes. Through the person and work of Jesus the anointed one (that’s what “Christ” meant in Greek), humans and God were mutually revealed to one another in a direct, never-before-seen way.
Jesus not only came to die for humans—he came to show us how to live.
God had always longed for a perfect, loving relationship with people. Human after human failed to love God perfectly. Jesus broke that pattern and set a new pattern by living in complete, loving union with God. Jesus’ life was about reversing the primal human rebellion (what Genesis reported archetypally as the failure of Adam and Eve) and showing that humans can live into the image for which God created them. Jesus lived as a beacon of light in a dark world reminding humans that God had not forgotten or abandoned them. Jesus told captivating, thought-provoking stories called parables (cf. Matthew 13). Jesus loved and welcomed little children, and they appear to have loved him back (cf. Mark 10:13-16). Jesus healed many who were sick, physically and spiritually (cf. Mark 1:32-34). Jesus loved and forgave people who had wandered away from God (cf. Luke 19:1-10).
Ironically, the way Jesus lived was the main reason his enemies wanted to kill him.
Jesus entered human history when the people of Israel desperately wanted a King again. The Jewish people were tired of being oppressed by hostile Kings and Empires and wanted the ruler God had promised them. When Jesus came as that promised King, the religious leaders of the Jewish people didn’t want a King who was poor, homeless and lived to serve others. They wanted a King who would overthrow the Roman Empire and make them the world’s dominant power. Jesus was not that kind of King. Jesus was a man of peace instead of violence. Instead of oppressive power, Jesus led with humility and self-giving love. Instead of focusing on the rich and prestigious, Jesus often sought out the marginalized, oppressed, lonely and forgotten. Instead of organizing people for his own benefit, Jesus organized a movement of people (called disciples) around God’s Kingdom dream—to restore the world toward its intended wholeness.
Jesus bluntly challenged hypocrisy and pretense, especially among religious leaders (cf. Matthew 23:27-28). He said things about wealth that many thought defied common sense (cf. Luke 16:10-14). He so infuriated the religious leaders by claiming oneness with God that they tried to kill him (cf. John 10:27-33). He told his followers plainly that they’d face troubles in this world (cf. John 16:33).
Jesus taught that those who love him, who experience his salvation, will share his good news by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing those who have no clothes and visiting prisoners in jail. Jesus wanted to be the King of people’s hearts and lives, not a King of possessions, position, and prestige.
For God’s Kingdom dream to be fulfilled through them, the people of Israel needed to find their way back to God again.
Jesus wanted to be the way for Israel to find their way back to God. Sadly, too many couldn’t believe that humility, service and self-giving love was the way to God, not violence and power. So some of the people Jesus came to serve turned on him and demanded that their Roman overlords execute him. Yet, driven by his self-giving mission, Jesus turned even that tragedy into a climactic demonstration of God’s powerful, saving love.
