Jesus Abided From The Beginning

What Did Jesus Do?

He was in the world, and the world was made through him,
yet the world did not know him.
John 1.10

I really don't have much use at all for so-called “reality” television, but I think I must be in the minority because it appears to be the fastest growing programming genre. There is a show which I have never watched, Undercover Boss, but I have seen promos for it. From what I can tell, owners of businesses disguise themselves and go to work at their own firms in order to learn what the workers are really like, what they really think of the company, and how they do their job. My understanding is the true colors, so to speak, of the unguarded workers, frequently lead to their embarrassment, and sometimes their being fired. I guess some might try and use as a defense, “But, I didn't know who you were.” to which the boss would reply “Why should that matter?” When you are hired the attitudes, expectations, and performance the company expects are spelled out, even if not personally presented to each new employee by the CEO. The CEO is present, so to speak, everywhere in the company, it bears his or her marks. Often it is quite literally true that the boss started and made the company what it is. Yet, as Undercover Boss show, many do not know the boss at all.

Jesus is not like any boss any of us could ever work for. Jesus is not into disguises, nor engages in subterfuge. From the very beginning Jesus, the Word, has been in the world. In fact, the world and everything in it was made through the Word, through Jesus. It strains the mind to try and conceive how a world made by Jesus, and in which Jesus has been present from the very beginning, could somehow now know him. Yet that is the sad historical truth. And don't think it is easy to ignore God, it takes willful effort. Consider this,

The carpenter...plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.
Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and
warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also
he makes himself a god and worships it; he makes it an
idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the
fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied.
Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have
seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his
idol, and falls down to it and worships it...a deluded heart
has led him astray.
Isaiah 44.14-17, 20

One has to work, and work pretty hard, not to know God. But the world, and most of the people in it, have always been quite eager to be blind and deaf to God, while following the lead of their deluded hearts, and create and worship countless idols. As I write this, rusting idols sit in my garage. In the living room a large-screen sits blank, for now, but when it is turned on it will offer hundreds of channels that can bring literally thousands of idols right into my home. On Monday night a stadium in Arizona will be filled with fans worshiping idols in helmets and shoulder pads. Two weeks ago millions of gaily wrapped idols sat under Christmas trees. No few of those idols have already been broken, or cast aside, or tossed into the garbage, to be replaced by other idols. All the while, Jesus Christ continues to be in the world, undisguised and plain to see, yet unknown by so many.

The good news is, Jesus is not going anywhere. He is not about to abandon the world he made, or the people he died to redeem. There is yet time to come know him, for he abides still in the midst of all he created. And this is why the Church must yet abide in, but not of, the world; why believers, those who do know Christ, must continue to pray for, and witness to, those whose hearts remain deluded, whose eyes still do not see, whose ears are yet deaf. Jesus, the Word, is the Alpha and Omega who, from the beginning of the world to its end, abides.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4