Hidden Things

During the Christmas season we often take joy in keeping secrets of the gifts we have bought for the special people in our lives.  And who doesn’t have childhood memories of trying to get a sneak peek at some highly anticipated gift that had been hidden away from them until Christmas Day?

When Jesus came to earth as a baby, it seems that God took special pains in hiding Him in a most obscure setting.  Yet, at the same time, it seems that He delighted in revealing Him to a little, select bunch of humble shepherds.  As this small excited group went around their village praising Him and witnessing to others about what they had seen, God was receiving the glory.

There were, no doubt, many other reasons behind the secrecy of Jesus’ birth.  Consider the political consequences of the birth of a king in the Roman Empire.  We saw what Herod did when the Magi came looking for the one whose star they saw.  Because the people wanted a ruler to set them free from military occupation they were unprepared to accept the kind of Messiah that Jesus would be – a Messiah of the heart.  The religious leaders were full of pride and bound to their own traditions, and a general lack of true faith in God was widespread among the people and would hinder the reception of the Gospel message. 

But what does all this have to do with us now?   For one thing, it causes me to realize that, typically, these are the very same reasons why people resist the truth today.  Different times and cultures.  Same human nature.  There may be times when we are able to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with someone whose heart is open and ready, those are wonderfully exciting moments.  But for the most part, many of the people we see regularly are not ready to have a Messiah lead their lives.  They are either religious but blind to their need, or claiming to be agnostic or simply unwilling to yield their lives to the Lord.  For these the truth is hidden by their own hardness of heart, but our mission in these cases is not so much in our words as in acts of kindness, faith and godly attitudes that they may observe day by day.

It is good to remember that only the Spirit of God can reveal the truth and convict hearts to turn to Him.  Jesus was well into the second year of His ministry, having revealed Himself publicly through countless healings and miraculous acts, when He asked His disciples who people were saying He was.  They gave several answers but none of them were correct.  Then He asked them directly who they said He was, and Peter made his well-known confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 

Then, Jesus made it clear that Peter had not discovered this by human reasoning but only because God had revealed it to him.  God’s way was, and is, to reveal His hidden truth to one heart at a time, as it is prepared to receive Him who is the Truth.  When I began to understand this, it was a great relief to me, realizing that it is not by heroic efforts or persuasive arguments that we who follow Jesus will convince people to trust in Him but by a work of the Holy Spirit who may choose to use some aspects of our lives to touch them.

But to those who remained willfully blind in the very face of the living Truth (Jesus Himself), He gave a stern warning.  His words are found in John 9:39-41, “And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.’  Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, ‘We are not blind too, are we?’  Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, “We see,” your sin remains.’

If you haven’t already, will you receive your Messiah today? 

He came to His own and His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. – John 1:11-12