The Reason

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
John 18 (click the link)


REFLECTIONS:
I was born in April 1969 and spent the first 4 years of my life in a small frame house on McFerrin St in Waco, TX. I have a few specific memories about living there: the time my cousin Lisa came to visit and gave me chicken pox, the elderly lady who lived across the street that would come “rescue” me when I opened my window and called her name, the time a sewer rat made its’ way up into the house via the toilet (while I was sitting on it—a potty training setback for sure!), and I remember watching the moon landing on our black and white TV. My mom and I have an ongoing disagreement about this because the moon landing was in July 1969, and that put me at the ripe old age of 3months when Neil Armstrong made “one giant leap for mankind.” My mom says it’s not possible to remember something from such a young age, but I do have a specific memory of being bathed in an avocado-green plastic tub in that living room while something very important was on TV. 

What does that have to do with John 18? Well, I’ll keep this short because it’s Christmas Eve and we’re all busy with one thing or another. John 18 is one of the most un-Christmassy chapters in the Bible. It tells of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, of Peter’s zealousness in resisting Jesus’ arrest followed by his denial of a friendship with Jesus not once but three times. It tells of Jesus being taken to Governor Pilate to be judged but because it was during a religious celebration (Passover—oh the irony!) they couldn’t even go inside for a proper trial. Pilate calls the bluff of Jesus’ accusers by putting the decision in their hands—choose which prisoner to free: Jesus the innocent, or Barabbas the thief. Their hearts were set against Jesus and Barabbas was freed. Interestingly, Barabbas’ name means “son of the father.” Barabbas was everyman, and was the first of all mankind to experience Jesus’ death in his stead.

The thing that caught my attention as I sat with my Christmas shopping list beside me, coffee in hand and game face on was Jesus’ words in verse 37 “…the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.” It blows my mind that Jesus referred back to his birth in the last days before death. I suppose this is morbid, but do you think as a child, an infant even, that Jesus knew it would lead to this? Did he have some memory of being in the manger with the cows and sheep but knowing something very important was happening? Was he aware as God-in-tiny-flesh that he was there to rescue the shepherds and the wise men, and Mary and Joseph? That he would be betrayed by friends and die for everyman? It was all for this…

Take a look/listen to the song “How Many Kings” by Downhere. It’s one of my favorite Christmas songs and I hope it will be one of yours as well.


WHO AM I?
I’m Leigh Anne Bland and every time Christmas rolls around, I think and laugh a little about one of the more foolish and fun things I have ever done. In 2005, PRF did a retro-Christmas show in which I serenaded Greg with “Santa Baby.” Which do you think is more red, my dress or his face?