Choose your Messiah! John 1.29-34

At Christmas, we Christians are looking back 2000 years into the time Jesus was
born in Bethlehem. Juda/Israel had a very turbulent time, occupied by the Romans.
The great Question for all the jewish people: Who is the Messiah ? The one our Jahwe-God has chosen to liberate us, to redeem us ? There are different views how the Messiah looks like! Only as examples:
For the Zelots: He is the political liberator...
For the Pharisees: He is the guarantor of the Tempel and the Commandments etc.
For John the Baptist: He is the lamb of God taking away the sins of the world...
For the Jesus-Movement: The one who will enable us to heal and to love.
But all of them have given priority to the question: Who is the Messiah ?
There was NO question about the Jahwe-God: He is our rock, our shield, our refuge
our Father almighty, merciful... God has been secured, no doubt - and Israel had a strong hope: the Messiah will come; but also a real conflict: Who is the real God-Messiah ? This was an inner-jewish question, but more: a religious conflict - as a root of Christianity.
Only after the resurrection of Jesus, since Pentecost, the Messiah-question slowly became international and at the international scene the question came up:
Who and How is the real God ?

Today (2000 years later) we have an international dialogue about God and Religion
(How is God? For what is God? Religion is over?) !
Today we have an internat. ecumenism about Unity of all Christian-movements! (Where ist the real Catholic Chuch? What is Christian Orthopraxis?)
Today: There is still terrible fight between God-believers and between Christ-Be-
lievers... Who will bring peace? Enable us to learn to make peace? (world-ethos!)
And today: the fight is growing between Believers and Non-Believers !

We learn from the First Jesus-Movement: They have broken away from the John-
Movement - but no one bad word about John; he is in our Church until today a special holy one. Thanks Mk + Lk + Mt + John!
As we choose our own Messiah: May we learn to "break-away" in harmony and mutual appreciation !

Baptism of Jesus / 12.01.2014

Sure, in the time of Jesus, there were agitating many groups/ movements to reform the situation of Jsrael / Juda occupied by the Romans (Policy, Religion, Economy).
"Reform" means here: + to keep the old situation (no change)
                                    + to adapt to the new situation
                                    + to renew really the situation
And now there is emerging the new "John - the Baptist - Movement",
a strong repentence-call because John told the people: "you are all sinners".
Jesus searching his own way is strongly confronted with the "John-Movement".
First he became a "member" later he has gone his own way!
Also the apostle Andrew and other disciples have broken away from the
"John of the desert" movement.

After Jesus has died and after the very special "experience" of his resurrection,
the disciples (the Jesus-Movement) like to show to the "people of God" that
Jesus of Nazareth and not "John of the desert" is the Messiah / the Christ of God.

In this sense the famous picture of "The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan"
Mt 2.13-17 / Mk 1.7-11 / Lk 3.15-22   is a master-piece in:
to show the value of the John-Movement but to make it quite clear:
Jesus is the one the Jahwe-God has chosen.
The Evv likes to convince us: The break-away of the Jesus-group from the John-Movement is happening to fullfill the will of the Jahwe-God.

This picture is a real good explication why the Jesus-Movement has the right to exist, to proclaim their message and to be independent as much as possible.

But this break-away is dearly paid - if not the only way of survival.
[we also are living in different groups with different messages! As we choose our own Messiah, do we have to break-away from one group in favour of the other one ? And how to break away ?]

Christmas as great Epiphany ...

What are we going to discover as we meditate the events at the manger ? ? ?

A) The Child... we have im fokus a new human being... a lot is spoken about this child... the child himself has presented an interesting life (style)...  has proclaimed
a new message...   and finally they called him "Emmanuel".

B) There is no place for this child...  the child is in danger of life...   a refugee...
"did you not know that I must be busy with my Father's affairs ?"

C) The shepherds...   a message for them....   on the one side: "Glory to God in the
highest..." on the other side: "peace to men"   Heaven and Earth are affected!

D) The profet Simeon and Anna...   what a child ?

E) The wise men...  led by a star...  (not by the Word of God).... missled (it was not
the newborn king)...   but: this child got now gold and incense and mhyrre...
(and not the Jahwe-God in the temple).

F) How many names will this child carry on ...    and which name is my favorite ?

G) Where do I find this child again ? in the Eucharist ? in the sacraments ?
in the Church ?  in my heart ?   in the  wind ?   in my friends ?

H) The manger I meditate  - I found it in the past!   and today ?  The birth of Jesus Christ is something for the past or something of today (where ? ) and why not something for the future ? 

I) May it be that the manger brings me to an other "concept of God"...  
to discover "the Human! as the sacrament of God ?"

J) We never know what happen on Christmas with us ? with me ? with the world ?
The discovery of a real humanity ?