Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Matthew 16: 24-26 (ESV)
It is common knowledge among my family and friends, that I begin to play Christmas music in July each year. Reminding me day-after-day of the gift of Christ and His call upon our lives to follow and touch the world with Him for good.
The word Advent, meaning “coming,” reminds us, as I heard a friend say, that Christ has already landed and is on the move. The One whom Isaiah referred to as “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
So, we are on the move with Him.
Of his list of names, I wonder why Isaiah didn’t also refer to Him as “Rebel.” From the quiet birth of a gentle Baby, unnoticed by those scurrying around to obey a census decree, who would have thought He would have grown to be such a rebel?
Clearly God, who inspired Isaiah’s words over seven hundred years before the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem, knew that His Son would be a bit of a Rebel.
And, upon honest reflection, that is exactly Who He was, Who He is, and Who He will always be—a Rebel—always on the move in the lives, in the world everywhere.
We remember what He did while He was here on earth. Who but a rebel would have dared to call religious leaders of the day hypocrites and a brood of vipers, or would have thrown the money-lenders out of the temple? Who would have been found eating with tax collectors and other sinners? What self-respecting Jewish man in that day would have met, and spoken with, in broad daylight, a Samaritan woman? Who would make crooked limbs straight, the blind to see, touched a leper, healed on the Sabbath, or brought the dead back to life?
My friends, the Babe of Bethlehem—Jesus—was a Rebel.
I wonder what He thinks of all that is going on in our world now, with the contrast of our priorities and those of society, against His priorities, as we move ever so quickly through yet another year, with lives around us needing a lift.
While we ponder that, reflect with me on these words from the song “The Rebel Jesus,” by Jackson Browne, before we journey too much further toward the celebration of the Rebel Jesus’ birth—
The streets are filled with laughter and light, and the music of the season,
And the merchant’s windows are all bright, with the faces of the children,
And the families hurrying to their homes, as the sky darkens and freezes,
Will be gathering around their hearths and tables,
Giving thanks for God’s graces, and the birth of the rebel Jesus.
They call him by the “Prince of Peace” and they call him by “The Saviour,”
And they pray to Him upon the sea, and in every bold endeavor,
And they fill His churches with their pride and gold, as their faith in Him increases.
But they’ve turned the nature that I worship in, from a temple to a robber’s den,
In the words of the rebel Jesus.
We guard our world with locks and guns, and we guard our fine possessions,
And once a year when Christmas comes, we give to our relations,
And perhaps we give a little to the poor, if the generosity should seize us…
But pardon me if I have seemed to take the tone of judgment…
On the side of the rebel Jesus.
The contrast seems clear.
Between the desperate needs around us—homelessness, poverty, loneliness, abused, neglected, and hungry children, addictions, confusion, and despair—and the success the world sets before us to aspire to—money, power, stuff, image, accolades, and awards.
In the midst of those contrasts all around us, we are on the move toward the celebration of the birth of the Child—The Rebel Jesus.
And in these times which we are in now, and during the journey to that celebration, it may be that we need to also be—rebels.
I wonder if our world could use some of those rebels aligned with and following Jesus right about now, lifting those in need around us, to all He created them to be.
But—even more than that—our world, everywhere, could use Jesus in our homes, churches, and street corners.
Just something for us to think about today and in the days to come as our Christmas music reminds us of our journey toward the manger, and the Babe—dare I say Rebel—of Bethlehem.
In His Name–Scott
Listen to Jackson Browne share his challenge for all of us to have an impact for good with Christ, as he sings “The Rebel Jesus.”
