anticipation

The Messiah is coming.

Of course, he wouldn’t be the military leader everyone had made him to be in their heads. He would come of peace.

And he wouldn’t be the political leader they wanted him to be. In fact, he sat under one of the most unjust governments in the world’s history and told people to submit to it.

And he wouldn’t build an empire on this earth. Because he seemed obsessed with God’s Kingdom – a holistically redemptive, servant-oriented, way of living that would change everything.

So he spent his life engaged with people. Never missing an interruption. Always showing grace. Pouring himself out for all of man. You couldn’t pry him away from the poor. You couldn’t keep him from those who benefited from corrupt business. Or from befriending prostitutes. He brought hope to the darkness of life on this planet. Peace to a people who had been almost continually at war and under oppression. Life to anyone who would listen.

His name was Jesus. And he is the Messiah.

So during this season we join with centuries of people in anticipating him. Because we do it on this side of the cross, we get to celebrate his coming to the earth while we anticipate his return to complete the redemption of man.