Pascha: The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:1-8; John 1:1-17.
Read John 1:1-7
Sometimes we don’t recognize someone we are acquainted with because we are not expecting to see them. They look vaguely familiar, and we do a double-take. Then we experience a moment of recognition – “Hey, it’s that guy!” This usually happens because we are seeing the person out of the context in which we usually encounter them. Sometimes a companion helps us make the connection afterwards – “Yeah, that was so-and-so.” The biggest example of delayed recognition in history was when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.” How could this happen?
The same way these missed opportunities for connection usually happen. “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not…for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The context through which God was revealing himself was the Mosaic law; the context in which people were experiencing Jesus Christ was grace. Not everyone was expecting that, so he went largely unrecognized. People needed to connect the dots that this was the lawgiver giving grace, not by abolishing the law, but by fulfilling it. And John was that companion who helped connect the dots for them, and us.
Let us not miss opportunities for connection with Christ in our time. He keeps showing up in unexpected ways. Let’s not forget what he looks like. Become reacquainted with him. The better we know someone, the better we will be able to recognize them. Jesus told us so: “Lord, when did we see You?” “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”