There is no way that we can fathom or assimilate the nature or the purposes of Jesus Christ. Our progressive understanding of His person and His life can be hindered by our corporate depravity, by cultural assumptions and presuppositions, and by personal ignorance and/or arrogance. We must guard against the extremes of reduction and re-construction. The former leads us to “dumbing down” the message of Christ in order to make it more palatable or marketable. Re-construction displays itself in “running past” Christ to an elitist and even exclusive knowledge accessed only by self-proclaimed “insiders.” Either extreme makes recognition of Christ very difficult.
Recognizing the movement and the appearing of Jesus in our midst is subtle, spontaneous, and organically supernatural. Initially, we must be in constant pursuit of the whole counsel of God through the Word that Jesus said was “about Me.” We must humbly seek the Scripture both individually and in community. Realize also that the mystery of Christ and the kingdom is intricately and intimately woven into the mundane fabric of our everyday lives. Our feeble grasp of Him becomes increasingly more “tangible” until we ultimately realize His grasp of us. Humility and gratitude, mingled with this understanding, spills over into His peace which permeates our lives. There’s more! He invites us to participate with Him in His passion for the nations by multiplying Himself in the person of His Spirit in our lives. Our hearts are aflame!
Read the 24th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke.