How interesting, that no sooner had satan, in the guise of a snake, corrupted Adam and Eve in the Garden, that God would reveal His future intentions by saying, 'And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.' We're only into the third chapter of the first book and already the Gospel of the New Testament is being written. Though others will make more reference to what the future holds, it is Isaiah who really takes up the mantle by writing '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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.' After that it's just a matter of waiting until it all happens.And of course it did, though probably not in the way that most people would either have thought or chosen and of course, Jesus wasn't that uncommon a name in such communities, a bit like Jack of Jill nowadays. Maybe Israel was waiting for someone with a more obscure or unusual name or title, with at least some indication of Royal or upper class bloodlines and somebody with leadership qualities and fighting potential. But the son of a carpenter, whose relationship with a young teenager had given plenty of ammunition to the gossips and rumour mongers of the day, an incident that was still fresh in the memory of anybody who had been alive for little more than thirty years in the area.
After the miraculous conception, a birth in the most humble surroundings imaginable and brief glimpses of him as a young, but knowledgeable boy, Jesus disappears from the scene altogether for about eighteen years without even the slightest mention, though his relative, John, who was about the same age, had begun to make reference to the predictions of Isaiah and the coming of the promised Messiah, as he preached on river banks and forests and baptised people. And then, just as if the whole thing was more than a coincidence, which of course is true, Jesus reappears as a thirty year old man at one of John's gatherings, is baptised by his relative and God announces His satisfaction that His Son living as human flesh and bones is ready for the task He came to earth to fulfill.
So for just over three years He preaches, heals, performs a whole range of miracles, acquires a sizeable following, including twelve personally chosen men, many of whom we mightn't have considered fit to do such a job and of course makes a whole band of enemies who are at odds with his words and claims, which seem to be contrary to some of their rituals, but never at odds with His knowledge. Eventually the dissenters plot His death with a little help from one of His closest aides and He dies the cruel death of crucifixion outside the walls of Jerusalem, along with a couple of common convicts, though the time of his demise also coincides with some strange happenings, including the tearing of the temple veil, earthquakes, reappearance of dead people in the city and an eclipse of the sun. And it made many people think that maybe He was whom He claimed to be, including the pagan Roman Centurion on duty at that hillside.
It could be just another story, only He fulfills His pre-death promise to rise again and then He appears, not just to one person, but to many in different places and at different times. And of course His most loyal followers are there to witness His last departure from earth to be with His Father.
Three things strike me.First, how valuable was that period of preparation until John baptised Jesus in the Jordan and God said, 'This is my beloved Son and I am fully pleased with Him.' Secondly, it's not the healings and other miracles, the preaching, the compassion He showed nor even the charisma that drew others to Him, that is most important. It is His blood, for without it , there are too many others who can claim to have done great things. But the shedding of the blood for ever gives us hope and assurance that our sins are forgiven through His death and we need pay no other price for our salvation. And thirdly, it it is only important what wee think, not what great minds or scholars suppose Him to be and in the words of Peter when asked whom he thought Jesus was, He is 'the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'
To finish, I go back to the garden. Striking a heel is only a temporary hindrance. Crushing the head is much more more permanent. There may be many battles ahead with satan but guess who has won the war!
