The autograph. A signature.
Usually used to verify one's identity on important documents. Often
times used to verify one's meeting with a celebrity. A celebrity. A
person who is somehow risen in stature to the point where his or her
signature is worth more than the so-called ordinary, average human.
Whose signature would you crave? Whose signature would you want
scribbled over some material possession (be it poster, cd, ball,
other memorabilia, etc)? An athlete? A musician? A movie star? A
politician? An individual whose career has taken him/her across a
combination of these? Why? To sell? To keep locked away for a
generation? What about Jesus? His three year “career” has
influenced all of human history for over 2,000 years. No one else
would come close to that, before or after.
I hope you said no.
Why?
Why would it be, that if you
ever met Jesus, that having Him scribble on some paper or immaterial
object be the thing to pop into your head? To go away with something
that moth and rust can destroy, and thieves break in and steal?
I once saw an interview
(with an athlete), in which he stated he never gave out any
autographs. Instead he would have conversations with his fans.
Shouldn't that be the case with Jesus? Shouldn't a conversation with
Him be worth more than any object? Even if his signature were on the
holy grail, a short chat with Him would be worth all the more. If
you're hesitant to answer, it's ok. It means you've read the Bible.
Jesus mostly has one of two things to tell people. It's either
comforting or disturbing, there isn't much in the way of in between
(not much written in the Gospels anyway). Even the comforting,
healing that He does is followed up with “go and sin no more”.
Yet, how many people seek
after material things? How many people seek after Jesus-themed
material things? Now, I don't mean Bibles and worth-while books. I
mean Jesus-themed materials being sold to make money. People who
don't care about souls or Christ's message, but about money. Things
sold by people who only see Christians as a marketing demographic.
People who write Jesus-themed books to sell, rather than books to
enlighten. Not to name any names, but the Bible isn't a self-help
book. Jesus' message wasn't about self-esteem. It was about
salvation! That humanity had done wrong! How it turned away from the
very face of God! That despite this, we (humanity) are forgiven our
sins! Our debts are forgiven! Paid by the very blood of Christ!
There are books that were
written to explain the meaning. To enlighten. To put Jesus' message
into tangible examples (C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton spring to
mind) that we can understand. Then there are others. I have to wonder
if the love of money (which is the root of all evil) has led some to
write books because they know it will sell. Maybe they have so-called
“good intentions” and it just looks like they're more concerned
with money (I did have a reason for not naming names). However, good
intentions are meaningless if potential results are ignored. The
point is that instead of pointing the accusatory finger to what I
think is bad; I want to raise my hands to what I know is good. There
are Christian authors who bear good fruits and there are authors who
write to sell and make money from Christians. Christians need to know
the difference. Same goes for music, movies and pretty much
everything else.
Just like Peter, who thought
it best to pitch tents when he saw Jesus speaking with Moses and
Elijah. He thought it best to pitch tents for the night. Likewise, if
we saw Jesus, would we see Him, or would we immediately think of
something inconsequential to do or say. Would we see Jesus for Jesus,
or would we see a celebrity to have a picture with? Would we see
Jesus, or try in vain to feel important doing something that doesn't
need to be done. Again, we should know the difference. We should know
the Shepherd’s voice as well as what He is actually calling us to
do.
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