Readjusting Our Eyes

I remember the quotes he wrote on the chalkboard; they seemed to mean nothing.  Mr. Michael, my math teacher in 8^th grade, wrote sayings on the board that always seemed so random, and yet he had intent behind all of them.  Tuesday I was reminded of one, “I hate scraping my windshield.”  It was simple and to the point, and yet to an 8^th grader, it had little or no meaning unless you were your parents’ slave scraping their windshield for them.  I left my boys in the house on Tuesday morning as I headed out to use my Number 1 Dad Scraper to scrape my windshield.  It honestly works surprisingly well for the 50 cents Gavin spent on it.  Trust me, I don’t like scraping my windshield, but I understand what is necessary to fulfill my duty as husband, father, and pastor.

            Mr. Michael’s sayings may have been odd, but I certainly remember them.  I also remember some of his specific examples about math.  I am not sure if he was the one who was responsible for my love of math.  But even with no driving experience, I understood that driving over the speed limit only got you to your destination a little bit faster unless you were going a crazy amount over the limit, and maintaining that speed for a long distance.  His examples were clear-cut and to the point, which helped me to learn some great concepts about math.  These are the things I like about math:  the exact nature of it, and the expectation that there would be a solution.

            The world had been waiting for a solution for the problem with sin for a long time.  Certainly, like us, people thought they had found the solution in just doing things better.  The problem, of course, is that eventually there is failure.  All too often I have examined my life with my failures and mistakes, and was disappointed.  The solution was not something I could find in myself.  Unlike math, this problem is unsolvable by our own human nature.

            This weekend we start talking about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  Through His fulfillment of the prophecy, He came to accomplish some challenging things.  Some “scrapping the windshield” - like activities that would lead Him to the end result of fulfilling His role as our Savior and our God.  I am not going to say Jesus hated doing these things, but I am sure that because He was also true man, they were still challenging to Him.  Every piece of Jesus’ ministry was an integral part of the plan God had for us to be rescued.  The Isaiah passage connects with the Matthew passage, and they illustrate how the prophecy came before, and was fulfilled in Jesus.  No longer do we just talk about Jesus being a baby and coming here, but we also discuss what it means that He is truly here doing the work of salvation.  This weekend we begin that discussion, and dig into some of the first pieces of Jesus’ ministry as we discover what they meant for the whole picture of salvation, and what they mean for us today.