Unexpected Introductions

Imagine the most important moment of your life. (You might have to speculate what that moment might be.) For sports fans, it could be when you are inducted into the Hall of Fame. For music fans, it could be winning a Grammy. For those who have no passion for sports or music, let’s just say you are being presented with an award. Here is the question, who would be the person you’d pick to introduce you?

Who is coming to mind? Is it someone who is a good speaker? Is it someone who knows you well and thus would able to speak well of you? What about a person that is highly respected and would give a good impression even before you got up to the microphone?

Introductions are important, no matter how much or how little fame you have. An introduction can truly set an opinion in place. Right or wrong, there are many people I have formed opinions of just from our introduction. Probably most of us aren’t going to claim an award anytime in the near future where we would need someone to introduce us, but I wanted you to think about introductions in light of our human thought.

Now, think about how Jesus was introduced. He was introduced by the John the Baptist. Is that who you would have picked to introduce Jesus? To make matters even more unique, Matthew describes John the Baptist’s odd behaviors. Seriously, even if I did do some weird stuff, I know for a fact I wouldn’t want that to be the first thing someone writes about me in their book.

When an engaged couple comes to me to do their wedding, I sit down with them and ask, “Ok, who is the crazy one?” The couple, usually confused, responds, “What?” I then say, “You know, who is the crazy one we’ll have to watch out for on the wedding day?” Who has the crazy cousin who eats bugs and only wears clothes made out of animal hair?  I mean no disrespect, but it sounds like the Scriptures are trying to tell us that John is crazy. He is Jesus’ crazy cousin. Yet he has a very, very important role in the beginning of Jesus’ life. So why did God pick the crazy cousin to introduce Jesus? Before you tell me this is sacrilegious, ask yourself why this is important? If this was our situation, and we could pick anyone to introduce us to the world, wouldn’t we take the time to pick someone who would represent us well?

It is Advent, the season of preparation, expectation, and the fulfillment of the greatest promise ever. John the Baptist was chosen as the one to introduce Jesus for a reason. Will we understand God’s reasons?  Maybe not.  Our human minds are often blown away by the choices our Lord makes. We know our first inclinations are often not in line with His. The person we would choose to introduce us, is not the same Jesus would choose. In preparation for the coming of Jesus, we take time to see what our Lord teaches us as He alters what the world expects. It is in taking time to meditate on His Word and listen through prayer that we see the beauty of our God and get a glimpse of His unique ways. His unique ways are not our ways, and in the person of John the Baptist, He sees the perfect person to usher His Son in even though we see crazy. In preparation for that little baby, we take time to see the unique story of Jesus. With each telling of this story, time after time, the uniqueness of God’s ways clash against our ways and help guide our minds to see how Jesus changes all of humanity. This introduction was the most important introduction the world will ever see, and it was done by a person the world would never expect.