Jesus Christ, Son of God

Someone said to me the other day, "What does it matter what you believe as long as you're a good person?"  It started me thinking about why it does matter what we believe about Jesus.

If we believe He was the natural son of Joseph, then His birth was just an historical event, like the birth of Martin Luther King -- a man who made a great change, a man whose outlook, philosophy, and actions we can emulate, a man we can look up to.  But we can never "be" Martin Luther King.  Times change; we might find another subject for non-violent protest, but whether anyone will join us in that protest is doubtful.

If we believe that Jesus was Incarnate -- made flesh -- by the power of the Holy Spirit in Mary, that He was born of a virgin, then His birth can occur in us in our time by the same power of the Holy Spirit.  We surrender; we offer our own flesh as His vehicle to reach the world; we are overshadowed by the Spirit of God, who brings to birth in us the only Son of God, Jesus, the Savior of the world.  We do not have to start large movements for His action to make a difference in us.  We can simply "be available" to Him and to the world around us.  He will act in us, sometimes without our even being aware of what He is doing.

Once I was invited to a New Year's Eve party.  I really did not want to go, as the only person I would know there would be the hostess, and frankly, I prefer to spend New Year's Eve in my bed.  But I prayed that it would be as if Jesus attended the party in me.  I went; I was polite; I smiled, ate, and drank, and went home as soon as I could.  The next day, the hostess called me -- we knew one another only because our daughters were friends from gymnastics class.  She started by saying, "I don't know why I think you might have an answer for me, but I'm about to scream.  I go to church and feel like a numb, dumb Catholic.  There just has to be something more!  The priest yells at people coming in late, and I want to stand up and say, 'Maybe if you gave us a reason for being here, we'd be on time!'  Do you know a solution?"

I laughed.  Of course I did.  I myself had found it in the baptism of the Holy Spirit -- which of course I told her about.  In a very short time, the fire that Jesus had come to cast on the earth was aflame in her.  But here's my question:  how on earth did she know to call me and ask that question?

And here's another story:  Shortly after I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, someone that had helped me with the children several years previously, but whom I had not seen in the meantime, called and asked if we could get together again.  We agreed to meet at the Cinema in the Lakeside Shopping Center and see a movie together.  As luck would have it, I could not find a parking place close to the theater, so had to park on the other side of the shopping center.  She stood in front of the theater and watched me walk across the lot toward her.  When I got there, she immediately said, "What has happened to you?  Something has changed you completely!"  (And this, before I had said a word.)  We never made it into the theater that day.  Instead, we had lunch in the shopping center as I explained to her how I came to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Again, what was the clue?  How did she know?  This was not a person who knew me well, but only a brief previous acquaintance.  If I had been trying to start a movement, as did Martin Luther King, I would be out beating the bushes for followers.  But if Jesus Christ has somehow come alive in me through the action of the Holy Spirit, if He is still alive in this world (somehow through me), then He is still making people stop and take notice.  "No one comes to me unless the Father draw him."  All I can believe is that He is still "drawing" people, even when I think I am going to a party or to the movies. 

Yes, it does make a difference what we believe about Jesus Christ!