Eyes on Jesus: He Became Flesh

The ashes are long gone.  Our foreheads are clean, and no one at the grocery store will know whether we’ve been to church today or not.  Nonetheless, it remains true that “we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ… forever.” 

As the one who “created all things, visible and invisible,” he has created the faith we have received.  That faith is ours on the days when it is visible for all to see, like Ash Wednesday.  It is also the faith that is ours on the days when it isn’t obvious, as we wrestle with temptation just as Jesus did in the wilderness. 

At the end of the day, though, it’s not about us; it’s not about whether others recognize our faith and piety.  It’s about Him.  So we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.  His is a love that is deep, and broad, and high.  His, is a love that is beyond all thought and fantasy.  His, is a love that moves him enter into our world, our experience, and even our very selves.  Put another way –

         He sent no angel to our race,

         Of higher or of lower place,

         But wore the robe of human frame,

         And to this world Himself He came.

He came to teach.  He came to heal.  He came to forgive.  He came to create among us a “new heaven and earth…”  the Kingdom of God.

Like ancient Israel, we wander in the wilderness of this world.  We grumble and complain.  But we also receive God’s gifts:  the covenantal promise.  Living waters from the Rock that is Christ.  The bread of angels that is the body of Christ.  And in the strength of this food we continue on our journey, until that day when we cross the Jordan and enter into the land of promise.  There, “with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven”  we will worship the One whose cross has marked us, named us and claimed us: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Heavenly Father, your Spirit has called us through the gospel on a great journey of faith.  May your Son be present among us and within us with his grace and mercy that we may, at the last, enter into the land of promise, that kingdom where you live and reign as one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Pastor Boehler

St. Mark's Lutheran Church and School, Yonkers

The Bronx Westchester Zone Pastoral Counselor