Advent 3 Presents...

The Homestead Christmas Tree

I recently visited the resort called "The Homestead" in southwestern Virginia--what an incredible place!  Truly majestic, it is almost as big as Hot Springs, the town where it is located. At the end of a very long corridor in the main entry stands "the" tree--a gorgeous spruce, magnificently decorated with giant ornaments.  Under the tree are the many presents--unnamed but representing all the gifts that we give. My wife (reluctantly) posed for a picture by the tree after I had piled up some of the gifts to be props.  Once I was done, suddenly it really hit me--truly struck me: the gifts were not just nameless, but empty...props at best.  When is "the" gift of Christmas an empty promise? 

Apparently John the Baptist wondered about what he predicted to be the promise of the Messiah.  He sent word from prison--"Are you the one or should we expect another?"  Jesus sent back word:  "The lame walk, the sick are healed, the dead are raised...."  These were all signs of the Messiah, but not those that John had drawn from.  He came from an Apocalyptic community, preaching the end times...and John saw the Messiah as reigning down the curtain of justice at the end---not the servant Jesus living out the compassion of God (which Isaiah saw and predicted...).

So did John come up empty handed with the false prophecy--like an empty box under the tree?  Or was it more that he did predict the Messiah, but not "the Messiah" who came? 

The point is that we walk by faith.  We can't know God's story fully because we are not God. All we can do is walk up to the line and look carefully because the box that may be empty could very well could open the doors to a Kingdom.