The Visitation of the Lord: Jesus, my Redeemer

Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
  And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isaiah 40:5 NASB)

Get yourself up on a high mountain,
  O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily,
  O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear.
  Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might,
  With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him
  And His recompense before Him.
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
  In His arm He will gather the lambs
  And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes. (Isaiah 40:9-11 NASB)

One of the most difficult qualities of Jesus for any believer, and impossible for one who is not a follower of Jesus, is His quality of deity.  It's much easier to consider with the sterility of 2,000 plus years, but when that is ignored; when a follower is able to put themselves in the day of Jesus, imagine the sight, the smell, the feel of the heat; the impossibility of it begins to settle in.

It is impossible to imagine.  The very 'holiness' of the Creator is a definitive argument against it.  How can the Creator of the thing enter into the thing made?  He would be obviously too large, too powerful; a mixture of apples and stars, yet without the same atomic similarities.  And yet, Jesus is God.

The Christian Scriptures clearly make this point.  But the people following Jesus after His ascension didn't have the benefit of those Scriptures, they had only the Hebrew Scriptures, and the testimony of the Twelve Apostles, the remaining memory of the life of Jesus.  They made the leap of understanding, imagined the impossible, and embraced it in faith.  It was crazy.

So where did they find the support in Scripture for this ridiculous view?  How could they support such a ludicrous position with Scriptures that never seemed to support this as an expectation?  No one in the day Jesus arrived expected that any sort of anointed divinely designated savior would be divine Himself.  Of course no one in that day really understood the problem Jesus came to fix either.

Yet, in Isaiah 40, in the Hebrew text of that passage (and even the Greek version) give a glimpse of such a possibility.  As the prophet writes of the eventual return of the Jewish Exiles in Babylon, he makes two interesting declarations; declarations that connect with the concept of the "Day of the Visitation", when God 'shows up'.  This was always conceptualized as God working through someone to bring about His wrath, deliverance, or consolation.  But the concept could also be taken concretely.

In Isaiah 40, the prophet writes that the 'glory of the LORD will be revealed'.  The word choice is interesting though.  The word for 'revealed' is in a 'passive' voice of sorts (Hebrew doesn't really have a clear passive voice), but is a word for 'exposure', usually in a humiliating sense of being stripped or being lewd.  The picture is of the Creator/Deliverer throwing off His cloak and standing out uninhibited in all His 'glory'.  Regardless of how immodest or demeaning you may think this of the Creator of the universe, it still requires Him to be present doing it.  He has to be the One doing it, as it is written.

And then later on, the writer is calling on the 'crier' to declare to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God".  And the following description is both of a conquering king and a tender shepherd.  This is clearly a statement, albeit a poetic one, of God's visitation of His people.  His presence among them declared in pretty clear terms, yet it's 'imagery' 'poetic license' and can't be taken literal.  Or can it?

The problem Jesus came to fix could only be fixed by the Creator.  Only He could also be the Redeemer.  Only the Almighty, the One calling for the stars by name, only He could also restore His human creatures.  It wasn't to reestablish the preeminence of the political entity of Israel that God entered the world He created.  It was to form a people from both Jews and Gentiles bound to Himself for eternity that He condescended to become the lowest form of humanity and redeem them all back to Himself.  Who else could fix such a problem?

So with the prophet, I ask

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
  Or as His counselor has informed Him?
With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
Who taught Him the path of justice and taught Him knowledge
  And informed Him in the way of understanding?

 And I rest in the salvation of my Master.  It's a good day.

Shepherding Flocks in the Pasture

Once Peter feels the pang of grief over the third question, he is told a third time to guide Jesus' sheep to pasture.  Each of the three times is slightly different as are the questions about Peter's love for Jesus.  Each of the commands combines lambs and sheep, tending and shepherding.  Each command  is given after Peter claims to love Jesus.  Just as Peter's restoration of his relationship to Jesus required three questions to offset the three denials, it also required three commands, or commissions.  Just as each of the questions were repetitions, so were the commands.  The questions, answers, and commands all went together, and all were part of restoring Peter.

I doubt that Jesus really needed either the questions or the command, or the repetition for that matter.  I believe that He accepted Peter just as he was, staring into the fire, dejected, feeling the shame and pain of his denial of the One who was feeding him a fish breakfast.  I believe it was Peter who needed the questions, and the commands.  I think he felt neither fit for Jesus' company nor for leading the group of believers, let alone real lambs and sheep.  Jesus' countered each denial with a question and a command.  The three showed Peter that Jesus knew about Peter's denial.  Peter realized that "all things" included his three denials.  So Jesus knew and He still shared fish with Peter; He still asked Peter to tend the sheep; He still wanted a relationship with Peter.  I think it was that realization that caused the hurt for Peter.

For me, as I sit with them on the beach around the fire, feeling both the chill of the morning air, and warmth of the fire, I wonder what questions will Jesus combine with what commands.  Or will He work in a different way with the different person that I am to ensure that I know that He accepts me and still calls me to serve?  So, do I wander out into the pasture and begin guiding sheep?  Do I sit by the fire and listen for the questions and commands?  Do I begin my morning with the acceptance of Jesus' acceptance of me, and wander into work, through the maze of rush-hour traffic, and work with the fellow sheep in our pens (also known as cubicles)?  Is it the day I already have, or a new day with a new set of tasks?

Right now, it is the day I already have.  I wait, which means that things are not changing yet.  I wait on my Master, the One sustaining the vast Universe He has created and continues to create, which includes bowing before Him in reference (also known as worship).  I wait while living in my current circumstances, which means that I walk through these circumstances which make up my life in the presence of my Master, always aware of His proximity, constant attention, and care.  So the day rolls on, and the frustrations with my circumstances are to be set aside as the minor distractions that they are.  I am called out of my black-and-blue funk of self-deprecating shame into the bright orange, yellow, and white light of the glory of my Master.  "Matt, do you love me more than these?"  These feelings, not just the other people around the fire; these perceptions and imaginings; these repeated mental film reels of my failure; do I love Him more than these?  "You know I love You."  "Then, _______ ."  What goes in the blank?  Today, the blank is filled with...  I may need to get back to you on that one.