7th December 2014

The Person Of Christ
The Jewish longed for the coming of the Messiah. When he came, many did not recognise him as he didn’t fit the glorious all conquering figure they expected.
But what of us, how do we see the Messiah? Because as Christians we believe Jesus was and is the Messiah or “Christ” – the Greek word for Messiah. To be a Christian means we believe God became flesh; he became one of us. How do we see him, think of him? I remember following the death of John Paul ‖ being told of an American cardinal who had spoken of his memories of the late Pope. Apparently he spoke of an incident during a Papal visit. One evening, he realised he didn’t know where Pope John Paul was; he’d lost him!! He eventually found him with his secretary in the kitchen heating up some left over soup, they had found in the fridge. The Cardinal wanted to get someone to do it for him, but the Holy Father said it wasn’t necessary. Feeling peckish they had just decided to find some leftovers.
When we think of the Pope we often think of him saying Mass, on tour, or receiving important people in the Vatican. We don’t think of him doing something so mundane as having a late night snack, privately in the kitchen. Yet why not? He is after all just an ordinary human being. Just like the Pope, or you or I, much of Jesus’ life was spent doing mundane and ordinary things. He was a real person. That after all, is the central message of Christmas, that God REALLY DID become one of us; a human being, with all that entails. Such a fact totally changes how we Christians are able to relate to and understand God. When we pray to him and reflect upon him, close to us, we remember we can approach him as he told us a “friend not a servant.” If you find it hard to do or believe, remember Jesus, too, like the Pope, probably used to have the odd late night snack.