Embodiment – Matthew 11:2-11

A text – Matthew 11:2-11

² When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ⁴ Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶ And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

⁷ As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ What, then, did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. ⁹ What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

¹¹ “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

A reflection:

Instead of answering John’s question to him (“Are you the one?”) with a statement about himself and his identity, Son of God, Jesus tells John’s followers to look at Jesus’s effect on people as he embodies the love and good news of God. Embodiment. Our identity, too, as followers of Jesus is about embodiment. How are we busy bringing about the Kingdom of God in this world, day after day?

The Institute I worked for (for almost 30 years), Church Innovations, now called Center for Church Innovation, had partnerships on several continents that helped us grow our processes and materials. We paid close attention to their local descriptions of what happened when congregations started to listen intentionally to God’s voice in scripture and work with their neighbors to discern what God was already up to in their towns. As they described what they were learning and how they were being led by the Spirit into new relationships, our South African partner churches put new words to our name for the third phase of their work. We had called it Vision for Mission. But they called it Vision for Embodiment. Their people knew that a “vision for mission” could stay stale and collect dust, never leaving the shelf. But envisioning ways to embody their calling was key; it was surely going to get messy and involve failure from which they could learn. Embodiment was everything for them. It became the new name for the work.

It seems the people of John’s and Jesus’s day were scandalized by Jesus’s embodiment of care for the poor, diseased, and employed in questionable occupations. Yet where were the lives that could be most obviously blessed by Jesus’s touch? When it comes to embodying our faith, we too don’t have to look very far. We can embody the love of God anywhere we see any place of need, scandalous or no. Our job is to walk the good news over to anyone who needs it.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us work to do in your kingdom. Help us do more than develop a vision for this mission. Help us to embody it in the world and so be bringers of your love. Amen.