Change of Plans - Merry Christmas!

Probably one of the most fascinating exchanges in literature or any sort: Luke 18-27.  Strangely John The Baptist has sent two messengers (an indication of urgency) to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah.  Strange, because by this time John himself had identified Jesus, hailed him from the womb, baptized him, and so on.  Jesus quotes Isaiah regarding the Messiah, listing what Isaiah lists as proof.  Every Jew knew this list: the lame shall walk, the blind see, the dead rise, the poor will have good news.  Jesus left one thing off the list, which any Jew would notice: the Messiah will free the captives.

Now where is John whence he sends his messengers?  Prison.  Even John the Baptist was perplexed, if Jesus was the Messiah, what was John doing in prison?  In his reply, not only did Jesus fail to address the obvious, he added one: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.  Ouch!


John the Baptist got the message: change of plans.  John went on to be executed first.


Mary said yes to the angel, and she must have been perplexed as well.  it is enough that she should conceive without "knowing man."  About the time she is due, Caesar Augustus obliges her and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem so they can be counted in a census.  There they give birth in the meanest conditions.  Shortly thereafter this girl and her newborn baby are on a donkey fleeing for Egypt, with the powers that be out to slaughter her son.  As Teresa of Avila said, with the way God treats his friends, no wonder he has so few.


If there is a lesson to the Nativity, it is "change of plans."  In a change of plans, God is intervening directly on earth.  Due to free will, and human action, the nativity is a series of change of plans.  The life of Jesus is a series of change of plans, from Cana to Calvary.  But always pushing the good, the true and the beautiful.  We should be so good, whenever there is a change of plans.

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