Yes the person and time has come...

Matthew 11: 2-19 & Luke 7: 18-25

Matthew 11:

 ⁴Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Any doubts about Jesus, His identity and the purpose of His ministry were answered the day John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah or were they to look for another.  It is tempting for us in our day and time to have similar doubts especially when things are not going according to plan. The teachings, the practices and the deeds of supernatural power are all ‘signs’ and pointers that the Kingdom has been restored in and through a person: Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. The writer of Marks gospel is clear and emphatic in chapter 1:14 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” It’s time, history has reached the point of the provision of the promise of the Messiah; participation and transformation of our views regarding the physical, social, psychological and environmental worlds we inhabit is invited as the first step, in the ongoing process of the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus is seen clearly by New Testament writers as the fulfilment of the promised liberation and return from exile. However the vested religious interests do not accept either John or Jesus. according to them: one is a religious madman the other a drunk and a glutton but to those with ears to hear, usually the ordinary people and those on the margins, the time has at last come to work together with all likeminded people for a time, place and practice of peace and interdependence.  Our response to those who reject the good news? Love our neighbours and enemies alike. The discipleship practice of compassion, prayer, forgiveness and the fasting of oppression and violence is the ongoing invitation to participate in the Kingdom where Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King.