A friend worshiped at our church incognito recently. I remembered when Tallowood’s search committee allowed me and my family to come to Tallowood unidentified to worship and seek the Lord’s guidance. We tried so hard to be unknown. But we were spotted. It is hard to hide being a pastor, I suppose.
Why didn’t the people in Jesus’ day recognize him? John tells us that Jesus came to his own but his did not receive him. Why? Shouldn’t they have recognized him? Zechariah had predicted that God himself would show up riding a donkey, preaching peace, and appearing in the temple. Check. Check. Check. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy completely.
Jesus came concealed in the unlikely disguise of humility. He humbled himself, leaving heaven for earth. He humbled himself riding a donkey into town. He humbled himself by dying the death of a criminal on a cross. The God of heaven arrived in our world as a baby. The poet George MacDonald captured it: “They all were looking for a king; to slay their foes and lift them high. Thou cam’st a little baby thing, that made a woman cry.”
