We had some nieces and nephews over to our house yesterday. They live in Evanston (about 35 minutes away) so it’s not too far, but we still only see them a few times a year. (Life happens in busy households and we all do our best to just to make sure we’re spending time with our nuclear families!) Whenever I see them, I sometimes have to reintroduce myself to them as Uncle Chris. They know my wife pretty well (Aunt Anne), but are still getting the hang of my name. Last night, for example, my 9-year-old nephew referred to me as “Uncle I-Forgot-His-Name.”
It was pretty funny when he said it and I wasn’t offended at all. It’s hard to put faces and names together. It’s why name tags are great (like the one up above that I kept from a conference in Germany) so that we can at least pretend that no one is forgotten.
I was reading through the story of John the Baptist announcing the coming of Jesus in the gospel of John (1:29-34) this morning and there was a twice-mentioned phrase that caught my attention. In verse 31, John says, “Even I didn’t recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be made known to Israel.” That same phrase (”Even I didn’t recognize him”) two verses later. John is making it plain that he should have known who Jesus was, but is confessing that he missed Jesus’ identity.
“Recognize” is a pretty good word to keep close, especially for religious professional types. We talk about Jesus an awful lot, but too often we fail to recognize him in various faces and situations.
Will you recognize Jesus when he comes to you today? More importantly, are you even looking?