The Proper Timing
I was sitting in class the other day as the topic of Christ’s baptism was being discussed. As the gospel records, Christ went to John the Baptist, and was there baptized by him, at which time the Holy Spirit came down from heaven in the form of a dove and came to rest upon Christ. A voice inaugurated Christ, and His ministry began. This occurred when Jesus was 30, so to fulfill Jewish custom. The point to be had was that Christ did not simply scrap all human tradition.
But as I was imagining all this in my head, suddenly it struck me. Christ was 30 before he started his ministry! Think of it from the perspective of the Jewish people. Right or wrong, they were expecting their Messiah to come and rescue them from bondage under foreign oppressors. At that time, they were under Roman occupancy, and had been for many decades prior to Christ’s birth.
We as people tend to rush things. We want them now. As a missionary, I want to perform my set task now. Not in the “proper timing”, as to me that is simply a way of saying “later” (and we all know that later never comes). As a conscionable person, I want oppression in the world to be eliminated now. To me, the right time is now. Likewise, the Jews of ancient Israel were praying for, longing for their coming Messiah, desperately seeking rescue from the oppression they were under.
Now, we can definitely take away from this whole thing that sometimes the answer to our prayers is closer than we realize, but from another perspective, think of the Jews as they were under foreign rule. What would they have thought, had they known that their Messiah had been around for many years already, but had not begun to act simply so that tradition would be fulfilled?
I can only guess how they would feel from an Australian perspective, and that wouldn’t be very understanding. But if I could take any important lesson from it, it would be the importance of proper timing. Revelation of Jesus’ identity was not received (by most who ever received it) until towards the end, and so had He begun sooner, most would treat Him on account of His age the same way those of His home town treated Him on account of their familiarity (cf. Mark 6:4 and surrounding passages). So it is valuable to understand the importance of proper timing.
I guess I can have a little more patience…
