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February 23

Forerunners for Jesus

The Christian life is to live in Christ and to live for Christ.

Living for Christ is to live in such a way, in the power of the Spirit, that people will be attracted to Christ, will consider Christ, and will embrace him. Thus we are to be a sign pointing to Christ.

The desert fathers lived their lives to point to Christ. They believed certain qualities would assist them in this witness to Christ. “Humility,” they said, “is the forerunner of love, as John was the forerunner of Christ; . . . humility draws to love, that is to God Himself, for God is love.”54

There are also other qualities that reflect the way of Christ and

therefore point to him. To go the way of peace, to be a peacemaker, is also a reflection of Christ and a pointer towards Christ.

And so we may speak of faith, hope, and love. We may point to gifts of healing and reconciliation. We also may note the blessing of hospitality freely extended to others. These are all signs and indicators of the way of Christ and therefore are ways to bring Christ into focus.

But while we may be forerunners or signposts it is only when Christ “appears” to a person that eyes are opened and hearts are changed. We may prepare the way, but only Christ himself is the way, the truth, the life. Thus we play our part as a witness, but Christ is the one who captures a person’s heart.

Reflection

In pointing to Christ we are not first and foremost pointing to the church or to ourselves, but to the Christ in the Gospels who makes himself known in the encounter of faith.