Matthew 3:13-17 2025/1/19 Osaka Church
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
If a salesman you’ve never seen before suddenly came to your door and said, “I’m proposing high-yield, reliable, and safe asset management,” how would you feel? No one would be overjoyed and say, “Come on in, please! Please!”
Even if you visit someone’s house with pure, good intentions and no ulterior motives, and ask them to listen to you, their response would be similar.
God knew this very well. The best way to be feared and respected by people and have them bow down to him was to stay hidden in a holy place in the heavens and occasionally show a little of his majesty from the clouds. But God, just like that inexperienced and pathetic salesman, suddenly appeared in the midst of the people, calling out, “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent!” and was viewed with caution, despised, disliked, and eventually hated, until he was bound and led away, and finally killed. Why would God Himself do this knowingly?
No matter how long God waited, no one came to “buy anything”. No one came looking for Him. Even after waiting thousands of years, people still elevated God to the sanctuary of the temple, to a sort of altar, but they never took a step toward God or tried to have true fellowship with him. This is because they did not know the real thing, but delighted in counterfeits, and did not realize it. On top of that, they became poisoned by those counterfeits, fought over them hurting each other, and in the end they perished in loneliness and without any hope. And so… He could no longer sit still and do nothing.
God Himself took on the same body as us, clothed in the same humanity, and came into this world, into our homes. Yet He did not appear with slicked back hair, dressed in a fine suit, or wearing shiny shoes; rather, He appeared before people as if He wanted to be doubted and despised, with “no form to behold,” “no dignity,” and “no beauty to be desired” (Isaiah 53:2), a figure that had cast aside His divine dignity.
On the banks of the Jordan River, coming to see John the Baptist, a huge crowd of countless people had gathered, frightened of their own sins and afraid of the coming judgment, waiting their turn to have the impurities of their sins washed away. Amid the commotion and dust, God appeared in this world as a poor man, silently waiting his turn to be baptized. As Jesus walked towards the cross, he declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me.” Hearing such words perceived by many as fraudulent, the people finally rejected Jesus. And he continues to be rejected even now.
But just like the clumsy, foolish salesman who stands at the door no matter how many times he is turned away, the Lord continued to show himself to people, believing without a doubt that the suffering he suffered, the sweat he shed, the blood he shed, and his ugly, miserable appearance, even though he was rejected, would eventually open people’s hearts. And even now, in this world that no longer even hates Jesus, in a corner of this country where everyone loves Christmas but no one pays any attention to Jesus, he continues to show himself to us, as this small gathering.
This is God’s love. A foolish, maddening love. If you have ever clutched your head, beat your chest, and run around aimlessly, desperately wanting to somehow rescue a beloved family member or a dear friend from a difficult situation, you will understand. Faith begins with being struck by this same maddening love of God for us.
When Jesus finally took his last breath on the cross, a Roman non-commissioned officer who had overseen His execution literally beat his chest and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” The cross, which seemed nothing more than the Lord’s foolish self-destruction, finally opened the heart of one man.
The life of every Christian becomes a testimony to this love—foolish, yet genuine—for those who have yet to know God.