Abbott and Costello are credited with the
baseball comedy routine, "Who's on First?"
(What is on second base, Where plays third, and
I think Why is shortstop.) If I'm confused
about the players and their positions, well, the
words of the Gospel of John show a somewhat
similar confusion existed in first-century
Jerusalem as Jesus approached that city for the
last time.
John tells us He was met by cheering crowds, who
greeted Him as "the King of Israel." The
raising of Lazarus had convinced the crowds:
Jesus must be the expected Messiah after all.
And so they shouted out praises and cried,
"Hosanna," which means "Save Now!" At last they
thought, Jesus would get on with the Messiah's
real business, throw out the Romans, and make
Israel a world power.
A little later some Greeks approached one of
Jesus' disciples, and politely expressed their
interest in seeing Him. So Philip and Andrew
passed on the message, "Some nice Greek folk
would like to see You, Lord." Perhaps they were
thinking it would be good politics for Jesus to
establish relationships with foreigners. Maybe
Philip or Andrew would do for a diplomatic
posting to a major city, like Corinth or
Philippi!
I can understand the crowds, the Greeks, and the
disciples. They all had agendas that were
important to them. And each had a big role for
Jesus in his plans!
There was only one problem. Not one had stopped
to ask the truly critical question: "Who's on
first?"
Jesus cleared up the confusion, though, just as
He clears up ours. After speaking of His death,
Jesus said, "Whoever serves Me must follow Me;
and where I am, My servant will also be." You
see, the mistake made by the cheering crowds,
the Greeks, and even the disciples - the mistake
still made by us, that causes so much confusion
- is that all forgot who's on first. God's
blunt and simple answer is, Jesus is on first.
We don't lead, and expect Jesus to follow. We
let Jesus go first, and we follow Him.
If you and I keep this order in mind, it will
clear most of our confusion about lie. We'll
seldom become depressed or anxious about why God
doesn't do things our way. We won't expect Him
to. And we'll seldom wonder why God hasn't
blessed our plans, when we've gone to all the
trouble of making them and then asking Him to
bless. As Jesus' servants we'll have sought His
will first - and then do our very best to follow
closely where He leads.
It makes me think about this statement made by
Margaret Thatcher, "Ideally, when Christians
meet, as Christians, to take counsel together,
their purpose is not - or should not be - to
ascertain what is the mind of the majority but
what is the mind of the Holy Spirit - something
which may be quite different."
So enjoy the Abbott and Costello routine when
you hear it. But don't let yourself be confused
about who's on first in the Christian life, and
who follows.
Blessings for the day and God Bless America!