“’We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ).”

I don’t know the figure, but it has to be in the billions of dollars each year.  I’m talking about how much money is spent on promotion, advertising and marketing, including research, development, delivery and production costs, etc.  And that figure is probably just here in the US!  I wonder what the cost would be if companies relied on word of mouth.  What if their products and services were so good, so valued, that word of mouth did the trick?  Imagine how that would spark consumer sales!

So here we have Jesus, God’s one and only Son, coming to earth.  Which marketing firm did God employ to spread the word?  To what advertising agency did the Spirit give the inside track?  What’s that, you say?  These are silly questions to ask?  Well, on one level, yes, they are.  But sometimes asking silly questions gets us to think on another level.  We’re talking God’s Son here.  And it’s good to examine just how did God do his public relations work.  It’s good to discover God’s methods and ways, particularly because they do work in a fallen world.

God started with a relative, a family member — John the Baptist — as Jesus’ forerunner.  That sounds natural rather than unusual.  John had his own ministry running in high gear, so much so that some thought he was the Messiah himself (Luke 3:15).  Then Jesus approached him to be baptized.  Afterwards John declared that Jesus is “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 35), and identified Jesus to Andrew and another disciple.  Andrew in turn told his brother, Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah (that is, the Christ)” (v. 41.)  “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’… Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about…’” (vs. 43, 45).  So what do we have?  No major PR, no big ad campaigns, no billboards or commercials or banners or parades.  Just word of mouth.  For the Messiah?  The Son of God?  Yep, even for him.  Everyone waited for his arrival.

The term Messiah is loaded with implications.  Literally it means “anointed one”, transliterated from the original language, a verb that means, “anoint.”  It was first used with priests that were anointed with oil when they were officially installed.  Aaron and his sons were to be anointed with oil.  They were to be dressed according to God’s directions, and offer sacrifices that were meticulously followed.  All of this was to fulfill the command to “anoint them and ordain them [and] consecrate them…” (Exodus 28:41).  Clearly each aspect played a significant part, but one can’t help but seeing the oil — illustrative of the Holy Spirit — as a major marker.  Later kings were likewise anointed beginning with Saul and later David. Psalm 105 describes even the Patriarchs as “anointed ones” (v. 15).  In a manner of speaking, all of them — patriarchs, priests, and kings — were messiahs.  But they were not enough.  Nor would they ever be.  Any one of them, or all of them combined, couldn’t solve their problems or bring peace with God or peace on earth.  No, it would take one greater, one more powerful, to do that.  Hence, the eager anticipation for the Messiah, the one sent from God, to arrive.

Another implication of Messiah is that it is extremely exclusive. Consider Aaron and his sons as the priestly line.  There were 12 tribes in Israel.  Only Moses and Aaron’s tribe, Levi, was chosen.  That rules out any other tribe, clan, sub-clan or family.  No options, no second picks, no safety nets.  None!  Then the messiahs — the ones chosen for office and ministry — were anointed with oil, furthering the exclusivity of their work and mission.  Each of these points is true of the ultimate Messiah, Jesus.  He was of the right tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14).  It was Judah that Jacob blessed and prophesied to receive the scepter, a sign of power and authority.  He is as well a priest “in the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7:11).  God also officially “installed [him as his] King on Zion…” (Psalm 2:6).  And all prophets spoke in the power of the Spirit.  Jesus was “anointed” with the Holy Spirit, which had “come down from heaven as a dove” (John 1:32) at his baptism.  Abraham was a patriarch and prophet.  Samuel was a priest and a prophet.  Melchizedek was a priest and a king.  Only Jesus is the ultimate patriarch as well as prophet, priest and king.  And that spells e-x-c-l-u-s-i-v-e.

While many Christians accommodate the culture by downplaying or soft peddling the distinctives of the Messiah, they also malign his priority and power.  How do you represent the Messiah these days?