Sermon Central
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Jesus Is Hard To Ignore And Easy To Miss
Contributed by Dr. Larry Petton on Dec 19, 2022 (message contributor)
In a Christmas sermon, David Devine relates a story that appeared in the Washington Post last year... “He emerged from the Metro at the Plaza Station and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt and a baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play. It was 7:51 a.m. on a Friday.
For the next 45 minutes the violinist performed six great classical pieces. During that time, 1,097 people passed by. No one knew that the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the world’s leading classical musicians, who fills concert halls. On this Friday morning Bell played on one of the most valuable violins ever made - a Stradivarius valued at $3.5 million. The train station provided good acoustics for his performance and his beautiful music filled the morning air.
Over the time that he played, seven people stopped to listen for at least a minute. 27 people gave money. Just to give a frame of reference, Bell was accustomed to getting paid $1,000 per minute in his concerts. This day, in total, he received $32.17. At the end of each piece, there was no applause - just silent indifference. The master musician was ignored. People walked past musical glory without giving it a second glance – with the exception of two people.
The first was a postal worker named John who had learned the violin as a youth. He recognized the quality of Joshua Bell’s performance and stood enjoying it from a distance. And then there was a woman named Stacy. Stacy had seen Bell in concert three weeks earlier and had recognized him. She had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, she wasn’t about to miss it. She moved closer, positioning herself front and center. She had a huge grin on her face and she stayed until the concert was over.
Later Stacy told the reporter: ‘It was the most astonishing thing I’ve ever seen in Washington. Joshua Bell was standing there playing in rush hour, and people were not stopping, not even looking, and some were flipping quarters at him! Quarters! I was thinking, what kind of a city do I live in that this could happen?’
In another place, at another time, the night was filled with heavenly music and brilliant light. Never has earth seen such glory. Angels sang to some workers about a majestic one - a Savior; the Chosen One; the long-awaited One; the Lord. His arrival was ‘good news of great joy for all people.’ Where would the workers find this glorious one? In a palace? A temple? A concert hall with an orchestra perhaps? No. An angel gave the astonishing news: ‘You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’
Who would expect to find a heavenly King in such a setting? Usually, he lived among angels and now among cattle. What a surprising place to find God. The One who made the Universe placed himself in the inexperienced hands of a teenage Mom and the rough hands of a carpenter. God among the ordinary.
Most people ignored him and went about their business. Only some shepherds, who were let in on the secret of his identity, stopped to acknowledge him and enter into the joy of his presence in their world.
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