The First Recognition of Christ

 "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:10- 12

"But to all who did receive him, who 
believed in his name, he gave the 
right to become children of God..."
John 1:12

       The earliest requirement of Jesus was "faith in His name." ''Faith in His name" meant originally ''faith that He would make His name." That is ever the earliest need of the great - that some one shall foresee their future glory. The man of letters needs it from his publisher, the artist from his academy. And those most hard to convince are always ''one's own." They are too near, too familiar. Have they not seen you walking about the streets of Nazareth! Do they not know your parents! Are they not passing every day your scene of human toil! How can one so very accessible be anything great! Our relatives may be the most kind to us; but it is outsiders who first discern our promise. Who first detected that your little girl was a musical genius? A stranger. Her voice was too familiar to you to excite wonder. She was so much a child of Nazareth, she was so "subject to her parents," that the foreign element escaped you. Your eye had been so long fixed on the casket that you forgot to study the gem. But the eye of the stranger caught it. He said: "Do you know the treasure which you have? Are you aware that this voice will be heard of, talked of? Have you realized the pride, the privilege of your possession? Are you conscious that you are hiding in your dwelling a pearl of great price, that, if the world knew, it would gather round your door in hundreds, in thousands? Why did you not tell me that this was a land of gold!"

       Jesus, I bless those who trusted Thee before Thou hadst made Thy name - who had faith in Thy name; the greatest Book in the world would never have been published but for them. It is easy to praise Thy name now; that is knowledge, not faith. The world has gone after Thee; all men have bowed down before Thee. But then Thou wert a tender plant and a root out of dry ground. I bless those who had sight enough to see Thee. I bless Nicodemus who took Thee up when dead. I bless Joseph of Arimathea who hoped over Thy grave. I bless Magdalene who brought spices to Thy lifeless form. I bless the penitent thief who saw Thy kingdom on Thy Cross. It was only genius that could see Thee at such an hour. Doubtless, had I been there, I should have echoed Pilate's laugh, "Art thou a king!" I began to worship when the world began to praise. But the men of the night, the men who recognized Thee in the shadows - these have the glory. Crown them, for they have crowned me. Exalt their memory, for they have exalted me. Keep green their wreath of fame, for they saw amid the night the gift that enriches me.