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"John the Baptist"
Mr. Jim Hamilton
December 14, 2008 -- Advent III
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
There was a man sent from God, his name was John.
The other Gospels call this man John the Baptist or in Mark
he is sometimes called the Baptizer. But, who was he? What is
his importance in the story of Jesus and in the message of our
salvation? What is so all important about having an opening
act to Jesus?
There are two elements to the person of John. First, there
is his historical identity. Second, there is the way he chooses
to self identify.
We know a little about John’s family. Luke tells us that
his mother, Elizabeth, was a descendant of the priesthood of
Aaron, a sacred lineage, and was somehow related to Mary the
mother of Jesus; the tradition by the time of the second century
was that they were cousins. His father, Zechariah, was a temple
priest in Jerusalem, who, during an important ceremony in the
temple was visited by the angel Gabriel to learn of the impending
conception of John. Gabriel also told Zechariah that his son
would be a prophet “with the spirit and power of Elijah.”
Zechariah doubted Gabriel’s news, because both he and
Elizabeth were advanced in years, and was struck mute for his
skepticism. When Jesus’ mother Mary was told of her pregnancy,
she was also told about Elizabeth’s child and rushed to
share with her their roles in God’s plan. Again, according
to Luke, the story is that John, still unborn, leapt for joy
at the visit of Mary because he knew that the Christ was growing
inside her. Take the time to visit Mother Katie in her office,
she has a beautiful print of Mary and Elizabeth’s baby
shower meeting. At John’s birth, both Elizabeth and Zechariah
followed the angel’s instructions to name him John and
Zechariah’s tongue was miraculously loosened. The young
John grew strong in Spirit and, though he could have followed
his father as a priest in the temple, went into the desert to
live the life of an ascetic.
Knowing all of that, his pedigree, the prophecy of his importance,
his dedication to God’s laws to the extreme and that his
mere existence is its own miracle, it is odd that John uses
none of it to claim his authority. When John is asked by the
Levites (and remember that he is technically a Levite in lineage
too…being descendant from the line of Aaron) he responds
to the questions by stating who he isn’t instead of who
he is. He says, “I am not the Messiah.” They go
on; fishing for some credentials giving him the clout to be
creating what is essentially an impromptu temple ceremony in
the desert. He denies that he is the prophet Elijah return to
earth. A third time they ask him to explain how he can claim
authority to cleanse and forgive the sins of a multitude in
the waters of the Jordan. Again, this ‘man sent from God’
claims no authority but instead cryptically links his actions
to a prophecy in Isaiah. He even sort of misquotes it, he says,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make
straight the way of the Lord,'” The passage from Isaiah
is talking about Jerusalem using the analogy of a wilderness
because Israel is like a barren wasteland, a rough place, bearing
no fruit, the passage reads, “A voice cries out: ‘In
the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in
the desert a highway for our God.’” The Levites
would have known what John was doing. He was placing himself
in the prophesy, making his desert pilgrimage a living fulfillment
of the words in Isaiah. This is a classic move for ancient Hebrew
prophets, using radical actions to illustrate a radical message.
So, who was John? He was more than a baptizer; he was a witness
or a testifier. Verse seven puts it poetically, “He himself
was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.”
He was the one to bridge the prophetic message of the Hebrew
Scriptures with the radical Gospel of Jesus.
So, John acted like a Hebrew prophet, making rituals out of
actions to turn society upside down. There are three important
ways that his ministry revises the popularly observed rules
of the Jewish community. First, he is a filthy man in the dusty
desert who is cleaning people. Second, he is claiming no individual
authority to upset the power of the time. Third, he picks up
on themes of incarnation, preparing the idea that God is not
going to come in spectacle but in humility and live in that
duality of human and divine.
Cleansing and being clean is ritually important in Judaism
and submersion in living water, meaning water from a stream,
spring or river, was a known symbol in the time of John. However
he was doing something slightly different. He was symbolically
cleansing them of internal sins, not preparing them for worship
in the temple. And, while honey and wild locusts are technically
kosher foods, he is acting like a wild man and not a civilized
priest in temple. The whole act was rogue and stripped down
to its barest essentials. Think of what Jesus does after his
baptism, he heads into the desert to find trials and temptations
not to a holy sight. John is acting as if spiritual experiences
happen not in a holy of holies, and only to priests who have
been prepared a lifetime and ritually purified, but the sacred
happens inside us and can happen while we are in places of desolation
like a desert. It is interesting to contrast this counter cultural
spirituality against John’s own story of calling, one
that started with an angel speaking to his father inside the
hallowed walls of a temple. John was a bridge, from temple spirituality
to internalized spirituality. And this is a theme frequently
used in the ministry of Jesus.
John’s whole purpose was to bear witness. Even in the
story of his in utero gymnastics, he knew that he was called
to celebrate the true Messiah and the true prophet not to be
acclaimed himself. It is the kind of humbling calling that any
parent or teacher can understand; the purpose is to prepare
and then get out of the way not hover in hopes of getting credit.
Christians have much to learn from the impassioned humility
of John as he embodies his role as testifier. He lived this
sober life of meager means, waiting for the correct time to
be that witness to God’s presence in the Messiah. He was
obviously renowned for living a life according to his ideals,
numerous times after his death Jesus is compared to John, but
even with that recognized credibility, by his estimation, he
will not even qualify to touch the sandals of the Christ. Being
this type of conduit to Christ now falls under the responsibility
of the Church, meaning all of us gathered. The great commission
is to bear witness; we are to be conduits to Christ for the
world. In many circles, that evangelical mandate has deteriorated
into proselytization and self-promotion. But, if we follow the
example of John, we would realize that being evangelical is
about getting out of the way and letting the message of Christ
shine through you.
My favorite quote from this reading is, “Among you stands
one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me.”
I can imagine the Levites looking around, at each other, wondering
who it might be. Father George has been emphasizing the idea
that Jesus visits us in the guise of the stranger during this
holiday of preparation. If you remember, he charged us all to
see Jesus in the families for the Cathedral Shelter Christmas
Basket program. John is doing a similar thing here. He testifies
to the Messiah’s imminent arrival, but he is not coming
as a king or conqueror. The Messiah is going to be mistakable
for your neighbor, someone unassuming and someone who will understand
you on a personal level. As an act to embody this feeling of
anticipation and presence, I challenge you to see Christ in
those who stand among you today. When we pass the peace this
morning, ask yourself if Jesus might be standing among you and
you are unaware.
I hope that the answer to my final question, “What is
so important about having an opening act to Jesus?” is
already becoming clear. John was a prophet in the tradition
of great Hebrew prophets. And, Jesus’ ministry was to
be built on a strong foundation of the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus constantly refers to his ministry as a fulfillment of
prophesies and not an abolition of the Law. So John is a true
bridge between the faith traditions of the Hebrew Bible and
the Good News of Jesus Christ. I hope you are also seeing that
it is woefully inadequate to call John merely ‘the Baptist.’
Though in many ways he is the progenitor of our current sacrament
of baptism, he was example of so much more. I think we could
call him John the Bridge or John the Trailblazer or John the
Revolutionary for how he decentralized the spiritual and gave
the power to be in dialogue with YHWH back to his followers.
Now let’s take that idea and revisit the very first phrase
of my sermon and our reading from today. Let’s try to
be revolutionaries ourselves.
The verse is, “There was a man sent from God, his name
was John.” Now John never claimed it, he was far too humble,
but he lived it, which is infinitely more difficult. How can
you live your life, your calling, in a way that will draw attention
to the message of Jesus, like John did? Does it change the trajectory
of your life and the reasoning behind your actions if you have
as a constant prayer, “There was a woman sent from God,
her name was…” or “There was a man sent from
God, his name was…” and then fill in your name?
[Baptism addition: How will we support Roger in his life in
Christ if we as a community see him and think, “There
was a boy sent from God, his name was Roger”? We are baptizing
him now, in the tradition of a humble prophet who saw a need
to revitalize the internal spirituality of his people. I hope
that realization might deepen all our commitments as we affirm
our roles in raising him in the community of Christ.]
We are celebrating a season of anticipation of the true light
of the world, as John was while waiting for Christ along the
banks of the Jordan. With every candle we light on that wreath
we move closer to the commemoration of Christ’s lowly
entrance into the world, one who walked among us. Isn’t
it exciting to prepare for the celebration? We are buying presents
for each other to show our love and affection. We try in futility
to buy that perfect one, a boxed and wrapped symbol that always
falls short in expressing what the other person really means
to us. And infinitely more so, we will never be able to express
the thanks, love and devotion we have for the hope we find in
Christ. When faced with the sheer power of it, we likely have
the same response as John, feeling unworthy to even undo the
straps on God’s enormous sandals. But, God doesn’t
need our gifts to know how grateful we are and God certainly
doesn’t give in proportion to our being able to return
a favor, God’s love flows over us like a rushing river.
It is out of joy, not obligation, that we are called to be conduits
for Christ, to attest to our experiences of God’s love.
John set the example of how to live in the anticipation of good
news.
A savior is coming, cry out with praises and bear witness.’
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