A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, June 20, 2010
Matthew 3:1-17
Most of us know some basic things about John, usually called “John the Baptist” or “John the Baptizer,” because this one act tells us his place in the Gospel account. Every year on the second Sunday in Advent we read one of the Gospel records of John, coming to “prepare the way of the Lord.”
What else do we know?
• We know he was a rough and rugged man who lived in the wilderness, surviving on wild honey and locusts… yech!
• We know he wore rough clothing woven from camel’s hair tied by a leather belt.
• We know he preached repentance and warned sinners to turn toward God.
• We know he was a cousin of Jesus, because his mother Elizabeth was a sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
• We know Jesus asked John to baptize him in the Jordan River right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
• We know that King Herod hated John for publicly condemning Herod’s acts of adultery.
• And we know that Herod had John arrested and imprisoned and then ordered his execution by beheading.
You can read any of the Gospels and find more of the story. But the most important point to recall is that John set the stage for the ministry of Jesus. John was a widely known character who continued to pronounce the prophetic promise that Messiah would come in the fullness of time, and that the time was at hand.
Some considered him Messiah, and he had many disciples of his own. Together they called out for sinners to repent – to turn back to God’s ways. It appears John had adapted the Jewish ritual bath – called the Mikvah – into his Messianic movement. He called on his followers to turn away from sin, and to act with righteousness – to do the right thing – then to be made ritually clean by full immersion – not in a pool at the temple but in the wild waters of the Jordan River on the very edge of the wilderness.
We read that Pharisees and Sadducees came to John to be baptized and he turned them away. They claimed they were righteous because they were Jews – born into the first covenant through Abraham. John told them their birth-right didn’t matter – what mattered was that they bear the fruits of righteousness. He had no use for power, position or prestige – only for those who showed their faith in their deeds.
It’s also clear that John was a thorn in the side of the Romans. Even before Jesus, John scolded and challenged Herod Antipas the Roman ruler or governor of the Galilee. He was one of the sons of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC. And This Herod finally became so angered he had John executed.
Much of this story will remain shrouded in mystery – leaving it up to us as individuals and as a community, to fill in the blanks or to live with the uncertainty.
But when we comb through what we know from the Gospels there are two questions that beg an answer – and I share them now:
First: why did Jesus want to be baptized in the Jordan River by John? If we believe baptism is about forgiveness of sins, and if we believe that Jesus was like us tested in every way but still without sin (as it says in Hebrews 4:15) then his baptism wasn’t necessary. It’s entertaining to see the complicated twists that some folks have tried to explain this. But I think the answer is simpler than they make it. Jesus wanted his baptism to be an invitation to his followers. He was baptized because he was the model. As a teacher he showed us the way by example.
Among our kind of Christians baptism isn’t for erasing Original Sin – the sin of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Rather, we say clearly: baptism is a sign of our forgiveness and a welcome into the household of faith. Baptism is our sacrament of initiation and through our regular communion with bread and cup we renew the promises year after year.
So the Gospels tell us John baptized Jesus and that Jesus rose from the water and saw the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, forming the link between earth and heaven, human and holy, and then heard the voice of God say “this is my son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Parenthetically, there’s debate about whether Jesus ever baptized anyone. John 3:22 says he did; John 4:2 says he didn’t, that only his disciples baptized.
A second important question is this: Why did John and Jesus apparently have a falling out, a parting of the ways? After all, they were cousins, and John came to prepare the way. And John proclaimed that the One who was to follow was much greater than he, such that he wasn’t even worthy to stoop down and tie the sandals of the greater prophet. What happened?
Quite simply, John worked for a revolution and Jesus wanted evolution. John wanted to turn the world upside down, settle the score and through out the scoundrels. It’s like anti-incumbent fever run wild! Just as surely Jesus saw the sins and the ills but he also knew that only God can turn the world upside down.
In the words of the Presbyterian author Frederick Buechner:
Where John preached grim justice and pictured God as a steely-eyed thresher of grain, Jesus preached forgiving love and pictured God as the host at a marvelous party or a father who can’t bring himself to throw his children out even when they spit in his eye. Where John said people had better save their skins before it was too late, Jesus said it was God who saved their skins and even if you blew your whole bankroll on liquor and sex like the Prodigal Son, it still wasn’t too late. … Where John crossed to the other side of the street if he saw any sinners headed his way, Jesus seems to have preferred their company to the WCTU, the Stewardship Committee, and the World Council of Churches rolled into one. Where John baptized, Jesus healed. [Peculiar Treasures, pg. 79]
John baptized and Jesus healed. Jesus went to work touching one life at a time, preaching and teaching and healing and ushering in a New Age that continues to this day. Then he spoke truth to power and named the ways many stood in the way of God’s realm.
You and I may feel a tension as we live out our ministries in the world. God calls us to live our faith boldly and to show the world what a disciple of Jesus looks like, acts like, lives like. Like John, we may feel like “a voice crying in the wilderness,” drawing an obvious parallel to the words of the prophet Isaiah. Yet Jesus himself said “in this world you will have many troubles. But don’t be dismayed for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
So, what might we take away from this account? What insights will stick with us?
First, let’s recall that baptism is the centerpiece of our call to discipleship and our life as a Christian community. Across the millennia baptism has remained the unique way we say to God that we want our lives to be led and shaped by Jesus Christ.
Second, let’s recall the tension that John and Jesus experienced about how best to speak truth to power.
John the Baptist is an essential element of the story. He called out to the anxious, expectant people who wanted to follow God’s will. We also know he faded into the background as Jesus stepped forward, full of truth and light and love. Today, as we begin a journey through the stories of First Followers, we remember John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord.