December 10, 2023 Sermon
Sermon title: "John the Baptist"
Scripture: Mark 1:1-8
(Other lectionary suggestions include Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85 (selections), and II Peter 3:8-15a.
Mark 1:1-8
The Proclamation of John the Baptist
1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,who will prepare your way; 3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ” 4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
It has always seemed strange to me that during Advent, the time we're in right now, the time we prepare for the coming of the Christchild, the sweet little baby in a manger, we also have to listen to John the Baptist, the fiery preacher who lived in the wilderness, the one who tells us to repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. But the Church in its wisdom - and I'm serious about that - has always included the message of John the Baptist right alongside the story of the baby Jesus. And I have to admit that I agree with the idea. Why? Because as we wait for the arrival of Immanuel, God with Us, we really do need to prepare, to get our hearts ready. That's why the lectionary suggests Isaiah 40 as a choice: Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. In other words, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a two-edged sword. God loves us, yes, and takes on human flesh (the Incarnation, we call it). But we don't just clink our glasses and sing sweet Christmas carols. Something is required of us, too, and - as John the Baptist says - repentance is part of the deal.
Oh, I read something in the Interpreter's Bible commentary, a copy of which we have in this church. The word "repentance" doesn't just mean saying I'm sorry for something - the Greeks used the word METANOIA - it means a whole changing of one's mind. It means to CHANGE DIRECTION. It really means to take a whole new path. An alcoholic, for example, doesn't simply say to his wife, “I'm sorry, and I promise not to do it again.” No. If he is truly serious, he starts attending Alcoholics Anonymous or some other serious activity to indicate that he truly does want to take another path. That's what REPENTANCE is about: a true changing of the mind as one accepts responsibility for his own actions.
Let me interrupt this sermon for a little plug for a TV show I have been watching recently. It's called “The Chosen,” and it's about Jesus and the disciples. It's on KTLA, Channel 5, on Sunday nights from 8 until 9:30. I have seen only a few shows, but I urge you to see it if you can. The reason I mention it now is that our Scripture lesson today is about John the Baptist who BAPTIZES people, and the Interpreter's Bible says that often baptism was performed by oneself. Somebody could do it for you (like John) or somebody could help you with it - but more often it was something you could do for yourself. Why do I mention this now? Because in last Sunday night's episode of “The Chosen,” Jesus and his disciples go into the water and have fun splashing around! In the episode, Jesus is accused of touching two people who are unclean, and he has a response for those who are criticizing him. And yet at the end of the episode, here is Jesus and company going into the water for a dip! Jesus may not have NEEDED to do that, but just maybe to keep the religious authorities off his back, he was doing some self-baptism! Just a thought, but after reading what the Interpreter’s Bible says about self-baptism, I wanted to share with you my great revelation!
Back to the Gospel of Mark....
Did you notice that Mark has no birth stories of the baby Jesus? As you have heard me say before, it is thought that Mark's Gospel was the first one written, with Matthew and Luke coming shortly after. Anyway, why no birth stories in Mark? Perhaps Mark had not heard those stories, or maybe Mark thought they weren't important enough to include in his account! That's pretty shocking, isn't it? Here we are in Advent, and we're reading from the lectionary (readings suggested by the Church going a long way back!) an account of the very first chapters of Mark which make no mention of the baby Jesus! Many questions for us to ask ourselves. I personally think it's interesting that the early Church thought that more than ONE account was needed. So instead of simply Mark being our only Gospel, we now have Matthew, Luke, and John, which is thought to be the last one written. So, the early Church wanted more than one account, but they didn't want TOO many more! There are other Gospels that were written (the Gospel according to Thomas, for example, and the Gospel of Mary). But the early Church didn't think of them as accurate enough or “apostolic” enough to get into the New Testament. So. let's look at these first verses of Mark and see if we can understand what they are saying to us.
N. T. Wright, a British New Testament scholar, has written a commentary called “Mark for Everyone,” and he says the people of Jesus's day were looking for a Messiah, a leader who would overthrow the Romans - but they weren't expecting a prophet such as John the Baptist telling them to repent! That's one of the things about God, in my opinion: he does the unexpected. One example of the unexpected is the birth of the Savior of the world in a stable, which, as I have said, Mark doesn't mention. (Luke has that story, by the way.) John the Baptist has his own version of the unexpected. According to Wright, he puts a new twist on the Passover story, which all the Jews of Jesus's day knew by heart. They told the story every year of how God under Moses had led them out of Egypt from the tyrant Pharaoh through the Red Sea and into the promised land. “Along with the creation story, it's the most important story in the whole Old Testament, and John's hearers would have known it well. But instead of simply hearing the words and remembering the story, John was turning it into a drama, a play, and telling his hearers that they were the cast. They were to come through the water and be free. They were to leave behind ‘Egypt’ - the world of sin in which they were living, the world of rebelling against the living God. They, the Israel of the day, were looking in the wrong direction and going in the wrong direction. It was time to turn around and go the right way (that's what ‘repentance’ means).”
One of the things I love about writing sermons is that I learn things. Maybe I knew this, but I read again that John the Baptist is mentioned in all four Gospels. What that says to me is that the early Church thought that he and his message were pretty important. If the early Church thought that and all four Gospel accounts mention that, I believe we should pay attention to him, too.
Did John the Baptist know who that “Someone” was who was coming soon? N.T. Wright says, “It's not clear, and perhaps it wasn't clear even to him. He may well have thought it would be YHWH himself, Israel's God in person. Or he may have thought it would be the Messiah. Or he may have thought it would somehow be both. But what this figure would do was quite clear. What John had done with water, the Coming One would do with Spirit - the Holy Spirit.”
So, if we are baptized by or with the Holy Spirit, what will THAT mean? For centuries, Israel had cherished the idea that when God finally made the Exodus story happen, setting his people free once and for all, he would come to live personally with his people. “He would be with them; he would be their God, and they would be his people. How would he do this? In the original Exodus story God's presence lived with Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire. This time it was to be similar but different. God's Spirit would live with people, in people, becoming the air they breathe, the fire in their hearts. This is the promise they had lived on. John says it's now going to come true. But are they ready for it?”
Indeed, are WE ready for it? If you noticed at the beginning of today's Scripture reading, Mark says this is the BEGINNING of the good news of Jesus the Messiah. “But things weren't that clear at the time,” says Wright. “What they had was the voice and the water; they were now to get ready for the human figure who would make sense, but very disturbing sense, of it all.”
That's a lot to consider on this second Sunday of Advent. So, I'll say “Amen” and leave it there.
Pastor Skip
