What John the Baptist Means for Us

             I’ve always been amazed by the stories of John the Baptist baptizing in the Jordan River in the New Testament.  The picture that I have in my mind is of a raving, disheveled preacher yelling at the people on the banks of the river.  He is clothed in radically unflattering clothing:  a leather belt around his waist, a camel hair garment around his shoulders.  The eating of wild honey and locusts further adds to the strangeness of his appearance.  I imagine his hair standing up on his head, his beard uncombed.  He has a look of wildness about him.  I find myself wondering what the crowd thought of this man as he baptized those who came into the Jordan.  I suspect that fear was a part of their thinking.  John called those on the banks of the Jordan to repent and change.  This was in a time in their history when Rome dominated the whole of the land and the Temple officials were the handmaidens of Rome.  That there was a terrible condition in the land almost goes without saying.  Change was needed, and many of the people hoped for change that would be radical politically.  Certainly, according to the history of the Hebrew people, the Jordan River was an excellent place to start.

            John echoed the history of the Hebrew people also.  Isaiah preached much like John:  in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. I have the feeling that Isaiah and the Major Prophets looked a lot like John; dressed in different clothing and saying things that sometimes startled their listeners.   Here is John saying:  prepare for one who comes after me, I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals.

           

             While all of this was going on, Jesus of Nazareth comes into the river and is baptized by John.  When he came out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit, like a dove descended on him.  A voice from heaven said to him:  You are my son, the beloved: with you, I am well pleased.  Here, at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel is the beginning of the story of Jesus.  Matthew and Luke have elaborate birth stories that we have heard during the Christmas season, and John’s Gospel begins with a reference to the beginning of Genesis, as though the whole world was being remade. But Mark begins with the ministry of Jesus as an adult.  All of the things of his childhood are left behind, and this earliest of the Gospels begins with Jesus baptism and his beginnings.  It is a highly political gospel, hinting at change from the beginning.  It is no wonder that the leaders of the community were wary of Jesus.  Heralded by this strange preacher in the wilderness, they must have thought that something was coming.

            We are at the beginning of the season of Epiphany, which is the time to celebrate the coming of the wise men to the stable and leaving their gifts with the Christ Child.  This is a good time to examine what this marvelous gift from God means to all of us as we look at our world and what it so desperately needs.  The baptism of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit to light on him is a reminder that the Holy Spirit is exactly what this world needs in the face of all that is going on around us.  So let’s think politically for a moment.

            Like all of you, I was horrified by the killing of the people in Paris at the satiric magazine Charlie Hebdo by Islamists upset by what they termed blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.  The whole world was radically disturbed by this act. I found myself wondering what the reaction of radical Christians might be if a cartoonist created what we viewed as blasphemous cartoons of Jesus.  Some radicals of our religion might have been inspired to do the same kind of thing.  I certainly hope not.

   

       The truth of all of this is that violence is never a solution to differences.  God’s love extends to those of all of the faiths of this world.  We might call our God by different names, but God is always God.  His Love is ultimately the salvation of the world and of all of us.  God’s Love is the way that we can put our petty differences aside and live as one people in this world.  Without God’s Love, we are left on our own, with our opinions ruling our lives.  I would hope that the Holy Spirit would descend on this country, particularly on Washington in this time of political change and enable Congress and the Obama Administration to agree on the ways that we can all be helped by our government to live better and more hopeful lives in this land, and to be a beacon to the rest of the world as to how a people can thrive even with difference. 

            Perhaps we can all go into the Jordan as those Hebrew people did, and begin again with a baptism of repentance and change that will bring us together and enable us to love each other in the radical way that God loves each of us.  Our differences need not overwhelm us.  All that we need to do is to try as hard as we can to love one another as our God has loved us.  This was the commandment that Jesus gave to us.  Following it to the best of our ability is the solution to all of the troubles that we have around us.  May the Holy Spirit bless our Love for each other and bless us richly in all that we do in this world.