John the Baptist made quite a splash (yes, a bad pun, I confess).
Baptizing in the Jordan River … with a promise of God’s mercy, love and forgiveness.
John’s message caught the attention of the people … they came out in droves … hungry for hope, eager to hear good news.
John preached mightily … what he said was important, but where he said it was important, too.
Preaching in the Jordan River, where it all began centuries ago when their ancestors stepped out of the wilderness and crossed over into the Promised Land.
We’re starting over today says John … leaving behind the wilderness of sin … to find the Promised Land all over again.
Now get to it, and live a just and faithful life. It can be done; it must be done … and God will help you … more than help you … God lives through you … in you … and with you … God is making a fresh start with us, here and now … prepare the way of the LORD … your sins are washed away … give without hesitation … set aside your old ways … give thanks for what you have … acquire without being mean about it.
The people were expectant … Could John be the Messiah? … the Anointed One, who will save us, restore us, put all things to right, make it all good again?
John quickly reminds the crowds; It’s not me!
There is one still to come … I’m not worthy to loosen the straps of his sandals. I only baptize with water … he will baptize you with Spirit and fire.
Jesus comes to John for baptism - he’s 30 years old … the age when a man finishes his training and becomes a rabbi …
Jesus prays, the Spirit comes down upon him … in bodily form … like a dove …
Does the dove remind us of anything?
Noah and the Ark? … water, water, everywhere … Noah sends out a dove, and it returns to Noah in the evening, with a torn olive leaf in its beak … the flood waters are receding, danger passing, death ending, life beginning all over again.
Seven days later, Noah sends out again the dove, and this time, it doesn’t return … the dove has found a home in a new world.
The dove comes down to Jesus … the dove finds a home in a new world … and filled with the Spirit, Jesus builds the house of God.
A house not made with hands … the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands [Acts 7.48].
Solomon built with wood and brick … God’s Son builds with Spirit and fire.
A voice from heaven says, You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.
Jesus is the Son of God …
Now we have to think in terms of royal families … then, or now, the royal family is present in the sons and daughters, and even grandchildren … when Prince Harry visits South Africa, it’s the whole royal family who visits in his person … it’s the Queen whose presence is felt … Prince Harry is Great Britain, and Great Britain is Prince Harry.
To see the son of a king is to see the king himself …
Jesus says to his disciples: If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father … I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.
The writer of Colossians says: the Son is the image of the invisible God.
John’s gospel says it well: The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
The Nicene Creed says:
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Why is this important?
Because we can have some very strange gods … gods of wrath and vengeance, gods of anger and judgment … a god who hates gays and lesbians … a god who doesn’t like science … a god who loves one nation more than other nations … a god who loves some people and hates the rest.
What is God truly like?
Early Christians tried to clear the air … make the point … remove the dross and get to the gold!
If we want to know the heart of God … look no further than Jesus!
If we want to know God’s purpose and God’s intentions for creation … look no further than Jesus!
If we want to know how to treat one another … look no further than Jesus!
If we want to know God’s ways, and what God desires … look no further than Jesus!
If we want to know what God is like, and what we need to value … look no further than Jesus!
If we want to know how to read Scripture and interpret God’s Word … look no further than Jesus!
If we want to know the price that needs sometimes to be paid in order to follow the ways of God … look no further than Jesus.
When we look at Jesus, we see God:
God, in the little cradle in Bethlehem town … fleeing with Mary and Joseph from Herod’s rage … in the temple, learning …
God, in the Jordan with John … in the wilderness, hungry and tempted ... out and about in the hills of Palestine, on a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee … healing, teaching and coming under attack from those who resented his free-wheeling ministry to everyone and anyone …
God, standing before Pilate, condemned and beaten … spat upon and mocked … taken to Calvary, crucified, dead and buried … because humankind is too blind to see, and too deaf to hear ...
In the strange ways of God, the Cross becomes the tipping point when a new world is birthed … and in three days of darkness, something profound and good is worked out … and on the third day, the stone is rolled away …
Though it takes awhile, the first disciples come to believe, and cannot help themselves; they must tell the world - Go Tell It On the Mountain; What a Friend We Have in Jesus … He is the way, the truth and the life … believe in him, cast your cares upon him … walk with him, talk with him … abide in his word, and your heart is transformed, your life, no longer your own, but a life lived now for the glory of God … your light will shine, and you will be the salt of the earth.
Jesus builds us up and bids us follow him … though many a dark night come our way … though tears and sorrow remain for us all … there is light at the end of the tunnel, an undying hope greater than death… a promise that God never leaves us or forsakes us.
I close with some recollections - people I’ve known who have shed the light of Jesus upon my life …
Pastors who preached with intelligence and imagination, with the fire of God’s love … unforgettable memories for a little boy sitting in church, legs too short to reach the floor, and sometimes counting beams in the ceiling …
Teachers who managed to capture my imagination when I was anything but a good student … I went to an excellent Christian high school and college, where religion was in the air, but never hammered … where love was large … where science and faith walked hand-in-hand.
Donna’s parents - faithful people, filled with kindness … Donna’s Dad, an elder with a large vision for the gospel … Donna’s mother, a gracious woman who always signed her name, Mrs. Ruth Geurkink, when it was customary for a woman to sign her husband’s name.
My mother, for whom life was largely difficult and emotionally painful, but it was her faith in Jesus that saw her through and kept the family together … my father died suddenly when I was 22 and six-months married … I recall but a few things of him, but what I remember was a man with integrity, who prayed that his sons would enter the ministry.
And a dear friend, since seminary days, who pursues truth relentlessly, an unstinting devotion to making this a better world, for only the truth can set us free.
The list goes on … those who made my life better because of their faith, and because of their faith, I can do no less than take their faith seriously … and live that faith for myself as best I can … failing much of the time to live up to my own standards, and sometimes, by the grace of God, finding the strength to live well and to love much, to strive in my own way for a world better tomorrow than it is today.
Dear friends, let us remember those who shed Christian light on our life … and promise now to shed that same light on others who come our way.
After all, it’s but a short walk between cradle and grave … it behooves us to be kind … to love one another as Jesus loves us.
Amen and Amen!
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