In the year Elvis died, I
experienced the pain of losing a father because my dad died as well. In the
year John Kennedy was shot, I was walking the halls of Roosevelt
High School in Des Moines. In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the
glory of God and received his life-changing call… and in the 15th
year of the reign of Tiberius… the word of God came to John ben Zachariah,
as he wandered in the wilderness. To make the record clear (as he noted in the first verse of his gospel), Luke anchored
his story in the events of its time… and it was a time in which Tiberius was
Emperor of Rome, Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod ruled over Galilee and
Perea (which was east of the Jordan river), Philip reigned in Iturea and
Trachonitis (both of which are small regions northeast of Galilee), and Lysanias
ruled over Abilene. These men ruled the world that
Jesus knew. They had all the power that any other autocrat would have had and
they used it ruthlessly to keep people in line. But since Israel was a
theocracy, Luke wants us to know that Annas (6-15AD) and Joseph Caiaphas
(18-37AD) were High Priests during Jesus’ lifetime, and they also held considerable power
over the Jews.
And so there we have it- the Big 7-
Tiberius, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Annas, and Caiaphas.[i] It's akin to President, Governor, Mayor,
Senator, and Congressman (with autocratic powers) and the Moderator of the
PCUSA and the Executive Presbyter of our Presbytery (with more control and
less compassion). These were the decision-makers and power-brokers in Jesus’
time… and then there was John ben Zechariah, who was known as the Baptizer. He was
an eccentric character and an unlikely hero. He dressed in a funny way and he
had odd choices in food… but he had a powerful message and a popular ministry. I suspect that, if we wanted to change things and prepare the way for God, most of us would seek out one of these rulers.
We would lobby men with power…and persuade them to change things. Men in
power, however, don’t want to change things, and besides, the God of Naomi the widow, Rahab the prostitute,
Jonah the man who ran from God, and Mary, the unwed and pregnant teenager… has always chosen unlikely vessels to accomplish his purpose!
Instead of relying on those who were full of themselves, God chose a man who
had a heart for him… and the Baptist began to prepare the way for Christ… by preaching
a baptism of repentance… for the forgiveness of sin.
The Jews had practiced a baptism of
cleansing for new proselites for some time, and it seems that the Essenes who
lived around the Dead Sea practiced a baptism of cleansing too, but a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins was a new thing.., which called the people to recognize
their sins and undergo a baptism because they wanted to live for God. Do business with them, even the ones
you enjoy; experience a deep desire for spiritual cleansing (and come humbly
to God with something like, “Lord have mercy,” on your lips); and then turn away
from your sins! Go in a different direction, embrace different values, live to please God- because changing behavior, rather than just feeling bad for what we’ve
done- is the essence of metanoia (repentance),
Many years ago an alcoholic conversed
with the noted psychologist, Carl Jung, looking for a cure from a disease that
had brought him to his knees. He had been in and out of jails and asylums and had tried to quit a hundred times. He had grown to resent the face he
saw in the mirror … and he wanted to be free. In brief, Jung told him that
alcoholics of his type were generally goners, but he said that every now and
then, for reasons he didn't fully understand, some men experience a radical rearrangement
of their values. They had a spiritual realignment and although Jung did not use the phrase, they were "reborn." They became new creations. They were less fearful and more
loving, less deceitful and more authentic. If an alcoholic undergoes this sort of transformation, Jung noted, he or she may get free from their sickness... but otherwise, their prognosis is very bad. Of course the vast majority of us are not alcoholics, but we desperately need a spiritual
realignment. We need to repent, surrender, change our direction, and prepare ourselves for God’s coming!
Repentance- metanoia- is one part resolve, a bigger
part surrender, and a bigger part yet, the work of the Holy Spirit. It is
preparing for Christ’s coming by letting God have his way with us and
surrendering to His will. It’s turning from those things that chain us down and
turning to those things that build us up. History, both Biblical and secular- shows that John had a huge following as he invited the people of the land to come to the water and undergo a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They came by the thousands- the tens of thousands-those who were
weary and burdened, those who wanted to live fuller and freer lives, those who wanted to be ready when their Lord appeared! They came as they were, with their hearts willing, and when they came up from the water, John challenged them to bear
the fruits of repentance when they returned to their daily lives.
Bear the fruit of
repentance, he said, treat others fairly, give one of your coats to someone who
doesn’t have a coat, donate something to your church’s food ministry, put some money
in the slot when you hear the bells ringing, find a reason to be generous, recognize someone by name, forgive another
person, If we want to prepare for His coming, we need to repent and get to work. If we feed the hungry, clothe
the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, empower the weak, visit the
lonely, and let our light shine on those who live in darkness, we will prepare
the way for Him… and put the Christ in Christmas! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment