Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ as it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight,’ ”
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
We spoke last week of a people living in expectation—a people who waited, not even entirely certain who or what they were waiting for. And when they finally found him they had the wrong person.
This new wonder people were flocking to hear was a weirdly impressive man. He lived in the wilderness and dressed himself in animal skins. Like many desert people who did not cultivate the soil, he fed on locusts and wild honey that he found by following the bees. He did not speak to the people with sweet, loving words, but rather, howled at them to repent and give up their evil in order to avoid the destruction that was due them. He is an interesting choice to be the subject of this second week in Advent – the one dedicated to Peace.
His name was John, and for a while many believed he was the One they had been waiting for.
His story is long and complex. He is mentioned in all four Gospels. In the beginning, John was the star and Jesus was the bit player. The people had known John for quite a time and many had received his baptism – they knew John, When Jesus first came out of obscurity they knew nothing of him and often ran to John for his take on this new voice.
The stories of these two oh-so-different men are so intertwined they can’t be told separately. As far back as Isaiah it was foretold that there would be one to announce the coming of the other.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)
And again in our reading for today, John himself speaks:
“The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The role that John was destined to play was known long before his name, and he is a man of many names. Through the years he has been known as Elijah, John the Forerunner, John the Messenger, John the Baptizer, Saint John the Baptist, and John the Immerser. He is recognized and revered in all strains of Christianity, as well as in Islam, and the Bahai’i faith.
The role John the Baptist plays in the story of Jesus is much larger than I ever noticed. He was so much more than a wild preacher who announced Jesus’ imminent arrival, nor was he just someone who stood in the river and witnessed Jesus’ anointing as God’s chosen beloved one. These two were a set and each played their own role, and neither would have been who they were without the other.
And what is there about John that speaks to us this week of Peace? I think poet John Shea may have the best explanation of that connection:
From, “The Man Who was a Lamp,” by John Shea:
Jesus came out of John
as surely as he came out of Mary.
John was the desert soil
in which the flower of Jesus grew.
John was the voice in the wilderness
who taught Jesus to hear the voice from the sky.
John would push sinners beneath the water
and Jesus would resurrect them on the waves.
John was the fast
who prepared for Jesus, the feast.
No man ever less a shepherd than John,
yet loved by one.
If you are surprised that Jesus came from John,
imagine John’s prophetic puzzle
when the predicted “wrath to come” came
and he said, “Let’s eat!”
John expected an ax to the root of the tree
and instead he found a gardener hoeing around it.
He dreamt of a man with a winnowing fan and a fire
and along came a singing seed scatterer.
He welcomed wrathful verdicts,
then found a bridegroom on the bench.
When John said, “There is one among you
Whom you do not know,” he spoke from experience.....
Yet he came to me to go beyond me.
He entered the water to rise out of it.
He knew I would know him when he came
even though I did not know him before he came.
The fulfillment is always more than the promise,
but if you hunger and thirst in the promise,
you will welcome the One Who Is Not You
as All You Are,
and more.
This new wonder people were flocking to hear was a weirdly impressive man. He lived in the wilderness and dressed himself in animal skins. Like many desert people who did not cultivate the soil, he fed on locusts and wild honey that he found by following the bees. He did not speak to the people with sweet, loving words, but rather, howled at them to repent and give up their evil in order to avoid the destruction that was due them. He is an interesting choice to be the subject of this second week in Advent – the one dedicated to Peace.
His name was John, and for a while many believed he was the One they had been waiting for.
His story is long and complex. He is mentioned in all four Gospels. In the beginning, John was the star and Jesus was the bit player. The people had known John for quite a time and many had received his baptism – they knew John, When Jesus first came out of obscurity they knew nothing of him and often ran to John for his take on this new voice.
The stories of these two oh-so-different men are so intertwined they can’t be told separately. As far back as Isaiah it was foretold that there would be one to announce the coming of the other.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)
And again in our reading for today, John himself speaks:
“The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The role that John was destined to play was known long before his name, and he is a man of many names. Through the years he has been known as Elijah, John the Forerunner, John the Messenger, John the Baptizer, Saint John the Baptist, and John the Immerser. He is recognized and revered in all strains of Christianity, as well as in Islam, and the Bahai’i faith.
The role John the Baptist plays in the story of Jesus is much larger than I ever noticed. He was so much more than a wild preacher who announced Jesus’ imminent arrival, nor was he just someone who stood in the river and witnessed Jesus’ anointing as God’s chosen beloved one. These two were a set and each played their own role, and neither would have been who they were without the other.
And what is there about John that speaks to us this week of Peace? I think poet John Shea may have the best explanation of that connection:
From, “The Man Who was a Lamp,” by John Shea:
Jesus came out of John
as surely as he came out of Mary.
John was the desert soil
in which the flower of Jesus grew.
John was the voice in the wilderness
who taught Jesus to hear the voice from the sky.
John would push sinners beneath the water
and Jesus would resurrect them on the waves.
John was the fast
who prepared for Jesus, the feast.
No man ever less a shepherd than John,
yet loved by one.
If you are surprised that Jesus came from John,
imagine John’s prophetic puzzle
when the predicted “wrath to come” came
and he said, “Let’s eat!”
John expected an ax to the root of the tree
and instead he found a gardener hoeing around it.
He dreamt of a man with a winnowing fan and a fire
and along came a singing seed scatterer.
He welcomed wrathful verdicts,
then found a bridegroom on the bench.
When John said, “There is one among you
Whom you do not know,” he spoke from experience.....
Yet he came to me to go beyond me.
He entered the water to rise out of it.
He knew I would know him when he came
even though I did not know him before he came.
The fulfillment is always more than the promise,
but if you hunger and thirst in the promise,
you will welcome the One Who Is Not You
as All You Are,
and more.
- John Shea, Starlight: Beholding the Christmas Miracle All Year Long, © 1992, Crossroad, New York
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