Matthew 3:13-17 FOLLOWER

Even as I sit down on the first day of a new year to write this final devotion for the “John the Baptist” series, I noticed something that helped me put this in perspective. I watched some television this morning after sleeping in and all the commercials were dominated by one of two things on this first day of 2009. Either they were about some form of weight loss or exercise centers trying to help you make a new start in the new year, or they were about the need for funeral preplanning and insurance policy to pay for one’s funeral (maybe I was watching the AARP channel and didn’t realize it?). It seemed like an odd combination to me until I thought about the contrast of endings and beginnings and how in the circle of life, they somehow meet. Such is the case as I pen my final reflections (at least for a while) in regards to the life of the one known as “The Baptizer.”

When we came up with the least of readings for Advent and Christmas, we debated about what reading to use for the final one in the series. We settled in on Matthew 3:13-17, Jesus coming to be baptized by John. We thought this section of scripture was a telling one about John. Of course if you’ve read these few verses, you know that John had some major objections to Jesus’ request. That is a detail we shouldn’t quickly pass over in our haste to get the dramatic rending of the sky. It speaks volumes about the character and faith of John. Simply put, its says John “got it.” All this talk about “preparing the way of the Lord” wasn’t a sales pitch. It wasn’t just pre-Super Bowl hype. John meant it when he said: “The one who comes after me, was before me.” Now as Jesus entered the waters of the Jordan, John was dumbfounded by Jesus’ request. This was all backwards. This made no sense to John. This is a Emeril flying in from New Orleans to ask me how to make a good grilled ham and cheese sandwich. This is John Grisham stopping by to ask for my input on his next novel. This was the sinless Son of the holy God coming and asking to be baptized by the far from sinless son of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

It is this moment that we discover that key word to associate with the desert preacher named John. Even more than being “John the Baptist,” he is firstly “John the Follower.” It says that after stating his case and knowing that from any human standpoint, he won the argument. When Jesus said, “Let it be so now,” even though it didn’t make a lick of sense to John, he followed and he obeyed. And with that baptism, the heavens opened, the Spirit descended and the Father’s voice called down to affirm His Son.

It’s strange when you think about it. John’s public ministry didn’t last long. He was there to be the forerunner, but then this seeming frontrunner was quite content to find his place in the race somewhere behind the One who “for the prize set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father” – as the Victor. John was a Follower at heart. He followed God’s lead and began to “prepare” the track on which the Savior would run. He followed with humility when his disciples wanted him to challenge Jesus for the lead. He followed his conviction when expedience said, “Back off. Speaking so boldly about Herod and Herodias is going to get you into jail load of trouble. It not worth the headache (sorry I couldn’t resist that one)” He followed with his eyes fixed on Jesus, the one who came after him, yet was before him; the one who baptized with fire; the one who was the Lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world. John was a follower.

The problem is that no one admires a follower in our day and time. We all want to believe that we live above the trends and expectations – that we set out on our own journeys – blazing our own trails. We simply ignore the fact that we are all followers of the patterns of this age. But not John - he was a follower of Jesus and he didn’t care about what others said about him. Even though his clothing made him stand out to the city folk, and even though his food wasn’t served on the tables of the finest homes in Jerusalem, that didn’t matter to him. What did matter was that he was faithful to the One who “took on flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

What would our New Year look like if we quit trying to manufacture some set of resolutions that rely on our own wills, and strove instead to be followers of Christ. I guess that’s what really draws me to John. He points me to Jesus and when I listen, I end up following behind “the Lamb of God,” only to have Jesus turn and invite me (as he did to the disciples of John long ago) to “come and see” where He will lead – today, tomorrow, 2009, forever. It’s not all that far from the endings and the new beginnings, but the real question is: “Are we ready to be FOLLOWERS?”

Matthew 14:13-14 SOLITUDE

Yesterday we read about the last moments of John the Baptist’s life. And even as I read of his last moments and actually took time to think about that tragic death, I felt a tinge of sadness. This world can be cruel and the innocent die all too often. And if you, like me, find yourself wondering how Jesus reacted to the news of his earthly cousin’s unjustified execution, Luke tells us: “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” Jesus chose to get away and be by himself for what seems to be a time of reflection and prayer.

That’s one of the ways to react to such heart-breaking news. I remember a few years ago when I received a phone call at the office of my former congregation that my older brother had passed from this life suddenly and unexpectedly. I walked into the darkened sanctuary and just sat there by myself for a while. As bad as my heart ached, there was something comforting about that solitude. It gave me a change to cry – to pray – to remember.

I certainly don’t pretend to understand why Jesus got on that boat and went to a deserted place to be alone. Just because I felt that need for solitude certainly doesn’t give me a deep insight into our Savior’s thinking at that moment. But I can’t help but wonder if Jesus sat there in that remote location and mentally relived some of the special moments that he had shared with this man he called cousin, but whom others referred to as “the Baptizer.” Did he think about going out in the waters of the Jordan and having a debate with John as to why John should go ahead and baptize him instead of vice versa? Did he hear the echoes of the voice of the desert-dweller crying out: “Prepare the Way of the Lord,” or when he shouted: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Or did the Lord chuckle to himself about times they shared while they grew up and families visited – memories that we aren’t privy to at this point?

In any case, the solitude didn’t last long. It rarely does for us, and it certainly didn’t for Jesus. The crowds tracked him down without giving it a second thought that he might want more time to grieve over the death of his cousin and friend. And yet Luke tells us: “When Jesus saw the large crowd, he had compassion on them.” There was work yet to be done. Though it is no stretch to say that Jesus was saddened by a world where a “righteous man” like John meets a violent end (think of the weeping that Jesus displays later at the death of Lazarus in John 11), he knew a couple of crucial realities that helped him move on and continue the mission before him. First, Jesus knew that John was even now living in the presence of the living God. The executioner’s blade could not sever the relationship that John had with the Lord he served. Second, Jesus had come to confront those powers of darkness cast from sin and Satan’s shadow. Were he to stop at the grave of the Baptizer, and refuse to move on with the things he came to accomplish, how could the unholy trinity of sin, death and the devil ever be defeated?

And so Jesus greeted the crowds with compassion and his healing power. He refused to cower to the powers that be among both the religious and palace powerbrokers. He knew that one day, he too would face arrest and the wrath of those who held a grudge against him. There would again be manipulations toward a sentence of death. He too would stand before this same Herod who would again revert to his drunken banquet ways – seeking entertainment more than truth. He too would face a violent end. It would be nails instead of a sword. But in the end, Life would prevail. Darkness would not conquer the Light. And the “Word that became flesh” would be “the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world” and reigns forever (Rev 5:12).

Mark 6:21-29 MANIPULATED

Yesterday we explored the background that helps explain the events we encounter today. John’s been thrown in prison. He spoke out against the King, and even though Herod felt pressured to arrest him, personally he’s been sparing his life because he believes John is a righteous man (even if he doesn’t understand the spiritual truth that he has preached to him). Herodias, Herod’s illegitimate wife, has a different – more violent plan for this desert-dwelling baptizer.

These two wills collide at a birthday bash for Herod and all his palace buddies. (This of course was before the more recent advent of Monday Night Football to hang out with the guys.) Instead Herod and the boys are eating a lot and drinking even more in the banquet room. And in comes the entertainment for the evening – Herod’s own stepdaughter, who proceeds to dance for all the guests. (We have no certain knowledge of the exact dance style she used, but the context would imply it wasn’t a well-clothed version of Swan Lake.) Her movements to the music appear to be of a more sensual nature and capture the attention of the male guests.

In any regard, Mark tells us that her dance “pleased Herod and his dinner guests.” The fact that young lady was his own stepdaughter didn’t seem to phase Herod in the least. At this point he wasn’t thinking straight. Between the wine and how shall I say it – the rush of certain hormones, rationality gave way to a toxic mixture of pride, power and animal instinct, and he found himself taking an oath to the in-house exotic dancer, saying: "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you. Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom."

When Herodias’ daughter, came to her mother and repeated what Herod said, Herodias was quick to seize the opportunity and devise a plan to take care of her hated prisoner. She carefully rehearsed the words that her daughter would take back and announce before Herod and all his inebriated cronies. So she returned to the banquet turned raucous party, looked her step-father in the eyes, and said, “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist right now on a platter.”

The moment those words gracefully rolled off the dancer’s tongue with ease, they slapped Herod out of his drunkenness and in an instant he knew that he was trapped. What would he do now? He had made a vow to give her whatever she requested. He didn’t want to execute John, but how would he explain his refusal to all those gathered around him? To not grant her request would make him appear to be a weak and spineless ruler, and that kind of news would spread not only throughout the palace court, but pour out into the streets just as quickly. Yes, he would gain the support of the masses who believed John was indeed a prophet. But what good was that? They had no power – no influence. He did the calculations in his head quickly. He would be publicly emasculated and in his estimation, there would be no recovery.

Long story short, though he realized he had been manipulated like a puppet, backed into a corner, and trapped by his own lack of wisdom, he succumbed to the “realities” of the situation (or at least that’s what he told himself) and gave the order to have John beheaded. (See why I didn’t include this as the devotion for December 24th?) The end result was that John, the man chosen to prepare the way for the coming of Christ, met a violent end at the hand of King Herod Antipas. (I guess you could say like father, like son – see Matthew 2:13-18 for Herod the Great – Herod Antipas’ father – and how he tried to do away with the infant Jesus.) It’s amazing how the evil one (or those modeling their actions and intentions after the evil one) can manipulate us into things we can never imagine doing. But John clung to the One who is “greater than the one who is in the world.” When we live in the light of Christ, we begin to see the devil’s maneuvers and instead, follow the leading of the Savior who trampled over the powers of darkness. When we do, we find ourselves maturing, rather than being manipulated; growing instead of giving in; moving forward instead of looking back.

Mark 6:14-20 GRUDGE

As we begin this last week of December and move toward the new year to come, we shift from having a “John the Baptist” Christmas into a time of endings and beginnings learned from the rest of John’s story. To be honest the next couple of days don’t really fit into the celebratory tone of Christmas week.

As we had read a few weeks back, John had been put in prison by King Herod – a different King Herod than the one who reigned at the time of Jesus’ birth. It was King Herod the Great who ruled over Judea and Galilee at the time that Caesar Augustus was issuing his decree of taxation and the magi were journeying from the east to see this child who was born King of the Jews. It was Herod’s son, Herod Antipas who now threw John in prison because the desert preacher continued to condemn his illegitimate marriage to his own brother’s wife – a woman named Herodias.

It is Mark’s Gospel that sheds more light on John’s arrest, incarceration and subsequent condemnation. According to Mark, there was division in the palace’s master bedroom on the fate of John. On the one hand King Herod obviously wasn’t happy that John was publicly calling him down in front of the thousands who came out to hear him preach and be baptized in the wilderness. Such condemnations among a morally conservative nation like Israel were a political liability to his reign. On the other hand Mark supplies us with the interesting detail that Herod actually protected John in prison because “he knew him to be a righteous and holy man.” In fact Mark goes on to tell us that while John’s passionate words “puzzled him, he liked to listen to him.”

With this being the case, how does John go from religious and political prisoner to yet another martyr for the faith? Enter Herodias – the above mentioned illegitimate wife of Herod Antipas. It’s clear that she liked her exalted status as queen, and was furious that some backwoods self-proclaimed prophet had the nerve to air her dirty laundry for all Judea to see. The key phrase that clues us in on what’s about to go down in John’s story is when Mark writes: “So Herodias nursed a grudge and wanted to kill him.”

Now I’m going to gently tread water here and bring my wife into the subject for a moment, because if I say what I’m about to say, I’m sure I could be accused of being yet a “male chauvinist pig.” But in talking with my beautiful, intelligent and very much female wife about this very subject, she gave her opinion that while women may not typically be as outwardly aggressive as men, they really know how to nurse a grudge. There she said it. It may match my experience as well, but I’ll gladly defer to her obvious expertise in all things womanly.

And if it is indeed the case that this grudge of Herodias is key to what’s about to happen, then what does that leave us to say about Herod Antipas? I’ll use my own observation here and say: “Herod was whipped!” The truth of that statement is about to be played out at an upcoming birthday party. Herod will back himself into a corner and be masterfully manipulated by the very woman to whom he has pledged his love. There will be a moment when he must make a key decision – a life and death decision – and at that very instant, will he stand for what God wants or the “god-substitute” whom he has married and allows to have more influence in his life than any other? We’ll find out tomorrow. In the meantime, we might want to ask ourselves: “Are we listening to the true and living God in our lives, or the god-substitutes of our culture and their lies capturing more of our attention and allegiance?

John 1:6-9, 15-18 AFTER

On the one hand, after a month of preparations, you may be ready for it, but on the other, there’s a bit of sadness that accompanies every step. But it’s time to get those boxes out and start putting those decorations away. It’s time to carefully remove the ornaments from the tree and unwind the lights from the branches. It’s time to go to the mantle and remove the nativity figurines one by one – including baby Jesus and put them back in the tub to wait until next December.

Get the idea? Another Christmas is done. And whether the decorations come down on the 26th or the 31st or you try to navigate it in between bowl games on the first of the new year, they are coming down. I won’t even try to sell you on the twelve days of Christmas that was a part of the Church’s true celebration of Christ’s coming (running from the 25th through January 5th), long before it was best known for its seemingly never ending song about geese a-laying, swans a-swimming, golden rings, French hens and a partridge in a pear tree.

Let’s just work with the culture around us for the background of today’s devotional thoughts. We have moved into the AFTER Christmas season. We’ve unwrapped the gifts, sung the carols at the services, consumed far too many Christmas cookies and food in general, welcomed and said goodbye to friends and loved ones, and survived the whole holiday rush (well sort of any way). Now it’s after Christmas and we’ll be returning to the “normal” life we live most of the other eleven months of the year.

So what do we do with this whole “John the Baptist” Christmas we’ve talked about over these past three and a half weeks? Do we simply put him away along with Advent wreath and leftover Christmas cards? It may not come as a surprise to you that my answer to this question would be “no.” In fact I believe we need this “John the Baptist” Christmas more than ever on December 26th and beyond. After all, at just six months old, John wasn’t even known as “the Baptizer” yet as the time of our Savior’s birth. On that holy of holy nights oin Bethlehem, John was just John the six month old cousin of Jesus (although I’m certain that Zechariah and Elizabeth still referred to him as their little miracle baby).

So John’s life calling to be “a witness of the Light” didn’t really get started until long after the stable was commandeered for a make-shift birthing room and the manger converted into a crib. And so all these aspects we’ve talked about to prepare for a “John the Baptist” Christmas are never meant to be lived out during the month of December alone. These are all characteristics of what it means to live as a follower of this Savior “who conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, He descended into hell, The third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

In other words, there is an AFTER – an important AFTER. And we live out this AFTER as our “John the Baptist” Christmas becomes a part of our “normal” lives in January through December and then do we do it all again. We live in the AFTER!

Note: Though it won’t be a called a “John the Baptist” Christmas next week, I’ll be sharing one more week of devotions to tell the rest of John’s story in the Bible.

John 1:1-5, 10-14 WONDER

John’s Gospel (the disciple of Jesus – not the baptizer) begins so majestically – so cosmologically. Instead of Mark’s Gospel that begins so quickly, Matthew’s Gospel that begins so genealogically, and Luke’s Gospel that begins so methodically, John gives us the big sweeping picture that ties together Genesis - with all it’s dazzling displays to of the Creator – with a humble arrival of that Creator come in the flesh of a baby lying in a manger in the remote town of Bethlehem.

And yet in the middle of John’s poetic telling of how the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, there is the baptizer named John (though we’ll technically dig deeper into those verses tomorrow). John the Gospel writer uses simple word pictures like the “Word” or the “light,” and yet these words were packed with meaning far beyond their common usages we tend to think of in our own experience.

And when you tie the grand imagery of the Apostle John with the work and mission of the John the Baptist, what you end up with is one simple word: WONDER. First of all I find myself WONDERing how much this baptizer named John, who spent his ministry seemingly somewhat isolated, could have understood John the Gospel writer’s first verses of the book of the Bible that shares his name. If the wilderness preacher had read the first fourteen verses from the first chapter of John, how much would he have understood? Would he have grasped that the Word who was with God, and was God, was Jesus? Would he have connected the light that gives light to all humans, with Jesus as the Light of the World – God’s Son come in the flesh? Or would much of these verses simply have flown right over the locust-eating preacher’s head?

Now I’ll admit that if we simply try to answer those wonderings of mine from these same fourteen verses of John’s Gospel, we’d have our opinions and your answers to those questions might even answer mine, but I’m not sure they’d have solid Biblical backing. So let’s move beyond these fourteen verses to other sections of the Gospel writers telling John the Baptist’s story, and I believe we can significantly to this discussion.

For example in both Matthew’s and Luke’s telling of the beginning of John’s public ministry, John the Baptizer says: "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16 but Matthew 3:12 says basically the same thing). And then further into the first chapter of John’s Gospel, John the Baptizer cries out: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' (John 1:29-30). A man who comes after me (Jesus is born six months after John, but he was before me – because John understands Jesus is God’s eternal son.)

What all this tells us is that John the Baptist would not have been puzzled by all this “Light of the World” or “Word became flesh” talk at all. Instead he would have responded in the same way that God desires us all to respond - with WONDER. No longer are we talking about our random or not-so-random thoughts and questions, but we’re talking about marveling at the story of God’s sending of His Son to be our Savior. To have a “John the Baptist” Christmas is to get swept up in that very WONDER.

Luke 20:1-20 THERE

Okay, so I’ve never seen one. But I think I’ll come up with a way to create one. I realize that this may not be an easy task. I’ve never even seen what I’m looking for and that could be a problem. You have your angel, shepherds and magi (always three, but that’s a whole different story) and of course Mary and Joseph – all with necks and faces bent to look down at baby Jesus lying in the manger. But where’s John? I have yet to see a manger scene with John waiting in the wings – getting ready to begin his life’s calling to “prepare the way for the Lord.”

Of course if I manage to find some way to add John to the nativity set that I place on the mantle over my fireplace, then I’d have to add John’s parents - Zechariah and Elizabeth – considering that John was only six months old at the time of Jesus’ birth. And I’m sure that having a second infant present would only confuse nativity sets around the world. And then there’s the small detail that Zechariah, Elizabeth and the six month old little baptizer weren’t physically present in Bethlehem the night that the angels sang to shepherds and the Son of God came to be among us as He was born of the Virgin in a stable “because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Even with all that aside, I know that John was THERE. He may not be cast as a nativity figurine, but he was there nevertheless – not in physical terms, but definitely in terms of the plan of God. As the Father and Son knew from before the creation of the world that humans would choose the death of sin over life with God, there came the plan that one night in Bethlehem there would be a young maiden who would give birth to a her firstborn, who would also be the Father’s only-begotten son, come in the flesh. And in that plan to rescue a lost and rebellious race, there would be a forerunner who would point to his coming when it was time for a public ministry among these lost and rebellious humans. And we have been invited to open up the book and read that story and in doing so – to learn that this forerunner’s name was John. He was there. He was (and is) part of this incredible true tale of how a merciful God would not turn His back on his sinful children, who in their desire to be god, didn’t even want to acknowledge Him as their Heavenly Father.

But this whole idea of John being there shouldn’t really surprise us, because I would propose that you and I were THERE as well. No, I’m not suggesting that you take a small picture of yourself and paste it on the face of one of the shepherds or magi – though that would be kind of cool too. What I mean is that we are ultimately meant to be a part of this unending story of God’s salvation. When the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14), the truth of the matter is that He came for you and me as well. We are part of the reason that He was wrapped in tattered cloths and placed in a feeding trough. You are I are part of that of lost and rebellious human race He came to save. Maybe we should write a Christmas edition of the great spiritual song, “Were You There”? Because to have a “John the Baptist” is to realize that we don’t simply read about the Christmas Story, we are part of it. We live because Christ-With-Us is the reality from which we receive life now and life forever.