The beginning of the good news

Today's Gospel lesson is the first eight verses of The Gospel According to Mark. Mark wrote to a Roman audience that was accustomed to reading about the lives of action heroes. Mark wanted everyone to know that Jesus is the hero of this story. Jesus will have a life like no other life. He will die a brutal Roman death because of Who He is, but will rise victoriously from the grave. And yes, we should all line up to follow Jesus, even though he is going to the cross.

Mark begins without a birth narrative and tells us about he main characters in Jesus' adult life. Today we hear about John the Baptizer, who looks like Elijah the Old Testament prophet. As a prophet, John stands as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

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 people from the whole Judean countryside 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 worth to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." [Mark 1:1-8, NRSV]

Welcome to the Second Sunday of Advent.


Here is the sermon I preached at Holy Cross this morning:

As we read our Gospel for today, we might think that John the Baptizer’s mother dresses him funny. He was not a slave to fashion. When the scripture says that John the Baptizer was clothed in camel’s hair, it does not mean a camel-hair blazer with which he could wear a preppy button-down shirt. His leather belt probably did not have a fancy brass buckle. No natty dresser, this one. We picture John as a cave-man type, born long after his time. He was easily identifiable. Where have we seen this guy before? Doesn’t he look a little like Elijah the Prophet?

As you know, John the Baptizer was a relative of Jesus of Nazareth, on his Mother’s side. His parents were Elizabeth and Zechariah, an older couple who had long since given up hopes of having any children. Speculation has it that John the Baptizer was orphaned at a young age, and that he was brought up in the community of the Essenes. We have no proof, but some of his behavior might indicate this as a possibility.

The Essenes were a branch of Judaism that sought righteousness and perfection. They took frequent ritual baths. Cleanliness was next to godliness for them. They were also apocalyptic. They were convinced that they were living in the “last days” and interpreted scripture accordingly. They would have preached with the Scriptures in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Most of what we know about the Essenes comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered in a cave at Qumran, Israel in the late 1940’s. I have visited Qumran and the site of the Essene Community and I can tell you that it is definitely in the desert.

John appeared in the desert preaching righteousness. He was trying to restore religious order in a world of chaos. Righteousness includes a cruciform lifestyle –living in communion with God and extending the love and kindness God has shown to us -- out to our fellow human beings. I don’t think John would have made a very good spiritual director, at least not nowadays. He probably would not have said, “How did you feel about that?” He would probably have just said, “Stop doing what you know is wrong and start doing what you know is right.”

John was a man on a mission. He was obviously in a hurry to give his warnings. He might have known that his time would be short once he delivered his message. As you know from reading about him in the other three Gospels, John spoke the truth to power and got thrown into the dungeon. His execution by Herod the Tetrarch is well-documented in scripture. It is also documented outside of Scripture by the first century historian Josephus. [Ant. XVIII, V, 2.]

John’s hope in preaching righteousness was that we would all be restored to the sinless perfection that humans had before the fall of Adam and Eve. Human beings were at first created sinless, but that didn’t last very long. This One who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit was baptized by John in the River Jordan and “fulfilled all righteousness” according to Matthew’s Gospel. This is why in our Baptismal Covenant we renounce Satan, evil, and all sinful desires that draw us from the love of God. We put our whole trust in the grace and love of Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. His example of life is the source from which we derive our ethical treatment of self and of others. John the Baptizer recognized this about Jesus. We as Christians do the same.

John was willing to preach repentance from sin not only to the people who came out in the desert to hear him, but also to Herod the King. He solemnly warned Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother Philip’s wife. For that John was put into prison. Josephus tells us that John was executed at the castle at Macherus. He also says that Herod feared John’s influence with the masses. Apparently Herod was afraid that John might spark a rebellion because so many people were gathering to hear him. John was the last person Herod wanted to see, and yet he was fascinated with John and seemed genuinely sorrowful for John’s final fate.

John the Baptizer seems like an archaic figure, but he is really contemporary to every age. He is an icon of sorts, or a window through which we see courageous righteous behavior regardless of the consequences. There is always someone who is willing to sound the warning, like whistle-blowers in the world of industry. They often lose their jobs and/or their lives.

If we were to sound warnings that no one wanted to hear, we might say we were a voice crying out in the wilderness. Have you ever been the voice of one crying out in the wilderness? Have you ever been the person in your group or community who stood on principle when no one else would? Have you ever stood up for what is right when the stakes were high? Or have you gone along to get along? Have you gone along with the crowd because “everybody is doing it?”

When we read about John the Baptizer, it seems that he is angry, or that God is angry and that John is expressing anger in God’s behalf. In the other Gospels, we hear John calling the Scribes and Pharisees a “brood of vipers.” Did he really enjoy saying that? The prophets show us that side of God that is justice, but they also show us that side of God who can be appeased by our repentance. God can change God’s mind. Abraham Heschel, in his wonderful book The Prophets, says that God doesn’t get angry just to get angry. On the contrary, he says that God’s anger is “a free and deliberate reaction of God’s justice to what is wrong and evil.” Jeremiah the Prophet says that if we repent of evil, God will repent of God’s intentions to punish that evil.

The Prophets could also wax poetic. Amos says that the Lord is the one who “creates the wind” and also “reveals his thoughts to mortals.” “Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the Prophets” according to Amos. (Amos 3:7) The Prophets in turn revealed God’s thoughts to us. The Great Prophet is Jesus, who is Prophet and Priest and King. The major job of the Prophets was always to point to the Redeemer, the Messiah, the Savior, who is Jesus, the Son of God and son of Mary.

We can think of Biblical Prophecy in terms of an hourglass. In an hourglass, all the sand is focused to flowing through a narrow point. It then comes back out into a wider place. Think of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the focal point of the prophetic hourglass. The Prophecies are the sand.

After the Prophets, we listened to the Apostles – those sent by Christ himself. The Apostles were given authority to ordain people who ordained people to preach the Gospel. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the message of God’s preachers was focused on preaching that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is God. That is the message of the Messianic age. The age of the Kingdom of God. John the Baptizer was the first to recognize Jesus and publicly proclaim the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.

John the Baptizer is the last in a long line of Biblical Prophets. His voice is the prophetic bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. He looks like Elijah, dresses like Elijah, thunders like Elijah, but he points to and is related by blood to Jesus the Messiah. The kingdom of God has come on earth, and the Prophets turn in their badges. Amen.


In peace,
Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Vicar, Holy Cross Church Episcopal
Billings, MT
406-208-7314
http://www.holycrosschurchbillings.org/