Pentecost 2a John the Baptizer

[HKHaugan]

Pentecost 2a John the Baptizer

I received a gift yesterday morning as I was out walking. John the Baptizer came to mind. I knew I was supposed to say something about him. He was basically the last prophet, the prophet foretold to be like Elijah (Lk.1:17, Mt.11:14). I started mulling that while I was on the way. One word kept forcing its way across my thoughts, 'preparation.' John was born for one purpose, one basic task---to 'prepare' for the coming of the Lord Jesus, “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you (Lk.7:27, Jesus quoting Malachi 3:1).” So, what's that got to do with us believers? Everything!

As I searched further I found 159 verses devoted to John. That led me to ask why he was given such a prominent role in all four Gospels, especially in Luke. How did he prepare? When you read the accounts he did three things to accomplish his task: commitment, preaching and baptism. He was a living walking image of preparation.

First, his commitment to a spiritual lifestyle was physically displayed in his diet, clothing and location; all focused on the coming of the Lord. Someone's coming, someone special, a life-changing someone.

Second, he preached that repentance for sin was the only way to prepare for His coming. The people's minds and hearts needed a jolt that would get them to look forward, to think spiritually instead of religiously. Awareness of sins, their confession and spiritual washing would set the stage. So...

Third, he baptized those who repented as the visible sign of their spiritual turn-around. They had a spiritual purpose to follow and share the Lord, the Messiah Jesus. Baptism was the sign of repentance for sin, the physical washing readying them to do a spiritual work; a conscious declaration of intent.

All three were part of a physical calling to be in the real wilderness, a spiritual wilderness we call the world, secular society. For us, that wilderness is wherever we are in the atmosphere of choice and decision. Just as John wore one outfit and maintained himself on one limited diet, so we are called to wear clothes of righteousness and our food on the way is like Jesus' food, the Word of God, Holy Scripture. That's how we prepare for the coming of Jesus into our every next encounter.

John's threefold mission had an entirely new purpose---Jesus-consciousness. It was preparation for a spiritual Messiah, a personal deliverer who would come to change hearts with a relational purpose. When hearts are changed the world around the changed heart is given new life. It was for those baptized to live a life of bearing spiritual fruit. This would happen when the coming Lord would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire and instead of being religious, they would be looking forward to serving the Lord relationally. That's what John was preparing for. Jesus would be in their hearts directing traffic by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would be the fire within that inspired the fruit-filled service without. Religion would fade and relationship would flourish. No longer subservience to a system of legalistic observance but a life of faith preparing to let the Lord be seen through us wherever He leads. The work that used to be put into religion is now put into relationship.

So John the Baptizer is the prime scriptural example of what it means for each of us to be a disciple of Jesus. Now this is the key; it's preparing us to be forerunners like John so that Jesus can be experienced in our every next moment wherever and with whomever we are. That's why it's a three-dimensional preparation; spiritual, personal and relational.

First, it is being spiritually prepared, spiritually conscious. We have the promised gift, the Holy Spirit, to stir our consciousness of the risen Jesus in mind and heart while we are on the way, like when I was out this morning and John and 'preparation' came to mind. When we received Jesus as Lord it was the beginning of thinking spiritually, putting everything in a spiritual context. That's what 'taking up our cross' is all about. We are spiritual people having a human experience, not the other way around. Every day with its 'every-next-moment' is approached in the Spirit to be personally conscious.

Second, it is being personally prepared to be personally conscious. Preparation comes with our immersion in the Scripture. Putting every personal thought in the context of the person of Jesus enables us to clear the cobwebs of our past attitudes, opinions, fears and sins from mind and heart. This is how we build our trust in the presence of the Lord in our heart.

Third, we have to be relationally prepared to be relationally conscious. That comes from our realization of the way we see everyone we meet as an image and likeness of God. Just as He went to the Cross and died, every person we meet has to be seen in the way Jesus sees them. We die to our first impressions and rise to the way He sees them. It calls for a new honesty, an honesty minus fear of rejection, fear of what other people think and fear of not being right.

Being spiritually, personally and relationally prepared takes practice. Practicing by reading Scripture for the mind, seeing ourselves as recovering sinners and then others as objects of His grace and love, gets us on His track. This means keeping the idea of Jesus, the uniqueness of Jesus, His attributes, our belief in Him, up front. It's why we worship, seek good teaching, share ourselves in small groups and look for opportunities to witness.

No one said this spiritual path is easy. The Lord was quite clear on that. But the rewards of seeing changed hearts, knowing our own hearts are growing and facing each future moment with a new confidence is what makes preparation so important. We are not just preparing for our new life in the Kingdom, we are preparing for the coming of the Lord in every next moment, every next event and occasion in which we find ourselves. We are always looking forward to Jesus appearing when we take up our cross of faith and anticipate His taking hold of the next moment and showing Himself in the opportunity that will present itself. It's what a Resurrection/Pentecost people do.

All of this is why John the Baptizer is so prominent in the Gospels. He is the model for disciples everywhere. John helps us to shape our discipleship. He demonstrates the way we forget the past and press on toward the goal of making every next moment count for Jesus.

Now here are a few passages to get you started. You have at one time or another heard them. Together they make a good case for adjusting our discipling experience from casual appreciation for John to seeing Scripture making John the prime example of being a disciple. As you read them ask yourself how the principles in them can be adapted to where we are with the people we run into.

Matthew 3, 11:1-19, 14:1-12

Mark 1:1-8, 6:14-29

Luke 1:5-25, 39-45, 67-80, 3:1-20, 7:18-35

John 1:6-9, 15-36, 3:23-36, 5:33-36, 10:40-42