I’ll tell you, this had to be something to see. The Jordan River is not a big river like many that we might think of. At its widest, you could still easily thrown a stone across it, and in many other places, you could just step from one side to the other. The wide and deeper spots usually became places where people would gather to fill their water jugs, wash clothes, bathe the children… or just escape from the heat and dryness of the land around the river. Most of the land was a wilderness; narrow paths leading through rocky hills and steep canyons, scattered scrub brush, and the occasional old tree whose roots had found some kind of moisture. There were snakes and scorpions and robbers, but the greatest threat was the land itself. In the wilderness, your body lost a quart of water an hour simply by breathing. So the river, even the small one, was a place that people were drawn to. So, if you had something you wanted to tell people about, the river was a good place to go.
And today, standing out in the middle of the river, with the muddy water swirling around his knees, is a man. Matthew told us the familiar story of John; John the Baptist. He was standing out there wearing what looked like a burlap bag, with a leather belt wrapped around his waist. He was wet, his hair hanging down, and overall he looked, well, he looked a mess. He spent most of his time in the wilderness, eating the things found there like wild honey, locusts, so he was thin, wet, and he was waving his arms and screaming at people lining up along both sides of the river banks.
And the people were there, lots of them. Matthew said they came from Jerusalem, which at its closest was more than twenty miles through some really nasty territory. It’s the land where the man was attacked, beaten, and left for dead until that good samaritan came along. But they came from Jerusalem, from all of Judea, Matthew said from the whole region of the Jordan…which stretched almost one hundred forty miles from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. They came to confess their sins and be baptized in that muddy, Jordan River, by the man in the burlap bag.
John had been doing this for a while, and he certainly had a following. We know he must have been important because Matthew told us the Pharisees and Sadducees had even come down from Jerusalem to hear him. These were the key religious leaders from the temple, and if they walked all the way down there John must have been saying and doing something that had gotten their attention. Through the years there were perhaps hundreds of men running around preaching and calling themselves prophets, and most of them were shrugged off by the temple. But John — there was something about John that had gotten their attention, something that brought them all the way to the river.
We know the story. John saw the proud Pharisees and Sadducees standing there in their robes and hats, looking so smug and pious. That was usually enough. Those men in their robes held a tremendous amount of power. They interpreted and enforced the laws, the old laws from Moses and the scrolls filled with new laws, so many that if you angered a Pharisee or Sadducee they had no trouble at all finding a law you had violated and making you pay severely for it. Everyone feared the men in the robes. None of the other people standing on the riverbank that day were happy to see them there.
We don’t know if any of them actually got into the water to be baptized, but John lit into them anyway. “You bunch of snakes!” he said. In my imagination there was a scattering of applause from the crowd on both sides of the river, common folks just happy to hear someone finally call a snake a snake. John went on to really tell them off, telling them that their fancy robes and their high-falootin’ positions weren’t worth anything at all to God, even if they could trace their family tree all the way back to Moses himself. I can hear them yelling back with their theological rebuttals, but John had no time or interest in theology. “The ax is already at the root of the trees,” he said. “And branches like you that don’t produce anything worthwhile are going to be thrown in the wood chipper and used for mulch!” Forgive me if I kind of updated some of what he said there.
If John was around today he would have his own reality television show:
“This week on The Baptizer: John is confronted by an angry Pharisee who traveled all the way from Jerusalem. But this time, the Pharisee brings his buddies. Will John finally back down? Or is the Pharisee and his friends about to get an education in riverside theology? Find out this Thursday night on The Baptizer!”
John the Baptist is a familiar story. Today, when we talk about John we usually talk about what happened that day when Jesus came to the river and ended up being baptized by John. We often see that as the beginning of Jesus ministry, the day everything changed. We celebrate the fact that John truly prepared the way for Jesus to begin his ministry, and set the stage for what Jesus was about to do.
That’s the familiar story. But there is actually more to it than that.
The familiar story seems to suggest that when Jesus came out of the river after being baptized by John, John stepped back and let Jesus take over the work he had been doing. As the “preparer,” now that Jesus was there, John’s work was completed. He could retire, or at least take an advisory position on Jesus team to help bring about all the things John had been preaching about for so many years. But that’s not what happened.
There is more to the story. It isn’t that clean and neat.
If we read what the other gospel writers say about John, we find things that Matthew doesn’t tell us about. For example, Matthew wasn’t interested in where John was from, or really interested in just who John was. The other writers tell us more about John, and that sometimes makes our familiar story a little messy.
John was more than just a guy who showed up and baptized Jesus at the river that day. John’s birth had a miracle to it as well. Luke told us that John’s parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, were too old to have children. Zechariah was a priest at the temple, and one day while he was inside changing the candles, Luke said an angel appeared and told him Elizabeth was going to have a baby. Even though Zechariah was a priest, he had a hard time believing the news and told the angel that. Here is a word of advice… never argue with an angel. The angel looked at Zechariah and said something like, “Well, okay then. You want proof? From now until the baby is born you are not going to be able to speak. Not a word. How’s that for proof?” Zechariah tried to apologize but nothing came out. Nine months later, John arrived, along with Zechariah’s voice. Luke let us know that John was more than just another preacher… there was something more.
Luke also told us that Elizabeth and Mary were related.
We’re not exactly sure how. Some believe that Jesus and John were cousins, though there is nothing that says that. Some people then ask, if they were cousins, then why didn’t John recognized him when he came to the river to be baptized. We’ll save that debate for another day. Let’s just say Luke has made our familiar story a bit messier.
Another tradition from the historians is that, because of their ages, John became an orphan. Some believe he was then adopted by a group known as the Essenes. The Essenes were a religious community that disagreed with the temple and spent their time writing and praying about the time when the real Messiah would arrive and the temple would be overthrown. Some believe that’s where John learned to be the preacher he became. The Essenes also used baptism as the sign of being pure and clean, which some say also explained John’s actions. But the Essenes were very private, not the kind of people who would draw crowds to the river. So, did John start there and then leave for some reason? Or, are the historians just mistaken? Again… messy.
The other thing we learned about John from the other gospel writers and historians is that the transition from John to Jesus was not quite as smooth and clean-cut as we imagined. John did not stop his work when Jesus started his. In fact, Jesus told us that John was a prophet and was actually Elijah, the one who would announce the coming of the Messiah. But in the gospel of John, John stated that he was not a prophet and was not Elijah. While Jesus began his ministry, John continued his. The gospels even described a time when John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples got into an argument about why John’s disciples fasted and Jesus’ disciples did not. If we look at all of the material about John, it seems that not only did John continue his ministry, but there may have been times that John and Jesus were at odds, running competing ministries.
One day Jesus was asked about John and he said that John was a great man, but that “the least in the kingdom was greater than him.” This could be one of Jesus’ philosophical statements that needed to be thought about to understand, or, could it be a bit of frustration that no matter how great John may be, when it comes to the real kingdom, he’s not that great? Again, we’ll leave this to the theologians to debate. But at this point, it just makes our familiar story of John the Baptist messier.
John’s followers continued even after his death. His bones were gathered, became relics, and are still found in several different shrines around the world. While Jesus is recognized as the foundation of the Christian faith, John is still a central figure in the religious community called the Mandaens. According to another current tradition, in 1829 John returned to meet with a group in Pennsylvania.
While Matthew clearly presented John as the preparer, and even had John saying that the one coming after him was more powerful, when we listen to what the others say the whole story is a bit messier. What do we do with all this, and maybe more importantly, why am I telling you all of this? Why am I messing up a perfectly nice little story?
I actually have two reasons.
First, is to recognize how difficult it sometimes is to be number two. I don’t know if John actually did end up competing with Jesus or at least had a hard time giving up his high-profile role, but I can certainly understand it if he did. I understand how difficult it can sometimes be in relationships, like marriage. What happens when one or both people forget that their role is to support and care for the other and not to simply demand to be respected as the top dog. I understand how easy it can be for parents to forget that their role as mother or father is in first place for a time, and it will be a while before their world becomes their own again.
Being number two is difficult. If John struggled with it I fully understand. And, if John did struggle with it, then maybe I’m not so bad when I do the same thing. There’s hope.
And what is the second thing I take from this - the second reason I’ve messed up the story today? It’s because faith is messy. We sometimes get the idea that if we have enough faith, or the correct faith, then everything gets a little easier, smoother, and more comfortable. I have heard preachers say that. I have heard people say that if you have faith, problems will go away, money will come in, and life will be easier. If I have faith, the messes will go away.
Jesus never said that.
Faith is messy. Faith doesn’t provide easy answers. Faith doesn’t clean everything up. What faith does, for me, is remind me that no matter how messy things get, no matter how confused, how difficult things become, I am doing what I can do, I am doing the best I can do. We can leave the debating about the messes to the theologians, and just focus on living our lives. We just do our best.
You see, it really doesn’t matter if John had trouble giving up his position. It doesn’t really matter if John and Jesus had problems or not. The reality is that God was still able to use them to get done what needed to get done. God doesn’t seem to be all that concerned about messes.
I think that’s a good point to end on as we begin this second week of Advent. Christmas is coming. Some of us have spent a lot of time and energy to make sure this Christmas goes smoothly. Haven’t we? Meals, visitors, programs, travels, relatives… relatives… we are spending a lot of time and energy to make sure things don’t get messy this year. We’re not going to let anyone or anything ruin Christmas this year! We will spend so much time and energy that we’re not going to relax again until it’s all over, presents are unwrapped and everyone has gone back home.
Just keep in mind, messes are a part of this journey. Messes are a part of our faith. Messes don’t have to ruin anything. No matter the mess, it’s Christmas. Relax a bit. Do your best, but expect a mess or two. And when they happen, smile. Love God. Love those around you.
Leave all the rest to God. Amen.