Isn’t it great when we meet someone who has their life in perspective? I mean they don’t have an inflated view of who they are or their importance.
It’s a Wonderful Life is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies, if not one of my favorite movies period. Most of us are familiar with the story line. George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, grows up in a small town in New York. He is set to go off to college, after working and saving, when his father dies. The board of directors demands that George take over the business. He says okay, and gives the money to his younger brother to go to college. The Great Depression hits and he manages to save the family business. His partner, Uncle Billy looses some money and George takes the heat, facing a likely prison sentence. George contemplates suicide. As he is ready to kill himself, his guardian angel, Clarence, shows up. While George is taking a tour of the town with Clarence to see what life would be like if he had never been born, his wife, Mary, is scouring the town to drum up help for her husband. George winds up back a home, and much to his surprise, the whole town turns up at his house with cash to help him out of the crisis. George never lost his perspective. He was the biggest businessman in town, except for the villain, Mr. Potter. By far, he was the most popular man in town. He had helped hundreds of people build their own homes. He never let himself think that he was “Mr. Big.” Hundreds turned out to help him when he needed it, but he would have never asked. He would not have believed that anyone would help. Even though he was the most popular man in town, he never let that affect him.
Turn with me to Mark 1:4-11.
Read Mark 1:4-11.
John the Baptist had a great perspective.
John was an incredibly popular man. He was the talk of the town. People gathered at the water coolers at the office and talked about this great prophet. He made headlines in all the newspapers. CNN sent crews to do reports live from the side of the Jordan River. People flocked from the capital city of Jerusalem, and from all over the area. Jerusalem was some twenty miles away. That’s no big deal today, when we can just hop in the minivan and cover twenty miles in less than a half-hour. In John’s day, that was about a day’s journey. Add to that the fact that the walker had to descend some 4,000 feet down a rather steep incline to reach him, made the journey all the more difficult. Think about this, when the traveler wanted to return he had to climb up 4,000 feet. That is nearly a mile down and a mile up. People came from everywhere to see this man.
Back in the mid-90s, we went to Indiana to visit Tammy’s grandpa. On the way back we kept seeing all these VW microbuses. After seeing a couple dozen of these, we asked each other, “Why are there all these VW microbuses?” Then it hit me, I remembered seeing a story of the news that there was an incident at a Grateful Dead concert in Indianapolis. The concert was canceled and the next one was in St. Louis. So we traveled with hundreds of these “Dead Heads” as they are called from Indianapolis until we hit St. Louis. There was something about the Grateful Dead that attracted a large following. We saw license plates from just about every state in the country: Pennsylvania, Utah, California, Texas, among others. People flocked from all over to witness a Grateful Dead concert.
Why were people flocking to John? Why were people walking several days and climbing that 4,000-foot valley to witness his preaching and be baptized by him? There are several reasons.
First, he was the first authentic prophetic voice in almost 400 years. The last time anyone had here the voice of God through a prophet was 400 years before in the person of Malachi. To put that in perspective, the United States is a little over 225 years old. The Pilgrims came to the New World in 1620, which is a little under 400 years. The voice of God had been silent over that same span of time.
The second reason is that lives were being changed. John was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is more than just being sorry. It indicates a change in the direction of life. Whenever lives are changed for the better, people are attracted. If we are apart of a Church where lives are changed, people will want to be apart of it.
Another reason John was so popular is that he lived out his message. He was authentic. He was real. He preached a message of a changed life, and he lived a life that was changed. In the other gospels we see John challenging the religious leaders of his day to “bear fruit.” They didn’t bear fruit, but John sure did. He was a real person. One thing that bothers me are those TV preachers who have Armani suits and blow dried wind tunnel hair telling me that I have to live a life of poverty. John was one who lived what he preached. I’m not sure about the camel hair suit, but I think that was probably itchy.
The other reason is that John had a perspective on his ministry and life. He pointed to something larger than he was. He was part of something bigger than he was. It would have been hard to imagine someone having greater influence than John would. John knew that there was One who would follow him that was bigger than anyone could imagine. I don’t think it’s a stretch that John was the most influential religious leader of his day.
Fame is often fleeting. In 1964, Barry Goldwater ran for president. His running mate was William Miller. A few years after, Goldwater visited Miller, who was lying in Millard Fillmore Hospital. Now, Millard Fillmore is one of those rather obscure presidents from the 1800s. At the time that Miller lay in the hospital, he was rather famous. Goldwater told him, that it was ironic that he was dying in a hospital name for a president that was less famous than Miller was. The ironic thing now is that few remember William Miller. The point is that it is easy for people to get caught up in their own popularity.
John realized that the Son of God would soon eclipse his fame and popularity. John knew what his role was. He offered a baptism in water, while Jesus would offer the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus would offer would be so much better that anything he could offer.
What John offered was an exterior cleaning. What Jesus offered was an internal cleaning. One of my least favorite tasks is cleaning my car. I would love to just pay someone else to do it. I have a couple options. I could take to a place that just runs it through a sprayer and cleans the outside. I could also take it to a place that washes the outside, and then takes the time go inside the car and vacuum and clean out the trash.
What John offered was an exterior cleaning, while Jesus offers the inside cleaning as well. Jesus also gives us the power to keep the inside clean.
This brings us to the example of Jesus.
Jesus also shows us that he had perspective as well. He submitted to the baptism of John. I have always wondered why the Son of God who was without sin needed to be baptized. After all John’s baptism was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus certainly did not need to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. He committed no sins.
There are two reasons why he was baptized by John.
First, he sought to identify himself with those who would reach. He was going to spend his time with sinners, and he would ultimately die for sinners. He sought to meet them where they were. Jesus offers a powerful example of meeting people where they are. How quick are we to identify ourselves with people outside the Kingdom. Jesus met them where they were. He did not demand that people come to him on his terms. He did not require them to know the lingo. He used their lingo to tell them that they could have a better life with him.
The second reason is that Jesus validated John’s ministry. He accepted John as a prophet sent from God. By John’s earlier testimony about Jesus, and Jesus submitting to the baptism of John they showed mutual validation.
There are several interesting aspects that follow the actual baptism of Jesus. Verse 10 is a rich treasure. It says, “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.” A lot of times we get caught up in the dove. Was it an actual dove? Was it an illusion of a dove? Is Mark using picturesque language or a figure of speech? Frankly I don’t know and I don’t really care.
During the Advent season, we spent our time in the prophet Isaiah. I want to call to your memory two of the passages that we looked at. The first Sunday of Advent we looked at Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64:1 says, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.” Isaiah was pleading for God to make himself known to the world. Here in Mark 1:10, we see the heavens open and the Spirit come down on Jesus.
On the third Sunday of Advent, we looked at Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor” etc. Jesus quotes that passage regarding himself in Luke. Here in Mark 1:10, we see the Spirit come upon Jesus. He is the fulfillment of these prophecies of Isaiah.
If I could also interject the passage from the second Sunday of Advent from Isaiah 40:3, “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” That passage was fulfilled in the person of John. Mark quotes that in verse 3. Great prophecies of God are fulfilled here in this passage.
There is more to this passage though.
We see in this passage one of the great doctrines of the Church. We see here the Father, who is speaking to his Son. We also see the Son. We see the Spirit descend on the Son. While the word “Trinity” is found nowhere in the New Testament, we see it at work here. We see that Jesus is validated by the Spirit and the Father as the “beloved Son,” which carries with it the understanding that he is the only Son of God.
We here the voice from heaven say, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” We see Jesus validated by the Father. Jesus had labored as a carpenter in total obscurity in Nazareth for thirty years. Now he has come to John, the one who would prepare the way for him. He has validated John’s ministry, and John has validated Jesus’ ministry. Now the Father stamps his approval on his Son.
He says that he is “well pleased.” When I was growing up, there was nothing like the affirmation of my dad. “Good job, son,” he would often say. It didn’t matter what anyone else said if my dad was pleased with me I knew I had done a good job.
There were times when my dad said I could do better. My personal evaluation of how I did something was often first measured with my dad’s reaction.
If the heavens opened above us this morning, what would the Father say to you? Would he say, “I am well pleased with you”? Or would he say, “You can do better”?
Jesus offers us the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That offers us the opportunity to have a life in which the Father is well pleased.
Sometimes we get an inflated sense of our own importance. This happens to all of us. The important thing to remember is that we are part of something larger than we are. Whatever happens here at the Church it is not because of our own efforts. It is because Jesus offers us more. He is so much greater than we are. It is important, however, that we play our role in the Church.
When this Church grows it will not be because of our efforts. It won’t be because we all did a good job. It will be because God has poured out his Spirit here. It is important that we play our roles here.
This thing is way bigger than any of us. I been thinking lately, “What can I do to help the Church grow?” The truth of the matter is that I can do nothing to make it grow. The question I need to be asking is, “What can God do to make this Church grow?” The answer is, “Everything.”
The key to God working is that we understand our role. In his time, John the Baptist was much more widely known than Jesus, but he did not let that get in his way of proclaiming Jesus. We cannot allow ourselves to have an inflated sense of our own importance get in the way of proclaiming Jesus.
There are over 43,000 people in this area that have no religious affiliation of any kind. If we were able to reach just 1% of them that would be 430 people. I was amazed as I stood on the walkway Thursday night and saw a fairly constant stream of headlights pass by on the road.
We cannot forget that our mission is the Great Commission. Turn with me to 697 in your Hymnal, and we will read this responsively. Think about the power of Jesus, as he is our example.
