Can I Get A Witness?
John 1:29-42
How important are witnesses?
I would say that if there was a direct, unquestionable, reputable witness that saw who killed Scott Peterson’s wife, we would not have had a trial that extended for several months with a jury that was exhausted by the end of it, who didn’t see their families week after week and were confined to a location where they had to be in close proximity to some people they didn’t like very much.
I would say that if there was a direct, unquestionable, reputable witness to who kidnapped and murdered Jon Bonnet, the public would not be wondering if the parents were involved.
I would say that if there was a direct, unquestionable, reputable witness to the murder of O.J. Simpson’s wife, the trial for the murderer would not have dragged on and on and on.
A T.V. show I enjoy watching some times, C.S.I., Crime Scene Investigation, is looking for that perfect witness to solve the crime.
They will check D.N.A., carefully searching for a hair at the scene, or a matching boot print, or a matching slug from a revolver, or a certain type of car, truck, or van, based on eye witness testimony.
Even news broadcasters are looking for the perfect eye witness to report the latest.
When the Tsunami hit, weren’t many people just looking for the perfect eye witnesses to record what happened on their video camera so we could actually see how something like that could happen?
And now, they are looking for the perfect eye witnesses to record earth quakes and put early warning systems in place to prevent such devastation from happening again!
If I’m heading up to the Poconos to go skiing, I want an eye witness to tell me if there’s enough snow to cover the slopes.
If I’m heading to Bethany, I want an eye witness to tell me where the traffic jams are.
We rely on eye-witness testimony every day of our lives.
When two people get together for a date and decide what movie they want to see, they’ll often ask other people for their opinion if the movie is good.
We depend on “the system” to tell us if the movie is violent, or okay for young children to see, or if there is foul language.
This system is based on eye witness testimony to screen out what we don’t want our children to be eye witnesses of.
Just last month, going Christmas Caroling, Cheryl Zoog saw something she didn’t want the kids to see and so she corralled them back away from what she wanted to protect them from.
When I was involved in local theatre, we would depend on the critics eye-witness testimony in the paper the next morning and would wait up all night to see if the eye-witness liked our play.
The critics were the key to our play’s success or failure.
We as Christians depend on direct, unquestionable, reputable eye-witnesses to tell us about what happened in Jesus’ day.
We weren’t there, so we have to rely on those who were.
John the Baptist was there…definitely direct….definitely reputable…definitely unquestionable.
The Holy Spirit was there…in fact, the Holy Spirit was the key element for John to know who possessed the Holy Spirit of God, and who would baptize with the Holy Spirit of God.
“And John bore witness”, we read in the History Book of all History books…in John 1:32…”I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. (meaning Jesus)
John continues…”I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”
And John, the reputable man that he was speaks the truth as an eye-witness in verse 34…”And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Now we can choose to believe John or we can check his story out for ourselves.
We can in essence, become C.S.I. investigators ourselves.
When we read a critic’s review in a newspaper, we can choose to believe that critic’s opinion, or we can check out the movie or ballet or opera or play or concert for ourselves.
We can check out who this John the Baptist was.
Upon searching, we find out that John was a prophet of priestly descent.
His mother was Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was related to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
John lived in Judea and had close contacts with the wilderness, where he began his public ministry by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
You see, John had a public ministry.
He was known by others.
We could say that today, we know Joel Osteen by watching him preach on television at Lakewood Church.
Or we could say that we know who Oral Roberts is or Billy Graham because we have heard about his crusades.
Most of us have probably heard of Tammy Fay Baker and Benny Hinn because they have public ministries.
We found out that Tammy Fay got sidetracked in her ministry.
She was taken off the track of the straight and narrow.
But here is John the Baptist, following the prophecy of Isaiah, making straight the way of the Lord.
There was no crookedness in John the Baptist.
He was “squeeky clean” so to speak.
He wore a coat of picky, scratchy, irritating camel’s hair to keep him humble.
He did not choose to share his public ministry with huge gold rings on his fingers or live in a fancy, expensive house, or have a fabulous temple built in his honor.
He led a simple life, like the one who’s name he would proclaim.
His message was for others to receive baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
Multitudes came to be baptized by John in the Jordan River.
There were multitudes who gave testimony to his character.
There were multitudes who gave testimony to his proclamation.
There were multitudes who received baptism and forgiveness of sins!
Not only did he not seek glory for himself, but he was arrested, imprisoned, and executed by Herod Antipas.
John promised that he would be followed in time by one “mightier” than he, whose sandals he was “not worthy to stoop down and untie”.
Here is John, a humble and obedient servant of God, proclaiming that there was a man coming who was far superior to him.
In John’s character, we see his honor.
In John’s character, we see his truth.
In John’s character, we see his dedication.
In John’s character, we see his witness.
Can you picture John, standing in the Jordan River, a narrow, river with plush green trees embellishing its banks?
Can you imagine the river’s moving waters gently passing by their legs and providing refreshment from the hot sun?
Can you imagine Jesus being baptized by John?
Picture the Holy Spirit of God’s radiance and light descend upon Jesus and remain there with him.
This truly was the Messiah.
This truly was the Savior they had been seeking.
This truly was a Holy Ghost experience.
An experience that links John and Jesus with all of us who are baptized.
It began over 2,000 years ago, and it continues to be the cleansing, purifying, original sin removing grace that we receive from our Heavenly, Spiritual Father who cares enough about each and every one of us, to take on human form and bear the sins of the world.
For us.
For you.
For me.
For our neighbor down the street.
For our neighbors around the world.
It’s what binds us together whether we are Catholic, or Lutheran, or Presbyterian, or Episcopalian.
It is our Link to Jesus.
It is our Link to God.
It is our Link to the Holy Spirit.
It is our key to the Kingdom of Heaven.
It is our witness to our faith.
It is our witness to our children and our children’s children.
Amen.
