Suddenly, the great doors swing open, and into the hall he
comes. He is dressed in homespun - camels' hair with a wide
leather belt around his waist. Hair and beard somewhat unkempt.
Fierce, burning eyes. Wild looking.
He speaks. "My name is John Bar Zecharias. I am also known
as John the Baptizer or John the Baptist. I AM NOT THE MESSIAH.
Some of you Jews came to me last week and asked if I were. I was
gratified that you should even consider such a thing, but I repeat,
I am not the Messiah. I will answer another of your questions: I
AM NOT ELIJAH. I know that we Jews expect Elijah to return to
herald the appearance of the Messiah, as I have been doing. We
have looked for Elijah to crown him king and overthrow our
oppressors. But no, I am not Elijah. Another question you asked:
Am I the prophet that Moses said would come? Again, I say to you,
I am not.
"Perchance it would be better if I describe about me what IS
rather than what IS NOT. Then perhaps all will see what the
purpose of my message has been. My father was Zechariah, the
priest. My mother? Elizabeth...also of a priestly family. Good
people obeying all the commandments. My parents were very old
before I was conceived. They thought they would never have any
children at all, but one day, during the course of my father's
priestly duties, while he was burning incense in the temple, the
Angel Gabriel appeared to him with the message that a son would be
born to him and my mother who would be filled with the Holy Spirit
from his birth. He would never touch wine nor strong drink. He
would go as God's messenger...like Elijah...turning disobedient
people back to righteousness, and preparing the way of the Lord.
Gabriel even told my father what my name should be...John.
"Well, my father found all this hard to believe, and told
Gabriel so, which did not please Gabriel at all. So the angel said
heatedly, `I am sent to you directly from God with this good news,
and you do not believe. All right, to prove that this thing I have
told you about IS coming to pass, you are hereby struck DUMB until
the birth of the baby.' And sure enough, when he finally came out
of the temple, my father could not speak. He was only able to make
signs with his hands to let people know he had seen a vision.
"So he went home, and just as Gabriel had said, my mother
became pregnant, and in the fullness of time, I was born. When I
was eight days old, with the family preparing for the ceremony of
circumcision, and people wanting to name me after my father, mother
said, `No, his name will be John.' They looked to my father. He
took out a piece of chalk and wrote HIS NAME IS JOHN. And with
that, Zechariah was able to speak again, and he gave praise to God.
Needless to say, everyone there was overwhelmed, and frankly
afraid...because it was obvious that the hand of the Almighty God
was controlling this. And the people knew that Yahweh must have a
special mission for me. To be sure, that was the case...but more
about that in due course.
"Under normal circumstances, I would automatically become a
priest. I know our tradition well enough to realize that I would
be considered as certain to follow my father. I know that only
sons of priests can become priests. I know that family lines
determine who can serve in the temple and who cannot. But I am not
a priest, nor have I any desire to become one. On the day of my
circumcision, my father said I would become a prophet of the Most
High God. I would go ahead of the Lord to prepare a way for him,
to tell his people that they will be saved by repentance and the
forgiveness of sins. Certainly, you are not used to hearing a
message like the one I have been delivering. The voice of prophecy
has been silent in Israel for 400 years...and admit it, this nation
SHOWS it.
"Growing up, I spent most of my time in the desert...
studying, meditating, waiting for the moment when Yahweh would tell
me what to say. And as I waited, conditions got worse...
injustice, violence, immorality, victims of war and debt, thousands
in slavery (three slaves to every freeman in a household)...people
chained and cast into the mines until they either died or went
blind...the breadless poor selling their own children into slavery
or harlotry...kings and priests exacting heavy tribute (a third of
a farmer's grain for temple and crown taxes)...stores and cattle
seized for war. The rich getting richer and the poor getting
poorer.
"The conditions in the temple were getting worse and worse
too: divisions and arguments and factions...some Pharisees, some
Sadducees, some Herodians, some Zealots...each constantly at the
throats of the others until something comes along to unite them,
either in praise or in fear.
"Well, I say to you, ALL of you have reason to fear! I have
been quoted as saying "REPENT! Repent, for the Kingdom of God has
come near. Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites. You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit worthy of repentance.' You have much to repent, and
that is the message Yahweh has brought me out of the desert to
proclaim. I am the voice that the prophet Isaiah said would be
crying in the wilderness, saying `Prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven
ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it
together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.' THE KING IS
COMING.
"It is a message that needs to be proclaimed, and the people
know it. That is why so many have been coming out from Jerusalem
down to Bethany by the Jordan in such stifling heat. They are not
concerned with their physical comfort but with their eternal
well-being. They have been coming from everywhere...Galilee,
Judea, Perea, Decapolis. All kinds of people too...high, low,
politicians, soldiers, even some of you in this chamber. The
message is the same for all...a demand for decency, dignity and
generosity toward all. And, praise God, people have repented...
and shown it.
"They have asked what to do with this new-found righteousness
and I have given them practical advice. I say, if you have two
coats, give one to someone who has none. To the tax collectors, I
have said do not take more than is just. To soldiers, do not do
violence to anyone...do not accuse falsely... be content with your
wages. Then as an outward sign of their repentance, they have
asked me to baptize them in the Jordan, a symbolic washing away of
their sins.
"Some have asked about the baptisms. They did not understand
by whose authority I was doing it if I were not the Messiah, or
Elijah, or the prophet who had been promised by Moses. If I were
none of them, why was all this being done? To them, the only
baptism that was understood was that which showed a Gentile had
been converted to Judaism with the ceremony in recognition of the
Lordship of Yahweh.
"But this baptism meant more. While I baptize with water, it
does no good to go through it if the ritual is only to impress
neighbors, if it is only for show. I have been saying all along
that one would come after me who would baptize with the Holy Spirit
and with fire, and if your repentance is not genuine, you will be
burned up as chaff. Some think they will be protected from God's
wrath because they are Jews, the descendants of Abraham. But if
Yahweh wanted children, they could be raised up from the stones on
the ground. The only way ANY will be saved is in true repentance.
The ax is ready to cut down any trees that do not bear good fruit.
Yes, it is a hard message, but it is the one God told me to bring.
"I am standing here before you at this moment because I have
denounced the marriage of the king, his setting aside of his own
wife and taking Herodias, the wife of his half-brother. It is an
incestuous, adulterous marriage, your majesty. If that offends
you, I am sorry, but it offends Almighty God even more! I know it
is dangerous to talk this way about the king, but it would be even
more dangerous for me to avoid proclaiming the clear word of God.
I MUST speak out even if it eventually means my head. I MUST speak
out because the one to follow me has already come.
"Surprised? I see some of you murmuring. You have thought of
ME as the Messiah, but one who is now here is so much greater than
I, that I am not even worthy to be his disciple. Even that is too
much of an honor for me in comparison to him. I am not even good
enough to be the slave that unties his sandals.
"I know this is startling news to you. We have all been
waiting for the coming of the Messiah, but I can tell you that HE
HAS COME, not as the conquering hero who will throw off the yoke of
Rome as many have been looking for (including me, until just
recently), but as the sacrificial lamb who will take away the sin
of the world. He is Jesus of Nazareth.
"I should have known it all along. Jesus and I are cousins
through our mothers. And my mother told me stories from before my
birth of a visit from Jesus' mother, Mary. My mother said I jumped
for joy within her in Mary's presence. I saw him from time to time
as we grew up. I always had a great deal of respect for him. He
was keenly intelligent...always honest and just in his dealings
with people. He was gentle, modest, gracious...a friend to all,
easy and outgoing. Many times I wished I were more like him.
"Then one day, as I was preaching by the riverside, I saw him
in the crowd. An odd sensation came over me. I stumbled in my
preaching. My thoughts clouded. My eyes kept coming back to
Jesus. Then he came to me and asked to be baptized...and I
realized then that he was the one I had been talking about all
along. Then I muttered something like `I should not be baptizing
you, you should baptize me.' But he put me at ease and said for me
to go ahead so that God's requirements would be fulfilled. So I
did, and as soon as it was over, it was as if the heavens opened
up, and the Spirit came down on him in the form of a dove...then a
voice came out of the clouds saying, `This is my Son, the Beloved,
with whom I am well pleased.' It was tremendous. So I cried out,
`This is he of whom I spoke. He who comes after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me.' It was a turning point in my
ministry.
"The very next day, two of my disciples were standing talking
with me when Jesus came by. I guess they could see the smile
beginning on my face, and they looked at me with questions in their
eyes. I said, `My friends, the one you see there is the Lamb of
God.' They were good men. They had repented of their sins...and
along with all of us, had awaited the day of the coming Messiah.
So I could not blame them for chasing off down the road after him.
As they got nearer, Jesus turned and asked them what they were
looking for...but they really did not know. So one of them, Andrew
I think it was, asked the first thing that popped into his mind:
`Where do you live, Rabbi?' Jesus said `Come and see.' So they
went with him and spent the rest of the afternoon in his
company...and were totally enthralled. Andrew was so impressed
that he went and got his brother Simon to come and see Jesus. He
was equally taken. Then more and more came to him. They were not
MY disciples anymore. Now they belonged to Jesus.
"Some who had been with me since the early days of my
preaching were perturbed. They thought that Jesus was stealing my
thunder. They came to me saying that they thought it was not fair
that the crowds going to Jesus were getting bigger and bigger while
mine were becoming smaller and smaller. I had to smile...a little
indulgently, I'm afraid. I said, `Do you not remember my telling
you I am not the Messiah, but have been sent ahead of him to get
everyone ready for him? Think of the crowds as the bride, and of
the Messiah as the groom...and of me as the friend of the groom.
When the bride and groom have finally gotten together, the friend
fades into the background. The groom must obviously become more
important while the friend becomes less.' No, Jesus was not
stealing my thunder. He was and is my thunder. And that is my
message to you today.
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. I am not the
Messiah...nor Elijah nor the prophet Moses promised. I am simply
the voice that Isaiah wrote about...the one crying in the
wilderness saying, `Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight.' Jesus is the Son of God. The Father loves the Son and
has put all things in his power. The one who believes on the Son
has everlasting life. This is my message on the banks of the
Jordan. This is my message to you in the palace of the king. This
is my message to all in every age...Repent, and be saved. The Lord
has come. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. His name is
Jesus."
Amen!
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