ADVENT WREATH 3

The third Sunday in Advent reminds us of John the Baptist who proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. He was the last in a long line of Hebrew prophets sent to prepare his listeners for the coming of the promised Messiah. He struck a chord in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen. There was a yearning for a new beginning – for cleansing and forgiveness. There was a sense that something was missing in their lives, that they had lost their way, and they felt confused, anxious and convicted of their short-comings. They thronged to where he was preaching by the Jordan River. One by one they responded to his call for repentance, and confessing their sins they were baptized by him in the river.

He must have been a compelling sight for the gospel writers to record for posterity what he wore. His clothes were of camel’s hair held together by a leather belt, reminiscent of the great prophet Elijah the Tishbite (2 Kings 1:8). He was not dressed in the latest style but hearkened back to that courageous prophet of old. His food of locusts and wild honey also pointed back to the simplicity of the past. The man was a living replica of a genuine, divine spokesman who was to be taken seriously. He was a man of convictions. His words were to be reckoned with. When he spoke, people listened. He could have commanded adulation, and generous compensation – the temptation of popularity and celebrity. Instead, his message pointed away from himself to another.

“After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7,8)

“The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I am a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism – a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit – will change you from the inside out.” (Mark 1:7,8, The Message)

This realization of John the Baptist, that Jesus was so much greater than he was, and that Jesus would be the conduit for a baptism of the Holy Spirit, became his message. What John the Baptist knew in part, for he died before the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit in power at Pentecost, we know in full. There is therefore no excuse for us to doubt the significance of Jesus. He is the central character of the gospel. There is no parallel to him. John the Baptist reminds us that we are not worthy to stoop down and untie the thongs of his sandals – which was the role of a slave.

All this we know intellectually. We know that we cannot hold a candle to Jesus. As John the Baptist said, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30) But it is much harder to make that message of John the Baptist into a reality in our everyday lives.

Because we live in a democratic society, and we have been trained to be independent thinkers and individualistic in our sense of responsibility, it is contrary to our nature to acknowledge anyone as greater than ourselves. We count ourselves as equally valuable and important as anyone else. We do not think in hierarchical terms. We do not think in terms of anyone else, besides ourselves, being the central character of our universe. We are the central character of our story. We are naturally self-absorbed. We wake up in the morning with our minds full of our agenda for the day. We plan our schedule. We realize what we need to do. We worry about accomplishing all that we have set for ourselves. We see everything and everyone in relationship to ourselves. There is no room for someone greater than ourselves. So how do we receive this message of someone more powerful? Do we really want to acknowledge someone greater than ourselves? Do we want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? Do we really want to be changed from the inside out? What would that look like if we were?

The people of John the Baptist’s day were ready. They sensed a need for a new start, a change in direction, a cleansing, and forgiveness. They were looking forward to the one who was to come, who would deliver them, save them, usher in the new kingdom, the new order of things. Do we? Or if we do, what form will it take? Is it a new political order, or a new financial order, or a new spiritual order? What are we looking for the Messiah to do for us?

I sense that, in these troubled times, where our wellbeing is threatened by the pandemic, where tragedy can strike unexpectedly, where we are anxious about the future, where we are challenged by sickness, and death, where fear and worry assail us in the middle of the night, and we wonder whether anyone will be there to take care of us when we need it, for we all become dependent on others at some time in our lives; where we question whether life has any ultimate meaning and value; in these times in which we all live, we have to admit to ourselves that we feel very inadequate, and that we need all the help we can get, from the One who alone is capable of giving it.

When I think that I am the center of the universe and that the rest of the world revolves around me, I know that I am in real trouble. The older I get the more insignificant I know I am. When I was young I thought I was God’s gift to the world. Life has a way of knocking that out of you, and knocking some sense into you – that you don’t know everything or can do everything. When you come to the realization that you do not have control over everything in your life, and you have reached the limits of your abilities, you are ready to acknowledge that there is one greater than yourself, who has the power.

John the Baptist came to that place in his life and pointed to the One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. It is when we are emptied of our pretensions to power, and acknowledge our powerlessness over the circumstances of our lives, that Christ can fill us with his Holy Spirit. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the pouring of the Spirit into us to give us new life, new meaning, new purpose, a new kind of power – the power to produce the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Jesus can’t fill us with the Holy Spirit, can’t give us the power of this new life, until we acknowledge we are empty enough to receive his gift. We have to want what he has to give desperately before we can receive it.

A Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Light of the world, John told the people to prepare, for you were very near. As Christmas grows closer day by day, help us to be ready to welcome you now. Lord Jesus, baptize me with your Holy Spirit. Pour your new life into my soul. Come to cover my insignificance and consume my sins. Come to direct all my desires and doings. Come with counsel on my perplexities, with light from your everlasting scriptures. Come to reveal what you have prepared for those who love you. Come and possess me by your peace, illuminate me by your truth, ignite me by your heart, strengthen me by your power, be made visible in me by your fruit so that I may be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. Amen.