January 2, 2011

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also bapized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Luke 3:21-22 (read entire chapter)

INTRO: From the end of chapter 2, the story jumps ahead, skipping eighteen years of Jesus’ early life

Verses 1-3 give us the geopolitical setting for John’s story

These names of people and places are like vectors that help us locate the story in its historical and cultural context
– a hierarchical and oppressive system and at all levels in the service of Rome

Luke isn’t writing a history as we think of it–that is to say, he isn’t marking a point on a “time line”
– he’s telling a story, so his concern is not a date, but what this situation means to the characters
– in verses 19-20 we will see how politics affect John the Baptist

We do not live in a political vacuum
– the prevailing structures affect our life in God (1 Ti. 2:1-4)
– when it comes to changing the world, the New Testament never begins with politics
The strategic point of societal change is the human heart

That brings us to John

Luke uses a prophetic formula from the Hebrew Scriptures: “the word of God came to John” (see Jer. 1:4; Hos. 1:1; etc.)
– John is the last prophet of the old tradition

Verses 4-9, To understand John, we need to dip into the Hebrew Scriptures

The prophet Isaiah described an anonymous voice announcing the coming of God
– ancient cities had to make preparations for the arrival of dignitaries
– roads would be repaired to make travel smoother and more pleasant

John looked into the future and saw a new world
– current geopolitical structures will be dismantled and God alone will reign
– this is the gift of the prophets – to help us see that things can be different from what they are now
But God’s people were not ready for the change
– they had surrendered to the current system, and had been compromised by it
– so John offered them a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins

It seems like John hits this really hard, calling the crowd a “brood of vipers”
– nor does he allow them to escape into any false confidence (“We have Abraham for our father”)

John focused on the central issue of the human condition: sin
– baptism is about sin–we have baptism only because we have sin

Something I have discovered regarding contemplative prayer: It can be brutal

Jean-Marie Howe says that, “prayer beckons us to mysterious depths. Now we will see that those depths are not always a consoling experience.”

Why? What is it that happens when I sit quietly in God’s presence, allowing his Spirit to guide my attention?

• God’s Spirit examines the depths of my inner self – he brings hidden things to light (Ps. 139:1-4, 23)
• I realize I have been lying to myself – rationalizing attitudes and feelings, justifying wrong actions
• I discover the evil that I am capable of perpetrating – the darkness lurking in the depths of my heart
• I find myself on the receiving end of a prophetic scolding – but all is not lost (He. 12:6)

God does this to take us below our superficial lives
– and if we accept and cooperate with him, he uses this process to make us better, healthier people

Baptism is the opportunity to turn the corner – a new start
– it is an appropriate symbol for entering a new year

John’s Baptism was not merely a ritual of purification
– he was specific about the “repentance” part – “bear fruits in keeping with repentance”

Verses 10-14, Three classes of people ask him to define what he means by “fruit”

Their question rises as a direct response to his “bear fruits in keeping with repentance”

Crowds: Share from your excess
In a culture of scarcity, to not share ones excess is to deprive someone else of food, clothing and shelter
– we give what we have to help others, not what we don’t have

For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality (2 Cor. 8:12-13)

I cannot heal people – I don’t have that gift (I wish I did) but it is not something that is mine to give
I do not have an excess of money (I wish I did, then friends would not have lost their homes this last year)
– Whatever I could do that requires lots of money I will never do
– on the other hand, whatever God wants me to do today, I already have the resources for doing it
– whatever he wants me to do in my lifetime, he will provide the resources
So I must ask, “What do I have?” and then share that

The church is the complete charitable organism (Ro. 12:6-8 & 1 Pe. 4:10-11)
– we have different gifts according to the grace given to us: prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading
– all together, we have enough to meet every need

Tax collectors and soldiers: John’s answer to them is basically to treat others well
– do what is just and do not cause unnecessary violence to anyone

If you took John’s message and preached it to Fundamentalist Christians today, you would create a scandal
– John’s sin list is not based on what we would consider moral or religious categories
(the sort of categories the Pharisees developed that kept the focus of their concentration on themselves)
– John does not say, “Read your Bible more,” “Attend synagogue more,” “Pray more fervently,” or “Stop cussing”
The categories of his sin list are relational and sociological

Fundamentalists took issue with the “Social gospel” of the late nineteenth and early twentiety centuries
– mostly because it was championed by Protestant liberal theologians
– Fundamentalists argued, “What’s the point of feeding someone who’s soul is not saved and therefore on its way to hell?”
– for them, “Social Gospel” was a pejorative term – it was a form of heresy

But the gospel is relational and social (justice has always been one of God’s priorities for humans; Isa. 5:7; Jer. 9:23-24; Micah 6:6-8; etc.). Even the commandments of the Hebrew Scriptures are relational. We, like the Pharisees, have reconfigured them into a moral category. If the commandments of the Law were not relational, how could it be that “he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law” ? (Ro. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14).
We can never allow ourselves to forget this or be drawn away into a self-centered moralism

Verses 15-20, John’s primary objective

There is something beyond him, bigger, mightier
– John has appeared only to prepare the way and to make the introduction
– having done that, he can exit – and this allows room for Jesus to take the center stage

Verses 21-22, A brief but intense report of Jesus’ baptism

In the context of Luke’s story, we can think of  this as a rite-of-passage
 Jesus in in transition (v. 23)
– “began His ministry” – from obscurity of Nazareth into public ministry
– “thirty years of age” – the age of full manhood 

John has drawn a line in the sand
– he stands on one side and everyone else stands on the other

• he is the voice in the wilderness, they are the brood of vipers
• he is the prophet, they are the listeners
• he is the baptizer, they are in need of baptism
• he pronounces judgment on sin, they are sinners
  The line is drawn

Then Jesus comes to the river
– on which side of the line does he stand?
– he stands with those who need to be baptized – he stands in solidarity with sinners
He is baptized even though he doesn’t need it
God’s Son makes himself one with us

If contemplative prayer reveals our shadow self, at least we can appreciate the fact that Jesus has plunged into the worst of it
– nothing you confess to Jesus will shock him, disturb him, or make him draw in his breath and say, “O no, Not you!”
– Jesus not only made himself one with sinners, but he became sin

[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)

Seeing our shadow self also reminds us that we stand on the same side of the line as everyone else
– and that our crucified Lord stands there with us
Borrowing again from Jean-Marie Howe:

It is inevitable that any real journey into the depths will disclose not only the innate solidarity of our spirit with the Holy Spirit but also the insidious solidarity of human sinfulness.
Our prayer, our intercession, becomes all the more poignant and urgent as we are moved not only by the yearnings of the Holy Spirit but also by the yearnings of our captive heart, which groans in unison with all of the wounded humanity. We will come to recognize in our own struggle the struggle of our brothers and sisters who also yearn to be liberated from the bonds of corruption and futility that enslave us. And yet, this struggle would be sterile and this aspiration vain, if not for the redemptive struggle of Christ to reconcile sinners with God. The mystery of prayer is a mystery of solidarity, both human and divine.

CONC: I will spare you my attempt to stumble through a reading of the genealogy
(Notice that whereas Matthew traced Jesus’ human descent to Abraham, Luke traces it all the way back to Adam)

But what does it tell us?

The genealogy of Jesus tells us that he shares our DNA
– that the Son of God is also the Son of Man (22:69-70)

Now we are in a position to see the difference between John and Jesus
– John preached reformation and fruits of repentence that lead to forgiveness
– Jesus produces transformation and exercises a forgiveness that bears the fruit of love and goodness

Use your time of quiet listening and reflective prayer this week to “Make ready the way of the Lord” so that Jesus findes the path he takes to your heart is easy to travel