It is Polite to Point
Mark 1: 1-8
In our culture we understand the power of endorsement. I know of athletes who are endorsed by famous brands. It adds to their fame and status as well as to that of the brand. In US presidential campaigns we sometimes see that a candidate is being endorsed by certain VIP people like Oprah and how that could make or break that candidate at the polls. When somebody is endorsed, we know that person is a forced to be reckoned with.
Of all the things we can say about John the Baptist the most important thing might be the fact that he is the follower of Jesus’s whose ministry was endorsed by Jesus most prominently. There could be no greater honor to somebody who is in God’s service, than to be recognized and affirmed in his or her ministry by Jesus Himself. Jesus endorsed his ministry by getting baptized by John but also by stating that John is the greatest of all the prophets, ranking him way up there with Elijah and Moses.
We rate and listen to people who are endorsed. We tend to emulate them. How good an idea it is to emulate athletes and politicians, I don’t know. What I do know is that it will be safe and expedient to take a few pages from John the Baptist’s book. The most enduring characteristic of his ministry is how he pointed to Jesus. How he found the meaning of his life’s mission in Jesus. How his life and ministry dissolved into Jesus and his mission when Jesus arrived on the scene.
Points men (and women) save lives. We enhance and save lives when our lives point to Jesus. There is a saying I was raised with. That it that it is impolite to point. We know that the context it is used in usually is appropriate. It is indeed impolite to point to people who are for instance disabled or different in a way that puts them in an awkward position. But when it comes to our lives and to Jesus, the very opposite is true. It is not impolite to point to Jesus. It is what our lives are all about and the way in which it could find it’s deepest meaning and joy.
What does John, the endorsed prophet show us about pointing to Jesus?
Pointing to Jesus means implies disappointing people
We can easily miss the fact that John’s father was a Levite priest. In the Jewish tradition the expectation was that the son of a Levite priest, especially one whose birth was seen as a special act of God because of the age of his mother would follow suit and also become a priest. The expectation around his birth was also that he be named after his father and as his father in obedience to God defied this expectation, John defied the expectation of him becoming a priest serving at the temple. In stead he went out into the wilderness and became an unconventional prophet. At the end of his life he was beheaded because he did not meet the expectation of compliance to the Roman authorities.
Living inside the space of people’s expectations is a comfort zone. Not every time we do not live up to people’s expectations can we claim that we are obedient to God. Being defiant isn’t always a good thing. But often obedience to God means to shun people’s expectations and disappoint them. One of my favourite definitions of leadership is that leadership is disappointing people at a pace they can stand. Covid, and what went with it also required us to break some long standing traditions and not all applaud you if you do that.
Even though John attracted big crowds, his life was a dedicated to the Audience of One. He had a single-minded focus on what God expected of him, not on what people wanted from him. We don’t like to disappoint people in their expectations of us because we love people and because we love them loving us back. Often people’s expectations coincide with those of God but when they do not the trick is to honor God and what he wants more than your need to please others.
There is something God has given you a passion for. It might be something you are good at. It might even be something you feel you are average at but love to do. Something that makes you feel that doing just that makes a positive difference in the world. It might relate to wat you do for income but sometimes it doesn’t. It might be something you get pay and recognition for. It might be something that nobody really sees and acknowledge. But it somehow sets you heart in the right place and it is a call that far exceeds your occupational life. It is the thing you cannot stop doing and still feel like you. Staying true to that thing in time of recognition and reward but also during times of ignorance and ingratitude from others is the key to a happy life. It is the ingredient of a life that points to God. We will get to John’s simplicity but let us state here that knowing what God expects of you gives your life a focus that tends to declutter it. You could come by with much less when you have a sense of what in your life pleases God. We see this in John.
Pointing to Jesus means embracing simplicity
When we read that John ate wild honey and locusts and wore a camel skin with a leather belt, the picture we paint of him to ourselves is that of a man living in dire poverty. That is not quite right. Wild honey was considered a delicacy. There is a story in the Old Testament where Saul’s armies win their battle because of them feasting on wild honey. We also frown at locusts, but locusts are actually an excellent source of protein. The protein to body mass ratio of an insect is so much higher that that of a cow. You can nowadays buy protein bars made from crickets. There might also be something symbolic in John eating locusts. In the book of Joel as well as in the ten plagues narrative locusts are sent as God’s judgement. They eat harvests and cause food shortage, yet John eats locusts. It might have pointed to the fact that the way he points to turns Gods judgement into God’s nourishment. It is fair to say that John’s diet was unconventional and simple but it was actually healthy and good for the body.
Much the same applies to his garb. Camels were how wealth was measured in. A camel coat was a very durable kind of garment. John seemed to have only had one outfit, but it was a good outfit even though it was a simple wardrobe. I thought what John would have eaten and wore had he lived in our day and age. Maybe a well-worn Levi denim on a keto diet or something. Definitely organic but not vegan (he was to close to God to be a vegan 😊. ).
If you realize that God is enough. If you live in utter dependence on Him, you come by with less. And it is not only about less, it is also about appreciation for beauty and quality. And you find beauty in simplicity. Simplicity declutter our lives, it helps us to focus on what is important and it can actually make us healthier and happier people. It is almost impossible to encounter a person who embraces a simple life that is also full of joy and not feel that you encounter Jesus in that person. Maybe that is why desserts are so often the places of special revelation in the Bible and John’s preferred preaching spot. They are stripped places where the simplicity makes people attentive to God and his ways.
As much as I wish COVID over the discovery of how one could be happier with less is a legacy I hope will remain.
We point to Jesus when we perform acts of passionate covenantal obedience
The Jews had a baptism for people coming over to their faith. Baptism was an identity marker. John’s baptism laid emphasis not only on identity but also on repentance. It was an act whereby you made visible your commitment to turn around in your ways. It goes without saying that Jesus wasn’t all confused about who He was and most certainly did not need to repent. His baptism was in this sense an anomaly, something that seemed unnecessary. One can see clearly from John’s reaction that Jesus gave an unusual request in asking to be baptized (in Matthew’s account of the event). He rightfully pointed out that he is not worthy to do this and should be baptized by Jesus in John’s gospel account.
So why did Jesus need to be baptized? He gives the reason in so many words in Matthew 3:15: It was “to fulfill all righteousness”. The highest expression of fulfilling righteousness was seen as obedience to something God requires of you even though it doesn’t make sense of you. That was why Abraham willing to offer his son was seen as an expression of his passionate covenantal obedience.
So Jesus’s baptism then was an affirmation of his identity, not to himself but to those who were still wondering if what John said about Him was right. It was a demonstration of his solidarity with humankind when He who did not sin, took the sacrament that would become the sign pointing to his redemptive offering on the cross. It is also kind of beautiful to see that when Jesus gets baptized, the whole family seems to show up. His Father says something and the Holy Spirit descend on Him in a special way. (there was even the sound of lightning so it seems someone was even taking pictures 😊) John answering Jesus’s obedience with his own in performing this “unnecessary” baptism of sorts, points to Jesus and who he is.
How do we measure if something is worthwhile and meaningful? Often, we choose to value only things that are either lucrative or popular. But the things that makes the most difference is often not what is lucrative, popular or even logical. Acts that strengthen the bonds between people and between you and God are often simple invisible and underappreciated things. Like taking a walk with your wife even though you don’t feel like taking one right now. Like inquiring about the well-being of another even when it does not seem to make a difference. What acts of covenantal fidelity are God calling you to do? What do you do to give people a message that Jesus…and you are with them and that they are therefore not alone? When last have you made people feel that you love it to “waste” time on them?
Close
To point is impolite in certain social contexts. In the greater picture of your life it is inevitable to point. Our lives always point to something and with many people that something is themselves. The challenge, the call and the privilege is to point to Jesus. That is not impolite. It is more than just being polite to point to Jesus. It is meaningful and life giving. Allow God to show you how. Make way for Jesus to take over.
He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Amen