Prepare the Way!

Dear Family...

How many of you have been to a concert? Then you know that when they introduce the headliner, you know the band you really came to see, they hype it up. The announcer, usually a local dj, comes out and proclaims all the wonderful music that the artists has done, in an effort to get you ready. The dj might even yell, get excited, hoping to entice the same kind of energy with you, letting you know it is time to get ready to "rock." The lights go out, and bam the music starts...

And if the band is big time, like U2, well their entrance is going to be memorable. The one U2 concert i went to, i cant afford their tickets now, they came through the crowd playing, "In the Name of Love..." It was amazing to be standing, with the audience, and see Bono and the Edge walk right past me, only six to ten feet away. They had me at that moment, and i was a fan for life.

The larger the band, the larger the show, the more outrageous the introduction, and that is how it should be, right? I mean they earned the right to have their name at the top of the billboard. They earned the great introduction. And they earned the right to enter with thousands of screaming fans, waiting for Bono to burst into a classic song. That's how famous people take the stage, in the real world. But not Jesus.

Jesus' introduction comes through a wild man, a man dressed in camel's hair and eating honey. That's odd. U2's introduction draws you in. John the Baptist, the one who was called to "prepare the way," he has a tendecy to push people away. Its a different approach to introducing royalty, a messiah, or even a popular figure. But it is just the path God takes.

But more disturbing, at least from the perspective of what great people do and expect, instead of walking out to applause and people bowing before Him, including John the Baptist. Jesus walks up to John, knees down, and invites John to baptize Him. Talk about scandalous. The King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Messiah, chooses to humble himself and be baptized. That's beyond worldly. That's. That's. Well that's nonsense really. And yet, it is what Jesus does.

In fact, isn't most of what Jesus teaches and commands nonsense? Love your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you. Blessed are the poor. The last shall be first. Sell everything you have and give the proceeds to the poor. Peace and mercy and grace over revenge, justice, and right. Jesus is countercultural, so it makes sense that his entry into the world and his ministry, would stand opposed to what most people expect from greatness.

But that's Jesus. And that guy with the camel's hair, he is John the Baptist. What's that got to do with us? EVERYTHING! John wasn't just a zealot preaching repentance, he was a faithful man of God doing what God called him to do. Even if it meant making a fool out of himself. Why? Because John understood that the work John was doing, baptizing and calling people to turn around, was the beginning work of ushering in God's Kingdom. Folks, God and Jesus and the Holy Spirt have called us to do the same: usher in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Are we doing it? Are we willing to make fools of ourselves? Are we giving up our need to be recognized and honored so that we can honor the author of our salvation? If we aren't, we will not experience the fullness of God's Kingdom. But if we are, well we might just find ourselves knee deep in a rushing river, calling people to repent. John did, and look how it turned out for him... He baptized Jesus. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry