Perhaps the best way to understand the words of our gospel reading is to remind ourselves of the landscape of Judaism in Jesus’ day. We’ve talked before that Jews were not a monolithic block. There were different groups and divisions, a lot like different church denominations today. Two of these groups we encounter often in the gospels: the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Less often mentioned in the Bible are the Herodians and the Zealots. And then never mentioned in the Bible, but still of importance, were the Essenes.
It seems that subgroups and offshoots would form and dissolve too. Two such groups, at least as understood by Jews of the day were the followers of the Baptizer – John the Baptist. And the Nazarenes – what we would call the earliest Christians.
There appears to have been overlap between the followers of John and the followers of Jesus. In Acts 19 we see the overlap, and that may have continued even to the time of the writing of John’s gospel. Eventually John the Baptist’s disciples either began following Jesus or they disbanded. But at the time of Jesus there was competition and confusion between the two groups.
We have no records of John the Baptist apart from Christian scripture. Those records always present John as one who points away from himself and towards Jesus. Perhaps that is indeed all that John ever did. Or perhaps there was more. We don’t know. But what is clear is that the early Christian writers use John to show that Christianity is not just a new sect within Judaism, but a fundamentally different thing. They also use John as a way to get at the difficult truth that some people were accepting and embracing following Jesus and others simply were not. Both of those things are linked.
Christianity was, and is, a distinctly different belief system from other religions. The idea that a god would come to life in a human form, or even have some virgin birth as a human, was not unique to Christianity, or even new. Other religions of the time were making the same claims. The difference is that the God Christianity was revealing was one of absolutely selfless radical love. No limits. No boundaries. No qualifications. No one unworthy. And yet, at the same time, no one was good enough or righteous enough on their own to claim that they deserved God’s love.
If you’re a life-long Christian none of this is new. Its radicalness doesn’t strike you. But it was, and still is, quite a radical claim.
As John the Baptist is presented in John’s gospel he is pointing to this ultimateness of Jesus. John doesn’t do this because he is somehow a model of selflessness or humility. No, he does it because he has become aware of what God is up to. His followers should turn their attention to Jesus. John does not say that his testimony or his ministry is somehow lacking or second rate. But that his whole purpose has been to point to the ultimate thing God is doing.
John the Baptist uses the imagery of weddings, which in some ways are not all that different than our own. He sees Jesus as the groom. He, John the Baptist, is the best man; which is still an honor and highly important. The best man at a wedding is hand-picked by the groom as his best and most trustworthy associate. No one is higher. He is entrusted with all sorts of arrangements. John the Baptist considers this, even though a secondary role, to still be a great honor. It is more like the fulfillment of his life’s purpose.
That takes us to the second issue John the Baptist raises. Why do some accept Jesus as God’s son and that God’s nature is one of love, and others do not?
That question remains highly relevant to today. For of course, not too many decades ago you could assume that someone living in America was somehow connected to a church. Life, morality, rites of passage, and more all revolved around church beliefs. It is certainly not so today. As one of you recently noted, “Being a Christian in America has become a faux pas.”
As John the Baptist sees it, there’s more. It’s not a question of do you believe or don’t you believe. It’s a question about the very character of God.
You would think, wouldn’t you, that any message that God is radically loving would spread like wildfire. Who wouldn’t want a loving God? Right? So why do people not want to embrace it? Why turn away?
Perhaps here’s an example. Most of us own a car, or maybe multiple cars. We love cars. Cars let us go where we want to go, when we want to go, and the way we want to go. You don’t have to plan around a bus or train schedule. You don’t have to get an Uber ride or a call cab. Driving is freedom. It is self-determination. Despite the fact that cars cost huge amounts of money to buy, insure, and maintain, we’re willing to spend it. A car means you can live where you want to live. Though I know full well I am pointing a finger at myself as I say this, when you start to philosophize about it, a car is a very selfish thing indeed.
How would life be different if you had to depend upon some form of public transportation?
Is not truly trusting God a lot like living and depending upon public transportation? A car puts you in charge. Public transportation forces you to be in community and at the whims and needs of others. How safe do you feel if you truly put God in control of your life? How dangerous is the love of a God who was willing to die a shameful death for those who weren’t worthy of it?
If you want your life to be all about you, you’re going to struggle with a God who is so lavishly generous; even as God’s offer is truly liberating and life-fulfilling.
Why do people turn away from the church? Why has being a Christian become a faux pas? The answers are many. I don’t want to make too absolute a statement. But largely it is because people want to pursue their own path to self-fulfillment rather than trusting that God will do better.
It's the endless irony of faith. The more in this life that you try to horde and keep for yourself, the more you try to be in charge, the more you make it about you; the less of you that there is. And the more of a slave you become. St. Paul writes about that to the Corinthians, which we read earlier. Jesus said similar things. You will be a slave to one thing or another. Only God will bring about true fulfillment.
Last week we talked about being “born again” and also “born from above”. Those are not just promises for eternal life. Those are promises for today. God’s love would free you from all that enslaves you. But people don’t want to hear it. They want their source of fulfillment to be within themselves.
I don’t think that God through Jesus looks at us as bad children. And God does not challenge us to see if we will endure today in order to be rewarded in some promise of eventual eternal life. I think God looks at us, stretches out a hand, and says, “Come, join in my adventure. Have fun with me. I will fulfill you. I will make you whole. I won’t promise you false fulfillment from earthly things, but I will guarantee your spirit deep wholeness from my endless supply of love. You will be fully alive. Fully free. Fully yourself.”
Those are God’s offers. It is up to us to see them as the truth, and the world’s ways as lies. John the Baptist points to Jesus and the new truth about God that Jesus was revealing, inviting all to become followers of the Christ.
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