The Baptizer - Wild and Woolly

The Baptizer - Wild and Woolly. Matthew 3.1-6

It was long ago in a galaxy far, far away … or at least it seems that way. The speaker followed at least three others who came out with rather splashy multi-media presentations, Power Point illustrations and statistics, and frankly kept my rapt attention. It was more than 10 years ago now. And then came one. He came out with a simple stool and a smallish black Bible—that’s all. Mostly, Erwin McManus talked from his heart, and I will never forget his message, or him. ‘What did you go out to see?’ He looked out through the spotlights at all of us, drawing each one into Jesus’ passionate dissertation about John … that is, John-the-Baptist. ‘I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.’1

Yes, we are turning the page in Matthew’s gospel to find one extreme individual—in every sense of the word: John the Baptist, so called because he did just that—he baptized people. But that hadn’t always been his name; before that, he was the blessed miracle born to an old devout Jewish couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, who like Abraham and Sarah of the Old Testament, were past child-bearing ages. Yet we read about this special baby in Luke chapter one, whose name had been given to his father Zechariah by God—John.2 A distant cousin, John was born about six months before Jesus, and was specially chosen by God to announce the coming of the Messiah. That he would prepare the way for the Lord was prophesied some 700 years earlier.

Matthew writes of him, “In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”

John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.”3

So the question is, ‘what did they go out to see?’ I mean really, people travelled some distance out from Jerusalem, into the desert, to hear a message from a wild-looking character that made them feel conviction for their sin, and called them to repentance. Why? Well, for one—their culture was incredibly depraved, and any who were at all righteous, were looking for the Messiah, and wanted to be ready to receive him. Consider this: “It has been rightly said, that the idea of conscience, as we understand it, was unknown to heathenism. Absolute right did not exist. Might was right. The social relations exhibited, if possible, even deeper corruption. The sanctity of marriage had ceased, and there was almost an entire cessation of marriage. Abortion, and the exposure and murder of newly-born children, were common and tolerated; unnatural vices, which even the greatest philosophers practiced, if not advocated, attained proportions which defy description.”4

So John the Baptist comes on the scene with a message of ‘Repent, the kingdom of Heaven is near… prepare for the Lord’s coming,’ and his message is attractive. People come by the droves to listen, repent and be baptized in the Jordan River. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Prior to this, Gentiles who converted to Judaism were baptized; but other than that, except for the separatist sect of Judaism, the Essenes, who immersed themselves for ritual purity, baptism was a foreign thing.

And what about now, what’s with baptism today in the Christian church? Simply, we mostly know of two types—infant ‘baptism’, with varying meanings to the ceremony—washing away of original sin, protection from death should the baby/child die before reaching an age of maturity, and a vow by the parents to raise the child ‘in the church’. The other is more generally considered ‘believer’ baptism, a public statement of a private decision to follow Christ. I was 15 years old when I was baptized; it was a statement that I was identifying with Christ. It did not ‘save’ me, it didn’t ‘wash away my sin’—only God could do those things, not the rite of baptism. But the act said, ‘I believe, I want to obey Jesus, and live my life to honor him.’ Have you been baptized? How, why? Why not?

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, baptism is a powerful, meaningful thing. It seems that John-the-Baptizer really got the whole thing going … a public act of a private commitment, in the Baptizer’s case, an act of repentance. But then after the cross, Jesus said his disciples were to ‘go into all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching obedience to him.’5 Hmm, definitely something to consider carefully.

Christine

PastorWoman.com

1 – from Luke chapter 7
2 - Luke 1.13-14
3 – Matthew 3.1-6
4 – Alfred Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
5 – Matthew 28.19-20