Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
February 10, 2019
by: Kaye Kipp
When I first read this Scripture passage, I knew there was a lesson in it for me, but I had to read it several times to discover what meaning it could have for me and for us. I wasn’t sure where to go with it. But then I started trying to put myself in the scene, to imagine the river gently flowing, a soft breeze blowing, and the sun warm on the faces of the crowd.
I tried to imagine how the people must have felt down by the river. The air must have been crackling with expectation. The people came down to the river to be baptized. This was a huge step for them, a leap of faith to embrace a new concept! They were longing for the Messiah to be revealed. The scripture says that Jesus was disclosed as the Messiah after he was baptized, but can you imagine the crowd of people out there by the river, some already baptized, some waiting to be baptized, anticipating and wondering if this man, John was the promised Messiah? I imagine they would have been whispering amongst themselves … “Is he the one?” “Maybe, but …“ “I bet he is!” But he doesn’t look like …” The buzz of anticipation and expectation must have been incredible.
John’s response was, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” They were all looking for the Messiah, and he was right there, asking to be baptized; a humble man named Jesus. Perhaps John didn’t even know Jesus was the Messiah until he baptized Him. The scripture says, “One who is more powerful than I is coming …” That suggests to me that he didn’t know Jesus was the Messiah.
Elizabeth knew, but I didn’t find anywhere in the passage in any of the four Gospels that would indicate that John knew, although I’m no Biblical scholar so I could have easily missed it somewhere. The account in the Gospel of John says John the Baptist was told that he would know by the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of a dove. I can only imagine the stunned silence that would have come over the crowd when the voice came out of Heaven saying “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” John must have been still waiting like the rest of the crowd. He might have been as surprised as they were. Maybe even Jesus was surprised to hear the voice from Heaven.
How often do we look for something and not see it when it’s all around us? We pray, asking God to help us find the right job; the right partner; the elusive answer. Yet we forget to look, to listen, to pay attention to our surroundings.
Have you ever been looking for something, maybe in the kitchen or somewhere in your house, or maybe on your person? Maybe you pushed your glasses up on your head, then you forgot and you started looking all over for them. You know what you’re looking for is there somewhere, isn’t it? One day, I couldn’t find my watch. I looked in every room in the house. I just knew I put it somewhere. I got extremely frustrated. I must have looked for five minutes, only to find it was, you guessed it, on my wrist. If I would have just slowed down, taken time to breathe, and stopped my frantic searching, I could have avoided useless stress and possibly saved my sanity. I just needed to get out of my own way.
Sometimes we never find what we’re looking for even though it could be right in front of us,because we’re not open to it. We might be surprised at what we find though if we just look. Maybe we don’t trust what we see. We’ve all heard that sometimes people who are experienced travelers in the desert see an oasis in the far distance but they don’t trust it. They think it’s a mirage so they ignore it, pass it by and keep looking, sometimes with dire consequences. We think what we’re looking for has to be a certain thing, look a certain way, or be in a certain place.
I wonder if the crowd of people in the scripture passage had a preconceived idea of what Jesus would look like or how He would act. Of course, we can’t know but we usually form some kind of picture in our minds, don’t we? We think something has to fit a certain mold and if it doesn’t fit, we don’t think it’s what we’re looking for. Then when we do see it, if we do see it, it can seem so obvious. When I finally slowed down and realized my watch was right there on my wrist where it belonged, I felt a bit foolish.
I’m reminded of the Wizard of Oz. The lion, the scarecrow, and the tin man were all on a quest to find what they thought they didn’t have. The lion was searching for courage; the scarecrow, for a brain; the tin man for a heart. They felt the need to look outside themselves. Yet, if I remember the story correctly, during their travels to the Emerald City, the lion displayed courage by protecting his/her fellow travelers from danger, the scarecrow was able to figure out how to get where they were going, and the tin man showed he had a heart by being willing to sacrifice himself in order to save his friends. Then, of course, there’s Dorothy. She wanted to go home. All she had to do was click her shoes together three times. (Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy for us?) They didn’t see what they had inside. They were too busy searching outside themselves.
Jesus ministry was very clear to him when God spoke to Him. We also have missions, both individually and as a church community. With prayer, open hearts, and meditation, we can listen for a still, small voice to help us find what we’re looking for and discover what are mission is. It could be right in front of us. Amen.