Let s Go Down to the River and Pray Mark 8:1-8

Dec 7, 2008
Let’s Go Down to the River and Pray Mark 8:1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
This has been a week of challenging weather. Last Sunday, we had a dramatic drop in attendance, due in part to our first snowfall. Then again, on Friday, we had to navigate the slippin and sliden to attend our Lessons and Carols. Folks were late but the Prince of Peace made his known presence in the proclaiming of his living word, in the testimonies and songs of praise. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
With our shovels in hand and the blustering wind in our ears, it can be hard for us to fathom making a trek out into the wilderness. Are you kidding me, I want to stay here by the fire? Besides I have to make my Christmas shopping list. Where did I put those ads from the Sunday paper? I’m sorry, but there is way too much to done. I don’t have time to walk all the way to the Jordan to hear some locust eating, bible thumper, telling me what a sinner I am!
We have seen and heard these street preacher types in our faces with their their fire and brimstone rants, repent! repent! We just keep walking forward with our eyes on our feet to avoid engaging them. When I lived in New York, I got a kick out of watching the tourists in Times Square trying to get their plays without making eye contact. Yes, 42nd Street and Broadway attracts all kinds!
In all this hustle and bustle, we do need some prophets who point us back to what life is really about. In this time of Advent, are we on the hamster wheel, too busy to reflect on what it means that Jesus is coming to us a fragile baby in Bethlehem? Regardless of how crazy God’s messengers may seem, there is some truth in their message. Sometimes, even in spite of their methods.
What was John saying with his sporty camel coat and leather belt that led such an exodus of people out of the city into the wilderness? Surely the Spirit of God was anointing his efforts. Scholars suggest that both John and Jesus had connections to the Essene sect in Qumran. This group left the city to dwell in the wilderness away from the corruptions of the city. They were ascetics who wanted to live a life of simplicity apart from the Temple and religious authorities who were in bed with the Romans and the Herodians.
City folks knew all too well how toxic things had become under the Herodians and the Roman occupation. If they were to be faithful Jews preparing for God’s anointed one, they needed to resist the ways of the world. These temporal comforts and social pecking orders threaten to make us complacent, blind, deaf and numb to this prophetic hunger for peace and justice.
John the Baptist is still calling us out from the city to the shores of the Jordan, prepare the way! If John the Baptist was with us today, would we be willing to listen to him? Would we discount him as a mad man who needs to take his meds? The life of the prophet is not for the weak of heart. You have to be ready to face what the world throws at you when you speak the truth and shake things up.
Are we willing to listen to these men in orange reflective vests and triangle slow signs in their hands? “ Slow down, we are laying down God’s highway over here.” Will we stop and help them prepare the way? During this time of Advent, how will we slow down to appreciate how God’s reign is breaking in around us? Are we willing to make some personal sacrifices in order for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be heard and lived out?
The path of being a disciple of Jesus Christ will always have its wilderness moments. No, we won’t have to live off of locusts and wild honey. Most of us, however, have something in our lives that we need to wean ourselves off of . We need to let go some of these material trappings that interfere with our ability to experience greater spiritual maturity. Lent is not the only time when we should give something up. Advent is a time of waiting, where we can spend some time in the wilderness and detach ourselves from all this consumerism. Let us gather around the banks of the Jordan, and wade in the water. We hear again these words from prophets of old, Prepare the Way. Like those lyrics from Godspell.
Some scholars have struggled with this story because it presents a problem. Doesn’t this story make John look superior to Jesus? Isn’t this a baptism for the repentance of sins? What does this say about Jesus? Isn’t he supposed to be the spotless Lamb of God? In order to resolve this question, we need to appreciate the historical role of prophets among the Hebrew people.
Jesus is not repenting from his sins. Rather he is being anointed by the John the prophet as the Christ, the anointed one. Similarly, Saul, David and Solomon were anointed by prophets to legitimate their ascension to the throne . Jesus is God’s humble servant, who kneels in the Jordan to receive an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Jesus will need the Spirit to strengthen him for his journey in the wilderness.
John’s followers at the Jordan readily understood how long ago, Moses crossed the Red Sea, but he could not take the Israelites all the way. It was Joshua who led his people across the Jordan into the Promised land. There is theological significance that it is here again, along banks of the Jordan that Jesus knelt down for his cousin John to anoint him as the promised messiah. Just as before this river is the marker for new beginnings. Jesus needs to leave Galilee and center himself in these waters before he embarks on his public ministry. The New Moses will be able to pick up where his predecessor left. After all, Jesus name in Hebrew is Yeshua (God saves).
As gentiles, two thousand years later, we need to put on the lens of a faithful Jew in Palestine longing for freedom. These folks understood what it meant for Jesus to start his public ministry in the waters of the Jordan. These people have left the city to gather at the Jordan to bear witness to the Promised One that John has been telling them about. Can you imagine their hunger and thirst for the Messiah to come and liberate them from yet another bondage? Finally, our Mighty Counselor and Prince of Peace has come! We have seen enough phonies, we want the real deal. Yes, we will walk this wilderness with you as you lead us into the promised land, again!
John and Jesus are always there waiting for us along the shores of the Jordan. These life giving waters of baptism bring us into the new reality of God’s reign. We no longer have to go the temple to cleanse ourselves in ritual baths in order to approach the holy of holies. We have been baptized once and for all in these life giving waters of God’s grace. Every Sunday, we see this font as a reminder of our own Jordan river initiation into the community walking onward from Jordan to the new Jerusalem.
During these days of Advent, let’s go down to the River and pray. We patiently await our coming Prince of Peace. May the white dove descend upon us and assure us that the storms are coming to an end. We continue to walk through the wilderness until Jerusalem has been restored. We join the prophets in their chorus, Prepare the way! One day the gaps will be bridged, one day all these wrongs will be made right. God will come to us again and the nations actually follow his counsel.
As we approach Christmas eve, we wait along the river and pray for renewal and restoration. May the Peace of Christ unite as brothers and sisters working to prepare the way. Just as Jesus did, we need these waters of Jordan to anoint our efforts. Every time we baptize a child of God, we have a respite from the wilderness. We pray and sing at banks of the Jordan, Prepare the way. We wait and pray, Come, O Emmanuel.