Luke 3: 10-23; Ch 19 We Make the Road by Walking by Brian McLaren
So, Jesus is grown now. And so is his cousin, blessed offspring of Elizabeth and Zechariah. I really wish we had more stories about both of this men during their "coming of age" years, but alas, we don't. And it's a shame because it's such an interesting stage of life... I'd love to know how they got from their childhood years to the point see them meeting today.
As Brian McLaren tells us in Ch 19 of We Make the Road by Walking, John, cousin of Jesus, would have lived a privileged and comfortable life as the son of a priest. One assumes he will follow his father into Temple work, performing and officiating at the rituals of Jewish life... offering sacrifices, officiating at religious festivals, and performing ritual cleansings called baptisms.
Baptisms were performed to make one ritually clean because pilgrims coming to the temple might have been in contact with other people from other religions and cultures. So special bathing places were constructed so those entering could ceremoniously cleanse before they presented themselves to God in the temple. It isn't as xenophobic as it sounds to us now because this was a group of people who were marginalized and occupied... they were trying to preserve their own religious identity in any way they could.
So how strange that Zechariah's son starts performing baptisms not like his father, within the safe confines of the temple, but way out away from the temple... not in the holy baths... but out in the public in the river! This in and of itself is a scandalous way to do ministry. And he has traded his priestly robes and stoles for the fur of animals, the 'rough garments of a beggar,' as McLaren calls them.
A clear protest against status-quo ritual. A new baptism with a new intent is what John is offering. People don't need to move the temple out to the country, but to move themselves out of the temple.
And, in the words he utters in this text in Luke 3, we hear of what he expects them to do outside the temple... share their wealth and possessions with others, feed those who are hungry, treat people with equality and dignity. He offers repentance (rethinking). He offers repentance (question your assumptions). He offers repentance (turnaround). Don't look at baptism as a way to make yourself spiritually pure and cleansed so that you can be superior.. quite the opposite... baptize yourself and repent so that you might best be in solidarity with everyone, everywhere.
And, wonderfully, beautifully, in this setting... in this context... under these parameters and conditions, Jesus walks up to identify himself with this movement. To be baptize into this belief system. To begin his ministry by following the words of his cousin John.
And God is obviously pleased. Something descends from the sky like a dove and lands on his head (although, ohmygosh this scares the daylights out of me to think about...). And a voice from what seems to be On High says, "You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
At 12, Jesus understood God as Father. Now here at age 30, Jesus is being recognized publicly by God as son. This connection has gone public. And soon it will go viral. The dove shows that peace is what this relationship ushers in... but of course the context and the words that John utters about repentance earlier suggest that won't be easy to come by.
So, John comes of age and becomes a prophet. He leaves the holy water of the church behind and finds his ministry offering baptism waters out in the messy world. And Jesus, who stayed behind at the Temple as a 12-year old, now ventures outside too, to receive his own marching orders. And God blesses this adventurous baptism. The Spirit descends to offer peace. And, in the words of the great Maurice Sendak, "Let the wild rumpus start."
God wants us to create Peace on Earth, but not in the safety of our sanctuaries. What on earth, then, are we to do with this instruction? How do we repent (rethink, question our assumptions, and turn around)? Why does it have to be so hard?
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