Do you remember the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told?  It was aptly titled, I think, because the story of Jesus is just that.  Hollywood’s attempts to tell it are always interesting in how they cast the characters and portray them.  In this case, Max Von Sydow, the tall, pale, blond Swedish actor was Jesus.  I thought to myself that Jesus surely didn’t look like that, and somehow Von Sydow’s frail body and weak voice seemed less than commanding to me.  Actually we know nothing of what Jesus looked like; the Gospel writers evidently felt that was unimportant, and I believe we should take a hint from that. 

            If you look at the various depictions of Jesus from cultures around the world you see that he is often depicted to look like one of their own.  An African Jesus for Africans, an Asian Jesus for Asians, a northern European Jesus for Northern Europeans.  A Semitic Jesus for Semitic peoples.  Those artists may not be historically correct in their portrayals, but they are theologically correct.  Jesus is one of us, he came to and for the whole human family to assure us that God understands us and is with us.  The incarnation is about Jesus’ solidarity with the human family.

            In the movie I mentioned earlier John the Baptist was played by Charlton Heston, a man with a powerful physique, presence and voice.  They show him in the Jordan River with crowds flocking to him, and he rails at them to repent and baptizes them, sometimes whether they wanted to be baptized or not.  I relished the scene of him dunking Roman soldiers. I thought it was an inspired casting because John was a powerful figure whose message and persona loom large in the story of Jesus.

            You may remember the joke that Vance Baldwin shared on Holy Humor Sunday telling of a man who was intoxicated and wandered down to the river where a crowd was gathered, and without knowing that it was a baptismal service, he joined them and soon found himself next to the preacher who plunged him under the water and asked if he had found the Lord.  “No,” he answered.  The preacher dunked him again for a little longer and asked again, “Have you found the Lord?”  “No”.  A third time he put him down for quite a while, and lifted him up and asked the gasping man if he had found the Lord.  The man replied, “Are you sure this is where he went in?”

            John the Baptist, or better said, the Baptizer, was a cousin of Jesus who went out into the desert and sought the face of God.  His garment was camel’s hair with a leather belt and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Rugged is the picture I get when I think of him; tough enough to thrive in the desert, devout enough to listen for a word from God, and courageous enough to speak it.  When he did people from all around flocked to hear his message.  If you have been by the Jordan there you know it is a harsh landscape, hot, dry, desolate, a long tough walk down from the hills of Judea, and a hot rough climb back. What drew them?  I suspect it was the power and authenticity of his message and person.  He called people to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins.  That hardly seems like a message to draw a crowd.  But he also announced that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and that one was coming who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  That part of his message would capture their attention because they longed for God to intervene and establish his reign because they felt that would result in a shift of their fates in a positive way.  It is impossible for us to imagine what it is like to live in an occupied country where every day you are reminded that you are not in control of your fate and that you are being taxed to support an army of occupation.

            The thing to note is that John’s hearers needed to change their way of living if they were to be ready for God’s reign.  Can you feel the bite in what he says?  “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?   Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (Mt. 3:7-9) That is what he said to the Pharisees and Sadducees, the most respected religious leaders of his day.  On top of that he asks them to undergo baptism, a rite required of non Jews to cleanse them from their unclean pasts if they desired to convert to Judaism.  In short, he treats them like Gentiles whose lives were a mess and who needed to make a clean break with their past.  If I were to preach like that would anyone show up next week?  The question is wrong in that it suggests that the measure of a sermon is how many people show up to hear it.  People walked away from Jesus on several occasions because they weren’t up to embracing the truth he spoke.  I’m sure there were those who walked away from John as well, but many realized that he spoke the truth and that they did need to ask God’s forgiveness and to change their way of living if they were to see God’s rule enter their lives individually and as a people.

            Luke tells us that when the crowds heard John they asked what they should do.  Now that is the sign of good sermon; it gets people inspired to take action.  John gave them very concrete guidance such as if you have two coats, share one with someone who has none, so too with food.  To tax collectors he said not to collect more than appointed to them.  And to soldiers he said, “Rob no one by violence or false accusation, and be content with your wages.” (Luke 3:1-14)

            So what might John say to us?  Can you think of changes that need to be made in your life?  I know we can all think of changes that others need to make in theirs.  What about focusing on the log in our own eye before we take the speck out of our neighbor’s? Let me pause for a moment and encourage you to jot down what first comes to your mind.. . . . . . . . . . .

            If nothing came to mind I would say, Congratulations! Carry on the good path you have chosen.  Or should I say, think again? But as you do so remember our God is merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love?  Working on this sermon brought to my mind several things.  Permit me to share but a few, not because they apply to you, but to encourage you to consider your own life.  For me the challenge is to read the Scriptures before the Herald, to sit with God each day in silence and less before the TV.  The topsy turvy season of college football has grabbed more than its share of my attention this year.  I am more informed in that regard than I think I need to be.  My closet was full with clothes that in many cases I have not worn for months or years.  I took those things down to the Salvation Army.  My closet looks better, and though my dream of getting back to a 32X32 pants size did not die easily, someone out there can use those trousers that don’t fit me anymore. I find it easier to criticize the leaders of our nation and world than I do to pray for them.  I need to get that balance changed so that prayer equals or exceeds criticism.  At years end you get those credit card statements that show where and how you charged.  What does the picture tell me about my priorities, and how does giving to God’s work in the world stack up with those things I have done for myself? 

            An ongoing challenge for me is to listen more and speak less.  Listening is one of the hallmarks of love.  Why do people fall in love with their therapists?  Because they listen to them.  Listening to others tells them that they matter to us and to God.  What we need is an evangelism of listening.  When I visited the Taizé Community in France twenty-two years ago I noticed each night how brother Roger, the man who came to that little town to plant a place of prayer and reconciliation for Christians of different traditions, and who soon found scores, then hundreds and then thousands of persons coming to pray with him and the brothers of the community, listened to them.  Each night at the close of the worship Brother Roger and others from the community stood at the perimeter of the church to be available to listen to those who wanted to come to them for prayer or counsel or simply to be heard.  Night after night Brother Roger listened intently and prayed with and for them.  During the summer most of those who come are youth from Europe and around the world, and Brother Roger believed in them and their potential to love God and to love and serve others, and they have grown into his expectations of them.  He listened the good news to them.  What if I were to listen like that?  I fear that I could well have a bumper sticker on my car that I saw on someone else’s that read: My wife says that I never listen to her; or something like that. I laughed when I saw that, the nervous laugh that comes when we know we have seen the enemy and it is we.

            Knowing what needs changing is a big part of repentance.  Making the changes is the other and necessary step.  It is hard to change patterns on our own. We need God’s help, and that help often comes through the encouragement and exhortation of others.  Twelve step groups speak of the experience, strength and hope that come from listening to others and enlisting them in our common desire to move toward life. Do you have a friend or friends in the faith who love God and you enough to listen to you, pray for and encourage you?  I believe that the men in or two men’s Bible studies are beginning to discover how that works.  I think it happens when women and youth and children gather here at church or in the community.  Perhaps you read the article in the Herald on Monday on how youth are more susceptible to poor choices  in terms of right and wrong because the frontal lobe of their brains where ethical decision making take place are not mature until some time in their early or mid twenties.  One of the factors mentioned in spurring bad decisions was the influence of peers.  My question is whether that influence can be good and foster right decisions if the peer group is so inclined.  I bet that it can be because I have seen positive peers encourage positive growth in the lives of youth who were on a negative life path until they found a solid peer group.  That is why youth groups at church are so important and are worth the effort and inconvenience that sometimes goes along with them.   

            The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way.  “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24-25 RSV)  We need one another as we turn toward the home of God’s Day, God’s reign in our lives and world.  Together we follow Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life, up out of the waters of baptism into the wide and warm light of God’s love.