By Pastor Greg
A man was playing Trivial Pursuit
one night. It was his turn. He rolled the dice and landed on Science
& Nature. His question was, "If
you are in a vacuum and someone calls your name, can you hear it?" He thought for a time and then asked, "Is
the vacuum on or off?"
I’ll give you a moment to figure
out what makes that joke so funny. The
answer is there but it might not be quite so obvious.
The same thing happened to a group
of people who went down to the river one day.
They had heard about a man named John who was baptizing people in the
Jordan River. Apparently everyone else
knew why John’s ministry was so appealing. These men did not. They didn’t get it. That’s why they started asking John so many
questions.
19 This is the testimony of John,
when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 And he confessed and did not
deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered,
“No.” 22 Then they said to
him, “Who are you, so that we may give an
answer to those who sent us? What do you
say about
yourself?” 23 He said,
“I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the
Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, and said to
him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you
are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them saying,
“I baptize in water, but among you stands
One whom you do not know. 27 “It
is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in
Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 “This is He on behalf of
whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man
who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31 “I did not recognize Him,
but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” 32 John testified saying, “I
have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon
Him. 33 “I did not recognize
Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see
the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in
the Holy Spirit.’ 34 “I
myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”[1] (John 1:19-34).
A delegation was sent to
investigate John the Baptist. He was the
son of a Jewish Priest and a relative of Jesus.
He may have been 30 or 31 years old, and at that age, being a Levite,
should have been serving in the Temple.
However, John is at the Jordan River near a little town called Bethany,
baptizing people; baptizing JEWISH people, not Gentile converts to the Jewish
faith. This is important because a
baptism signifies a breaking away from one thing and instead embracing
another. This is why the delegation sent
by the Pharisees wanted to know why John was telling them to separate
themselves and what he was telling them to separate from.
The answer seems obvious to me,
but this delegation didn’t get it. The
regular Jewish person was hungry for something other than prescribed
ritualistic custom. I mean, think about
this: isn’t it a bit odd that a great crowd of Jews would come to John the
Baptist, of all people, and confess their sins.
It’s odd because there was already
a procedure in place to have their sins forgiven. That is what the sacrificial system was
supposed to accomplish. When someone
sinned or became ceremonially unclean, they would follow a prescribed procedure
to have the sin forgiven or to restore their holiness. Why then would many of these people come to
John, confess their sin, and then separate themselves from this God-ordained system?
I think it’s because people are
people, no matter what period in history they might live. People want to be held. People want to be loved. People want the warmth of friendship. People want someone, not rituals and
religion. They want someone to look them
in the eye and say, “I love you.” Listen to these words. “Among you stands One whom you do not know” (John
1:26b). John says that in His love and
mercy, God became one of us so that instead of witnessing a pillar of fire or a
great cloud of smoke, the people could draw near. They could touch God and God could touch them.
God did not come offering another set of rules to follow. He came as
a Man offering Himself, so that instead of religiously following rituals and
customs, humanity might instead build a relationship with God through the Son,
Christ Jesus.
Some people longed to touch
God. They reached for Jesus. They held out their babies to Jesus. They brought the sick and the lame to Jesus. He touched them and made them whole. God stood among them and they believed. Others, however, would not believe. Even when John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world”[2]
(John 1:29), some refused to recognize God in the flesh. They would not separate themselves from their
religion. They would not enter into a
relationship with Jesus. They would not
be touched by Jesus.
Like today, the people of John’s time desired a relationship with
God. They were not finding what their
heart desired in some regimented, ritualistic, religious rite. Like you and me, they sensed a distancing
from God and could not find closeness through religious practices. They, like you and me, desired a
relationship, which is exactly what God gave them.
But some people still didn’t get
it. Some people were still looking for
closeness and oneness and love by following a list; by being religious.
People still don’t get it. They still don’t understand what being a Christian is about. It’s about God drawing near to those of us
who are sick and filled with sin. It’s
about Jesus reaching out to hold us when we are covered in shame. It’s about Jesus gazing into our eyes and
saying, “I love you” while hanging on the cross. It’s about
forgiving us even though we’ve denied Him over and over again.
You know the kind of emptiness I’m
talking about. It’s there when you feel
like no one understands you. It’s there
when you feel alone in a crowded room.
It’s the ache in your heart that desires to be loved for who you
are. The answer to this emptiness may
not be quite so obvious. He is standing
there among you. Behold, the Lamb. His name is Jesus. The emptiness you feel will not be filled by
attending church, by doing religious things, or by hanging around with
religious people. The emptiness will
only be filled through a relationship
with Jesus.
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