Theme: The Spirit and the
Baptism of Jesus
There is a wall, a concrete wall, some 20 feet high and 2 feet thick,
some of you may know, called the Separation wall, which, because it runs all
along the Israel-Palestine border, runs right through Bethlehem. Right through
the middle of fields, lanes, gardens, across roads, irrespective. Last year,
one evening in April, next to the watchtower on the Separation Wall at Rachel’s
Tomb a group of children gathered. Some stood in the little square, others on
the balconies of the houses there, yet others on the flat roofs. This was a
choir. At a given sign, they started to sing, and as the singing gathered in
strength, the melody and harmony of the song was picked up and carried by the
wind over the wall to the other side where a vast refugee camp, the Aida Camp
lies. There, 50 children were gathered, listening. When they heard the music
rising and falling in the breeze they joined in. For an evening at least, the
restrictions, checkpoints and the Separation wall itself were no longer
there.........
In the opening chapter of John's
gospel..........
the gospel records for us times,
days in which people paused, people listened, wondering if they had heard something,
something like music carried in on the wind, now rising, now falling, now strong,
now fading. Wondering what they had heard. At any rate men and women seemed to
sense something, something nearing. a sense of something
coming, or about to happen.
Religious experts looking for the source of what it is, looking for its
epicentre came hurrying to the
John says to them........ No, I am not the one,
I am not the Messiah...............
Who are you then ? Are you Elijah
? No, I am not. Are you the Prophet........ No
Who are you......... ? John tells them he is
only a messenger of what or who is to come. I am the voice of one calling in
the desert, Make straight the way for the Lord...................
But it’s not me...........
So the question still reverberates:
Who or what ? is it ? coming, happening ? people ask.
But, there’s a surprise waiting for the attentive reader of the gospel.
We discover that John the Baptist, the voice of one calling in the desert, the
prophet of who or what is coming, doesn't know who it is either...........
John says - I do not know who it is !
Why is this a surprise ? Well, here is this
deeply faithful, man of prayer, long years in the desert have
sharpened his gaze to a piercing sight. With that penetrating gaze of his, he
sees through the shabby hypocrisy of teachers of the law, the low morals of the professional soldiers,
the unscrupulous ways of the tax collectors
Yet, he cannot see 'Who' is coming, or has come.
Speaking later of this, John the Baptist
says: I myself did not know him.
There might be a sense of something happening, a sense of the ages and
time itself shifting. But
no-one knows much. We then read in the first chapter of
the gospel these words: The Word was in
the world… yet the world did not recognize him. He came to His own country, but
His own people did not receive Him…..”
He was unrecognized, and His
own people did not receive Him….
And in the midst of this is John the Baptist, who declares, that he does
not know who the One is either !
What does all this mean ?
Well, this shows us, as declared throughout the gospel, this core truth, that human beings cannot, do not discover the things
of the Lord for themselves, until the living God breaks in from beyond.
Jesus says to Nicodemus, a highly intelligent man in a position of
leadership in the country....... the things of the
This is, in fact, a basic truth of the Bible - what we know of Jesus
Christ is shown to us,
given to us, all we have of faith, each victory, each comfort, all we
know, and cherish, and love and see in Jesus Christ and his cross,
all of this is given to us, in the Father’s loving purposes by His Spirit.
Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew's gospel Blessed
are you Simon son of Jonah, this was not revealed to you by man, but by my
Father in heaven..............
Back to John the Baptist: in the midst of all that is going on he does
not know who the One is who is to come ! So where is
this knowledge going to come from ? What would we expect ? It will be given ! And
that’s exactly what John says: I would not have known him, says John, except that the one who sent me.........................told me,
John the Baptist did not know who would be the One,
this is given to him to know, by the living God !
Two questions arise here: How is this given, or shown or revealed to John ?
And what is John given to know ?
First: How is this given, or shown or revealed
to John ?
John the Baptist did not know who would be the One,
who
the One would be………. But the living God commanded John to start baptising men
and women in the waters of the
John, in fact, describes that
momentous and holy moment ….. he tells us that when Jesus came down to the
river, – I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and rest on Him………I
have seen it, and I tell you……..
We see here, what the Holy
Spirit does. The Holy Spirit shows, reveals, demonstrates who Jesus is.
Someone once wrote that what the Holy Spirit does is like the
floodlighting on a great cathedral on a dark night. Without the lights noone
can see the cathedral. But if the lights are on the building is lit up against
the night sky, in all its glorious soaring height, and shape, and strength
This is what the Spirit does here. Amongst all those coming for Baptism,
the Spirit comes down, rests on Jesus of Nazareth.
How did John the Baptist know
that Jesus was the One promised ?
John knows, not because he is
a great religious man, or because his prophetic power is greater than everbody
else’s. John knows who Jesus is, knows that Jesus is the promised One, because
the radiance of the Spirit is upon Jesus, showing John, opening John’s eyes,
filling his mind with light, enabling him to see that it is Jesus, enabling him
to see who Jesus is. The One promised.
What exactly is John given to know
about Jesus ?
What has been given or revealed to John to see ?
let
us reflect for a moment on that.
First, it is given to John the
Baptist to see Jesus, upon whom the Spirit rests
John is shown that rests the Spirit of God rests upon the man Jesus of Nazareth
I would not have known ! says
John the Baptist, but God said, You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a
man.......... He is the one ! Jesus of Nazareth, is the One on whom, with whom and in whom the
glory and power and life of the Spirit rest.
In Isaiah 42, we read the
promise given by the Lord, about the One He would send: “the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased… I have filled Him with
My Spirit, and He will bring justice to every nation”
What more did the Spirit show
to John of Jesus ?
Well, in words of further,
deep revelation, when John saw Jesus coming, he said…
There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world !
The Spirit shows this to John
the Baptist: That Jesus is the Lamb – whose life is One
of holiness and purity, unblemished perfection, whose life is the perfect human
life, lived in God. But in declaring Jesus to be the Lamb of God,
John is also declaring that just
as in sacrifice a Lamb was offered up in the
Jesus is the Son of God
When John saw Jesus coming, he
further said…
I have seen, says John the Baptist, I have seen,
and I tell you that He is the Son of God It is revealed to John the
Baptist, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Eternal Son who has come among us as a
human being. Jesus: I have seen
it, says John, and I tell you that He
is the Son of God…….
A last question
How might we come to see Jesus so clearly, like John ?
Well, the message of the gospel of is that all this is already ours, The Father is already at work in us, drawing us,
opening our eyes to see His Son Jesus Christ, strengthening us in faith. All
that we know of Jesus and Who he is, his life, his
cross, his resurrection, confidence in faith, our certainty in Jesus, all of
this is the work of the Spirit for us and in us, just as it is in the gospel. Paul talking about these things says: We
have received the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has
freely given us and again The Creator God who said let there be light made his
light to shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ..
The Father is at
work in us, through His Spirit, opening our eyes to see His Son Jesus Christ. And
so our faith deepens........... and we are caught up, to see what John saw: That
is: Jesus as the One who gives the Spirit, Jesus as the Lamb of God, and His
cross, Jesus as the Son of the living God.
Sometimes we are
only too well aware of the weakness of our faith, we are often aware that there
is much that we have yet to understand,
but we
should not be discouraged, for the Father is working, active, and creative, in
us, drawing us to His Son, Jesus Christ. Deepening our knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Through the light of the Holy Spirit we too come to see Jesus of
Nazareth as Son of God, not simply man, as the Lamb of God, the Saviour of the
world. We come to experience the height, depth, breadth, as Paul says, of
knowing Jesus Christ................
Let us, then, in the
openness of faith, allow the Spirit
to work in
us, let us allow Him to lighten our way, to guide and shape our lives into the
strength and fulness of Christ to the glory of God the Father
AMEN