"Having An Attractive Spirit"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – December 15, 2013

Centenary United Methodist Church

Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11

 

    Our Gospel lesson this morning opens with an interesting twist in the Jesus’ story.  At Jesus’ baptism, John announced to his listeners that he baptizes people in the River Jordan.  The one coming after him, however, will baptize people with The Holy Spirit. (Mark 1:7f) 

    As Jesus entered the water to be baptized the sky opened up and a dove descended on Jesus’ head.   John may have been as mystified as were many of the other witnesses. There was a voice from heaven that said, “You are my own dear son.  I am very pleased with your life.”  (Mark 1:9f)  After experiencing this extraordinary drama, one would think that John understood that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah.  The Scriptures, however, tell us otherwise.

    Matthew records that the ministries of John and Jesus unfolded separately and ran parallel to each other for quite some time.  John became more political in his ministry.  When he learned that Herod Antipas took the wife of his brother Phillip, married her and brought her into the palace, John went on a rampage with his oratory. At every public opportunity John verbally lashed out against the sinful nature of Herod and Herodias.  (Luke 3:19f)   

    Herodias had become so irritated by John’s judgments that she insisted that her husband get him off the streets.  Herod’s men arrested John and put him in prison.  While incarcerated, John began to hear stories about what his cousin was doing.  He sent some of his disciples to talk to Jesus.   They asked Jesus, “Are you the one John said was coming or should we expect someone else?”

    Jesus did not answer the question directly.  Instead, he said, “Tell John what you are seeing and hearing, i.e., the blind can see, the lame can walk, those with leprosy are clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life and the Good News is being preached to the poor.  How joyous are those who have no doubts about me!” (Matthew 11:4f) 

    After saying this, Jesus turned to his crowd of listeners and asked them why they were attracted to John’s preaching, “What did you expect to experience from John?”  Then Jesus used words that must have confounded not only John’s disciples but Jesus’ listeners. He said, “I assure you that John the Baptist is greater than anyone who has ever lived.  But the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.”  (Matthew 11:11f)

    We can only imagine what Jesus’ listeners were thinking.   As we hear these words, we might think to ourselves, “If everyone gets into the kingdom of heaven on some level, and John the Baptist is living on the first floor of someone’s back porch and not living in one of God’s mansions, where does that place a person like me?”  We have a potential dilemma here.  How could John be the finest person that ever lived and at the same time be lower than the least spiritually aware person in the kingdom of heaven?

    One of the things that we frequently forget is that John only had knowledge of God from the stories he knew from his ancestors.  The authors of the Old Testament understood Yahweh as being long on rules and very short on showing mercy.  To the early writers Yahweh was tyrannical, jealous and very moody.  These images of God deeply influenced John.

    For example, once an Israelite was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath.  “Yahweh declared, ‘This man must be put to death.   The whole community is to stone him to death outside the camp.’  So the entire community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death as the Lord had commanded.”  (Numbers 15:32f) 

    The author of Genesis provides us with another example of how early writers understood Yahweh. He wrote “A man named Er was evil and his behavior displeased the Lord, so the Lord killed him.”  (Genesis 38:7) 

    Yahweh had little tolerance for anyone with mixed loyalties. Listen to this passage, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take all the leaders of Israel that worshipped Baal and, in obedience to me, execute them in broad daylight, and then I will no longer be angry with my people. (Numbers 25:4f)

    We have to understand the preaching of John the Baptist, in light of how he had been trained to think about the God.   John was preaching very uncompromising words as he walked along the banks of the Jordan River, “Repent and be saved from God’s wrath.” When he saw the crowds coming to hear him, he noticed that tax collectors, teachers and soldiers were among them. John said, “You snakes!  Who told you that you could escape the punishment God is going to send?”  (Luke 3:7) 

    It was this understanding of God that caused him to make a stand against Herod.  We know the story of what happened while John was in prison.  John had become so venomous that Herodias devised a plan to silence his voice forever.  During his birthday party, an intoxicated Herod announced that he would give the daughter of Herodias anything she wanted.  At her mother’s suggestion, the daughter answered, “Bring to me the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”  (Matthew 14:1-8)  Herod’s men followed through and John was beheaded.

    John did the best he could with what he knew.  He died never knowing anything about the new message Jesus would bring about the nature of God.  John had said, “I baptize with water but the one that is coming after me will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus provided his listeners with a very different image of God unlike anything the Jews had ever heard.

    Jesus brought into the world a spirit of joy – the bouquet of spiritual maturity.  This morning we are celebrating joy by lighting the third Advent Candle.    Jesus’ message was not about setting up a kingdom that was destined to become a political reality.  His Kingdom was one of attitude and not legal reforms.  His Kingdom was located within people and had nothing to do with governmental structures and agencies. His Kingdom was about spiritual freedom and not about binding people to a fixed religious thought system filled with laws that needed to be obeyed. 

    John was not aware of the nature of God that Jesus would later reveal during his ministry.   He did not live long enough to hear anything Jesus said.  The Apostle Paul understood the message very clearly when he wrote, “I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may possess vast knowledge and understand life’s greatest mysteries, I may also have the power to move mountains – but if I have no love, I am nothing.”  (I Corinthians 13:2)

    Joy communicates to everyone.  No one can miss someone whose spirit exudes happiness, caring and compassionate attitudes, laughter, dancing eyes and a smile that is contagious.   These qualities are what make our lives attractive.  John attracted crowds with the fear of God’s judgment.  Jesus attracted them with acts and words of love.

    Joy comes to us because we now know what Jesus knew – the outcome of what we hope for is assured.  God’s will is unfolding.  All we have to do is bring that confidence into every episode of life.  We understand joy as an emotion that is unsustainable.  The joy we are talking about this morning is not an emotion.  Joy has to do with letting go and letting God.  Our task is to remain a very attractive spirit without becoming bogged down with a timetable of when we want our dreams to be accomplished.

    Jesus ate with people that the Hebrew laws and traditions labeled as sinners.  He taught his listeners how to let go of all the perceived faults and failures of other people and allow the work of redemption to remain up to the unlimited mercy of God.  (Matthew 7:1f)

    Jesus became a lighthouse that guided his listeners through life, helping them to recognize the ghosts that their fears represented.  Jesus offered guidance toward what brings comfort and acceptance to everyone in their path.  Jesus taught how each of them could become tools that the spirit of God can use to brighten the world. 

    As a little boy, Robert Louis Stevenson remembers staying home from school one day because he was sick.  Following his supper that evening, he sat in the family’s living room feeling sorry for himself.  Suddenly, his attention was drawn to an event taking place outside.  The sky was very dark.  His eyes were attracted to the old Scotsman as he came down the main street of Edinburgh to light all the oil lamps that lined each side of the road.

    Years later as he remembered this experience, Stevenson wrote, “This is what I will never forget about that lamplighter – each evening wherever he went, he left light behind him.  This gentle old soul was only missed on the day that he took sick.  It was the darkness that drew attention to something all Edinburgh had taken for granted for years.”

    There is nothing that our world needs more than happy, joy-filled people who leave light behind them wherever they go.  People may only notice the darkness when we are no longer a part of their lives. What remains important, however, is what God does through the attractive spirit by which we lived.  Our real accomplishments in life may be hidden from us. Our task is not about looking in the rear view mirror to see who we might be impressing.  Our task is to walk through life, confident that God’s will is being done.  This understanding is enough to sustain our joy for as long as we live.