Listen, man, or Son of Man as you call yourself, we’re thinking you need a little help here. You are such a novice at this sort of thing. Like when you tried to launch your message. What were you thinking using that weirdo JTB as your advance team? This guy lived in the desert, basically just an empty limestone lot. Not to mention how he only wore camel hair clothes (that stuff itches!) and ate locusts (ugh) and wild honey (bet he got stung more than once going after that stuff.) Way too radical for forming a platform to build your base.

Ok, so crowds did turn up to see what he was about. Not that his message debuted with a heartwarming invitation. Evidently he was a shouter. That certainly added to the circus. But he seemed to have in mind what the masses needed to hear.

People, Get Ready!

“Prepare!” he called to them. “Make the roads straight and smooth!” It was an order to lay the groundwork and substructure for what would be coming. When great rulers and sovereigns were traveling, the people would clear out the rocks and fill in the potholes that not only made a ride easier but also travel faster. The people were looking for someone to come, and this someone they’d been waiting for a long time. Of course, they would want him to get there as soon as possible. They were even willing to go all the way into the desert wilderness hoping the wait would not be long now.

Granted, that works. Out there in the middle of nowhere, the multitude would see there was a need for better infrastructure. Let the setting reinforce itself in the context where they were standing. Good move there. Let them get to work. Here’s though where things start to get messy. This guy, who is as bizarre as they come, tells people they need to change? What’s this, a do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do line he’s feeding them? Run, guys, run! This dude is going to lose it for sure!

Rearrange, Revise, Reverse

“Repent!” That’s a loaded word for sure. Yes, it was the center of his message, but it had meaning beyond the surface. Oh, they’d heard this enough in their familiar religious settings. But he asked for something besides just being sorry for the mistakes of life. And it wasn’t because they had not followed the restrictive, life-sucking tenants of the law their priests had put on them. To repent meant turn from, reverse in your heart and soul the false values, insidious thought processes, the lies, denials, and injustices in which you rest your life and lifestyles. Repent of all the ways you have failed to love God with all you’ve got in mind, body, soul and strength. Acknowledge how you have not loved both neighbor and enemy as you have loved yourself. Move out of this hopelessness in which you live and turn to new ways of thinking, living, even loving. Prepare a new road in yourself that will lead to something better. See ahead the beauty, justice, truth, and peace that will dawn with a new day.

Again, nice. Take the old message, (you say they had heard this before in their ancient writings?), and reframe it, make it mean more. They have something new to wrap their minds around. That’s good for you, Son of Man. You can build on that kind of thing. If only he’d stopped there. No, your friend (distant cousin? that makes sense), really stretches it out from there.

Renewal

“Baptize!” Repentance means there will be a change, and to be baptized required a physical change, a move from desert place to a river known as the Jordan. Around rivers there is life within the water and along the shore. Rivers provide hydration, a cooling of the bodily core after arid heat has burned your skin, and a soothing flow of current to massage the physical frame. With immersion in the water and rising again comes a sense of renewal, a cleansing from what life and choices have laid on you. Preparing to live in straight smooth roads of life, repenting, and turning from the old ways brings revitalization. Forgiveness and acceptance by God rest in that cleansing with a sense of rebirth.

Humm. So it’s a choice. You can do what you’ve always done (and you know what they call it when you think that will get you different results). Or you can make an about-face, a reversal in priorities and dedication to God and the changed life ahead. But you know what, even your John the Baptist didn’t seem to know exactly where that would look lead. Yeah, he had a pretty good idea it would be really something. Even so, he wasn’t taking credit for it. He even said he wasn’t good enough to act as servant to you and untie your sandals. Whew, that’s humility. He knew his limitations. To baptize with water was his thing. But from you it would be a baptism with the Holy Spirit. What the heck does that mean?

Good Question. (Don’t you love it when people answer like that. Usually, it means their mind is spinning.) To be fair, it’s not an easy answer. As with most spiritual encounters, you have to experience it to even start to understand it, and yet the mystery of it will remain. The short answer is it lies in the life of the one to come, the one for whom this preparation, reversal, and renewal is meant. It’s lies in how the story began,

“Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Mark 1:1-8

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