Follow Me!

Today’s Gospel lesson is a story we’ve heard time and again. But let’s take a close look and see if we can find something new that we’ve not seen before…

Who was Mark?

Mark is telling us this version of the story. So who, exactly, was Mark and how did he know about Jesus? Was Mark a disciple? – well, he isn’t included in any of the lists of disciples given in any of the Gospels. So who was Mark?

In the 14th chapter of Mark, we get a clue. Immediately after Jesus is arrested, Verses 51 and 52 tell us: “51 Now a certain young man, having a linen cloth wrapped around his naked body, was following Him. They caught hold of him, 52 but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked.”

Early church fathers told us that this was Mark writing about himself. He was the young man. Do we have any further information about Mark? How was he connected to the other apostles? Let’s take a minute and learn some more about Mark.

In Acts 12:12, Peter escapes prison with the help of an angel and goes to the Jerusalem house of “Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark.” And a few verses later, when Barnabus and Saul finish their mission to Jerusalem, they return to Antioch and take with them “John, also called Mark.” John Mark accompanies them to Antioch, and then on a mission to Cyprus and to south-central Turkey, where John Mark leaves to return to Jerusalem. Later, in Antioch, in Chapter 15, Barnabas and Paul want to return to the churches they had established. Barnabas wants to take John Mark with them, but Saul felt Mark was unreliable because he had deserted them during their first journey. So Barnabas took Mark to Cyprus and Saul took Silas by the overland route.

Later, In Colossians 4:10, “Mark, the cousin of Barnabas” is with Paul. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul asks Timothy to “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” Mark is also with Paul when he writes the letter to Philemon. And in 1 Peter 5:13, we find Mark is with Peter in Babylon.

The early church fathers believed that Mark received much of his Gospel story through both being an eyewitness and hearing the stories from Barnabas and Paul, and particularly from Peter. So it seems fair to say that Mark was probably in his middle teens at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, and then traveled with the various apostles over the next thirty or forty years. Almost all Biblical scholars believe that Mark’s Gospel was the first Gospel written, with traditional scholars believing he wrote around 50 AD, and more modern scholars (who believe that prophecy cannot exist) assigning dates in the 70’s after the fall of Jerusalem (because, you see, Jesus predicts the fall of Jerusalem in Mark’s Gospel, and modern biblical scholars are not allowed to believe in prophecy according to the rules of their profession.)

Mark begins his Gospel telling us a bit about John the Baptist, whom Mark explains is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”

John preaches in the wilderness and then baptizes Jesus, who goes at once into the wilderness to be tested by Satan forty days. Then, after John was put into prison, Jesus begins preaching in Galilee that “the time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

The next scene for Mark is when Jesus is walking beside the Sea of Galilee, the large freshwater lake in the north of modern-day Israel. Jesus sees Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net into the lake. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” And, according to Mark, “at once they left their nets and followed him.”

Jesus walked a bit farther on and saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee preparing their nets in a boat. He called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus.

A Bit of Background

Now, reading just Mark’s version, we might get the idea that Jesus just walked along the lakeshore, yelled at these four men, and they decided right then and there to follow Him. But when we read the Gospel of John, we find that there is more to this.

According to John the Apostle, after John the Baptizer baptized Jesus, each of the next two mornings, John pointed out Jesus to his disciples as “Look, the Lamb of God” and explained more about Jesus, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. After hearing this the second time, Andrew and John the Apostle, who were two of John the Baptizer’s disciples, followed Jesus and spent some time talking with Him. Andrew then brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus, who nicknamed him Rock – Cephas in Aramaic, or, as the Greek name Petros is translated, Peter.

Jesus also found Philip, who introduced his friend Nathanael to Jesus. The two of them followed Jesus back to Galilee, where the next day, a wedding was held at the village of Cana. It was at this wedding that Jesus, prompted by His mother Mary, turned water into great tasting wine when the caterers ran out of wine. We think that he then headed into the wilderness to be tested by Satan for forty days.

And it was only after these events that Jesus went walking along the lakeshore and found Simon and Andrew and the Apostle John and his brother James. And so, the calling of these four disciples doesn’t seem so odd and sudden. They had met Jesus about 6 weeks earlier, talked with Jesus, and heard John’s endorsement of Jesus. And so they followed Jesus!

Have you ever thought about what would have happened in the lives of the four fishermen if they hadn’t followed Jesus?

Let’s think about this. We’ll take Peter, for example, with his given name of Simon in our story. After all, Peter was a name given to him by Jesus. So he would never been known by that nickname. He would never have been called “Rock”. Instead, he would have been simply Simon. Simple Simon?

Simon owns a small fishing boat. His brother Andrew helps him. Andy and Simon spend every day cleaning and repairing their nets, and every night fishing on the lake. They throw the nets in the water and they pull the nets in, lifting that heavy rope into the boat to catch a few fish. And then they repeat the process.

James and John do the same, except their father Zebedee is still alive. They work for him. Clean the nets, repair the nets, throw the nets in the water and pull the nets in. Good for the arms. Good for the legs. Good for the back. Not so good for the mind nor the pocketbook. And one night, a storm hits and they sink.

Jesus sees our potential!

You see, Jesus saw the potential with these fishermen. He knew that they had good, quick minds and he knew they could speak well. Simon Peter was rough, but he had potential. His loud captain’s voice would be important when Simon began to preach, leading 3000 men to Jesus at Peter's first sermon. John had a mind for the Greek language – He was eloquent – but as a fisherman he had nothing to write about. Yet Jesus saw his potential. And one day, John wrote:

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created.
4 Life was in Him,
and that life was the light of men.
5 That light shines in the darkness,
yet the darkness did not overcome it. 

Such beautiful poetry that John wrote! Jesus saw John's potential!

The fisherman Andrew was just a helper on a fishing boat. The disciple Andrew brought all sorts of people to Jesus. Fisherman James was probably third in command of the fishing boat. The disciple James became so prominent in the early church that Herod Agrippa had him executed.

And so it is with us. We each have tremendous potential.

Yet, if we do not follow the call of Jesus, our potential is wasted. We remain useless to Jesus. We stay on the boat, living a life of cleaning and repairing nets, of dropping nets over the side and lifting them out of the water.

But if we follow Jesus – perhaps we can realize our potential. Perhaps Jesus can teach us to speak, to teach, to write, to lead people with love. Do you realize that every person listening to me could lead 10 or 20 or hundreds of people to Christ?

Don’t tell me you are too young. My son Andrew began ministry as a child and led his first church at age 19. Don’t tell me you are too old. A friend of mine led her nursing home roommate to the Lord at age 98 when she was already terribly deaf and her friend was nearly blind. Don’t tell me you have too much education – I have friends who have multiple master’s degrees and doctorate degrees. Don’t tell me you are too uneducated – I have a friend with a simple high school education who is a successful pastor. Jesus has one request for you – will you follow Him? If so, Jesus will provide everything else you need.

Most of us have heard bits and pieces about Jesus for years, often since early childhood. We know that Jesus is called the Son of God; we know that Jesus has a lot to do with Christmas and with Easter. We may have heard of the crucifixion and the resurrection, and we know that Christianity has a lot to do with Jesus – but until we begin to come regularly to church, we don’t put it all together. And we surely don’t pull together the other stories, like Noah and Samson and Joshua and Jericho, like the Apostles Peter and Paul, and who was Silas? Maybe we’ve heard of the rapture and the return of Christ, we may have heard of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – but who were they? And we know that Christians are supposed to be good people, but what does it mean to be good, and what, exactly is a hypocrite and why is that word so long?

Starting in two weeks, I’m going to begin a series of sermons that will pull together all of these bits and pieces and try to put it together in a single, epic story that will help you understand how it all fits together. Every week, we’ll try to understand another piece of the puzzle and how this all goes together. And this will be more than just a story – along the way we’ll learn how Christians are supposed to act toward each other and toward those who are not yet Christians, we’ll learn how to tell the Gospel story ourselves and lead others to meet and follow Jesus, as Andrew and Philip did with Andrew’s brother Simon and Philips’s friend Nathanael.

And through it all, I hope that this will help you make sense of it all, so that you begin to follow Jesus more closely.

Notice I said, to follow Jesus. One of those pieces and bits that we’ve heard over the years is that we are to BELIEVE in Jesus. That’s true. We are indeed to believe in Jesus. There are a couple of distinct points where we are told to believe in Jesus. But there are about eighty places in the New Testament where we are told to FOLLOW Jesus. Twice we are told to believe in Jesus; eighty times we are told to FOLLOW Jesus. And so we’ll focus on what it means to follow Jesus.

Why listen to Jesus?

And why should we worry so much about Jesus?

Because Jesus claimed to be God walking upon this earth. He made this claim repeatedly – sometimes in words, as when He said, “I and the Father are one” – and other times in His actions, as of when He boldly forgave people of their sins. The people standing around were outraged – only God could forgive people of their sins. The people standing around picked up rocks to throw at Him, attempting to stone him to death, the punishment for blasphemy. He was eventually crucified on a Friday afternoon for the crime of claiming to be equal to God. And the crowd was happy, because clearly Jesus had been out of his mind.

But then, on Sunday, reports began circulating that He had come back to life, something that couldn’t happen without God’s power and endorsement. And He was seen alive in at least eleven different appearances, speaking, eating, joking, even cooking breakfast for a group of seven men. And the audience for each appearance was different, with over five hundred people seeing him and at least seven of them writing down their testimony of His appearances. And since that time, literally thousands and millions of people have testified that Jesus lives and has changed their lives.

For, you see, if Jesus is truly the Son of God, as the testimony of millions of people agrees upon, then whatever He says is of wonderful and terrible importance to us. If Jesus is God walking on the earth, One with the Father who created the Universe and all the physical laws that govern the Universe – then His teachings are absolutely critical to understanding how to live in that Universe. And if Jesus has died and been resurrected, then He holds the keys to life and death and resurrection, and it is very important for us to know Him.

And so, when Jesus walked along the lakeshore and spoke to those fishermen who were preparing their nets for another hard day of work, trying to squeeze out a living – when Jesus said “Follow Me”, he was also saying this to us who work hard to survive today. And just like those fishermen who chose to immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus, we should also plan to spend time learning about what Jesus has to say and who He was and is. Thankfully, we no longer have to walk around from town to town to learn these things. We can follow five simple steps by ourselves, not needing a church, but simply stepping forward on our own:

First, we can read our scripture. Which scripture? How about staring with the Gospels of Mark and John to begin with. You’ll find them near the beginning of the New Testament. Find out what Jesus did from people who saw Him live. Read from a modern translation like the New King James or the New International Version so we can understand more easily what we read. We can read alone, but a church can guide our understanding.

Second, we can pray for understanding. Pray daily before we read to God and ask that we understand what we read. And take your time to listen for God’s reply. Pray with your spouse or child or a friend – together. We can pray alone, but in a church group there is prayer power.

Third, we can begin to give to God and the church. Give money (yes!) but more importantly give time, give service, give talents, give your presence which will help others. We can do much ourselves, but more can be accomplished by working together with others.

Fourth, fast. If your health allows it, skip a meal or even a day or two of meals. Let God show you that you live because of God, not because of food. If your health does not allow you to skip food, then fast from other things. Fast from anger, fast from Facebook, fast from the news, fast from the other things which claim to be so important in your life. We can fast alone, but we can better stay the course through rough times with godly friends who can support us in avoiding what we should not have.

Fifth – Do evangelism. Try to explain the Good News of Jesus’ story to someone else. To do so will require you to act like Jesus teaches us to act in scripture. It will require you to ask God for the words to say through prayer. It will require you to give of time and talent. It will require you to fast by give up doing something that is not needed to make time for the important task of leading your friend to Christ. We can do this daily with the people we meet, but it helps to learn from others who are experienced.

Read scripture, pray, give, fast, and evangelize. These are the daily ways that God gives us grace – but each requires us to give God permission to act by taking the first steps toward any of these five actions. Read, pray, Give, Fast, Evangelize. We start – and God fills us with God’s grace through these simple, individual means of grace. Individual actions, yes. But strengthened when we join with others.

It is something worthy of spending some time on during this terrible winter, a time when we are locked down, locked in, and have little else to do. For it might prove to be a time when we looked up and saw the Son of God speaking to us.
“Follow Me”, he said – and still says. And for those four fishermen, their lives were never the same again.

Your life can change too.

Prayer

Let us pray:

God of the Universe, lead us to speak on Your behalf. Lead us to accomplish Your mission in this world. Give us people to speak to, the words to say, and fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may speak with gentleness and grace, leading people to Your Son, Jesus, sharing His guidance, praying to Him, looking expectantly to eternal life, worshiping our God, and being assured of the Truth. This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Benediction

Heavenly Father, bless us and guide us each one, that one day you may say about us, “These are my daughters and sons, whom I love, in them I am well pleased. “ Go and serve the Lord! Amen !

Jesus is Baptized

As many of you know by now, I usually follow the lectionary, a three-year cycle of readings that cover the most important aspects of the New and the Old Testament. Today, I had a choice, a choice between the readings of Epiphany, which is the visit of the wise men from the East to the young Jesus, and the readings of the Baptism of the Lord. I chose to go with the Baptism readings, but we should note that both events and readings are united by faith – the faith the wise men had to follow the star hundreds of miles, the faith the wise men had to bow down and worship the young child – and the faith that Christians must show as they encounter Jesus and choose the sacrament of Baptism. Let’s go back in time for a while, back to a day long ago in the dry land of Palestine, back to a young man named Andrew who was a follower of a wild and crazy prophet, a man known to history as John the Baptist…
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Mark 1

It was another day down at the Jordan River. Our leader, the crazy holy man John – they called him John the Baptist – John was baptizing an endless succession of people who had come down from Jerusalem, down that long, long walk down the 3000 feet from the Mount of Olives, down past Jericho where Herod the foreign King, an Edomite, had his golden palace, and across the valley to the Jordan River.

My brother and I had followed him for several months. John told us to repent, to rethink our relationship with God, because the kingdom of heaven has come near. And then he baptized us to clean us of our sins, like the way a farmer washed his hands before a meal to clean the filth off. So many of us had forgotten God’s Law, we had forgotten things in the struggle to survive, we had forgotten that God had led us into this land – not Moses, not Aaron, but they had followed God and we had followed them so many years before.

We had forgotten that God’s plan was not for us to follow human leaders, but to follow God directly. We had forgotten that the Law was for us to learn and understand, not just for our leaders to interpret for us. We had forgotten that we were responsible to an all-seeing God – not just to leaders who could only see us when we were in their presence. And just like many times before, we had turned away from God and because of that we had been conquered once again.

Our people had been conquered by Assyrians, by Babylonians, by Egyptians, by Edomites. We had been conquered by Philistines, by Persians, by Macedonians, and by Greeks. And now we had been conquered by Romans.

At first, we thought that John might be the Messiah, the savior of the Jewish nation, the man who would free us from the Romans. But he assured us that he was not the Messiah, yet here was this man acting and dressing like the prophets of hundreds of years ago, living on food that God brought him, dressing in clothes that he made himself, speaking in public the words that all the people wanted to say, all the people except those people who were in power in the land. He reminded us of Elijah, the great prophet that spoke to Ahab and Jezebel and destroyed the priesthood of Baal.

Oh, it was amazing the way he spoke – there was nothing subtle about John! One day some Sadducees and Pharisees came down from Jerusalem, dressed in their fine blue-and-white robes, wearing tassels that each took a woman a day or more to make. Each one of those men wore a robe that would take me three months to buy if I worked every day and saved all the money just for that piece of fine cloth. Can you imagine a single outfit of clothing costing three month’s of your wages? Worse yet, they argued that unless you wore these clothes, you could not be right with God!

Of course, our leaders had made deals with the Romans and with Herod, they owned the land, they ran the Temple, they had come from good families whose grandfathers and fathers had bought up land when people couldn’t pay their taxes, the taxes that had built that gold-covered Temple. And us? My brother owned a fishing boat on the lake, and we spent long, hard hours six nights a week catching fish to sell to the Romans and whoever else would buy them. We worked hard, and we had saved up enough money to come and spend some time with crazy John, the eldest son of a Levite priest.

But earlier that day those Sadducees and Pharisees had come down to the river. It was so hot that day! Down in the valley it was extra hot as the blinding sun beat against the walls of the valley and those rocks bounced the heat down to us. The river’s humidity let green plants grow, it was true, but it made things feel hotter, we were sweating so much, the water was cool but not cold to the touch.

Flies buzzed around, the stink of people and animals and cooking fires bringing them all together here at the riverbank. A dozen of those flies came charging towards me. I moved to avoid the smell of a donkey that had decided to unload yesterday’s meal beside me, the pile that was attracting those flies. Oh, to live in a place without flies! It seemed like everything was rotten or decaying in our land. Between Herod’s taxes and what the Romans took, everything was falling apart. Some clouds came across the sun as the group of Sadducees and Pharisees came walking down to the riverbank. Things turned dark.

John saw those blue-and-white robed men and he shouted, ““You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” – I told you John had a way of saying what we all wanted to say. “Brood of vipers!” Yes, they slithered down the road like the snakes they were. But John wasn’t finished with them:

“Did you come to repent? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” He waved his arm at the hot rocks that lie all around. John was really on a roll today. So often our leaders argued that they were fine with God simply because they could trace their ancestors back to Abraham.

“Produce good fruit for God! The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fi-re.” And he said it that special way he always said it for emphasis – “Fi-re” and you knew he meant that those priests and those people who split hairs over the Law were headed to hell fire even though they made all the sacrifices, they went to the Temple every week, they did their duty under the Law toward God but they ignored the suffering, despairing, dying people around them and, worse yet, they blamed the problems of the people who were suffering on those people and felt smug about their nice clothes, their beautiful Temple, and their ability to buy and sell dozens of animals when we could barely hope to have a milk cow.

But despite his loud, thundering voice, John was a humble man who knew his place in the world. His duty toward God was to tell the people of the coming Messiah: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fi-re. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fi-re.” And the blue-and-white dressed men knew John was speaking of them, that they would be thrown into the fire.

And it was about that time that the stranger showed up.

A muscular man, about thirty years old, on the tall side, he looked a bit like John, except where John was all crazy looking and loud, this man was calm and had a pleasant smile. And His eyes – they pierced you when He looked at you and you knew that He knew everything about you and yet even though He knew everything about you, He cared for you still, He wasn’t repulsed, He was waiting to help you. But that came later…

Today, this man walked down to the water. I was standing there close enough to hear John and Him talk. John must have known Him – I later found out they were cousins. The new man said, “John, please baptize me.”

John’s eyes opened wide and said, ““I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”

That got my attention! Who was this stranger? Who was this man that John claimed was holier than John, for that is the only conceivable thing that John could mean when he said, “I need to be baptized by you.”

The stranger looked at John with those eyes and said, “Nevertheless, we need to do this because righteousness demands it. It is the right thing to do.” And then John relented and baptized Jesus. And when Jesus came up from the water, the clouds parted, a beam of sunlight shone on Him, He bowed His head in prayer, and a dove landed on his shoulder. And then it happened: A voice boomed from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” And the thunder echoed across the valley. And I thought, “Who IS this man?” I soon found out!

It was soon after that that Jesus chose me to follow Him and I left John behind, as well as the fishing boat. Over the next three years I came to know Jesus well, as did my brother Peter and the rest of the twelve. He always did the right thing, never taking shortcuts, never turning aside from the path that He had set for Himself. And it always puzzled me why He had to be baptized...
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People today also wonder about baptism. Why do we get baptized? Is one baptism better than another? What’s the deal here?

There are three basic positions on baptism today. There is the Reformed position which many Baptists hold to, there is the simple church-joining position, and there is the third position which is held by Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians and thoughtful Catholics.

First, let’s look at the most common Baptist position, which is also held by many Reformed churches and some Presbyterians.

The idea is that baptism is a public announcement of becoming a Christian – no more, no less. To a many good Baptists, there is nothing more to baptism than this public announcement. Yet, despite this idea that it is only a public announcement of a faith you already have, most Baptist groups have a tremendously detailed list of requirements – you must be baptized by immersion – some groups maintain you must be baptized in a river or creek – you must be a particular age, in some cases you must wear a white robe, and there is a belief that goes along with this that you can - and probably should be - baptized multiple times, with the “best” baptism occurring in the Jordan River, just like Jesus’ baptism.

Yet there is a fundamental contradiction here. If baptism is simply a public announcement, why the big deal over the details? Couldn’t we just take out an ad in the local newspaper – or make a posting on Facebook – “John Smith announces that he has become a Christian?”

At the other extreme, you have the simple church-joining position. The Amish, some Lutherans, and some Catholics take baptism to be simply your acceptance of God’s Laws as expressed by the church. Through baptism you join the church – a particular church. It is a custom with a promise, in the same way that when we join the Army or take public office we give the oath to preserve and defend the Constitution. Once again, simple and easy to handle and understand.

Yet there is a much richer, deeper purpose to baptism in mainline theology, the theology that includes thoughtful Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, most Lutherans. Here’s how baptism works:

When you believe and declare you are following Christ, you are now right with God. God’s wrath is gone from you. You have been in rebellion to God and now you are no longer in rebellion. When you ask for God’s forgiveness, He truly forgives and forgets your sins. So far, so good. Through praying for forgiveness and declaring your belief in Jesus’ worthiness to God, you are now okay with God.

But there is a fundamental change that needs to be made in our souls if we are to remain in God’s good graces. We need to change our spirit. Can you all say “Amen”? We need to stop chasing our own desires and begin doing what God wants. But how can we find out what God wants?

We have three ways to find out what God wants. First, we can listen to godly people – but that was what had the people of Israel messed up by the Sadducees and the Pharisees in John’s day. For there is the question of how we know that our leaders truly understand God’s desires. So there is the second way, which is to read and study scripture by ourselves or with others so that we get our understanding of God’s desires directly from the scripture through which God has spoken. And the third way is to listen to God’s Spirit, which God sends during the baptism ceremony.

John the Baptist told us that he baptized us with water to remove our sins, but there is one who is coming who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. This was Jesus. Let’s explore that a bit.

People are inherently lazy and uncomfortable with change. If I asked you to switch sides of the aisle today, it would be disturbing to almost all of you. I know. It was disturbing to me when a pastor once asked us to move at a church I attended.

Do you think God understands this?

A minute ago, I asked you all to say “Amen” and about half of you did. It is relatively easy, from the security of your pew, to say you believe in Jesus or, for that matter, almost anything. But if I ask you to get up out of your seats, to do something mildly uncomfortable, few of you will do it. How do I know this?

Once at a church we had Holy Communion. I asked about ten people to help serve communion, and most of the people turned me down, which is fine. Really. But why did they turn me down? Because it involves people watching you. It puts you in a position where you might make a mistake and you remember that day back in grade school when you were asked to read, made a mistake, and everyone in the classroom laughed at you. That fear makes us uncomfortable.

We don’t like being uncomfortable. And God knows this. So God asks us to get over our fears and get wet to prove we are really going to follow His Son when the going gets tough.

On Christmas a few years ago at another church, we had two baptisms. I offered both people the chance to get immersed in the creek, have a pitcher of water poured over their head, or get sprinkled. And both chose sprinkling – a choice which has been around since the earliest days of the church. I can’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to get dunked in an ice-cold creek on Christmas Day…We just don’t like the uncomfortable. Of course, that’s why we call it “uncomfortable”, isn’t it? It is difficult to choose a new way when the old way is comfortable – even if the old way keeps us in slavery to sin, while the new way sets us free from sin’s chains.

Now when we get baptized, we apply water, whether through sprinkling a few drops on your forehead, pouring a pitcher over your head, or dunking you in a stream. The water symbolizes either the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the washing away and cleansing of our sins, or a death and rebirth, depending upon which method you choose. You have been baptized by water.

But because of your consent to the baptism, you are giving God permission to reach into your heart and flip a switch. Shortly after the water, I pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon you and now you have a new spirit, a spirit that wants to do good instead of that natural, rebellious spirit that you were born with, that spirit that wants to do everything your way and not God’s way. You have been baptized by the Holy Spirit – which is symbolized by fire.

Where before you were saved from God’s wrath by your belief, now you have a chance to be saved from your own foolishness. That foolishness that tries to keep going on the old, comfortable, sinful path. But now your new spirit – the Holy Spirit – wants to lead you along the right path instead of the foolish, rebellious path. And so you will gradually see that you can notice your sins and get free from them with the prayerful help of God.

And it’s worth noting that wherever the leaders of the early church traveled, they told the story of Christ’s Resurrection, they baptized people with water, and they laid on hands to give the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 19, Paul met up with some believers in Ephesus who had been baptized by John’s baptism, but had never heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul baptized them in the name of Jesus and then laid hands upon them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, with remarkable results.

When I’ve laid hands on people, many of them have reported feeling strangely warmed, as John Wesley reported the night when he first understood that Christ’s salvation is truly a gift of God, without price. It isn’t me – it is the Holy Spirit. We have heard of the fire that came to the believers with the Holy Spirit during Pentecost. Is this warming the fire of the Spirit moving into a new person? I can’t say for sure, but a deep change happens when someone receives both the water and the Spirit.

The earliest known meaning, from about 150 BC, of the word that we translate as baptize meant what happens when a cucumber becomes a pickle. It is baptized – there is a change of something essential in the cucumber. Later on, the word took on the meaning of dyeing cloth, changing its color, which you could do by putting the cloth in the dye, or by pouring or sprinkling the cloth with the dye. We even find in Mark 7:4 that the Pharisees ceremonially purified cups, pitchers, utensils and – according to some early copies of the Gospel of Mark – even dining couches by baptizing them, which meant that those couches were sprinkled to purify them. And so, baptism creates an essential change inside of us and purifies us. That’s why we need to be baptized. We need to be cleansed of sin, changed internally, and receive the Holy Spirit.

But why did Jesus, the sinless Son of God, need to be baptized? He was already pure.

There were ultimately two reasons. The first was that it showed humbleness to do something uncomfortable for God’s sake. Jesus said that it was “to fulfill all righteousness”. It was simply the right thing to do, it was how things should be done, it was proper and even Jesus, Son of God that He was – or perhaps especially Jesus, Son of God – had to do the right thing.

And that leads to the second reason. Following Jesus is a matter of faith. As we get to know Him, we should develop a deeper, more mature and well-grounded faith. Simply put, having faith in Jesus means that we trust Him even when we don’t understand. Jesus said He needed to be baptized – we trust Him – so we put this question off until we can ask Him in person.

And, you know, there are three mysteries we don’t understand.

We don’t really understand death and how Jesus will bring us back to life after death. Yet, we trust that His promises and His power are so reliable that we have faith we shall be resurrected.

Secondly, we don’t really understand all the ins and outs of Holy Communion. We don’t understand just how deeply He meant it when He said that the bread is now His body and the wine or grape juice is now His blood. Yet, on a regular basis we eat and drink those elements and have faith that Holy Communion is a way to grow closer to Jesus. We have faith in the power of the Elements and the Elements nourish our faith.

And third, we don’t fully understand all the details of the relationship between Jesus, the living water which keeps us from every getting spiritually thirsty again, and baptism. We know that in some way water is tied up with our birth, the new birth, the crossing of the Red Sea, the crossing of the Jordan River, life and new life. Have you ever thought that perhaps Jesus needed to be baptized to purify the water for the rest of us? We simply don’t understand it fully. But what we do understand is this: If we have faith in Jesus, if we truly want to follow Jesus, we are to be baptized, especially since Jesus said that His baptism was necessary to fulfill all righteousness.

And so we all have to make a decision. In some cases, our parents had such strong faith that Christianity was the right choice that we were baptized at an early age, even as infants, and hopefully those parents raised us up to be Christian believers, declaring to the world ourselves that we were believers in our teens as we were confirmed.

In other cases, we became adults, unbaptized, having to make that decision ourselves. You may still be in that condition, believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and worthy of being followed, but you haven’t yet stepped forward and received the water of baptism yourself. Now is a good time to make that decision. If you are listening on the radio, give us a call or come by the Church. Let’s talk about your baptism.

Why did I spend time today talking about baptism and not spend more talking about the events at the Capitol last Wednesday? Because in just a hundred years or less, it will be more important to you whether or not you’ve been baptized than anything our politicians do or don’t do. Very little that happens in Washington makes a significant difference in our lives; almost nothing makes any difference in the next life. But a focus upon the things of God is what is eternally valuable to us. This is God’s perspective – to look ahead a hundred or a thousand years and ask, “Does any of this really matter?” And the answer is “yes. What matters is that I chose to follow Jesus as God’s Son and chose to follow His example and be baptized. These things matter – all our politics and controversies turn to dust rather quickly. But following Christ makes an eternal difference. And besides, if you want to change things in this life, first allow the Son of God to change you for the better – and introduce Him to other people so they can also change for the better.

The wise men who traveled from the East did not know many things about the Babe of Bethlehem. Yet, they had faith, and so they bowed the knee when they found Him and they worshipped Him, not fully understanding, but fully having faith that worshipping this young child was the right thing to do. Will you do the right thing? Will you show your faith and be baptized?

If you would like to be baptized, catch me after the service and tell me so. If you want to take a step forward in your relationship with God, let me know. If you want to surrender that last part of yourself that you are reserving from God’s control, talk to me, or one of the other leaders and let us help you surrender your life to God.

Prayer

Let us pray:

God of the Universe, lead us to speak on Your behalf. Bless us with this water, that we may remember our baptism and how you cleansed us for Your purposes, how You forgave us, and how You poured your Holy Spirit into our hearts. Lead us to accomplish Your mission in this world. Give us people to speak to, the words to say, and fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may speak with gentleness and grace, leading people to Your Son, Jesus, sharing His guidance, praying to Him, looking expectantly to eternal life, worshiping our God, and being assured of the Truth. This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen

Song: We were Baptized in Christ Jesus 

Thoughts on the Capitol Siege

This week, I was on top of my game. I wrote most of my sermon on Monday, completed it Tuesday, and sent it to Donna and David on Wednesday the 6th at 1 pm with the suggestions for the Bulletin and the graphics. Then, Saundra and I met my mom for lunch at 2 pm.

Saundra and I eat out about once a week; we go on different days, but like to go at 2 pm because few people are in the restaurants at this time. The lunch crowd is mostly gone and the dinner crowd hasn’t shown up yet – no crowd means good service and few COVID germs lurking about. So we arrived and waited a few minutes for my Mom to arrive. The three of us had a great lunch and finished up around 3 o’clock. And it was soon after that that I began to realize my nicely polished sermon on the baptism of Jesus just wasn’t going to cut it for this Sunday. 

[For the audio and visual versions of this, click here.]

Wednesday Evening

Like many of you, we began watching television news early Wednesday evening. At first we watched NBC, then switched to CBS, then Fox, then back to NBC. I pulled up news reports from both Drudge Report, Associated Press, and National Public Radio – for I have found over the years that no single source can be trusted to give a truly balanced view of things.

Just like many of you, I was appalled at the wild behavior of some of our fellow Americans. And just like many of you, I listened to the reporters, the talking heads, and the anchors. And then I listened to the words of Senators and Congressmen, the words of the President and the words of the Vice-President. Here are my thoughts and reflections on wisdom, maturity, how our speech creates realities, and ways to find truth.

Many of the anchors and commentators expressed surprise that this riot had happened. I heard this surprise expressed by people from all the networks. After a while, I must admit that I yelled at the screen. When another talking head expressed surprise, I said, “Then you are a fool!” For during much of my adult life I have followed politics closely, and met many people who are politically involved with both major parties, as well as some of the small parties, and I can tell you that this riot was not a surprise to me. For some small percentage of people in every large group are bored and looking for excitement and unable to control themselves.

You see, for a certain group of Americans, politics is a religion.

You see, for a certain group of Americans, politics is a religion. Some of these people who follow the political religion are Democrats. Others are Republicans. Still others are Socialists, Libertarians, Communists, or Anarchists. They live their lives in such a way that the outcome of each election is the most important thing in their lives. They often worship a particular man or woman as a liberating god – and they also point to a particular man or woman or group of people as devils.

And make no mistake – I have seen this on all sides of the political spectrum. This particular disease where ordinary men or women get caught up in the political religion is equal opportunity, and it can strike almost anyone, including clergy.

The Bible deals with this. At the time of Jesus’ birth, the land around Jerusalem was ruled by a man known as King Herod the Great. To his credit, he began the renovation and reconstruction of the great Temple of God in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, to accomplish this task, he decided to raise taxes across the kingdom to a new, high level, for his goal was a huge, beautiful Temple, with decorations of gold, silver, and beautiful gems, and that cost much money. Herod’s people bore the brunt of the taxes.

Eventually, Herod the Great died, and his sons and grandsons ruled. In particular, about ten years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus under Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, became the king of most of what is today modern Israel. In Acts 12, Herod Agrippa persecuted the Jerusalem church, had the Apostle James killed, and imprisoned Peter – who escaped with the help of an angel.

The book of Acts and the writings of Josephus, a Jewish and Roman historian, then record that Agrippa then went to Caesarea, a city on the coast where he held games in honor of the Roman emperor Claudius. He wore robes which were made with silver – when he gave his speech in the early morning at the west-facing amphitheater, his robes reflected the early morning sun back at the crowd, glistening and glowing. His flatterers began chanting that this was not the voice of a man but of a god. He did not calm the crowd, but may have actually encouraged their worship. At that point, in the middle of his speech, he was struck by a tremendous pain in his stomach, which continued. He lay in agony for five days and died, apparently because of worms.

Worship only God

There are several lessons to be learned from this. The first lesson and most important lesson is to remember that only God is worthy of being worshipped. For only God – and God’s Son, Jesus Christ – reserve for themselves the honor of being placed first in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Herod Agrippa let the crowd’s worship go to his head – and he was destroyed, painfully, by worms. Coincidence? Or God’s punishment? Both the Bible and Josephus are clear that the worm attack at the time Herod Agrippa was being worshiped as a god was no coincidence.

The second lesson is that worshipping a man or woman will always lead us to disappointment, for men and women are flawed. It has been said that all of our heroes have feet of clay. And so it is with our political leaders – and our clergy leaders. For there is something about having too many compliments, too much adoration, any degree of worship which takes a person down a road where they begin to believe that they never make mistakes they can’t fix, where they believe they are always right, and where they think the rules are for everyone else except themselves. Compare that thinking to being a god. For God is all powerful, able to fix anything. God possesses exceptional intelligence and wisdom, so God is always right, and God makes the rules – and knows when and how to break the rules. That is wonderful when we are talking about God – but that is evil when we are talking about a man or a woman.

For the last twenty years, I have a made a point of trying to keep a balanced outlook on our politics. That’s why I read articles each day from both National Public Radio (NPR), which has a heavily liberal slant, and from Drudge Report, which has a heavily conservative slant. I figure the truth lies somewhere between the two. I also read Science News, which is focused upon just reporting scientific discoveries. In times of crises, I check the Associated Press, the BBC, as well as news services from India, Taiwan, and France. For, you see, I want to get as many viewpoints as possible. And Saundra and I and our son Andrew discuss events as they relate to biblical history.

Over the last few years, our country split into three groups of people. First, there were and are the people who have hated President Trump, who have seen him as the devil incarnate, and who have joined an army to disparage everything about him, as if saying a kind word from time to time about him was betraying all that is right and good. I used to joke to Saundra about the constant slant of articles from NPR that “NPR just ran an article about solar flare headed our way and blamed it on Trump’s policies.” For a while, every bit of news had negatives blamed on Trump. And for a while, conservative news blamed everything negative on Nancy Pelosi.

I listened to Trump haters vow to block everything done by the administration, beginning before the election. And his crime? At first, it was apparently the fact he was not a politician. And then it was the fact that he had won the election. And then it was the fact that he said outrageous things. And then it was the fact that he actually implemented changes that he had said he was going to implement. Then, his crime, according to many people, was that stupid people supported him and he had orange hair. Anyone who said something good about Trump or his policies was also attacked as a devil.

The second group of people were the people who loved President Trump. He would save the nation; he would fix everything that was wrong in the nation and in each person’s life. He would destroy the enemy; he would fight the battles of the people against evil. He said the things no one else would say. For these people, Trump had become the second coming of Christ, a savior, a messiah. And they made Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, then Bernie Sanders, and finally Joe Biden and Kamala Harris into devils.

You know…both groups had made the other side’s leaders into their devils and had made their leader or leaders into their god. In reality, nobody could have that much power, either to do evil or to do good. No President, no Congressman or woman has the power that their political followers and opponents explain that they have.

And the third group? These were people who looked beyond personalities and looked toward policies. Many of these people voted for Trump because the two sides had rock-solid positions either for or against abortion. And it wasn’t just abortion, but a fair number of other policy positions. Many of these people did not like President Trump’s personality, but could not support the policies of Hillary Clinton or much of the Democratic party. A couple of percent who hated Hillary Clinton in 2016 felt they could support Joe Biden in 2020, and this is ultimately why the election results changed from a tie which leaned toward Trump in 2016 to a tie which leaned toward Biden in 2020.

A Stolen Election?

And the question of changed laws, stolen votes, a stolen election?

Folks, let me give you an analogy. The standard wisdom is that when a pastor comes to a new church, he or she should not make any changes for the first six-months to a year. So I arrived at this church in the midst of the COVID crisis back in late June and began on July 1. Because of the crises, we HAD to make changes – we simply couldn’t function the way we had in 2019. We were faced with changing the way were worshiped – or no worship, which was unacceptable, or worshiping the way we had worshiped for years. But if we had not changed, lots and lots of people would have died if they worshiped. So we adapted, but still managed to do the basics of church – we prayed, read scripture, did sermons, even attempted Bible study for a while, and we figured out a way to sing and communicate all of this to most of our people most of the time. Things were different, but those changes were necessary.

If you will remember, when the primaries rolled around, many places were faced with the choice of going to mail-in voting – or no voting, which was unacceptable – or continuing to vote the same way, in which case many people would have been faced with the personal choice of voting and dying or not voting. So most states changed their laws for the primaries and then, learning from that, adjusted things again for the general election. And the courts went along with these changes because leaving people with the choice between not voting or voting and dying was unacceptable.

And this also goes back to something I learned years ago about our tendency to make institutions impersonal, stripping away the people who make up the institution.

I was watching a live press conference with Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger. Some reported asked a question, “What is the administration’s position on such-and-such. “ Weinberger stopped the reporter and said, “First of all, there is no such thing as ‘the administration’. We are individuals. The President has his view, the Secretary of State has his view, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has his view, and I have my view.”

I realized that day that most people look at anything associated with government or political parties, or, for that matter, with a church as this faceless thing, like the administration. But all of these entities – government, parties, the church – are made up of individuals. Each individual person has his or her own opinions and motivations. The tens of thousands of election officials nationwide are not suddenly bound into a grand conspiracy which cannot be broken on election day.

I know many of these people – you probably know the people who work at your local precinct, you may know the people at the county offices. And here, as in everywhere around the country, people are put in these jobs because you trust that they’ll be on the look-out for shenanigans and that they’ll be honest enough to say something. And individual reporters around the nation are just waiting to win a Pulitzer Prize by investigating, getting the facts, and writing the story about the man who rigged the election. With tens of thousands of people working these jobs and hundreds of reporters – don’t you think that somebody would crack to get their name in the newspaper and get back at their co-workers or boss?

If you don’t trust your local poll workers, tell the county clerk you want to work a precinct next election. They are always looking for precinct workers. And they’ll pay you for a day or two of work.

And you know what? Every election, out of those tens of thousands of election officials nationwide, mistakes are accidentally made and corrected. Try, for example, to add up a hundred different figures fifteen times and see if you do it correctly every time. That’s what we ask of our election reporters. And out of those tens of thousands of election officials nationwide, only 3 or 4 people are actually tried and convicted of intentionally doing something to change election results, usually involving a hundred or so votes. And believe me, it’s not because everyone is trying to hide it, because the counts and recounts and lawsuits fly every election – but over the last hundred years in particular, the systems have been developed to catch the mistake, accidental or on purpose, and those systems work.

Which brings me up to Wednesday afternoon, January 6th.

Life purpose

Remember when I said that individual people form political parties?

I have spent much of my adult life around politicians and would-be politicians. Some are very independent – and some are lockstep with the party leadership. Some are smart and others are foolish, like most groups of people. Most people like to participate in politics by voting – that’s all, thank you! A few hundred in a county like to participate by going to dinners and hearing celebrity politicians. A couple dozen like to run for office. And then, there are those who don’t have the wisdom, patience, or stamina to run for office, but want to change things in Charleston or Washington. And of those, some are hard-working, sane individuals who operate within the rules – and some who don’t like the rules so much and are so bored with life that they are willing to break the law for change.

You will notice that at Washington last Wednesday there were supposedly about a hundred thousand people who listened to the President speak at the Ellipse. A few percent, a few thousand entered the Capitol grounds – the rest went directly home or back to their hotels or a late lunch or visited the Smithsonian museums. Of those few thousand who entered the Capitol grounds, it appears about a hundred broke into the Capitol, with maybe another few hundred walking in later.

This is about the way things were last summer when the mass protests and riots erupted in our major cities – a handful of bored people caused most the damage, the remainder chanted and marched – and went home.

Folks, in every group of people there are a few people who have no purpose in their life – and want to find that purpose by the excitement of breaking the law with a group of friends. One day when I was attending WVU, I came home to find a live Christmas tree on our dormitory floor. I briefly noticed it and went to my room. The next afternoon, when I came home, a Resident Assistant told me I had to pay $20 for a fine – as did every one of the 50 guys on the floor – or everyone on the floor would go to jail. I paid. It seemed that about four of the guys had cut down a tree they’d found growing on campus, and this was the cost of replacing that tree. They had got together and decided to have some fun by cutting down the tree and smuggling it back to the dormitory floor. We all paid for their fun. And $20 was my weekly expense budget at that time. It was irritating.

After Wednesday, my wife called up our children and just confirmed, “Did we teach you that if a door is locked, you shouldn’t break it down unless you know for a fact that someone is in extreme danger inside that building? “ And our kids said, “Actually, no, but we kind of figured it out from all the other things you taught us.” For, you see, they have the wisdom and maturity to understand these things, as do most adults.

Jesus told His followers that we are to be salt and light for the world, a special group of people that would improve the flavor of the world around us. And so, as salt and light, we should conduct ourselves in such a way that what we say commands respect, so that people listen to us, think, and in turn improve the world around them. We can’t control the rest of the people – and we aren’t asked to control them. But we are asked to set a good example, and explain what and how and why we live as we live.

Part of living right means should always consider the people we are talking with. I can be much less guarded in what I say with my wife, for we have over 30 years of back and forth communication. She understands the words I use and what they mean. But when I am talking to a large group of people, like I am now, I am more careful what I say, for I know that there are bound to be at least a couple of people who are looking for excitement and purpose in their lives and do not have the wisdom or maturity to control themselves, especially when they are with a group of other people looking for excitement and purpose.

Speech Creates Realities

For the words we speak have consequences, whether in person, in the form of a law, in a speech, or on Facebook. God created the Universe with speech: “God said” And we create realities when we speak, for we are created in the image of God. Our speech creates realities. Be sure that you speak what you want created. And when you speak to many people, be especially careful in what you say, for you will be creating new realities.

On Wednesday evening, we watched as the leaders of the House and Senate spoke about the events, and as various Senators and Congressmen and women spoke in debate. And it was clear, at least to Saundra and I, which were the mature, wise people – and which were still immature, somewhat foolish, still looking for personal gain from the events.

We were impressed by Vice-President Pence, who gamely controlled his anger at the situation and set the tone for the Senate’s debate, despite the pressure that the President had put upon him. We were impressed by Speaker Pelosi, who knew that the day was Epiphany, the day that Jesus was recognized by the wise men and related it to her hope that the various players would draw together as Americans instead of splitting into Republicans and Democrats. And we were impressed by other leaders and not so impressed by some of the speakers. But, for the first time in years, we had the chance to see who these men and women are who lead Congress, beyond the ten-second angry soundbites that the networks play on the evening news, for the network editors create realities by what speech they let us see. 

Did anyone else see Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester crouching in the House Gallery, praying her heart out and lifting her hand in praise of God, inviting His protection?

We saw that for once in their lives, these five-hundred plus people were forced by God to sit together in a small room for hours in a shared experience of personal danger, that their bubble of protection had collapsed and they found that they were all in it together instead of fighting against each other. While I doubt that God wanted this situation to happen, I am constantly amazed at how God takes bad situations and uses them for God’s purposes. It amazed me the unity in leadership shown after the event by both parties.

So I say to you: If you are looking for excitement and purpose in your life, there is a right way to change the world and a wrong way. The right way is first to find out what the God Who created the world wants done, to accept that Jesus is the Son of God, to be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, to listen to that Spirit and read Holy Scripture, and to make sure you are learning the right lessons by attending a local church every week.

For breaking and burning and rioting and encouraging others to do so is only a way to spending days and months and years in a cold, dark cell in prison. But spreading the Word of God is the best way to change people, one heart at a time. Create realities that you and God will be proud of by what you speak of.

Amen?

Bow and Worship - Thoughts on the Visit of the Wise Men

Today, is Epiphany Sunday, the day that God appeared in the flesh to humans. (The actual day of Epiphany is January 6th.) We traditionally celebrate on this day the visit of the wise men of the East, the Magi, to the Holy Family. We celebrate that on this day, the wise men of the East met the baby Jesus – and declared that He was divine. 

Matthew 2:1-12

These men of the East, these Magi, are still a mystery. The Gospels do not say that there were three. There may have been two – there may have been a dozen. The traditional listing of three men comes from a story composed hundreds of years later. But more and more, scholars believe that the wise men of the East were members of a group of philosophers, theologians, and scientists from Babylon that were descended from the Jews of the Exile, perhaps even from Daniel and his friends who lived in Babylon a half-millennium earlier. Others believe that they may have been from Persia (modern Iran) or even from the part of India that today is known as Pakistan.

Whoever they were, they certainly planned their journey well. An overland journey from the East would have taken months, if not years. This group of men left with good preparations. Let’s see what they did. Let's see how we can learn from them.

First of all, they apparently left home when the star appeared. They must have expected this star – and there are clues in the Book of Daniel which allow a calculation of when the star might appear, so they could have been prepared. Reading between the lines of Matthew’s account, we see that the star must have appeared up to two years before the Magi arrived to visit the Holy Family in Bethlehem. Judging from Herod’s reaction, when he sent his soldiers to kill all male children under two years of age, the Magi told Herod that the star had appeared about somewhat less than two years earlier.

Please note that there is nothing in the Bible which says that the Magi appeared on Christmas Night, or even the same year that the child was born. We know that Jesus was circumcised 8 days after his birth, and then taken to the Temple about 40 days after his birth. We know that the family then returned to Nazareth, but came back to Jerusalem each year for the feasts. Since Bethlehem is about six miles from Jerusalem, the family could have been staying with friends or relatives during one of these feasts when the Magi arrived, especially since the text tells us that the Magi came into the “house” where Mary and the child were.

But this is less important than the other preparations that the Magi made for their journey.

Their second preparation was to study the scriptures carefully. This was probably the reason that they left home in the first place, having read Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The Magi undoubtedly brought these scriptures with them on their journey so they could refer to them time and again. The desert caravan trails have little for entertainment – reading and re-reading scriptures would have been their daily and nightly habits.

And their third preparation was in their choice of gifts. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The first two are mentioned in Isaiah 60:6 as being brought from Sheba to the Messiah.

Gold was a gift that you brought a king. With gold, a king could hire soldiers, outfit an army, and buy food for that army. With gold, the Magi were saying that the child would be a king.

Frankincense was a gift you brought to a high priest, who would burn it to a god. Incense was burnt in almost every temple of ancient times. It was costly, found only in the dried sap and resin of certain trees that grow on the Indian Ocean coast of what is today Oman and Yemen, the land of the Queen of Sheba. The incense was burnt and a sweet fragrance wafted up to heaven. Incense was a gift only appropriate for a god or a high priest who made intercession for people to God. With frankincense, the Magi were saying that the child would be a high priest.

Myrrh was a special gift. This embalming spice was used by the morticians of ancient times to coat the bodies of the dead, to cover the odors of death. Myrrh was also seen as an offering that was given to the supernatural beings that took the dead spirit of a dead person to their final resting place in heaven or in the underworld. Myrrh was the gift given to the One who had power over death. With myrrh, the Magi were saying that the child was a god. And since the Magi were Jewish scholars, they were saying that the child was THE GOD, Yahweh, the great I AM THAT I AM who had led the people of Israel out of Egypt, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Jewish Scriptures.

And so, the Magi were well prepared. They may not have been sure whether the Messiah of Israel would be a king, a priest, or a god, but they were prepared. They were ready to meet Messiah, the Savior, the Christ.

And when they met the child Jesus and Mary, they bowed down and worshiped Him and presented all three of their gifts, for they recognized that Jesus would indeed become the King of all the earth, that Jesus was not only the high priest, but God Himself on earth, and that Jesus holds power over death.

Echoes of the Past

But God had intervened even here. Echoes of the past resound throughout this episode.

In 1 Kings 10, a special ruler from the East, the Queen of Sheba, had come to meet Solomon, the King of Israel. She brought gold and spices. The depth of Solomon’s wisdom astounded her. These Magi were so astounded by the Babe, they worshiped Him, the new King of the Jews. They were echoing the journey of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. A Jewish reader of the time would have recognized in Matthew’s story the reflections of this journey from Sheba to Solomon, and would have recognized the wisdom that would be found in the Child.

And as mentioned in Isaiah 39, King Hezekiah, a good, but prideful king of Judea at the time of Isaiah, had shown Babylonian representatives his stores of gold and spices, treasures that inspired them to return a few years later to defeat and plunder Jerusalem, taking away the gold and spices to Babylon, where a few years later Daniel would observe the King of Babylon and his friends drinking from golden cups looted from Solomon’s Temple. On this night, the Magi returned some of the loot to Bethlehem, to the city of David, to the rightful king of Israel, the infant Jesus. God’s justice had prevailed. Bethlehem and Jerusalem were regaining their rightful place in the world. And it was because of the Child who had been born.

At this point, I’d like you to think a bit about Mary and Joseph. Joseph isn’t recorded as being present during the visit. Perhaps he was working; perhaps he was making a sacrifice or prayer at the Temple a few miles away in Jerusalem. But he wasn’t there that day.

Mary’s memory of the visit of the angel Gabriel had probably slipped to the back of her mind. Events – even extraordinary events – tend to do that as the ordinary cares of life take over our days. For example, when I call your attention to it, you remember when you first encountered Jesus, when you first made a commitment of faith. But most days, you forget about it.

Mary had spent months feeding and tending to the needs of the child. She probably spent many hours just looking at him, playing with him, and cleaning, cooking, and doing all those things which ordinary mothers do. And then comes a knock at the door and someone tells her: “There are several wealthy-looking men here to see your child.” Would she have been startled – or frightened?

And then they met her and the child and they worshiped her child as God. It must have all come rushing back, the memories of the angel, the stories Joseph had told her of his dreams, the time spent with Elizabeth, the long ride to Bethlehem when she was very, very pregnant, and the visit of the shepherds that night in the stable and their report of angels when she was so-o-o-o exhausted. And the wonder came back. After all, her child WAS fathered by the Holy Spirit and so was divine, godly.

And now, they were opening chests and presenting the chests to Him and to her. Gold, more gold than she had ever thought could exist. Sticks and beads of frankincense, a wonderful smell filled the room. And the dark myrrh, ominous in its smell that reminded her of the funerals she’d attended. And the talk of the strangers, in a strange accent, telling her that she held the Savior of Israel in her hands, the Son of God. It must have been overwhelming. What would you have done?

The strangers leave. A while later, Joseph comes home. “I’m home, Mary! Anything interesting happen while I was out?”

And she tries to explain. She shows him the presents, she tries to explain what they said, how they looked, who they were. He asks many questions. And she stayed awake long into the night, thinking about the visit and what it meant.

Have you traveled a distance in your life looking for someone or something you could worship? Have you tried different philosophies, different religions, different ways of living? Perhaps you have and didn’t realize it.

Have you tried finding happiness by earning money, trying to find happiness in your job, in your spouse, in your home, in your hobbies? Have you tried to find happiness in chemicals, in movies, in the newest toys, in books, in sports, in children, in the people you’ve dated? Have you tried collecting things, reading about far away places, about ancient ideas? Can't it be fairly said that you worship that which you spend your time on, your focus upon, your creativity for? But all these things ultimately don't bring happiness, do they? Who shall we worship?

The Magi traveled a very long way to find the One that they could worship. But they planned for a successful journey before they began. They started early, traveling on camels to speed their journey; they studied the writings of wise men, reading scripture; and they brought gifts. Perhaps you already have found Jesus, the One that you can worship. You have found Him – but are you truly ready to worship Him?

Planning for Success

Consider these lessons of the Magi. Plan for a successful journey in your life.

Start early. As soon as you see Jesus – or now, if you’ve already seen Jesus, start walking closer to Him. Don’t gaze at Him from a distance of thousands of miles. Do what you can to speed your journey. Find your camel - a Bible study, a way to work in a mission, a ministry. Move from outside the church to the entrance of the church to the back of the church, then to the front of the church to get closer to Jesus.

Spend plenty of time studying the scriptures, the collection of writings we call the Bible. It is through the scriptures that we get to know the character of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. That is how we will know when we are getting close to Jesus – by comparing our spiritual position with the Holy Persons we find described in the Bible. The more scripture we read, the more we get to know God, Christ, and Holy Spirit, in the same way that watching years of a television series helps us to understand the leading characters on the series, such as why Jethro Gibbs of NCIS is so strait-laced, why Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory is so weird, why Tom Barnaby of Midsummer Murders doesn’t like to eat at home, why Andy never trusts Barney with more than one bullet. Reading scripture helps us understand just how much God loves us, as well as what God wants from us. If these stories from the Old Testament are new to you, you might want to begin with the Book of Joshua.

The third lesson of the Magi is to bring gifts. You have gifts with you. Some of you have the gift of teaching. Some of you have the gift of organizing. Some have the gift of music, or of the other arts. Some can write, some can administer, some are carpenters or electricians, some have the gift of being able to listen and respond in wisdom, some have the gift of generosity, the ability to give generously to the support of the church and individuals, and some have the gift of being able to discern good from evil. Bring these gifts. The Body of Christ can use all gifts – offer your gifts to Jesus.

The Magi brought five gifts that night.

Five?

Yes, five gifts.

Just as the Magi did when they brought their gold, you should be looking for a righteous king, a king who will fight battles for you, battles against sin in your life, someone to give your allegiance to, someone you can trust as a leader, someone you can trust to care about you and to do the right thing – all the time. We cannot always trust our earthly leaders, but we can trust Jesus as our king, the king to whom we owe allegiance and trust. Bring that Jesus the King your allegiance and trust in his leadership and guidance.

Just as the Magi did with their frankincense, you should be looking for a high priest, who can make things right between yourself and the Creator of the Universe because He loves you, who can help you understand the way the Universe was designed to operate and to help you get in a proper relationship with that Creator. For it is only in following the rules of the Universe – both physical and spiritual – that we can live at peace in the Universe. Jesus is that high priest. Bring that Jesus the High Priest your sacrifices which show your love.

Just as the Magi did with their gift of myrrh, you should be looking for someone who can help you navigate the waters of death when it comes, for none of us mortals leaves this world alive. We need help when we die, so that we will live eternally in a land with our good King – otherwise we may wander for eternity, no better off than we have been in this life. Jesus tells us that He holds the keys to life and death. Myrrh is the gift of faith given to Jesus. He claimed to be God walking upon the earth while He taught – and His resurrection proved this. Bring God the Son, Jesus the Christ your faith that He has the power to help us even through the passage from this life to the next.

And just as the Magi did, bring your fourth gift and leave it at Jesus’ feet. That is the gift of worship, which is the gift of complete trust. The Magi bowed to demonstrate that this small child, this little baby, was more powerful and wise than they were, the “wise men of the East”. Bow down before Jesus, accepting that there are things you cannot do without His help. Have you ever noticed that only a handful of people come to the altar rail, even in times when it is safe? - yet they are those very people who are known among us as the more godly, the wise, our leaders in the faith? Perhaps they come to the altar because they have truly begun to worship Jesus. And here is a secret – the more you worship, the more you CAN worship. Worship Jesus as the One who can do all things, the One who will not break your trust, the One who is God walking upon the earth.

The fifth Gift that the Magi brought was an indirect gift. They gave the gift to Jesus, but they gave the gift through Mary. The fifth gift they brought was the gift of assurance. Their very presence assured Mary that her journey was not alone. Their very presence and worship assured Mary that she was sane, wonderfully sane in her wondrous encounter with the angel Gabriel. The very presence of the three solid gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were something that she could go to, anytime, whenever she was beginning to wonder if the miraculous events in her life were real, she could go and open up the three chests and see the gold, smell the frankincense, and touch the myrrh. And because of that assurance that Mary had, she was able over the coming years and decades to properly raise the Son of God, to KNOW that He was special, to teach Him all she knew of the ways of God and mankind.

We have all had times when we felt God was speaking directly to us, but we questioned this because our culture denies the very existence of a God that cares about us individually. If we hear the voice of God, our culture tells us we need therapy, while the Bible tells us we have been blessed. And so we need to assure one another, helping each other to know when the voice of God is real – and when we truly need professional help.

This past Christmas morning, the Nashville police received a 911 call about “shots fired” in the old downtown area. A half dozen policemen rushed to the area, to find an RV, a “mini-Winnie” as they are called, playing music and stopping from time to time to announce that the RV contained a bomb and it was going to explode in a few minutes. It would count down a bit and then begin playing music again.

Officer James Wells began knocking on doors and urging people to leave immediately. He walked back to his car and pulled it a bit farther from the RV to keep it safe. He then began to walk toward the RV. And Wells said he suddenly heard “the voice of God” telling him to turn around and check on another officer, Amanda Topping, who was by herself. He said, “It felt like I only took three steps” and the music stopped. The NPR report tells the rest…

"I just see orange," Wells recalled. "And then I hear a loud boom. And as I'm stumbling — 'cuz it rocked me that hard — I start stumbling, I just tell myself to stay on your feet, stay alive."

He credits his survival to the voice of God in his head. "That's what saved my life," Wells said. "That's what got me to see my kids and my wife on Christmas. 'Good to see you' has a completely different meaning to me now."

You can bring that fifth Gift of assurance to someone else. Today. You can reach out to someone else and tell them – “I also believe”. You can listen to another person tell of God’s miracles and you can tell them, “I believe you. Let me tell you my God-story.”

Assurance. That’s the fifth gift that the Magi brought Mary. And assurance was the Christmas present that the Holy Spirit brought Officer Wells last week. Assurance is the gift that you bring and you receive when you share God-stories with your fellow Christians. Assurance was what John Wesley, the founder of Methodism received when he heard Martin Luther’s Preface to the Book of Romans read on Aldersgate Street in London one evening.

Gold. frankincense, myrrh, worship, assurance. Five gifts. Gold for leadership and guidance. Frankincense for intercession with God, myrrh for faith in resurrection, worship for absolute trust, assurance for our sanity.

And together, you both can tell the skeptic what you have seen and experienced, and show them the gold in your lives where your King has fought for you, the gold that is called the “defeat of sin”, the frankincense in your lives where your High Priest has intervened for you, the frankincense that is called “love”, and the myrrh in your lives which your Christ will use to defeat death for you, the myrrh that is called “faith”. Show the worship that expresses your complete trust, and the assurance that puts your sanity on the solid rock of Christ.

Jesus left those gifts that He was given with us when He returned to the Father. The sin-fighting gold that the Magi brought still circulates among us – perhaps some of it is in a piece of jewelry you wear, perhaps a wedding band? The smell of the frankincense, much diluted, still blows in the love of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind of God. The myrrh still helps people transfer from this life into the next life through faith. The worship has grown to many millions of people, and the assurance has provided the stability required to walk into the future despite those who challenge our beliefs and facts.

And as you grow in the Lord, be prepared to give the gifts of leadership, intercession, faith, worship, and assurance to others, that they might also know and bow before the Babe of Bethlehem, the King of Kings of this world, Jesus the Christ.

Prayer

Let us pray:

God of the Universe, teach us to speak on Your behalf. Give us the people to speak to, the words to say, and fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may speak with gentleness and grace, leading people to Your Son, Jesus, sharing His guidance, praying to Him, looking expectantly to eternal life, worshiping our God, and being assured of the Truth. This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus left us another two other gifts. He left us the gifts of bread – which is his broken body – and of wine – which is his shed blood. These gifts are available to all who would accept them – the gift of your King’s protection, the gift of your High Priest’s love, the gift of your God’s faith and eternal life – the gift of physical and spirit food, the gift of physical and spiritual drink. Will you accept these gifts from your King, your high Priest, your God?

Song: We Three Kings

Benediction

May the glory of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit shine upon you. And may you be the hands and voice of Jesus in this world as you go forth to do good and speak the Gospel. Be blessed each day! Amen.

Closing Song: Star of Bethlehem