One of Us

He starts with the fake- those who want to be baptised just because it is the popular thing to do and he ends with the real McCoy- the Lamb of God He rejects their outer conformity and pointed to inner cleanliness He minimised his own baptism as a mere washing with water but maximised the baptism of Jesus as a baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit. He points to the sin of man and looks to the sinlessness of the Son of God This was a time of great darkness- but here we have the light of the world. There had been a silence from God for many years Roman Empire was beginning to decline. It had begun with the ideology of the Republic but had become corrupt and morality had gone through the floor family life was in tatters- divorce was so common people began to date their years according to who they were married to the democracy of the Republic was replaced by government by a small ruling clique corruption was rife Look at the names of the people mentioned by Luke- Herod Antipas, Philip his brother, Pilate the Roman governor and Tiberius himself. We know a little about Herod- he ruled for 40 years at the pleasure of Rome. He had John imprisoned because he didn’t like what John was saying about him- iy was the truth but that did not matter- John told him he was immoral and needed to repent- he was married to his wife only for political reasons and when he got tired of her he divorced her to marry [?] Herodias the daughter of his half brother who was also the wife of his other half brother. When her father acted violently against Judea and did great damage many people thought it was divine retribution. Tiberius himself had grown tired of Rome and went of to the island of Capri and allowed his political cronies to lead the Empire while he lounged in decadence and immorality. For just a time as this the sovereign God raised up John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus the Lamb of God, the Messiah. Luke’s intention in writing this Gospel outline is that men would know the “EXACT TRUTH” about this man Jesus. John came as a chinck of light at a time of darkness and points to one who was the light. He wants to reach the people about their spiritual heritage at a time when they had lost of sense of the divine God of Israel. How do you preach the gospel to a people who have lost their spiritual anchorage and get their instruction from the street? God’s answer was by the INCARNATION of God and by that I mean by making God come to the people in the flesh of humanity. John came to introduce Jesus and to prepare the people for Jesus- everything about John was a message- His clothes His food His language he used The wild prophet from the Old Testament preached about repentance and redemption- he was a black and white character, right was right and wrong was wrong. There was no grey areas.He was no respecter of persons be they king or pauper- everyone needed to turn to the living God and the way to demonstrate a willingness to change was to come forward to the river for baptism. What was new about this was that in their tradition no Jew had a need to be baptised- that was for converts to Judaism- that was for gentiles who were dirty and needed to be cleansed, not for law abiding Jews but John is preaching to Jews! He told them that they were not safe just because they were children of Abraham- Some will say “but I am a protestant” or “I am a Presbyterian” and others will say “I was brought up in a Christian family” On Friday night there were Protestants and Presbyterians marching down the Shankill Road in the regalia of soldiers and with the flags of triumph but no sense of the Protestantism they profess- they too have lost their anchorage. - How does the church of Jesus Christ reach them? - How does the church of Christ reach those who have no time for sectarianism and perhaps because of it have even less for Christ? - How does the church of Jesus Christ reach out to a whole section who will never read the Bible or hear the gospel of Christ? Luke’s whole message is that “You will be my witnesses”. We are His witnesses. The gospel message is SEEN in Christ. Why do you think it was necessary for Jesus to be baptised? This was no Christian baptism- it was a call to REPENTANCE- this man Jesus had no sin to confess and nothing to repent of, so why be baptised? Why would a man who was without sin allow himself to be baptised by a man who had? To repent means that we are agreeing with God about our need for forgiveness It means that we want to change direction and live differently- that was the thrust of what john was saying- the crowd came to him- “what are we supposed to do? “If you have two coats give one away” the tax collectors came and asked “what are we to do?”- “no more extortion…” the soldiers came and asked “What are we to do?”- “no more shakedowns, no blackmail be content with your rations” Repentance is an inner choice which leads to an otter change in the way we live- how could Jesus change to become a better person, inside and outside? How can you improve on perfection? You can’t, Jesus was not baptised because of any imperfection. So why was he baptised? Here we have the crux of the story right at the beginning of the story- “Lord Jesus Christ you have come to us you are one of us Living Lord” Jesus came, as one of us. We know that Jesus was a man of compassion and as he looked at the city of Jerusalem he wept for her. We know that he was a man of sympathy and even empathy- and that means more than feeling sorry for the people- - for the hungry - For the blind - For the sick - For the dying What it means is that he could understand them, he spoke their language, he felt their pain. The reason? He BECAME one of us. I don’t think we understand the extend and depth of the incarnation nearly enough- from the moment of Jesus birth he took on human flesh and really did become one of us. When he went forward to be baptised by John he was saying “I am one of you” He had no sin of his own to repent for and when he died on the cross he had no sin to die for but he BECAME SIN that we might have life. God tells us that He loves us and it is crucial that we understand that He loves us- there are many people in this community who feel worthless but the gospel informs us that we are not worthless, this community is not Godless, the reason we work for the betterment of this society is that it is not rejected by God but loved. When Jesus died he died AS SIN. It is the sin that God rejects not the person and in Jesus Christ it is sin which is out to death. Jesus’ identification with us is so great and so complete that HE BECAME OUR SIN. Now here is the application- trust him to deal with your sin. The fact is that he has already put it to death so trust him to make you into the person he created you to be. Right at the start of a new session of the church year begin by telling him that you trust him- that he has put your sin to death and that he will make the necessary changes in your life to improve your experience of it. This is no lecture or school lesson. – he understands us he knows about death in the family as one who lost his father early in life he knows about death and dying from personal experience He understands the trouble keeping the family business going He understands the temptations which are all around- the temptation to show the world that he was the boss, the temptation to put an end to his captors He understands the frustrations of working with your hands and with your mind. He understands justice and miscarriages of juestice This is where the action is- here we have a God who is with us all the time and for all the time. Will you trust him?