Jesus comes to John in the desert

Do you remember the late President Ronald Reagan saying "You aint seen nothin yet?" Well this was what John the Baptist was banging on like when Jesus went to him for baptism. John was speaking to his listeners and saying "You brood of vipers!" Well, that was a good start wasn't it. We turn to the Bible, expecting it to be the source of Good News. If we accidentally opened it at Luke 3 we would get a shock. You see, John is really the last of the Prophets from the old school, or should I say the Old Testament. He is going at it, hammer and tongs, telling them to repent because the Messiah is on his way and expected very soon. I wonder if he said, "Wait till my cousin gets here!"

At the end of his ranting and raving the verse in Luke's gospel says, "So, with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people." Good news? Sounds more like bad news to me! I don't suppose those people present would actually be expecting anything different from John. As far as they were concerned he was preaching in just the way they expected. But, the point is, the way he was ranting makes the message a threat about things to come. Yes, there was a new era about to break upon them but it would not be like it had been previously where the people would suffer God's judgment. The thing is, John did not know this. I imagine he had committed himself to this life of preaching in the desert without thinking much about what style he should adopt. He simply copied what had gone on before.

After he had baptised Jesus, he found himself in prison because he had been criticising Herod too much. In his prison cell, he was obviously regularly updated on what Jesus was doing. Because he sent a message to Jesus, saying, "are you the one we should expect or is there another guy coming along who we should follow?" This new way that Jesus had was puzzling John, as well as many others who had a vested interest in keeping things the way they were.

Put yourself in John's shoes (but jump out before you get carted off for execution) and think about what he had been created to do as the herald for the ministry of Jesus. He knows he is special and that he has been singled out to do this job. But no one has told him how to do it. So he gives out the bottom line, threatening the people if they do not heed what he says. He tells them that there is somone coming who will really sort things out, and then when Jesus arrives he begins consorting with the ones who are beyond the pale. This makes no sense to John at all.

What Jesus offers to the people, then and now, is God's grace. His grace is his love but to receive it we don't have to do anything. It is freely given. That's why the hymn writer started with the words, "Amazing grace." It is truly amazing that God should show his love to absolutely everyone despite the various lives they have led. Jesus really shook the Pharisees when he went have tea with people who collected taxes and robbed their fellow Jews. They were nothing short of gobsmacked!

The beauty of this is that we are entitled to God's love just because we are here! "You aint seen nothin yet!" shouts John. Then along comes Jesus and starts telling the people about a loving God who loves them unconditionally. I mean - it sounds crazy, doesn't it? Yet this is exactly what Jesus did. There was no flash about him. He had already sorted that out before his ministry began. His temptation in the desert was threefold: 1. Jump off the temple and land unharmed on the ground. That will impress the people and get them to take notice of you. 2. Be a magician and use your power to turn stones into bread rolls. 3. Make a pact with the Devil so you have his backing too and you then cannot fail.

All this was thrown out because it was not the way God did things and was not the style he was to use in preaching God's love to the population. There would be no tricks of any sort. There was one way only. That decided, he began to teach in a way that the poor people knew he was for them. The rich folks thought they had it made. You see, people in that day thought that, if they were rich and had umpteen servants and hundreds of sheep, cows, camels etc., then they were favoured by God. Jesus spelled it out - this was not true. Because the poor and the sick needed most help he went to them and gave them hope by talking about the grace of God.

Strangely enough, it was this new style of approach that made thousands follow him when he was preaching and healing. There was a lot to learn about God from this man, Jesus, so they set off each day to see and hear more for themselves.

This went on for three years before his enemies managed to grab him in the Garden of Gethsemane. In that short time he said and did enough for the world to be saved. It was quite some time later that the good news was taken out of Palestine to be shared with the world. But it happened, and successfully.

Take out of your mind all the thoughts you have about judgment. God's love is free to all - even those guys you don't like!

The photo at the top of this blog is of a statue on a high pedestal at the top of Monte Torro in Menorca. It shows Jesus with outstreched arms. It is carved like this to tell people all over that Jesus welcomes them and they qualify for his love just because they exist! Remember that old song, "He's got the whole world in his hands!"