January 7, 2001

Baptism of the Lord Asking for Directions

Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

During a recent renovation project at a major university, the following sign was noticed hanging over the main door of the library: "Due to our renovation project the basement will be on the second floor, one half of the second floor will be on the first floor, but one half will remain on the second. If you have trouble finding what you need, we suggest you ask for help."

Have you ever noticed that life is often like that? Sometimes the pieces just don't seem to fit together. It's the wise person who knows the time has come to ask for direction. Fortunately for the people gathered at the river that day, the answer to their confusion was on the way. John the Baptizer was pointing to a new life to come. Thank God the One to deliver it was just about to appear!

I. The people at the river (v. 15)

By the time John the Baptizer was about to encounter Jesus at the Jordan River, countless people had begun to gather at the shoreline. Though we cannot know for sure how many were there, we can assume it was enough to warrant Luke describing them as a crowd. There were tax collectors, soldiers, people of the religious leadership in Jerusalem, rich and poor alike, all gathered there at the river. Suffice it to say, every one of them went to the river that day in search of a little help and a little direction for their lives.

Oh, but make no mistake about it, they were the sorts of people who usually have a hard time asking for help with their direction. Let's remember that those who gathered were the children of Israel, the sons and daughters of father Abraham. They had grown up with the assumption that, since they were descendants of Abraham, they were already in a right relationship with God.

Like the proverbial man behind the wheel who refuses to pull into a gas station to ask directions, the people of Israel were lost and too proud to realize it. The time had come to be reoriented, to stop by the Jordan to find a little direction for their lives.

II. John straightens them out (vv. 16-17)

So John answered them. The One they sought was not him but another. The One who will come would not baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit of the living God and with fire. The One who was to come was going to be One who carried in His hand a winnowing fork to clear the threshing floor and separate the chaff from the wheat -- the faithless from the faithful!

By preaching the need for baptism to the people who gathered there, John was telling them that their birthright as Jews would not assure them of a right relationship with God. As if he were speaking to a crowd of Gentiles, John insisted that they would need to be cleansed of their former way of living and begin again on the road to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.

III. A signpost amidst the confusion (vv. 21-22)

With the crowds coming to be baptized in the Jordan, few at first must have noticed that the answer to their prayers, the man from Nazareth, had come near. Like the name Emanuel implies, the Incarnate Son of God was with them that day. He was with them on the shoreline, He was with them in the water. But most of all, He had come to the world to show a sign of the wondrous unconditional love of God toward His people: "And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased'" (v. 22).