Sometimes we need to stand back from things, to really understand them, to see them in their true perspective. Most people, most of the time do not do that. We tend to be tied up with things close at hand; we concern ourselves with our plans and hopes and desires, or our family and its affairs. But there is a need to stand back and reflect on the bigger picture, on our nation and on our world.

One effect of the disastrous tsunami that has dominated world news for the past three weeks has been to cause us to stand back, to take peoples’ minds off their personal problems, and it has been good to see the way that people have responded in their giving. If this terrible tragedy causes individuals and nations of the world to stand back from their own personal and national interests and realise that we are part of one world, and that we should live in love and compassion for each other, as children of God and brothers and sisters, then something of great value will have come out of the tragedy.

One very valid benefit of the idea of the Sabbath is to stand back and see things in proper perspective. The idea of the Sabbath goes back to creation; after God created the world, he stood back and rested. It’s good for people to do that too. To rest from their work, to stand back and see things in perspective.

God wants us to see our world and ourselves in true perspective. The bible is a book that time and again reminds us of the big picture. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ That’s a big picture. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.’ That’s a big picture, a picture everyone needs to see and understand.

But you also find that the people through whom God has spoken to mankind, the prophets through whom God has given us the scripture are people whom God has first of all called to stand back from life and reflect on its realities. People like Moses, or Elijah. The prophets were people who had stood back and contemplated, and in their contemplation had heard God speak. Many of the prophets were people who had spent time in the wilderness or the dessert.

Last week we were reminded of how Jesus himself had spent time in the wilderness. He had been there forty days and nights, away from human influence and pressures, alone with God. Today we think of another person who was familiar with the wilderness. The man who was the last, and Jesus himself would say greatest of the Old Testament prophets. We are thinking of John the Baptist.

John was a cousin of Jesus. He was marked out as special from before birth, an angel had announced his coming and his mission in life before he was even conceived, and it’s recorded in Luke 1. John’s upbringing is not described, Luke simply says ‘the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.
John’s character was formed by God in the desert.

John was not a follower of fashion. His clothes were made of rough camel hair. He fed on what could be found in the dessert, wild honey and locusts. If the idea of eating locusts makes you think of those Japanese game shows where people do revolting things with insects, or our current fad for reality TV where they attempt to discover such things as how many locusts Germaine Greer can eat, then I want to make it clear that John didn’t eat the locust insect. Locusts are also a type of fruit that grows on trees in that part of the world. John ate Locust fruit. John was a man who at God’s bidding had stepped back from society, he had been able to see his world and his generation in true perspective, and now he breaks onto the scene with God’s message for his people.

John’s message was a simple one; ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ He could see that the people were heading in the wrong direction, repent means to turn around and change direction. It’s a message our world needs to hear today. Matthew doesn’t tell us what John told the people to do, but we know from other gospels that he was fairly practical and specific about the way that people’s lives needed to change. He called for a practical sharing with the needy; he told those who had two coats to share with the person who had none.

He also called for honesty in people’s dealings with each other, and he called for a turning away from violence and bullying. Above all he called for a turning to God that was expressed in confession and baptism. People went to him from all over, Matthew tells us that people from Judea and around the Jordan came. We know that Galileans came as well. They were baptized by John in the River Jordan.

But there was a danger. John knew that some folk like to do religious things just for their own sake. They like to think that God will be pleased with them if they do religious things. John knew what the religious people of the day were like. His father had been a priest serving at the temple. When he saw the religious people coming to him, he left them in no doubt that just adding baptism to all their other religious achievements was pointless with out true repentance.

Going to the temple, saying prayers, offering sacrifices are all pretty pointless without love, without bearing fruit in the shape of generosity, honesty and peace and goodwill in your relationships. John is aware that God’s judgement is coming. If people are to avoid that, then they have got to be serious with God about the way they live. That is still true today. God sees right through our show and pretence. He sees if we have repentance that is sincere.

But John also came at a special time, and for a special reason. He came to prepare the way for Jesus. He came that people might be ready to receive Jesus and the message that he came to bring. John knew that Jesus would eclipse him. He knew that his work was only really the preparation for what Jesus would do.

One thing that John clearly states about Jesus is that he has come to judge. Later on when John is locked in prison and Jesus does not seem to be acting out the role of judge, John begins to doubt. He sends and asks Jesus, ‘are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’ Jesus perhaps doesn’t fulfil John’s expectations of a judge, but Jesus does promise that when he comes to the world a second time then he will be the judge of all. That’s good news for us all because it means one day all evil and injustice will be judged; as well as all cold, callous, heartless indifference. But it also means that there is time to repent, time for sinful people to be saved.

But there is something else that John tells the people that Jesus will do. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The problem all down the history of God’s people, the problem that all the prophets had to contend with, was that although the message they preached was good, although they had God’s word to direct God’s people, yet so often their words fell on deaf ears.

People were hard hearted. Time and again God’s people failed to turn from their sin and suffered the consequences. But John’s message was that a time had come when God would change all that. The one was coming who would not only tell the people what God required, he would also put the Holy Spirit into their hearts to give them the desire and enable them to do God’s will.

So Jesus arrives. This is the man to whom John has pointed. This is the man for whom John has prepared the way. And Jesus comes to be baptized. John doesn’t want to do it. He is not worthy to baptize the Lord. But Jesus insists. Jesus had come to share our humanity. Jesus had come to be our example. Jesus had come to be obedient to his father. Jesus goes through the waters of baptism to give us an example to follow.

Jesus sets us an example, but yet Jesus is unique and apart from you and me. Jesus is the only person ever to be baptized who had no need of forgiveness. He has nothing to repent of. That makes the baptism of Jesus unique. In fact here at the end of chapter 3 Matthew gives us another one of those big pictures that are characteristic of the bible.

As Jesus came out of the water heaven was opened. We know that there is a barrier between heaven and earth; human beings cannot travel freely between the two domains. Man is separated from God by human sin. But Jesus comes on the scene. Heaven is opened. God speaks. The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus. It is only a brief scene but it is so significant.

Jesus is God come down from heaven to bring God’s love to man. In that scene that Matthew paints for us we see the triune God. The Father speaks. The Holy Spirit descends. The beloved Son has come to move among men and women. Jesus is the one. He is unique in the world’s history. No prophet or King has ever been distinguished in this way.

Jesus is the one to follow. Jesus bestows the Holy Spirit on mankind. Jesus has opened the way to heaven for you and me. It is good that we take time to reflect on the big picture, to see human history in the light of God’s word, in the light of his revelation through Jesus. It is good to do this as we look to a new year.

I also believe that as we think on these things it is right that together we affirm our faith and commitment as followers of Jesus and as part of his Church. I invite you to do that now by standing and affirming the declaration of faith that is printed on our notice sheet, and then sharing in the prayer together.
 

Amen.

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