Instead of reading the scripture passage first I want us to do something different. I want us to wonder about the passage, the prophetic passage and see if it might even be a riddle? A riddle about an earthly substance. So, imagine we are all on Jeopardy. I’m Alex Trebeck, your category is Prophetic Promises for $1,000.
“This substance makes paths straight, every valley filled, every mountain and hill made low, and rough ways smooth?”
Ponder that for a moment. Soon I will start humming…
We are all pondering together, wondering about what the answer might be. ___________ wins the prize for guessing water. Water can make paths straight, wash away mountains and fill valleys with debris. Water can also make very rough paths smooth. So the earthly answer to this riddle is water. But let’s hear this in context and see if there is a heavenly answer as well. An answer that might give us cause to be in wonder, in awe, of our God and Maker.
I am in awe right now. That passage surprised me. After seeing the earthly answer as water, that familiar prophetic fulfillment of John the Baptist feels unexpected and inexplicable. And yet it makes the one sentence about John stand out even more. “John went into all the region around the Jordan (a river of water) proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Baptism of repentance. John wants us to change our ways, to repent, because we are in relationship with God. And we are promised forgiveness of sins if we do. In the Greek the word translated “forgiveness” means “to let go.” When God forgives us, our sins are let go, remembered no more. So often we hear the phrase “Let go and Let God” but here God is letting go of our sins so that we can fully be with God. Your sins are let go, remembered no more. That is the promise of our faith. A promise that we forget, a promise that Jesus died to show us, a promise that we get the joy of living in every day. Next week we will look at how that happens through Christ.
This is also a prophetic promise fulfilled. Isaiah’s words are coming to pass in John. He is preparing the way for Jesus, he is getting us ready to be in full relationship with God. Remember, Isaiah wrote, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,” and he will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (11:1, 9:6).
Don’t underestimate the power of prophetic fulfillment. The people’s ability to see, to grasp, that Jesus is God’s Son rests in the words of the prophets. According to William Brown, “The prophets of old were inspired poets caught up in God’s imaginative, passionate vision of justice and compassion. While many spouted harsh judgements, others joyfully announced salvation and offered words of comfort….Prophets thus, did not utter timeless truths so much as they delivered timely truths….Prophets shared one thing in common: an overwhelming sense of awe of God at work in the world, of God involved in the fray of a community’s life” (Sacred Sense, pg.107). John the Baptist according to Eastern Orthodox tradition, is the last prophet of the Old covenant. He is also deeply involved in the fray of the arrival of God’s Son.
It is important to note that this prophetic promise is fulfilled within history, and not just some story passed down through generations. Jesus arrived into an historic time, with known rules. This roster of 6 leaders is not nearly as familiar as Matthews account of political leaders during Jesus’ life. But these governors and chief priests ground God’s interruption into humanity within history, making salvation history fall within world history.
The prophetic promise is also heard in the words of Malachi. A prophet who seeks to bring people back to God after returning to Jerusalem after being exiled. They had merged cultures and families with different faiths and Malachi wants them to repent and return to their God. There own baptism of repentance. The image used is that of a refiner. A refiner purifies by burning or washing away those things that do not belong. A woman watching a silversmith refine silver asked him if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’ Refinement gets us to our purest self, a way that our best selves can shine.
Since God is the refiner, maybe God can see imago Dei in us when we are refined. Remember this is a community refining not an individual one. Humanity is deemed good and righteous when once again the divine image is reflected in the human heart.
Water is essential to refining. Refining uses water to cool purified metals, and to rinse away soap and impurities. Water is also essential throughout salvation history.
The exodus ends with the parting of waters, waters broke in the birth of Jesus, water splashed on our heads for our own baptism writes us into this story, grants us full guarantee to the promise of salvation. By the waters of your baptism and the love Jesus showed on the cross you are a full member salvation history. God’s promise is for you and you are written into the story of God’s saving love. We can certainly be in wonder and awe of a God who every year reminds us of this promised gift and shared history as we celebrate the birth of his Son.
John the Baptist prepared their hearts to receive Jesus then, and he prepares our hearts to fully receive Jesus once again. He baptized with water so that Jesus could baptize with the Holy Spirit. But I am getting ahead of myself. John was the voice crying out in the wilderness, the fulfillment of the prophecy. The prophecy we turned into a riddle. The earthly answer to the riddle was water. And we know once unleashed, water always finds a way. Think of the mudslides in southern California. But the prophetic word and God’s promise of salvation always finds a way as well.
This week I suffered a loss because of an action that caused someone pain. For a while I felt shame for my part in it. Then I made my apologies, I prayed to God seeking forgiveness and now I get to let go of that burden of shame. Otherwise I am denying the power of my baptism, I am denying the power of God’s promise and the fulfillment of that promise in Jesus Christ.
When we hold onto our shame and hurt, we are building a damn that blocks the power of God’s love just like a damn blocks the power of water.
If the earthly answer to the riddle was water, the heavenly answer to the prophecy is God. God is more powerful than water, easily changing internal landscapes.
God can make our hills of shame flat,
our valleys of depression raised up,
our rough and tough roads of life smooth.
Not because God takes away all those troubles, but because through our baptism in Christ, God let’s go of those things. God does not hold them against us. The question is do we let go of them? Do we trust that our baptism in Jesus is enough to receive that blessed gift of forgiveness and to be given the gift of blessed birth of God’s Son? That is the promise of God through Jesus. That is the love soon to be born again in our hearts. You are forgiven, God has let go of your burdens, the ones you still carry around.
When we live into our baptism, when we trust that God forgives us, washing away our sins, then we live free in grace and see the salvation of God. Amen.
