Wednesday 30 December 2015

Psalm: Psalm 149:1-5

Background

John the Baptist was an odd-looking bloke, dressed in distressedcamel hair and coarse fabrics, eating grasshoppers dipped in wildhoney. But boy, could he preach! He lived in the remote wastelands, on the wrong side of the Jordan, in Arab territory. You'dthink he was trying to get away from everyone, but they came to himin droves. Though no one knew who he was, or where he came from, hejust popped up like so many other mystics, sages, 'Messiahs' … Somesaid his father was a priest, or that he was Jesus' cousin … Notthat any of that mattered. He was too busy baptizing people,rebirthing them, and preaching old school religion.

From his watery pulpit, standing in the middle of the Jordan, hepreached sermons like this:

You need a fresh start.
You'll never get one unless you reject your past.
Put it behind you,
make amends,
make God your starting point.
But don't just take it from me.
Someone else is coming,
his preaching is hot,
he's really going to blow your minds.
I'm just the understudy,
tying up his sandals.
I've rebirthed you with water,
he's going to rebirth you with fire!

When he's finished a stranger comes up, John baptizes him too.The cloudy sky clears for a moment, just above him, and anincredibly bright ray of sunlight shines on him, followed by a loudcrash of thunder. Years later, the people who were there, and awhole bunch of storytellers, say that they heard God speak to him,'You're the One! I'm proud of you.'

To Ponder

• Why do you think people flocked to hear John the Baptist? Whodo people flock to hear today?

• What do repentance, baptism and rebirth mean to you?