Text: Mark 1: 1 – 8 /
Message Title: I Just Love
Surprises!
Message by: Rev. Carol Haynes Kniseley
I
just love surprises. Don’t you? In fact, one of my greatest joys is to
purchase something on the spur of the moment…and give it to a special
someone…just for the heck of it. No
strings attached. Well a few weeks
ago, while on a retreat to
‘peace. It does not mean to be in a place
where
there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.
It means to be in the
midst of those things
and
still be calm in your heart.’ (unknown)
Little
did I know…that the one in for the surprise was not Pastor Jim, but me. You see it
never dawned on me to open up the box and actually look at the mug inside…to
see if it contained the same message.
Not until I had purchased the mug and returned to the hotel, did I
discover an entirely different message on the mug. Instead of a nice, resolute emphasis on
‘peace’…the message read:
‘what would you
attempt to do…
if you knew
you could not fail?’
Pastor
Jim loved the quote on the mug, by the way…and you know who got to keep the
box. And then it hit me. John the Baptist had discovered ‘peace’
not by running from noise, trouble, or hard work. John discovered ‘peace’ the day he started
living as if he knew he could not fail.
John
the Baptist is one of those characters that your momma told you never to be
seen with…much less have any kind of contact.
And yet, every year on the second Sunday in Advent…without
fail…John manages to crash into every single one of our manger scenes and
demands to be heard.
His
message is far from one of blissful peace, but instead is one of searing hot
passion…meant to awaken us from sleep.
Perhaps John knows something, that you and I
have only suspected up until now.
Perhaps John knows what we in the mainstream of early December shopping
aren’t ready to face. Perhaps John
knows, all too well, that our lives…aren’t as clean as we think they are.
In
fact, we aren’t even as good as we would like others to believe. Talk about making a list and checking it
twice. A reality check would remind
us that we aren’t exactly talking about Santa Clause here. No, we’re talking about our relationship
with God. And how even we need to
join John for a cold bath of
Wash
away our pretensions, and at the very least to remind us that the cuddly baby
Jesus seen in the manger…came into the world for just one reason and one reason
alone. Jesus…came into this
world…to save sinners. Sinners like
you and like me, and John isn’t about to let us forget that part of the story.
If
you were to ask me what John was attempting ‘to do’ with his life…then I would have to say
off the top of my head, that John’s soul purpose was to point to where God
was. And the most telling part about
all of this…is that according to Mark’s Gospel…people traveled from miles and
miles around to hear what John had to say.
Whether it was his passionate
preaching or their longing for
something deeper than the same old ho-hum existence, Mark says they came in
droves. Which when we stop to think
about it, is really pretty amazing.
Here
is a guy who for all intents and purposes has intentionally broken with any
link to the religious organizations of his day. Which makes me wonder why anyone in their
right mind would be attracted to someone like John? He was scary. He was uncivilized. He was, in many people’s eyes, from a
different planet altogether. And
yet…there was something about John’s message that did more than simply turn
people’s heads. It was a message that
set their hearts on fire. People were
drawn to him because he offered them a chance to come clean, to stop pretending
they were someone else and to start over again, by allowing him to wash them
off.
The
bath was his own idea. There were not any rules about how it was
suppose to be done. The rabbis had not
okayed it.
It was just something that John offered to anyone who came to him, even
women who were not even allowed in the
And
if people thought that this ‘new thing’ would bring everlasting peace into
their lives…then John was here to tell them that they were sorely
mistaken. This ‘new thing’ was not a
thing at all…but instead a person who had been sent by God to set the story
straight. His name would be
Jesus. And in due time, even John
would begin to understand what it meant to be surprised by God. And if that means crashing each one of our
manger scenes with his imposing personality every second Sunday in Advent, then
I say so be it. After all, I love a
good surprise. Don’t you?
And
to think, this is only the 2nd week of Advent.
Amen