The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, January 20th: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1: 29-34)

UNDERSTANDING JESUS’ IDENTITY IS CRUCIAL

In last week’s gospel reading, Jesus came to John to be baptized, and although John at first hesitated, Jesus insisted that it was okay for the time being. For those who were paying attention to Jesus’ and John’s brief conversation, it was clear that John was not greater than Jesus, even if John was the one doing the baptizing.

But there might have been some who were not paying close attention or who couldn’t hear their dialogue very well. After all, John was doing his baptizing out in the wilderness at the Jordan River. It wasn’t like he had a microphone clipped to the lapel of his camel hair garment, with a dozen Bose speakers attached to the rocks offering theater-like surround-sound for the crowds. The people could not visit John’s website later that evening and read a transcript of the day’s events (and maybe get John’s follow-up thoughts on his blog). Nor could they go to YouTube and watch a grainy video of John and Jesus’ conversation, captured on a disciple’s camera phone.

Even though John comes across as a rather loud and blustery personality, the human voice carries only so far. The most common utterance in crowds back in those days was probably something like, “Huh? What did he say?”

To reinforce the point that Jesus was superior to John, despite the fact that everyone saw Jesus submerging himself in the river at John’s feet, John proclaimed the words written in this week’s gospel. (Scripture says that he “testified.”) In this way, when the folks at the fringes of the crowd shrugged their shoulders and said, “Huh?” these are the words that would be relayed to them by others.

John pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Not exactly the words you would use to describe some run-of-the-mill Joe Schmoe. Only God can take away sins, and only God on a momentous mission can do it for the whole world.

John said of Jesus, “[He] ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.” John was not referring merely to which of the two men was born first. In fact, it was John who was born first, as we heard in the Advent readings. John’s mother Elizabeth became pregnant a number of months before Mary.

Here John is referring to Jesus’ eternal nature. Jesus not only existed before John was born, Jesus existed before ANYTHING existed. Jesus existed before time began. (Please take note, Mitt. Love you guys, but this is a crucial Christianity vs. LDS doctrinal distinction.)

John’s audience most likely did not grasp the depth of his statement, and John himself probably did not realize how profound this concept truly was. Don’t forget, John’s actions and statements were being prompted by the Holy Spirit. He was doing God’s will, but he didn’t understand all of it while it was happening. Come to think of it, that’s a lot like us!

John continued to testify, “The reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John reminded the crowd that his main mission, as Isaiah prophesized, was to be a herald for the Messiah—the one who would prepare the way of the Lord.

John explained how he knew for sure that Jesus was the one: “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him….The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”

And finally this week’s reading concludes with John saying, “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” No matter how much someone might be inclined to exaggerate to make a point, no Jew in first century Palestine would lightly toss around the expression, “Son of God.” It bordered on blasphemy to use that phase about a mere mortal man. (Border, shmorder. It WAS blasphemy.) John would never use it unless he was referring to someone who was much more than a mere mortal, and this was not lost on his audience.

So despite the fact that the acoustics may have been poor, despite the fact that there were no high-fidelity sound systems or streaming video webcasts of the event, John made enough clear and concise statements about Jesus’ identity so that there could be no confusion. If someone on the very fringe of the crowd inquired, “What did he say?” the answer was crystal clear: Jesus is greater than John. John was just setting the stage, Jesus is the main act. Jesus is the one to follow and obey because He is, in fact, no mere mortal. He is the Son of God.

Unless the true identity of Jesus is known, nothing else about God’s remarkable plan for us makes sense. John knew this and made sure no one in the crowd would misunderstand. We, too, must not misunderstand. We must be clear about Jesus’ identity.

©2008