“Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

      ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” (Mark 1: 3)

John the Baptist came to straighten crooked paths for the Messiah. He knew that the world had veered off the Garden path and was hopelessly lost in the wilderness. He called people to stop staggering to and fro and get back on the straight and narrow. The time of philosophical, theological, and political action committees had passed, so he adopted a grass roots approach and called each and every individual to examine their hearts and take responsibility for their own actions. He wouldn’t tolerate nepotism, especially when they dropped names and appealed to their prestigious family heritage as a get-out-of-sin free card. Abrahamic diplomatic immunity wouldn’t count when Adamic capital crimes were on the line. He made it clear that he was paving the way for an axe wielding savior and hoped his warnings of being cut down and burned in the fire would elicit a come-to-Jesus moment in his listeners

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3: 7-9)

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Luke 3: 16-17)

John was later imprisoned, and with time on his hands, he must have wondered why the Lamb of God wasn’t acting more like the Lion of Judah. He hadn’t heard any reports of Roman butt kicking or Temple overhaul. Had he baptized the right guy? These questions prompted him to send out his disciples to find out if Jesus was the Headliner or if he needed to audition others. The answer he received, while quite scriptural, must have shocked him.

“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

Instead of a divine lumberjack cutting down proud trees, Jesus was a redemptive forester nourishing fragile saplings. John had been announcing a judge who would punish others for their wrongdoing but what he got was the One who was punished. There was an axe at the root of the tree, but its branches were draped with a Messiah. God had sent His Son not to condemn the world but to save it.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3: 17-18)

John rightly called out sinners and highlighted the coming judgment but didn’t anticipate that the severity of sin would be met by the severity of God’s no greater love. John was appropriately afraid of the fiery judgment but didn’t understand that the Living Water could put out the flame.

We have a choice; we can fashionably clothe ourselves with a fire-proof Jesus suit, or spend the rest of our lives walking the cultural runway rocking out-of-date flammable garments. The beauty of being clothed in the blood of the Lamb is that One size fits all and it never goes out of style. As John said, we must make our paths straight if we are to find our way to the cross, but once there we need not fear being fuel for a fire pit because Jesus has prepared a seat for us on Holy ground where we can sit and warm ourselves around the Burning Bush.

When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

      “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

      who will prepare your way before you.’ (Luke 7: 22-27)

Photo by Ian Keefe on Unsplash