John the Baptizer needs help

Matthew 11:1-6

Many years ago a friend of mine was supply preacher at a small Baptist Church in West Texas. Sunday night he read the text for his sermon, “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” A deacon stood up at the back of the church and said, “Brother Preacher, I don’t believe that’s in the Bible.” My friend assured the good deacon that it was not only in the Bible, it was in the King James Baptist Bible. The deacon said, “Well, if it is, it ought not be.”

There are stories that I wish weren’t in the Bible. This is one of them. John the Baptizer was the Jeremiah, or the Jeremiah Wright, of his day. He didn’t make excuses for the sins of his people or their rulers and he named names. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to John, or Jeremiah, or Jeremiah Wright, that he was vilified by villains while false prophets danced to the tune of the sackbutt and the lyre. 

One of the sackbutts the Baptizer named was King Herod and for putting God before his party or his country, John was slapped in Guantanamo where he had no rights, not even the right to life or humane treatment. John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, meaning “Why haven’t you rescued me from the villain in the palace?” 

John was Jesus’ cousin. John had announced Jesus’ coming. He prepared the audience for Jesus. He sent Jesus some of his first disciples. He baptized Jesus. Now John needed help. It was “you owe me” time.

John is a hero of mine, maybe because I am so little like him. I’ve always been amazed that John was willing to step aside so that Jesus could be the star. That is so un-American. We want to be the stars of the universe and curse our fate at being moons that reflect God’s glory. Can you imagine a failed CEO stepping aside for someone more capable without the golden parachute? Can you imagine a member of congress thinking himself or herself one of We the people? Can you imagine a husband allowing his wife to co-star in the home?

If anyone owed John a favor it was Jesus. And if Jesus owed anyone a favor, it was John the Baptizer. And what did Jesus do for John? He told John’s disciples to report what he was doing in the world--the lame made to walk, the blind to see, meaning I’m saving these people. I’m not going to save you. Believe in me because of what I am doing in the world. Not because of what I do for you.

Wait! That’s not what I was taught in Sunday School: that if I believed and was really, really good and prayed really, really hard then God would protect me. For a while I believed that God sent an angel to keep me safe but that belief didn’t make it through the first grade. Nevertheless, I thought God took special care of me because I was really good, which is why I needed protection from those who had a higher opinion of themselves than I did.

But wasn’t John praying to be saved? Really, really hard? Weren’t John’s disciples praying that Jesus would rescue him? Of course they were. Didn’t God hear their prayers? I’ve read inspirational stories of how desperate prayers delivered people from divorce, destitution, disease, death. Was John not desperate enough?

When our younger daughter, a couple of months short of her twelfth birthday, was in intensive care, I was desperate. I prayed earnestly that her life would be spared. I tried to trade my life for hers, my ambition for her life, my hopes and dreams of the future for her life. I prayed for her life even after she died. God had raised a child from the grave. God could do it again.

It took a while for me to understand that goodness is not a rabbit’s foot that will bring you luck. Faith is not an insurance policy where the more you invest, the greater security you will have. Obedience is not a favor you do God requiring reciprocity on the part of the Almighty. Job should have taught me that. John the Baptizer should have taught me that. Jesus showed me that.

John asked, “Are you the messiah who can save me from the crisis of the moment or should I look for another?” It couldn’t have been easy for Jesus to say, “Your problems are not your fault. You are not being punished for wrongs you have done but for doing what was right. Nevertheless, you are not going to be saved.”

There is evil in the world, and accident, and disease, and natural disaster, and unintentional injury, and our faith is not a shield against those things. Our faith is believing that in all things God is the creative power turning our evil into good. The Almighty may not follow your script.

The gospel writers tell us nothing of John’s faith at the end. There is no record of his disciples following Jesus after John’s death. In Ephesus, Paul found some who had been baptized by John.(Acts 19:1-7) What of those who followed Jesus? Some must have turned away, thinking if he won’t help John what will he do for me? Others steadfastly followed Jesus but they had learned a hard lesson. The nearer one is to God, the closer one is to a cross. 

Many believers have followed Jesus in martyrdom. God didn’t save Jesus. He didn’t save James, the brother of Jesus, or Peter, or Paul, or Stephen. God didn’t save ancient Israel.

Remember that when you think that you, or your family, or your country are favored by God. Remember that when you can’t find God in the headlines. When you can’t find God in your future that looks as though you won’t for long be in good health or good mind. When you can’t find God in those who claim to serve him. If God does save you from a tsunami, your child from a drunk driver, your country from a nuclear holocaust be exceedingly grateful. 

If God doesn’t, believe because of what God is doing in the world, not what God is doing for you, or your family, or your country. In that world, the blind are made to see, the lame to walk, the sick are healed, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor with the limited human hands God has. 

Note: This is the first of a series of stories that I wish weren’t in the Bible or that I wish were understood in a different way. Next: Sodom and Katrina.

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