After years of not getting it
I finally do–
You dip the ravaging
Insect into
The viscous sweet
“Honey,”
He says
“This is how you make the unpalatable work.”
–Luke 7:18-24
Locusts and honey
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Tag Archives: John the Baptist
Our ordinary demise
While the crucifixion of Christ is overwhelmingly unbearable, the deaths of ordinary humans are awful enough.
We are all certain things when we die.
The cessation of breath is a terrifying thing. Add to that helplessness and pain–most of us avoid death the way you would avoid the edge of an unforgiving precipice or an unguarded incinerator.
John the Baptist’s death is no exception. He died as a direct result of powerful people’s sin. He died in chronological and geographical proximity to Jesus.
The howl of the unfairness of it all is unmistakable.
Which is why I stick close to men like him. What if John had not questioned Jesus? What if his grief and doubt had not been recorded in the Gospel?
…I would have fewer answers for my lesser questions…and one fewer member of my support group.
And a narrower understanding of Jesus–no Santa Claus god. Jesus commands us to focus on both who He is and what He does for us on the most primal level.
He gives us back the one thing we can never get back ourselves–eternal life.
The death of every human may seem inevitable, but who we trust with the forever after makes all the difference.
To John the Baptist and every ordinary me.
When God Moves Away
Matthew 4:12-17 (NIV)
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. [13] Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— [14] to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: [15] “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— [16] the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” [17] From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Unquenchable Fire
Luke 3:17 (NIV)
His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
God is a patient guy, but we would all be prudent not to confuse patient with impotent or sloppy. He will not wait forever to fix what we have broken.
And it will take a very long time to burn all the trash we have amassed…in our hearts alone.
Make no mistake–
We will all be salted with fire.
Pentecost.
Blood Feast
Mark 6:26-29 (NIV)
The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. [27] So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, [28] and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. [29] On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Brutal.
The terrible excess, the exploitive relations, the complete moral collapse in this story is so hard to face.
An innocent man is butchered like a pig.
And then the quiet grief–his followers come and retrieve his body.
Make no mistake beheading someone is a political act of tremendous violence. And the grief that follows is heart wrenching.
John’s disciples. Where did they go? To Jesus. Another man on his own path towards a brutal death.
Surely, these guys were losers?!
Not in the end,
In the end…
they were right.
The truth and the prophet
Mark 6:17-18 (NIV)
For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. [18] For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Sigh.
The Bible does not tell us how John felt about confronting Herod’s sin. He was a sold out guy–locusts and honey and desert not being the marks of a casual faith. But he must have know that criticizing Herod for incest might be dangerous.
For John, God’s law trumps Herod’s or Rome’s. And he is right.
It all depends on who is the king and for how long.
Revelation 11:15
Who is this guy?
Mark 6:14-16 (NIV)
King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” [15] Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.” [16] But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
Jesus was becoming a celebrity, but not by choice. He knew that his kind of renown led to crosses and blades, not black tie events.
People speculated about him. Who is this guy? Who raises the dead? Who heals our diseases? Who takes away my sin? God. Just Him.
Don’t forget it.
Mark 6–out of order
A lot happens in Mark 6, and half of it is obscene. Sometimes what is not explicitly described is worth a glance. Mark describes the death of John as the reward for lust and obscenity.
It is one of the hardest stories in the Bible.
How could God be so close and not save his cousin, his messenger, his friend?
Carrying Light 