Text for the Third Sunday in Advent: John 1:19-28

Take a moment to think about the power of a single word.  Notice how one word can communicate volumes of information. Words like:

• Taliban
• Hamas
• The Klan
• Christian
• Nazi

These words communicate a multitude of thoughts, feelings and responses.

In John 1: 19 we encounter a word that communicates a multitude of information.  The word is “the Jews”.  Surely you understand that the thoughts, feelings and responses stem from the cultural context from which the word arises!  For example the word “Klan” has a very different meaning to folks who lived in the 16^th century.  The difference between “community of origin/identity” and “terrorism” is polar.  The same polarization of communication presents itself in this passage from John. 

The word “Jew” defines the people of Israel.  It represents a nation.  In John’s community the term “the Jews” is a derogatory term.  Its aim is NOT directed to the nation of Israel or the children of Abraham.  The term points to those Jewish leaders who sold out their own people and thereby became part and parcel of a Domination System.  To the Nation of Israel these leaders have turned Israel into Egypt.

The Roman Empire was a domination system.  They maintained control by lording over people through slavery, oppression and taxation.  Only those who lived in palaces had food enough for tomorrow. People were kept in their place by forcing them into an existence of survival.  When your time is occupied by earning enough money to purchase one meal a day for your family you are dominated and controlled in such a way that you cannot rise up.  When this form of existence becomes the norm you do not even know that you are enslaved – this is life!

The Roman Empire took the priesthood away from the Nation of Israel.  The position of High Priest and Levite were sold to “the Jews” who successfully participated in the Roman system of domination.  (See verse 19 and 24)  Therefore the temple with all of its rites and worship practices became a façade of Roman domination, oppression and slavery.  The “tithe” that once represented God’s provisions for the Levites became a tax paid to Rome! 

The word “Baptize” is another word that communicates a multitude of information.  What do you see and hear when you think about the word”baptize”.  This, my friends, is your context.  I can almost promise you that your context of baptism and that of John is polarized, we are worlds apart.  John’s context for Baptism — the better understanding is rite of purification — is defined by passages from Leviticus.  (Once again I encourage you to read Leviticus 15: 19-24 and 16:23-28) 

• According to these passages what happens when a “clean” person touches an “unclean” person?  What happens if you touch something an unclean person has come into contact with?
• When the “unclean” person repents in her or his heart and gives “witness” to their change of heart that witness is expressed though “washing”.  The person is not “clean” until the washing is completed!  What happens to the priest if he touches the “unclean” person before he or she comes out of the water? 

The challenge for 21^st Christians is to understand that Torah, the Law, was not so much a “legal” system but rather a system for living together in community. (The mistake the Pharisees made was to turn a system of living into a system of oppression.)  Baptism was not a rite of passage but a way of living in community. 

• Do you think of your baptism as a rite of passage or a way of living in community?
• Purification by water gives witness to a desire to live in community.  Jesus’ baptism, in the Holy Spirit – is an appeal to live in community with God and neighbor.  How is Christian repentance, confession and forgiveness our faith community’s central act of purification. 
• The United Methodist Church does not “re-baptize” by water.  Explain sanctification as our central act of being “washed” in the Holy Spirit.  If you desire to be re-baptized do you understand why a United Methodist pastor wants to talk about repentance, confession, forgiveness and reconciliation instead of water? 

When someone asks, “Who are you”?  How do you answer?  (See John 1:19) 

• Does John ever reveal his identify?  Does his revealed identity point to himself or to another?  Who does John’s witness point out?
• “Who are you?”  What do you have to say?  Does your life give witness to Jesus? 

It is important to remember that John is being challenged by the Roman domination system.  In every way John is a threat to the domination system.

• What office does John hold that give him power to baptize people?  (NONE!)
• When persons come to John in the wilderness what happens to the “tithe” that now belongs to the Roman Empire? 
• How will the High Priest pay the taxes to the Roman Empire if persons flock to John?
• John is expected to be a slave of the Domination system.  What did the Priest and Levites hear when John says “I am not worthy to untie His sandals”?  Slaves untied the sandals of the elite? 
• Does John behave as a slave to the domination system?
• Why did John eventually lose his head? 

The Church lives continually at a crossroads!  Will the Church be a slave to the current domination system? 

• Where do you see a domination system as work?
• Do you see “the elite” attempting and or succeeding at enslaving others in our nation or world?
• How does the Church sell itself out to domination systems?
• Do ”entitlements” seek to rise people up to the status of “community” or seek to keep people in their place? 
• Are we living in Egypt, Rome or The Promised Land?  Why?
• What does nay of this have to do with the decline of the Church?  Where are the places today that people go for purification?

The word Bethany is another of those words that communicate volumes.  The word means “House of Misery”.  Why is John baptizing near a town know as a “House of Misery”?  Where do people in “misery” go to live in community?

 One in Christ

Robert Burlingham, pastor