Today’s scripture: Matthew 3:1-12 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Brent Walsh):
My spouse Julie asked me the other day to describe the picture I had in my mind of what Pastor Jeff’s house looked like. Since I had never been to Jeff and David’s house, and she had, I felt funny telling her what I thought it would look like. I guessed that it was a one-story ranch house with wall-to-wall white carpet. I envisioned an open-plan living room with a hallway to the right and the kitchen to the left.
“Interesting,” she said. “It’s actually a two-story house that opens up to a hallway and a set of stairs. It has hardwood floors. The hallway leads you to the kitchen on the right and the living room on the left.” Together we chuckled at how my picture of their house was almost exactly opposite of the way it turned out to be!
That is how I think it must have been for those who were waiting for the Scriptures to be fulfilled and the Messiah’s predecessor to make his grand appearance. The prophet Isaiah foretold the ministry of John the Baptist as, “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight paths for him.’” In Isaiah’s day it might have seemed that this mystery man from the future would be someone of great importance and reputation. Surely he would be a religious leader or a politician. He would put a great deal of effort into looking professional, smelling good, developing strategies, and kissing babies! He would polish his people skills, hone his vocabulary and organize grass-roots volunteers to help get the word out. This would be a man to watch for!
In Sunday School cartoons we see him depicted as a sort of street preacher, standing on a rock with neat, curly hair and a perfectly trimmed beard. Or maybe he’s waist-deep in a sparkling river with one manicured hand gently resting on the shoulder of a new convert and the other raised to the heavens in a stoic Kodak moment. With these pictures in our heads, we might have a hard time imagining John the Baptist the way he probably really was.
When I read about John, I see a picture in my mind of an uneducated, crass, malodorous vagrant with little concern for people’s opinion of him. He gave the religious leaders of his day a tongue lashing when they came too close, calling them a brood of vipers! He wore clothes made of camel skin and he ate grasshoppers and wild honey. I’m sure he went quite some time without bathing, and his bad breath was probably the death of many a friendship! The Jordan River did not sparkle; it was dirty and disdained by proper society. The people he baptized probably smelled better going in than they did coming out!
Isn’t it interesting that God would choose such a crude vessel to carry the message of the coming of the Messiah? I sure am glad God doesn’t do that any more, and doesn’t choose people like THAT to carry the message of the second coming! Or… maybe God does? In reality, we are all broken vessels, and God wants to use us just the way we are.
Thought for the day: Think you’re too uncouth, too uneducated, too “unspiritual”, too ________ (fill in the blank) to be used by God in powerful ways? Think about how God used John — crazy ol’ wild man John, out by the river — and think again.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.