121119 – JOHN gets Busy-Luke 3.1-12
Prepare yourselves for a little bit of history, NOT from ME mind you, but from the author, LUKE.
TIME has elapsed, and it is now the fifteenth year of the reign of the Roman emperor TIBERIUS. Since he ruled from 14 to 37 CE, it is likely that the year Luke has in mind is 26 or 27CE…or there about…
Luke offers a SKETCH of the HUGE POWER PLAYERS at the time.
First up is PONTIUS PILATE, (of creedal fame) who was PREFECT of Judea from 26 to 36 CE.
HEROD was tetrarch over Galilee from 4 BCE to 39 CE. And PHILIP AND LYSANIUS were also TETRARCHS over several territories to the north and to the northeast of Galilee.
Yes, there will be a TEST on all of this later. PROMISE!
Along with these political leaders, Luke mentions TWO BIG SHOT “religious leaders” ANNAS was HIGH PRIEST from 6 to 15 CE, while CAIAPHAS (his son-in-law) held the position from 18 to 36 CE. But we know the Elder ANNAS was still pulling all the strings!
Now that we’re all situated in terms of the TIME and the “WHO’s WHO” of the region’s political ELITE, Luke finally gets down to business at hand.
God TAPS JOHN on the SHOULDER in the desert, where he’s been for a while.
JOHN goes throughout the region that surrounds the Jordan River, PROCLAIMING that God will FORGET everybody’s sins as they are “ritually DUNKED” in the river’s dirty water.
Luke MENTIONS that John’s “the guy” who the prophet ISAIAH wrote about a long-long time ago…like 800 yrs. prior.
He’s the DUDE shouting out in the wilderness to GET READY for the coming of the Lord.
He’s going to build SIDEWALKS and bike lanes and flatten out ALL the rough ground. Everyone’s going to WITNESS God’s work of DELIVERANCE. It’s going to be SO COOL it will be EPIC!
John also demands quite a lot from “the crowds” who undergo this ritual washing or dunking.
(Metaphor time) SOME of these people are actually a bunch of SNAKES who are lucky to have the chance to ESCAPE the BRUTAL WRATH that SURELY is coming…
They BETTER FOLLOW UP their dunking bath with ACTUAL “actions” to prove that they’ve turned their lives around. YEP, we are talking “WORKS.”
They better not start acting ALL SMUG AND SECURE in the fact that they are part of Israel by BIRTH.
That’s not enough, because God is able to turn stones INTO JEWS (fortunately, not the other way around). But then, who knows?
This whole REPENTANCE THINGY is a lot like a fruit tree, John adds. If the tree doesn’t produce fruit, the wood will then be useful for making S’MORES…on a campfire!
BUT JOHN IS JUST A FORERUNNER…
The real messiah is going to have a “winnowing fork.”
What IS he going to do with SUCH a big fork? He’ll toss a pile of harvested grain in the air so that the heavy kernels fall to the ground in a pile and the USELESS “chaff” flies away with the breeze. Then he’ll put the “scrumptious kernels” in his barn, but he’ll BURN “the chaff” with fire that will NEVER stop blazing.
GET IT?
Are YOU the useless CHAFF? Or, are you the SCRUMPTIOUS KERNALS?
Are you Sure?
Are you POSITIVE?
Just what have you done or are you doing to help “others” – OTHER than yourself (that is?)
So here you have it, this fiery preacher out in the hinterlands, yelling and hollering and intimidating the heck out of people.
And he is just the front-runner, the fore-runner, the “warm up guy” for the ULTIMATE ACT that is TO COME!
He is merely setting the stage…
He is getting ready…but he is NOT the only ONE that is SUPPOSED to get READY… because, so are WE…
The CLOCK is ticking…
The Messiah is coming…
And it is UP to each of US (individually) to get ready and so PREPARE HIS WAY, even as JOHN was doing…
So the question needs to be asked…WHAT ARE YOU DOING to help “others” – What are YOU doing to help those LESS FORTUNATE than yourself?
And once your sins have been forgiven, shouldn’t you ALSO forgive the sins of others? Just saying…Amen!