Religion is about “hope.” It is not about something we have to do or to say. There is no right way. There is no wrong way. It is about having and maintaining hope!
Religion is not a list of do’s and don’ts. Nor is it a constant parade of sallow faced and furrowed old men and women looking at their own demise.
Religion is not about pontificating morality, doctrines and dogma. Religion is not about some old preacher spewing out Greek and Hebrew words like lifeless styro-foam coffee cups…that have no meaning…and are litter for the mind.
Religion is about hope. It is the cry of hope in a hopeless world. A small glimmering light in the darkness… It is a grin about to turn into a full-blown belly-laugh.
Religion is not bad news. It is not grumpy news. It is not judgmental news. It is not downer news. It is not furrow-faced news. It is news for life. It is hope incarnate. It is good news, news of joy, gladness and hope. Religion is about redemption and release. It is hopeful. It is good news. It should be exciting.
One of the most deeply felt needs in the universe – is the need for hope…the chance for better tomorrows and better today’s.
When the gospel writer Mark sat down to pen the first ever “gospel” he was more than aware that it meant “good news.” It was meant to bring hope – where there was no hope. Mark’s gospel proclaimed a time of hope, even as it proclaimed good news.
The appearance of a “wild man” in the wilderness area “signaled” an initial proclamation of God’s “good news and hope.”
This man named John was an emissary, a desert herald, “an advanced team of one,” he was a spokesman, a prophet, actually. He was a mediator but there was no negotiation. He came to introduce. To set the stage… To “warm up the crowds” for what was to come…
He came without apologies…as he burst on to the stage of humanity. And with him and all of his rhetoric – there came “hope.”
He was a strange “advance-man.” He was a loner…reared in an orphanage in the desert by old men in a monastery. He had no brothers or sisters, no family per se. He was a rare man. Unusual. He had very little contact with human civilization or city-dwellers, so of course, he was strange. Odd. Different. And yet, alluring.
His childhood toys would have been lizards, scorpions, snakes and giant sand spiders. His playground was one huge gigantic sandbox. He grew up in the silence and the solitude of the wilderness. The sound of the winds and the ever-shifting sands, were his friends.
He watched the coming out of the stars at night, one-by-one, they came. He grew to love the silence of the stars and the silence of the night. It was the perfect time for contemplation. There were little or no distractions.
He, like his elders in the monastery was immersed in God. God was their daily companion. God was his constant guide.
He was not tainted by the city, its dwellers, or their city-life. He knew little about them or their lifestyles. Instead, he knew about God. He was not fouled by all their trap-falls. He had not been corrupted. He was extremely unusual. Different. Different can be good. Different can bring hope to the hopeless.
He was not a man of words. As a matter of fact, in the style of the prophets-before-him, he did not have to say much. One word was a sermon. One word was a soliloquy. It spoke volumes.
In him emanated the powerful presence of God. From him and from his mouth came a timely word of “hope.” Prepare,” he bellowed.
“Be washed, be cleaned, make ready, be cleansed.” (Enough said!) He was so simple, so plain, so unsophisticated …and yet they came.
They came by the hundreds and then, by the thousands…they walked thirty, forty, fifty miles to hear him say his few intelligible words…and they were washed. They were washed clean. They were cleansed. They were getting ready. They were preparing.
The word of the Lord was clear: “Go into the wilderness, into the silence and into the quiet and be made clean. Your mind, your imagination, your heart, your actions, your words, your habits…all of you…every part of you…be cleansed.”
He was no reed shaken by the wind. He was a prophet, a spokesman…and more than a prophet.
He was the “wild-man of God” – untamed and totally other. Different. But then, sometimes, different can be good, very good…and with it can come even a message of hope!