Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Out in the Wilderness - June 30, 2010

Good Wednesday morning! Well, here we are at the halfway point of the year already. Is it still more of the same for you? Work, stress, family, stress, watching TV, stress, and maybe some more stress thrown in just for good measure? Or are you growing in Christ Jesus and coming to realize the peace he gives in all things? Jesus has some answers for you if your life is full of stress questions.

Today, Jesus arrived at the Jordan, but John didn't recognize him as the Messiah. Eh? Didn't we already go over John's job as the herald of Christ? Yes, but today's verse has an admission from none other than John the Baptist.

"I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel." John 1:31

So John the Baptist didn't immediately recognize Jesus as the Messiah? How can that be? Actually, John didn't remember that he had in fact recognized Jesus quite a few years before that. We can recall the story of Mary and Elizabeth and how John leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb when Mary arrived with some good news. However, as the mothers knew each other, John and Jesus probably spent some time together as children, although they may not have grown up together. Mary and Joseph had to flee Israel for a while and after moving back to Nazareth the contact with Elizabeth and her son John may have been only in the manner of occasional visits.

It seems that though John knew Jesus as Mary and Joseph's son, and that he knew the Messiah would arrive soon, he didn't put the two together until that moment at the Jordan River. John's entire baptismal ministry was so that Jesus would be revealed to Israel, not to the nations yet, just Israel. The warnings to turn from sin and repent, the messages about the One coming soon, and the baptisms were all for one moment - the arrival and baptism of the Messiah. How John must have been surprised to suddenly realize that he knew the Messiah, not only as the Son of God, but earlier as the eldest son of Mary and Joseph. Does the Bible specifically say that Jesus and John hung out together as kids? I don't know of any verse that says that, but considering the bond shared by the two mothers, I am convinced that they would have visited each other at times.

At some point the two families separated though. Tradition has it that Joseph may have died before Jesus grew to manhood. We read in Luke that John didn't become 'the Baptist' right away either. Perhaps Zechariah and Elizabeth died early in John's life. This might be the explanation for John living in the wilderness. John may not have learned a trade and without the support of his parents, he had to move out of the towns and cities. Whatever the cause, Luke tells us that when the message came from God, John was already living in the wilderness. We don't know for sure, but John may have lived more than 20 years in the wilderness. He may have been "that weird hermit over by the Jordan" before he became famous as a voice crying in the wilderness. However the events came together, John and Jesus were in their places at God's perfect time.

One day, perhaps after 20 years in the wilderness, you and I will be right where God wants us to be at just the perfect time. Your life might seem to be stuck in neutral right now. Perhaps you even feel the urge to eat some locusts and wild honey so far out in the wilderness does your life seem to be. God's perfect time approaches; be patient and wait on the Lord!

Praise God for the new day!

Bucky

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