John the Baptist Luke 3

Let's play name that teacher - who said the following?

He said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. He answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same." Even tax collectors came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"

He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." (Luke 3:7-14 NIV)

You would think Jesus, right? But it was John the Baptist. He's a special guy, his mom was old lady Elizabeth and dad Zechariah. He lives in the desert, eats locusts and wild honey, and speaks out against sin and injustice. And he doesn't mess around - people come out to see him and learn from him and the first thing he does is call them a bunch of snakes and asks why anyone would want to save them.

After this, John says some other things that are very important. "do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham"

Take out a piece of paper and write this down: What makes you a Christian? Growing up in church? Your grandparents or your pastor? Living in the south or even In America? Being Lutheran? Like the Jews, we tend to mix up our heritage and our faith. We are not Christians because of lineage or outward connections. We are Christians if we have faith that Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins, that he conquered sin, death, and the devil, and believe we will one day be with him in heaven.

Now Lutherans are a little funny, we believe that you don't have to cognitively understand this stuff to believe. We baptize babies, believing that the word - aka the promise of God - and the sacrament - the act of pouring water, which displays death and rebirth - we think that God uses these tools to bring salvation. Not because it makes sense, but because the Bible says so!

So John calls out the Jews for putting faith in their Jewishness. Out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. Translation, GOD DOESN'T NEED YOU! God is God, he will not change his character or ways one bit because a human is a dufus. We all sin constantly, which means we are all dufuses, and the only thing sillier than being a dufus is being proud of being a dufus. God can do ANYTHING; he made us out of dust once, he could do it again.  All he would need is a pile of stones and he could make a new generation of people.  So we are not proud, we are grateful that for some inexplicable reason God loves us...

Check out this passage in Micah about humility:

"With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you: but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8 ESV)

Proudness is silly, we can't bribe God to take away our sin. We walk humbly, because God freely gives grace. We do what is right because our neighbors are God's children. We

love because God first loved us. (1 John 14:9)

Or another way to look at it is: And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27 ESV). Jesus quotes the law God gave to Moses and adds the part about neighbors to sum up everything that God requires of us. Pretty simple, huh? We should love God and love the people around us. Piece of cake?

Back to John, he says pretty much the same thing: be generous to the needy, don't steal, be content with what God has given you. And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?" And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages." (Luke 3:10-14 ESV). Again, piece of cake, right?

Love God, love neighbors, be just and humble, give to the poor. . .the works God requires are pretty simple, so why do we have such an impossible time doing them? Why can't we keep the commandments for longer than 3.6 seconds?  

Why did Adam and Eve eat the apple? Why did Cain kill Abel? Why did Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery? Why did the Israelites grumble in the desert? Why did they worship a golden calf? Why did the people of Babel try to build a tower to the sky? Why did David kill Uriah and take Bathsheba to be his wife? Why did Nebuchadnezzar eat grass like a cow? Why did Belshazzar see the handwriting on the wall? Why did Judas sell out his Lord? Why did Peter deny knowing Jesus?

I like Hannah's answer - we are selfish.  Aka, we are sinful.  We love ourselves more than God, and we love ourselves more than our neighbors.  And that is why John preaches repentance - it is brokenheartedness over selfishness, crying out for the forgiveness of a savior. As we'll see in just a second, the savior is about to come.

Although he called them vipers and said God could replace them with rock-people, the crowds are apparently satisfied with John's teaching and wonder if he is the messiah: As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

John's baptism is one of repentance - "I'm sorry for what I've done, I'll quit being a dufus and do better." But Jesus's baptism is with the Holy Spirit and fire - he sees our hearts and knows what is in a man, he burns up the sinful parts of us and gives us the Holy Spirit, a part of himself, to guide us and lead us because we can't do what is right on our own. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20 ESV). Baptism by Jesus is being drowned, being cremated, and being raised from the dead. The old sinful us is killed, burned up, and Christ who lives in us makes us alive again.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." (Luke 3:15-17, 21, 22 ESV)

Matthew adds a little verse: John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. (Matthew 3:14, 15 ESV)

Definitely one of the most vivid scenes in the New Testament; everyone is watching and Jesus shows up. John says, "behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." And despite the absurdness of baptizing the only sinless man, the only person who didn't need to repent or receive forgiveness, John takes him down to the water. And we see for just a moment the trinity all together, Jesus in the river, God calling down from heaven, and the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove into Jesus. God says "this is my son, with him I am well pleased.". I imagine God is picturing Jesus's entire life at that point. He sees Jesus walking on the water, he sees Jesus teaching and healing the sick, he sees Jesus raising the dead, he sees Jesus dying on the cross, he sees him rising from the dead, and he sees him back in heaven, sitting next to his Heavenly Father.

God knew all of this would happen (like the Emperor from star-wars, I have foreseen it!) -- (Jesus) who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11 ESV) God is well pleased with Jesus setting aside his Godness to be human and bring salvation to man and glory to God the father!

The awesomeness of this statement; "this is my son, with him I am well pleased," is that because of what Jesus did, God thinks the same of us. Steve, you are my son, with you I am well pleased. Heather, you are my daughter, with you I am well pleased. God is pleased with us because of what Jesus did.

One last crazy story about John. . .he calls out sin where he sees it, and he winds up in a pot of hot water as a result:

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." Others said, "He is Elijah."

And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!" For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?"

"The head of John the Baptist," she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6:14-29 NIV)

Sinfulness, right? People find a way to do all sorts of evil, seducing leaders, killing the innocent, allowing the innocent to be killed, gross, nasty things. Sin isn't pretty, sin is ugly and horrible, it costs bloodshed and heartbreak. The wages is sin is death, Paul says in Romans. John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of The Lord. He also prepares the way in his death - just like his savior, he is killed for speaking out on behalf of truth and righteousness and calling out the evilness of sin.

Sin is very real, and it leads to death - that is why this repentance and baptism stuff is so important. You are dead in your transgressions! You are stick dead guy! You have to be raised from the dead if you even want to think about repentance - dead guys can't repent, they can't do anything!! Here is a bit more about Baptism if you want to look into it a little deeper.

Luther's Small Catechism:

[What is Baptism?

Baptism is not simple water only, but it is the water comprehended in God’s command and connected with God’s Word.

Which is that word of God?

Christ, our Lord, says in the last chapter of Matthew: Go ye into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

What does Baptism give or profit?

It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

Which are such words and promises of God?

Christ, our Lord, says in the last chapter of Mark: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

How can water do such great things?

It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, chapter three: By the washing of regeneration and renewing the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying.

What does such baptizing with water signify?

It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Where is this written?

St. Paul says Romans, chapter 6: We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death, that, like as He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Here's some cool stuff about baptism from Imonk:

I like the Lutheran view because it understands baptism as God’s act, not a human act. It’s primarily about grace, not faith. It is done to us in God’s name (that is, as an act of God performed by his representative), we do not do it to ourselves. It is not the sign of my response to God, it is the sign and seal of what God has done for me.

I like the Lutheran view because it emphasizes the Word of God. When God’s Word of promise and salvation is spoken at baptism, ordinary water becomes a means of grace to sinners. Lutherans do not emphasize the water apart from the Word, nor do they worry so much about how much water is used, or by what method the water is applied. The key is that the simple, ordinary element of water is combined with the all-important Word of salvation.

I like the Lutheran view because it appropriately broadens our understanding of the Great Commission. Many who argue against baptizing infants appeal to the Book of Acts, where believer’s baptism is the common practice. However, they forget that Acts describes mainly first-generation believers. Lutherans have no problem with baptizing believers who have received the Gospel (nor does any Christian denomination that practices baptism).

What the N.T. does not exemplify so clearly is what should happen with second-generation believers. When does the child of Christian parents start becoming a disciple of Christ? That process begins when the child is born, and therefore it is appropriate to baptize the child and begin teaching him/her to obey what Christ has commanded from the beginning of life.

I like the Lutheran view because it enlightens us about the true nature of faith. In evangelicalism, faith is usually described as my decision, my willful choice to follow Christ. Lutherans understand that faith is more mysterious and often less conscious than that. Infants exemplify this broader understanding.

Does an infant choose to be conceived or born? Does an infant decide to bond in trustful repose upon its mother’s breast? Does the infant intelligently weigh its options and determine to choose life and love? No, the infant’s new life begins solely by the will of others, when they come together in an act of love. Then the incomprehensible life force one day moves the baby to enter the world, breathe, and respond to those who love her. Even so, God, through Word and Sacrament, works faith and spiritual life into those who receive his promise.

I like the Lutheran view because it emphasizes the ongoing significance of baptism. Since evangelicalism views baptism as a one-time initiatory act that communicates a singular message about conversion, those who practice believer’s baptism don’t bring up the subject again in the course of the Christian life. However, Lutherans (following Luther himself) see baptism as an ongoing object lesson of the Christian life that we must remember and reenact every day. We practice our baptism daily by repenting (dying to the old life) and rising to walk in new life. http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/what-i-like-about-lutheran-baptism