Any amateur astronomers here? Anyone have a telescope? I had
a friend growing up that loved the stars. I think his dad liked it as much or
more than he did. They had telescopes and books to help locate different
planets and stars. They even built an observatory on their back deck. This
round room with a domed ceiling.
I’ve always been fascinated with the stars. I love driving in
a rural, dark area at night where you can see what seems like billions of
stars. And every now and then you’ll see a falling star.
I don’t know how old I was when I learned that falling stars
weren’t stars at all. They are meteors. Little, or big, bits of rock or dust or
other particles that hit the earth’s atmosphere and burst into flames. I have
to admit that even knowing what they really are, and even at the age of 37, I
still get pretty excited when I see a shooting star.
So I was pretty excited about some news I heard this week.
This week marks the Geminid meteor shower. It happens annually. The earth
passes through a trail of debris from an asteroid and it creates thousands or
meteorites that hit the atmosphere and burn up. Meteorologists and astronomers
predict that you’ll be able to see up to a shooting star every couple of
minutes over the next couple of nights, and we should have clear skies, perfect
for meteorite watching. But there was some bad news also. Predictions are that
you will be able to see up to 6 per minute Tuesday and Wednesday nights this
week. That sounds great, except that it’s supposed to get cloudy Tuesday and
stay cloudy for a few days. So at the peak of the show, we won’t be able to see
anything. We’ll have this beautiful, natural fireworks display overhead, but it
will be hidden. We’ll miss it. Unless someone can tell us about it, or maybe
get some video. We need a witness.
John was out in the wilderness baptizing. The Pharisees heard
about him, he was quite popular. Whne they heard about him, they sent some of
their students out to ask him some questions. “Who are you? Why are you doing
this?” His answer was just what we need for the Geminid meteor shower. He said
he was a witness.
Sometimes odd things stand out to me when I read the
scriptures. Sometimes they are important, sometimes they are not. Here, notice
that John doesn’t have a title. Chapter 1 of Mark’s gospel introduces us to
John the baptizer. In chapter 3 of his Gospel Luke introduces John, son of
Zechariah. Matthew gives him a more familiar title, John the Baptist. In John’s
gospel, though, we are introduced to “a man sent from God, whose name was John.”
And it’s not until John speaks in verse 27 that baptism is even mentioned.
When we think of John the Baptist, John the baptizer, John,
son of Zechariah; baptism is usually the first thing that comes to mind. It’s
what he does, right? It’s in his name, like Bob the builder or Dora the
explorer. You know what they do because of what they are called.
Here, though, John’s gospel gives us a different role for
John. Witness. “A witness to testify to the light.”
The priests and Levites go out to John and ask “Who are you?”
John’s response answers the question they didn’t ask, but he knows they are
implying. “I’m not the messiah.” “Are you Elijah?” “No.” “Are you the prophet?”
“No.”
Now they’re completely frustrated. “Then who are you? We’ve
got to go back and tell our bosses something? You’ve told us who you are not.
Tell us who you are!” John simply quotes the prophet Isaiah. “I am the voice of
one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
Now I think they are starting to get it. They know this
scripture. They know what it means, that it refers to the one who is predicted
to come before the Messiah, to prepare the way. They ask another question.
“Then why are you baptizing? If you’re not the messiah or Elijah or the
prophet, what gives you the right?”
With his answer John serves his function in this Gospel. “I
baptize with water. Among you is someone you don’t know, the one coming after
me; he is so much better than me. I’m not worthy to take off his shoes.”
Again, this is a curious response. Is John saying that Jesus
is there at that moment? Is Jesus in the crowd listening to the priests and
Levites questioning John?
If we back up a few verses, we realize that in answering
these questions John is serving his role. He is a witness. A witness sent by
God to testify about the light.
Verses 7-8 – “He came as a witness to testify to the light.
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.”
Because, the world needed a light. The world was dark, a bit
gloomy.
But, isn’t it still dark, and a bit gloomy? Sometimes it
takes some light to let us know just how dark the world around us has become.
When I was growing up, my dad used to take us cave crawling.
About 30 minutes away from Florence is Collier Cave, or Coffee Cave. We would
put on some old clothes, grab our replica Atlanta Braves batting helmets and
flashlights, pile up in my dad’s truck, and head to the cave. We would spend
hours and hours walking, crawling, and sliding through the tunnels of this
cave. Eventually we would get to a huge cavern several hundred yards into the
cave. Once we got there we always did the same thing. We would find a good firm
spot to stand or sit and we would all turn off our flashlights.
Sitting in that cave, you realize what real dark is. You can
hold your hand a few inches from your face with no chance of seeing it. And as
you sit there for minute after minute, your eyes cannot adjust to the darkness.
We think we know what dark is, but usually here, there is a little light. Our
eyes can adjust to even a tiny amount of light to help us see. Even if it’s
just to barely make out the outline of objects. Not in the cave. There it is
truly dark. It always served as a sort of sober reminder of how important our
lights were for our survival. Without them, there’s no way we could get out of
that cave. We realize just how much we really need the light.
That’s what John came to do. He came into a dark world to
show them just how much they needed the light that was coming.
We still live in a dark world. And we still have a light that
shines into that darkness. And it is our turn to serve as a witness to testify
to the light.
John makes the statement to the priests and Levites that
there is “someone among you whom you do not know.” Jesus was right there, but
no one saw. No one knew. They needed someone to tell them to show them to help
them see.
The Lectionary stops at verse 8 and picks back up at verse
19. I want to read a few of those verse in between. I’ll start at verse 9.
9-11.
Even when Jesus was there, so many missed him. So many didn’t
see him. They missed the light. Jesus lived and walked among them. Many missed
it. Still today, so many miss Jesus. Our world is dark, but Jesus is the light
to show us the way to salvation. Even a little light can drive out the dark,
but that doesn’t mean you can’t miss it. In a dark cave, you can still close
your eyes. If so, the flashlight won’t do you any good. You can look up at the
sky all night long, but if the skies are cloudy, you’ll never see any shooting
stars.
That’s why we need a witness. Someone to point the way.
Because there are those who have “seen the light.” Look back at John.
12-18
Those of us who have experienced God’s love and grace and
mercy. We’ve seen the light. Now we, like John, are called to serve as
witnesses. To testify to the light. To tell the world about Jesus.
So, now we prepare. During this advent season, we prepare the
way for Jesus, just as John and so many others have before us.
The world is dark, sometimes so much so that we lose sight of
the light. Many times Jesus is right here with us, but we don’t recognize
him. Sometimes we need to be pointed;
sometimes we are called to be the pointer.
We can do that for ourselves and for others by remembering
John’s words: “Among you is one whom you do not know.”
Jesus is there, even when
the clouds obscure our view. We prepare for his coming, we prepare for his return
by remembering and by sharing.
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