Sometimes prophets looked into the future telling us what is to come. Their main calling and role was speaking truth to power revealing where the rulers and powers of this world had gone astray and led people away from the will of God.
John the Baptist was a prophet who spoke into a highly complex political situation. There had been no prophet in Israel for over 400 years. Suddenly John appeared in the wilderness, just as Elijah had done many hundreds of years before, wearing clothing of camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey.
Luke linked the arrival of John with the end of the Hebrew writings of the Old Testament and Malachi’s prophecy of the messenger who would prepare the way of the Lord.
Zechariah, John’s father echoed this prophecy in his song, the Benedictus. “You, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.”
Malachi’s terrifying vision spoke of purification and judgment, themes we don’t want to think about in the run up to Christmas.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, hung during the Second World War for plotting to assassinate Hitler said, “It is remarkable that we face the thought that God is coming, so calmly. Previously peoples trembled at the day of God. We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience. Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and death, and judges the evil in us and the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, coming to us with grace and love.”
Malachi warns his hearers: "Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears for he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap."
Like one who burns away the dross in order to refine gold, God will burn away all the evil within us. Like one who uses harsh soap to clean a garment, God will bleach out the stains that sin leaves behind. Refining gold and cleaning clothes are positive activities, but the process is painful.
The Jewish people in Malachi’s time needed cleansing. They had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. They wanted to be free from Persian rule and have a great kingdom as in the days of David and Solomon. When this didn’t happen many of the people believed God no longer cared about them. They fell into the sin of not honouring God. They were intermarrying with foreign women, robbing God of his tithes and not faithfully teaching the law.
Four hundred year later after Jerusalem had passed from Persian to Greek and then Roman power John the Baptist was preparing the Jewish people for the coming of their Messiah. Jesus, John’s cousin was soon to begin his ministry.
Luke was specific about the timing wanting us to see the complexity of the political situation and the evil which caused the suffering of the Jewish people and in which they were complicit.
It was the fifteenth year of the second Roman Emperor, Tiberias, who had been a brilliant soldier and general. As Emperor, however, he was unhappy both as a result of a disastrous second marriage which came about as a result of his adultery and the intrigues to defeat him. Consequently he left the task of government to those he appointed.
Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. Though, the territory cruel Herod the Great had ruled had been divided between three of his surviving sons (he had murdered three others), Archelaus, who had been put in charge of this region was such an awful ruler that he had been deposed by the Romans. Archelaus had killed 3000 in the temple precincts and cancelled Passover because of demonstrations that had taken place against the unjust murder of people by his father. The Romans therefore exiled him to Gaul and put Pilate in his place.
Philo wrote in the 1st century that Pilate had "vindictiveness and furious temper," and was "naturally inflexible.” He describes his corruption, acts of insolence, habit of insulting people, his cruelty continual murders of people untried and his never ending, gratuitous, and grievous inhumanity.
Herod Antipas, who committed adultery with his brother’s wife was ruler of Galilee and Herod Philip ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis. Antipas was directly responsible for the death of John the Baptist and implicated in the crucifixion of Jesus. They belonged to a cruel family, where incest and adultery was normal.
The rulers of the regions needed straightening out.
So did the religious leaders. Caiphas was the high priest and Annas, his father in law was the power behind the throne. Theirs was a religious dynasty. Four of Annas’ sons became high priest. They felt any challenge to their teaching was a threat that needed to be crushed; Both were implicated in the death of Christ.
Those leaders lived sinful lives in great fear and darkness. They used money, sex and power while John, lived in the wilderness, far removed from temptation, living a life of poverty, chastity and obedience, waiting for God to speak, and the opportunity to fulfil his calling. There must have been times when he was bored, cold, over hot and times when he longed for food which was more substantial than what he caught in the wild.
He must have longed for a job which was which was not going to get him into trouble and for encouragement from family and friends.
John, like us, needed a place where there were no distractions, where he could pray and think. In the wilderness God became his companion, his confidant, his teacher.
In a phrase reminiscent of the calling of Old Testament prophets, "the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert" When God fully owned his heart and allegiance, John was ready to start proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John lived what he preached. He couldn’t be accused of hypocrisy. Unlike Jesus, who came as one of us, eating and drinking, John always seemed strange. Jesus gave him the greatest compliment, saying there were no greater men born than John.
John didn't structure his life in relation to societal norms and expectations, so when he burst upon the scene as a desert preacher, his words was unrefined, blunt, and uncompromising. He wouldn’t bend to the political and religious pressures of the day.
Though we know from Mark that he drew a huge crowd who repented and were baptised, he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness
Whilst many changed their lives and followed Jesus as a result of his preaching, his ministry failed to bring about political and religious change.
Antipas, Pilate, Philip, Annas and Caiphas were as compromised and corrupt when John was executed as they were when he appeared. None of them, as far as we know, became followers of Jesus.
We need to pray for our politicians. Their roles make it difficult for them to admit their wrongdoing. They are desperate to hang on to power, not just for their own sakes but also for their party members.
We need to pray for our church leaders. Called, as they are, to live lives of exemplary holiness, it is difficult for them to admit their weaknesses. As we lament the sexual abuses that have taken place within churches it is easy to see why crimes were covered up.
The uncompromising message John preached into the complex times in which he lived still needs preaching. Gods of power and wealth still compromise our lives.
John, using a quotation from Isaiah, calls us to prepare the way of the Lord by making straight paths. God, wants us to live straight, truthful lives and speak truth to power. We need to expose corruption, disparities of wealth and poverty, tax evasion and the threat of climate change. How can we blame the Saudis for the deaths of so many Yemeni people when we are complicit because we benefit from the selling of Arms to the Saudi government? It’s difficult to disentangle ourselves from the structural sins in which we are complicit, many of which we fail to recognise.
John calls us to be sorry, change and turn from sin so we can be forgiven and released.
He called people to be humble, to be baptised in a muddy river demonstrating publicly they were going to be different.
If we don’t change, destruction is coming. Climate change makes that clear.
John wasn’t talking about road repairs when he talked about the valleys being filled and mountains and hills being made low. He was talking about an end to the inequalities which separate us, an end to oppression, poverty, arrogant leaders and slavery, an end to sin and corruption.
Sin separates us from God and we are helpless to clean ourselves. There is pain involved in refining and cleansing. There is pain involved in dying and rising. But it is a process designed for our well-being, to prepare us for the second coming of the Lord when all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
God comes among us in Jesus Christ to destroy the evil in us and the world and draw us out of death into life. Though this is an alarming prospect, it is also one that should fill us with great joy.