|
“Expectations”
a sermon by
Thomas L. Jenkins
Text: Luke: 3:15-17, 21-22
“As the people were filled with expectations, and all were questioning in
their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,…and
when Jesus also has been baptized and was praying, the heaven was
opened…”
Today is the Sunday when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord.
The very idea of the Lord, our Creator, our Savior, and our
Master being baptized is a humongous question. Very often, since John
the Baptist’s ministry of baptism had to do with repentance of sin,
many of us ask, “Why in the world would Jesus be baptized?”
I will address that question in a few minutes.
But, to start with, I want us to see the similarity of our
situation in God’s being revealed in our lives very much like these
people who were being baptized and filled with expectations.
Now, we all know that to have expectations is to look forward to
something we believe is getting ready to happen.
We may have a very specific expectation; in other words we may
certainly believe that we know exactly what is going to take place.
Or, we may have a more open type of expectation, where we
definitely know something is going to happen.
I heard that Pat Robertson, of The
700 Club, has some very specific expectations for the year 2007.
He is saying that God has told him something like there are going
to be massive terrorist tragedies in the United States this year.
However, he did admit that even in the past at times he has been
mistaken in his prophetic expectations.
I certainly hope that he is inaccurate this time.
What I hope we may learn from our passage this morning is that a more
open type of expectation, where we even know and believe that God is
going to surpass our expectations seems to be more biblical.
The revelations of Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives is
always deeper, grander, and more soul embracing than what we may have
expected.
Throughout the New Testament there is a common theme of the very
disciples of Jesus continually growing in what it was to learn about who
Jesus Christ is in their lives. John
the Baptist, who testifies about Jesus in these verses, is saying, “I
baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I
am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Later in John’s life, when he had been arrested by Herod and put
in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus and asked him, “ Are
you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Jesus
answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.”
My guess is John expected Jesus to tell him that “Yes I am the
Messiah, the one sent by God. You
are correct in your witness to me.”
And Jesus did do this in a way by revealing his own ministry to
John and leading John to make his own conclusion.
Something else goes on here.
After John’s disciples return to John, after they had gone
away, Jesus then began to speak to the crowds about John the Baptist:
“I tell you, among those born of
women no one has risen greater than John the Baptist;…”
Not only did John not expect that.
John did not even know about that.
Jesus was witnessing to John’s life of faith in the lives of
others. I doubt that you
expect that in your life. But
Jesus Christ, as your Lord, because you are a Christian, is bringing
your faith in him into the thoughts of others in your life that you know
nothing about. I promise
you, Jesus is bragging about you behind your back.
All these people were filled with expectations as they came out to John
the Baptist. Whatever they
may have been expecting specifically, they were at least expecting
something from God to be revealed.
I doubt anyone of them had been told by God exactly what would
happen. After Jesus was
baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit
descended upon him in bodily
form like a dove. And a
voice came from heaven, “You are
my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus was baptized to show us that He is one of us.
He is not sinful. But,
He is truly human and in being baptized He is telling us that He is one
of us. He knows who we are. He
knows what our lives are like. He
knows what it is to suffer. And
He knows how to pray to God the Father for us.
I cannot tell you what to specifically expect in 2007.
But, I can tell you this. Jesus
Christ loves you. He knows
you in your heart. And He
is praying to God the Father for you.
And you may expect this to be shown to you this year.
The love of God exists for us even before we experience it in our lives.
We may expect to experience it because it is there even before it
is in us.
When I baptize a baby, I always read this liturgical reading that comes
from the Reformed church in France: “Little child, for you Jesus
Christ has come, he has fought; he has suffered.
For you he entered the shadow of Gethsemane and the horror of
Calvary. For you he uttered
the cry ‘It is finished!’ For you he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and
there he intercedes—for you, little child, even though you do not know
it. But in this way the
word of the Gospel becomes true. ‘We love him, because he first loved
us.’”
Here is what you may expect in the year 2007: Jesus is going to love you
first, show it to you in ways that will surprise you and you will then
grow in your love for him.
Let us pray…
Amen
|