Isaiah 40:30; Mark 1: 4-6; John 1: 7

John the Baptizer in 3D

What do you think about raccoons?  Raccoons have been been leaving unwanted digestive gifts in the same place on our courtyard lawn for years now, with increasing volume, indicating either increased nutritional intake or increased family volume. I think it is probably the latter.  Chelsea has been trying to handle the problem with Cayenne pepper, not their favorite it seems, because at first it worked. None of us have ever seen them, so they may make occasional friendly visits. The other day I heard a discussion on the radio about whether the North American and the Guadelupian Raccoon are really one and the same (NPR, December 2017).  In the whole discussion it came out that perhaps we do not know much at all about raccoons. One odd opinion exists that they can walk under water holding their breath for a surprising amount of time. Also that person said that raccoons have a unique skeletal system and have a total absence of moral fiber.  I don’t know about that. They used to run on our roof, growl at me in our garage as they considered the cat food their food and in the summer swim in our pool.  But an absence of moral fiber? The Dutch, who do not have raccoons,  call them “wash-bears” as they dunk their food in water. One thing is clear: maybe we don’t know raccoons at all! The question I have is then: do we have a there-dimensional view of raccoons.

Hamilton is a famous name these days.  He was the creator of the American financial system and therefore the person more influential than any American president, although he himself never rose to the highest political office. He is also know for his duel with Aaron Burr in Weehauken, New Jersey. The musical Hamilton is one of the most sought after form of entertainment as much of it is sung in rap and the characters are performed by actors across racial lines. And so the story becomes a universal story of the son of an indentured servant from ta British Caribbean island, a story of nobody becoming the great somebody, the truly great American story we all fear is slipping from our land these days. What the musical does is help create a fuller picture of the man who has always been a cardboard cutout of history and now becomes three-dimensional in our image.

Friends, perhaps we have a less than sophisticated view of John the Baptist. For one the name is awkward, for it identifies him with certain US Christian denominations. That is why Baptizer is better.  But when we read several passages in the Bible that refer to him, we get a fuller, more developed picture. That is what we are doing today.  We take the verse in Isaiah that is quoted in the Gospel as a verse about the one who comes to announce and prepare the coming of Jesus.  However, he is such a compelling figure that people saw him as the Messiah. This is of course the issue that the second hymn in our hymn series is about: “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,”  Some people thought that was John because he was such a strong, uncompromising figured who baptized people. This discussion is what is referred to in the Gospel of John. Elsewhere he says that :he is not worthy to tie the shoelace of the Long Expected One. In Mark we find out about his diet and his dress. He is rough and totally incorruptible, a man marching to a different drum.  You combine that withe Isaiah passage as the one who prepares the way and you see the picture filling out.  As we saw earlier, he becomes more of a character we see clearly.

Friends, every person deserves to be seen three-dimensionally. Every person is more than one thing.  We are in danger of forgetting that.  Someone we considered really good, doesn’t look as good. Someone we thought was pretty awful in their behavior becomes even worse.  The bringing together of the perspectives fills in the picture. The saint some see and the sinner the others see become one and what we discover is a person in need of the grace of God as all of us are.

One thing our faith does if we approach it honestly is making us see ourselves three-dimensionally.  The sad thing is that we go through life looking at ourselves in such a limited way.  We tend to see only cardboard cutouts of ourselves.  Some of us paint a wonderful picture of ourselves and ur abilities and wonder why others can’t see how wonderful we are.  Some of us go through life feeling inferior to others and assume that people look down on us and see us negatively. Again others live thinking that somehow the world owes us things it never promised. All of these pictures are limited and have a certain degree of delusion in them.   The faith imbedded between the lines of the Bible reminds us that we are made in God’s image with great potential, each in our own way; that we are bound to stumble and make mistakes on a regular basis, that we are forgiven by God when we are truly sorry, that we are desperately loved as we are, not as we think we are, and that we are here to serve God and others. If we remember these simple things, we will see ourselves in 3D and we will be more at peace because of it. Thanks be to God.