Twice we have heard about John the Baptist. Last week we heard him in Mark’s Gospel, this week in John’s. In both gospels, John proclaims, “Make the Lord’s path straight.” In both Gospels he makes it clear that he is only the forerunner to the One whose sandal he isn’t fit to untie. But then there is one big difference in how these two Gospels describe John the Baptist. And that difference speaks to two desires we all have. None of us likes to be pigeonholed. Sometimes, we feel like we have to break the mold. But when we’re unsure about the future, we look for patterns in the past that fit our current situation. We find it comforting sometimes to think of the past repeating itself.
So, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus will answer the disciples’ question about a traditional belief, that the great prophet Elijah would come back before the Messiah came. Truly, there was no prophet greater than Elijah. If you recall the story from 2nd Kings, Elijah never died. He was taken up to heaven by chariots and horses of fire in a whirlwind. Since he had not died, it seemed right to the children of Israel, as they waited for God to save them from their own sin and oppression by their enemies, that surely he would come back from heaven again before the One anointed by God, the Messiah, the Christ, would come.
Asked about this later in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, “Indeed, Elijah has come, but they did to him what they wanted.” Both Mark and Matthew want their readers to understand the story of Jesus as part of the story of Israel. And so in their versions of the Gospel, John the Baptist is another Elijah, sent to convict the people of Israel, and then to offer forgiveness.
But look again at today’s Gospel reading. Are you the Christ? No I’m not. Are you Elijah? I’m not, John says. John refuses to be pigeonholed. He refuses to be put into a man-made mold. There isn’t actually anything in the Bible that said Elijah would come before the Messiah. And the truth is that the One who is coming behind John will blow away all expectations of what the Messiah would look like. Jesus will not save his people by destroying their enemies and establishing an empire. He will save the hearts of his people by dying for their sins. So, it makes sense that John would try to break the mold that the Jewish leaders have set their minds in.
And yet, we didn’t throw out the Old Testament, though some struggled, and still struggle, with the violence in it, which God often seems to tolerate or even approve. That is because, in the words of the old hymn, we love to tell the old, old story of God’s love. It was the God of Elijah who came down from heaven and was born a human being of the Virgin Mary. We need to see how God has blessed us in the past, so that we can see how God might be blessing us now, and in the future.
We have been waiting for a long time, and our wait is close to being over. Soon, we will have a new and beautiful church, built on the past, in many respects a restoration of the little gray church on Main Street, just a little bigger. At the same time, we continue to welcome new people, who have no memory of the original church. We have built on the foundation of what has been handed down to us. And we wonder what we will build anew in our mission to worship, to learn, to share friendship, to communicate our Good News, and to serve each other and our community. And so, from the foundation of the past, we will build anew, and then hand it on to the next generation, who will do the same.
As we prepare to move into our new church, we will be asking ourselves, what have been the best experiences at Christ Church? What has given us the most joy at Christ Church? What do we value the most at Christ Church. The official term for this process is Appreciative Inquiry. In it, we bring out what is best from our past, and then discern how we might build on that in some new ministry. Through this process, guided by the Holy Spirit, I have faith that we will grow in all the ways that a thriving member of the Body of Christ can grow.
Are you another Elijah? No I’m not, John the Baptist said. Yes he was, Jesus said. He was and he wasn’t. He came out of the old, old story, and would not be pigeonholed but broke the mold. Let us give thanks for our old, old story of God’s love for us, and break the mold.
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