A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity Church ,
Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, January
8, 2012.
“SIGNPOSTS”
(Homily texts: Acts 19: 1 – 7 & Mark 1: 4 - 11)
“And
you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before
the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people for
the forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:76 – 77)
Those
were the words of Zechariah as he looked at his young son, John (who would
later be known as “the baptizer”) on the occasion of John’s circumcision and
naming.
John
the baptizer was a signpost, pointing
to the one who would come, that is, Jesus.
Zechariah’s
words capture that sense as he said, “And you, child, will be called the
prophet of the Most High, for you will go
before the Lord to prepare his ways….) (italics mine, of course).
As
we read all four gospel accounts, we see clearly that John understood himself
to be the forerunner, the one who prepared the way for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here, today, we hear Mark’s
account of John’s self-assessment: “After
me comes one who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy
to stoop down and untie. I have baptized
you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1: 7 – 8)
John
points the way to Jesus. Like a good
signpost, John lets us know the direction we must go to find the Lord, and to
know what to look for when we have arrived at that destination.
Each
morning, I read Zechariah’s words when I
pray the Daily Office, that is, Morning Prayer (found at the very front of the
Book of Common Prayer….I commend praying the Daily Office to you…plan to make a
New Year’s resolution to pick up this wonderful habit of praying Morning and/or
Evening Prayer daily…your life will be the richer for it!). The words sink into my heart: “And you, child, will be called the prophet
of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways….”
Every
time I read those words, I think they apply to me just as much as they applied
to John the baptizer nearly 2,000 years ago.
These
words apply to every one of us, for we are all called, each and every one of us,
to prepare the way for the Lord, to point others to Jesus Christ.
How
might we do that, exactly?
For
a possible answer to that question, allow me to use as an illustration the
signs that we use in everyday life.
The
first observation would be that signs are extremely important….ever think about
just how lost a person could be without signs?
We wouldn’t know for sure, for example, if we were on the right road, or
if we were in the right town (unless we knew the area quite well for some
reason).
The
second observation is this: signs are
important, but only when they point to some other reality. Maybe that statement doesn’t make sense at
first reading, so allow an explanation to clarify the statement….For example,
the sign at the edge of town that says “Mt. Vernon” isn’t all that
important. What’s important is that,
once you’ve reached that sign, you know that you’ve reached your destination.
The
third observation is that signs must be factually accurate. It wouldn’t do to have a sign which read, “20
miles to Mt. Vernon” when the truth is that, from where we are currently, it is
really 200 miles to Mt. Vernon.
Now,
let’s apply these observations to our life in Christ.
Our
first observation was that signs are extremely important. But do we ever think of our lives as signs
which point to God, or away from Him?
That thought ought to make us sit up and think, and to reflect on our
lifestyle. We might reflect on the
things we say, the things we do, and the way we regard others.
To
reflect on all of these aspects of our daily lives is to go beyond simply being
a “nice guy”, one who has mastered all the social skills that one might learn
from taking the Dale Carnegie Course.
The
issue is much deeper than the superficial social interactions of daily life. The heart of the matter is how we love one
another in the Lord, especially when the challenges and hardships of life might
prompt us to pull into ourselves and let others cope with the burdens that come
their way.
Looking
back into history, we read that outsiders looked at the early Church and said,
“See how these Christians love one another.” There is no higher praise than that. That sort of self-giving, self-emptying love
that we experience in Jesus Christ ought to be the most noticeable sign that
Jesus Christ has taken up residence in our hearts and in our minds.
The
second observation had to do with the fact that signs, in-and-of-themselves,
aren’t all that important. It’s the
reality that they point to which is important.
For
the early Church, apparently John the baptizer’s popularity caused a problem,
for many followed him, rather than Jesus.
We have evidence that John continued to have a significant following for
sometime after Jesus’ death and resurrection in our reading from Acts 19 this morning. Notice that Paul encounters some of John’s disciples
in the city of Ephesus (which is located in the western part of modern day
Turkey). They were John’ disciples, not
Jesus’ disciples.
Somehow,
these disciples of John missed an important part of John’s message, that part
which said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Paul had to correct their information,
telling them that John’s baptism was for repentance of sins, and that they
should believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.
So
we can safely conclude that John pointed away from himself and toward Jesus.
Applying
this truth to our own lives, we might reflect on the motivations which lie
behind our reasons for doing things within the Church….Do we do what we do in
order to seek personal recognition? Or
are we fulfilling the ministries that we carry out because they allow us to
empty ourselves in service to the Lord and to others? (Remember that the word “ministry” has the
same Latin root as the English word “minus”.)
Speaking
personally as a priest, it troubles me greatly whenever I hear accounts of a
person who’s in ordained ministry who encourages the formation of a “cult of
personality”. Anyone in ordained
ministry ought to do everything possible to discourage personal adoration and
attention, for the one who deserves our adoration and attention is Jesus
Christ. Those things belong to Him, and
to Him alone.
Then
finally, the third observation was that a sign must be factually accurate. Our lives as Christian believers must
accurately portray the distinctive markers of Christ’s indwelling
presence. Paul, writing to the early
believers in Galatia, identifies some of these markers. Calling them the “fruits of the Spirit”, here
is his list: “Love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” And after this list, he adds, “Against these
things, there is no law.” (Galatians 5: 22 – 23).
It
is a New Year. Perhaps we might resolve
to seek to be better signposts, better prophets of the Most High, who will
prepare the way of the Lord in 2012. As
we make that resolution, may we pray for Christ’s indwelling presence to be
made known to us, that the power of the Holy Spirit may enable us to keep the
commitment we have made to the Lord.
AMEN.
