but everything seemed different and completely new to me

the sky, the trees, houses, building, even my own body

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke the 3rd chapter!

Out there in the wilderness. The crowds who’ve gone to hear John. To be baptized by him. They want to know who he is. They’re not certain, but they’re filled with expectation…

And why wouldn’t they be?

After all, John is a great preacher. Even better than his preaching, however, is his message. He’s preaching deliverance: Liberation. Salvation.

The crowds out there, they’re thinking. Perhaps John is the one. The long awaited messiah. The one to grant deliverance from imperial Rome’s occupation.
They wonder who, exactly, is John. Could he be the messiah?

Before anyone can ask; John looks around…
 “You haven’t seen anything yet,” he bellows. “I baptize you with water, but there’s one who’s coming. He. Well he, will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire. You may have never seen anything like me,” he blusters. “But the one who’s coming. I’m not even worthy to stoop down and do the job of his slave.”

The crowds out there. They’re filled with expectation. Expectation and uncertainty. They wonder who is John. 

John, though, he knows who he is. He has no illusions. He knows a greater one than he is coming…

Well, in a couple of short verses, another one does come. 

Jesus is baptized. Afterward, while he prays, the heavens open. A dove descends. From the split in the sky, a voice. A voice that puts John’s to shame. The voice settles the matter, “This one is my son, the beloved. With him I am well pleased.”

Out there in the wilderness, the crowd was filled with expectation and uncertainty. Only a voice from heaven could settle the matter.

Now, two-thousand years later we’re still no different.

Not really. We’re still out there. In the wilderness. We’re searching for deliverance. We’re filled with expectation. Expectation, and uncertainty. 

The crowds in the Gospel, they go out to the wilderness in search of a preacher. 

These days, we’re likely to go other places. To other people. 

It’s too bad, too. 

A good preacher knows what they can, and what they can’t deliver.  John knew what he was authorized to do, and he knew what was beyond his pay-grade. 

Not so with the promises our vendors of salvation make these days; they promise waaay more than they can deliver:

• You too, dear consumer, can be charming and handsome. All you have to do is buy this espresso-maker, that makes each and every cup velvety smooth. Perfect until the last drop. 
• You can have the perfect family, and get the promotion. All you need is this set of teeth whiteners.

In fact, we don’t have to go anywhere to hear these promises of deliverance. Every night they’re pumped in through our televisions, as we unwind. They come through the speakers while we’re waiting for the light to turn green.

The hawkers of these commodities, they promise us deliverance, salvation. All we have to do is hand over a part of our disposable income. There’s no need for baptism they say; Visa will do…

Of course it goes without saying the promises are empty. We know that suit won’t get us that promotion. Make our co-workers like us any better. 

And yet. And yet, that version of salvation they’re crowing about, is pretty darn enticing…

In that way we’re no different than those crowds that went out to be baptized. To hear John’s preaching. We too are filled with expectation. Expectation and uncertainty. 

In fact, more and more people are growing tired of the empty promises. More and more folks are fleeing to the wilderness, opting out of prefabricated happiness. In search of something that can actually deliver.

Of course, eventually we wind up returning, don’t we? We come back, maybe a little more well adjusted; but not delivered. Not delivered…

We’re filled with expectation; but not certainty.

Two-thousand years later, we get it. Don’t we? We know why folks would go out to the wilderness to flee from the chaos of daily life. We know why his preaching of deliverance made folks wonder. 

Thankfully, John was a good preacher. He knew who he was. What he could, and couldn’t deliver… 

People say church is passé. Apparently no one is searching for salvation these days.
We know better, of course. 

We know better, not because we’re any smarter than the unwashed masses, but because we’re searching too. Aren’t we?

We want to be delivered. I know I do…
Delivered from our past. Delivered from our insatiable appetites. Delivered from our anxieties. Delivered from our uncertainty. Delivered from our miserable coworkers, our bone-headed boss. Delivered from our dysfunctional families. Delivered from this receding hairline. Delivered from our anger. Delivered from our declining health. 

Delivered from things that are hard to talk about. Right?

Delivered…

That lie the commercials peddle; the perfect life, with the dazzling smile and sunny disposition. It’s just that, a lie. It doesn’t exist.

Yet we all chase it. We think this or that thing will finally deliver us, give us the life we long for. 

Only more often than not, though, that extra charge on our card, only makes matters a little worse. Puts us a litter deeper in the hole.

We’re no different than the crowds. Filled with expectation and uncertainty. In search of deliverance

Only a voice from heaven could settle the matter.
After Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens split open. The Holy Spirit descended, as a dove. From that fissure, a voice. The voice declaring Jesus as the Son of God, the beloved, the well-pleasing one. 

The voice declaring Jesus to be the one to deliver the people from their sins. To bring salvation. Liberation…

Perhaps only a voice from heaven could settle the matter for us too, today. 

Only that voice seems to be silent these days.
And ad after ad is perfectly happy to fill that silence. 

In our expectation. In our uncertainty, we’ve listened to those other voices, haven’t we? Even though their promises come apart even before the side-effects are done scrolling across the screen.

Perhaps that’s why you’re here today. 

And make no mistake. These days, the church is the wilderness. A foreign place. A destination totally out of step with the world. 

You’ve come here, hungry. Hungry for a promise. Desperate for deliverance. 

Well, I have to tell you; the heavens won’t split today. The Spirit won’t descend in the bodily form of a dove this Sunday. 

That won’t happen because it already has! 

God shattered the heavens to make a promise, and now they can’t be put back together. God’s Word can’t, and most certainly won’t, be taken back!

The voice has already spoken. Already settled the matter. It can’t be undone, and it doesn’t need to be redone either!
God’s Word is enough…

You want deliverance?

You want to meet the one who can actually keep their promise? 

Well the one who came before me, I’m not unworthy to stoop down and tie his shoes, he’s already come. I baptize with water, but he baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. And he was there before me, at your baptism.

God declared him to be the Son; the long awaited messiah. The one who can grant salvation. The one to lead you to deliverance.
You don’t have to flee. You don’t have to find deliverance.

He is the answer to your expectation. The end of your uncertainty.