John the Baptist preaching in the desert
JESUS MAFA. John the Baptist preaching in the desert, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58796 [retrieved December 3, 2021]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
In the Wilderness
John came out of the
desert
to preach in the
wilderness.
…
The wilderness
he preached in
was his own country.
A wilderness
not coming
from the hands of God,
but a jungle
caused by innumerable
human decisions
that were
wrong,
shortsighted,
and selfish.
Decisions
that had created havoc
in the lives
of the many.
It was in that
jungle
that John preached
and baptized.
as long
as we think
about John
like that
–preaching
in his own country
two thousand years ago–
his preaching
remains distant
and very far
away.
Let us try
to get that wilderness
and also John’s word
nearer home,
so that it can cut us
to the bone.
let us speak about the wilderness
in which we live.
and let us think
not only of sin
but of the world
we are accustomed
to.
…
It is in that forest,
in that jungle
that the word of God
sounds
through John,
saying that once
justice and integrity
are victorious,
the whole of humankind
will be saved,
that Jesus, the savior,
is going to bring
a total difference.
But indicating also
where we come in and
what we should do:
straightening the paths
we are walking now,
preparing a way for the Lord,
filling the valleys and potholes,
leveling the mountains and
obstacles in us
and in the lives
we live….
Joseph G. Donders
John came out of the
desert
to preach in the
wilderness.
…
The wilderness
he preached in
was his own country.
A wilderness
not coming
from the hands of God,
but a jungle
caused by innumerable
human decisions
that were
wrong,
shortsighted,
and selfish.
Decisions
that had created havoc
in the lives
of the many.
It was in that
jungle
that John preached
and baptized.
as long
as we think
about John
like that
–preaching
in his own country
two thousand years ago–
his preaching
remains distant
and very far
away.
Let us try
to get that wilderness
and also John’s word
nearer home,
so that it can cut us
to the bone.
let us speak about the wilderness
in which we live.
and let us think
not only of sin
but of the world
we are accustomed
to.
…
It is in that forest,
in that jungle
that the word of God
sounds
through John,
saying that once
justice and integrity
are victorious,
the whole of humankind
will be saved,
that Jesus, the savior,
is going to bring
a total difference.
But indicating also
where we come in and
what we should do:
straightening the paths
we are walking now,
preparing a way for the Lord,
filling the valleys and potholes,
leveling the mountains and
obstacles in us
and in the lives
we live….
Joseph G. Donders
Exploring the Text: Preparing the way
John the son of Zechariah (also called John the Baptist) had a clear and distinct purpose; he was to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. If you look carefully at what Isaiah said about him though, you realize that his purpose was not to prepare the way for people to come to Jesus, but to prepare the way for Jesus to come to people. Jesus is the one who is seeking after us, not the other way around. As John talked about a baptism of repentance, he was helping people lower their barriers to make it easier for Jesus to get to them.
We sometimes get caught up with the word "repentance". We think it means saying we are sorry for something or admitting we were wrong. While that is partially true, that is not the Biblical meaning of repentance. When the Bible talks about repentance what it means is a desire to go a different direction than we have been going. It literally means turning around and going the other way. John is trying to help people make it easier for Jesus to get to them by asking them to publicly declare (that's the baptism part) that they want something different than what they have been doing and the way they have been living.
Just like in John's day, Jesus wants to come to us. He is trying to come into your life and mine, but he won't force his way in where he is not wanted. We have to prepare the way for him to come in. This doesn't mean that we need to clean up our lives before he will come in; far from it. What we have to do to prepare the way for him is to want something different than we have had before. We need to repent, to try to turn around and go a different direction, and he will come into that area of our life, bringing his life into ours, and begin to change us from the inside out.
What part of your life do you need to prepare the way for Jesus to come in to? Like John the Baptist, is God asking you to help prepare the way for Jesus to come into someone else's life as well?
John the son of Zechariah (also called John the Baptist) had a clear and distinct purpose; he was to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. If you look carefully at what Isaiah said about him though, you realize that his purpose was not to prepare the way for people to come to Jesus, but to prepare the way for Jesus to come to people. Jesus is the one who is seeking after us, not the other way around. As John talked about a baptism of repentance, he was helping people lower their barriers to make it easier for Jesus to get to them.
We sometimes get caught up with the word "repentance". We think it means saying we are sorry for something or admitting we were wrong. While that is partially true, that is not the Biblical meaning of repentance. When the Bible talks about repentance what it means is a desire to go a different direction than we have been going. It literally means turning around and going the other way. John is trying to help people make it easier for Jesus to get to them by asking them to publicly declare (that's the baptism part) that they want something different than what they have been doing and the way they have been living.
Just like in John's day, Jesus wants to come to us. He is trying to come into your life and mine, but he won't force his way in where he is not wanted. We have to prepare the way for him to come in. This doesn't mean that we need to clean up our lives before he will come in; far from it. What we have to do to prepare the way for him is to want something different than we have had before. We need to repent, to try to turn around and go a different direction, and he will come into that area of our life, bringing his life into ours, and begin to change us from the inside out.
What part of your life do you need to prepare the way for Jesus to come in to? Like John the Baptist, is God asking you to help prepare the way for Jesus to come into someone else's life as well?