From ZERO to HERO

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” (Luke 1:2-3)

Hi Fighter,

We’ve reached that time of year again. John the Baptist has entered the building!

This is when the reality of Christmas kicks in for me. It creeps up, year after year, and I get through Halloween without giving a thought to cards or carols or candy canes, and then the festive figure of the Baptist bursts onto the scene. It’s time to dust off the decorations and prepare for another Yuletide blitz!

John is our ever-present companion in the lead-up to Christmas. He never quite makes it to the Nativity scene, yet Jesus would later say of him, “among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). John was one of the greats. We assume, therefore, that Luke is being deliberately ironic when he begins his Gospel by telling us the exact opposite. Let’s hear it again:

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” (Luke 1:2-3)

There was no shortage of charismatic figures dominating the first century newsfeed. Great men were doing great things. Powerful women were exercising power. Luke names of some of these first-century megastars: Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, … These people made decisions that mattered. Their actions affected the lives of millions. These were the people we listened to, obeyed, and blogged about. So, which one of those great people did the Almighty choose to work with?

John was a nobody, and living in the middle of nowhere when the Word of God came to him. He was homeless, powerless, and unknown. What was God thinking?

This story gives me hope. In a world where so many of us are feeling powerless and irrelevant, John’s appearance is a beacon of light. He is a nobody, coming from nowhere, and it’s not obvious how he’s going to influence anything. Even so, the Almighty has taken hold of the man, so … watch this space!

The revival of Al Qaeda in Syria, the fall of Aleppo, the levelling of Gaza, the murder of so many children … These things take us to the edge of despair. We watch the horrors on our mobile phones but can do nothing to stop them. The drumbeat of mainstream media thumps away in the background – obfuscating, distracting, redirecting, and deceiving, yet nothing drowns out the screams of the dying.

“The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” (Luke 1:3)

Who was John? What made him think anyone would listen to him? Why would a powerful leader like Herod give a fig for what John had to say?

Thus, Luke begins his Gospel, reminding us that God works through ordinary people to do extraordinary things. From what we’re told, John did nothing beyond making himself available, and yet no man born of woman was greater than John!

We are here, Lord. We are ready. Take us. Use us. Put your word within us. Make us instruments of your peace.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another wonderful Eucharist last Sunday, and this despite the fact that our broadcast almost collapsed due to technical difficulties!

We were in the middle of an electric storm at Binacrombi. The satellite reception there is never brilliant, but last Sunday it dropped out completely three times in the half hour before we were due to go live. Somehow, by the grace of God, we started on time and didn’t drop out again.

Thank you, David and Tom, for joining me on the panel. Thank you, Dr Sizer, for your wonderful reflection on the Gospel passage. Given the team, it’s no surprise that much of our discussion focused on the conflict in the Middle East. Of course, we must bring our Scriptures to bear on the events we are struggling with, and I can’t think of a better group to do that with than the crew we had with us last Sunday.

You’ll find two ‘shorts’ extracted from our discussion below. One focuses on Lebanon and the other on Syria. You’ll find our full discussion on the passage from Jeremiah at the end of today’s newsletter. You can, of course, watch the entire broadcast (and all our broadcasts) on my YouTube channel, and for our library of shorts, check out the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page.