A Voice in the Wilderness

The river is crowded. People stand knee-deep in the brown water. And on the bank, a man with a voice like thunder shouts, “Get ready! Someone is coming!”

Luke sets the scene like a historian. It is the fifteenth year of the emperor Tiberius. Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea. Herod Antipas rules Galilee, and his brother Philip rules the lands to the north-east. Annas and Caiaphas hold the office of high priest. Powerful names, in powerful places. But God's word does not come to any of them. It comes to John, the son of Zechariah, out in the wilderness. And John goes all through the country around the Jordan River, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke says this is exactly what the prophet Isaiah had described, centuries before. A voice calling in the wilderness: prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked roads will become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God's salvation. Picture workers getting a road ready for a king's arrival. John's job is road-building. Only the road runs through people's hearts.

Crowds pour out from the towns to be baptised. And John does not flatter them. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Like snakes slithering away from a grass fire. “Show by the way you live that you have really turned around. And don't tell yourselves, we're fine, Abraham is our ancestor. I tell you, God could raise up children for Abraham from these stones.” He points at the trees on the riverbank. “The axe is already at the root. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down.”

The crowd is shaken. “What should we do, then?” And John's answer is wonderfully down to earth. “If you have two coats, give one to someone who has none. If you have food, share it.” Tax collectors come to be baptised. Everyone knew they often took more than they should. “Teacher, what should we do?” “Collect no more than you are told to.” Even soldiers ask. “And what about us?” “Don't take money by force or by false accusation. Be content with your pay.” Repentance, it turns out, is not just a feeling. It shows up in your coat cupboard and your wallet.

People begin to wonder. Could John be the Messiah? John answers them all. “I baptise you with water. But someone more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.” That was a servant's job, and John says he is not even fit for that. “He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” With many other words, Luke says, John urged the people and told them the good news. But John's courage would cost him. He rebuked Herod Antipas for taking Herodias, his own brother's wife, and for all the other evil things Herod had done. So Herod added one more wrong to the list. He locked John up in prison.

John is not only known from the Bible. The Jewish historian Josephus, writing near the end of the first century, mentions John, called the Baptist. He describes him as a good man who urged people to live justly toward one another and devoutly toward God, and to come to baptism. Josephus says Herod feared John's influence over the crowds, and had him imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea. Luke gives the moral reason. Josephus gives the political one.

A voice in the wilderness. You'll find it in Luke chapter three, verses one to twenty. John pointed away from himself, toward the one who was coming. And he told the truth, even to a king. So here is a question for you to carry. If you asked John, what should I do, what practical answer do you think he would give you?