Get a Life!

Behold the MAN

Get a Life!

It was a winter day nearly 2000 years ago today, perhaps. It may have happened in November or December, or maybe January, we don't know for sure. Two young men, maybe 18 or 20, perhaps a bit older, stood beside a river that flowed through desert. Rugged, dry hills rising in the distance.

They came from upstream--their home was near a large lake. They had made the arduous journey on foot, over mountain paths and down bandit-infested byways, based largely on rumors, but driven by an inner hunger strong enough to make them leave their work to see if the rumors were true.

Perhaps they were representatives, sent by the fishermen's guild--a group of men who would sit and talk and dream as they plied their trade. Men who had been raised on stories of great prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and whose hopes of a better world to come caused them to seek for evidence that God was about to become active in history again.

These two young men lived in a secularized world where the God of their fathers was relegated mainly to Sabbath activities, and a big event or two a year, something like Camp Meeting Promise Keepers' convention, when a lot of people would get together up in Jerusalem to fulfill their religious duties.

Rumor had it though, that there was a pretty good preacher, having at the institutionalized religion of the day, and even criticizing the government a bit, down by Jericho somewhere. And the fishermen of Galilee listened, and discussed the rumors, and wished, and hoped, and dreamed. Could it be that God had at last sent a prophet again? Someone who could lead their country back to freedom, independence, and genuine, deep spirituality?

In hopes that this might indeed be the case, two young men set out to see for themselves, promising to bring word back. They were close friends--part of a partnership. Each left a brother behind, perhaps with instructions something like "If you don't hear from us within two weeks, come on down yourselves and see what's happening."

They probably took valley road that followed the twisting path of the Jordan River, or they may have taken the more-heavily-traveled mountain route that would have allowed them to stop by Jerusalem on the way. At any rate, when they arrived in the vicinity of Jericho, they learned that the new preacher was over on the other side of the river. "All you've got to do is follow the crowds," a shopkeeper told them. "It seems like half of Jerusalem's down there listening to him! I can hardly get in enough flour to keep up with the demand for bread!"

And so the two young men walked the last five miles to the river. As soon as the Hajlah Ford--the main crossing point in the area--was in sight, they could tell that they were in the right place. But all the activity seemed to be on the other side. Fortunately, in the winter time the river doesn't run as full as it does when the snow starts melting in the spring, so they simply hiked up their tunics and mantles and waded across the cold, swift stream. In so doing they left the region of Judea--a Roman province under the control of the procurator Pontius Pilate, and entered Perea, a region ruled by Herod Antipas, who also ruled their home province of Galilee.

In so doing, they also made a sort of reverse pilgrimage, or reverse Exodus. Perhaps at the exact same spot that their ancestors had crossed 1,432 years earlier on their way to march around the walls of Jericho waiting for God to work a miracle.

Now these two young men crossed, going the other direction, but hoping for a miracle nonetheless. Hoping that once again God was about to drive the hated heathens from the promised land. But in order to find their miracle, they would have to cross to the other side of the Jordan, to prepare for the retaking of God's holy land.

The two young men no doubt stood on the fringes of the crowd for some time, just watching and listening as best they could.

The new preacher certainly looked like a prophet. Dressed in rough clothes, and with a solemn bearing that communicated the seriousness of his mission. Perhaps there was a certain wildness in his eyes too, but it was difficult to tell from a distance.

They stayed there listening all afternoon and into the evening. Somehow they found lodging for the night, and came back early enough the next morning to find a vacant rock to sit on near to where this man, whom they had learned was called John, was preaching. Days passed that way. Intrigued, they couldn't bear to leave, even to carry a message back to their brothers in Galilee.

The man certainly had panache--guts--too! One day they saw some of the big wigs from Jerusalem come to question him, but he didn't let them get under his skin. He told them right where they stood with God, and that rather than questioning him, they ought to spend their time repenting and asking for God's mercy!

They watched, too, as John repeatedly waded out into the river, to a place deep enough that a man could drown if he lost his footing (fishermen know well about these things--it's their worst nightmare ). John would stand out there, inviting others to join him in seeking the experience of cleansing that would prepare them for the coming kingdom of God. His speech was full of historical allusions. Joshua, and Israel of old, had been baptized at this very spot, on their way to the promised land, on their way to victory. At that time, God had stopped the river far upstream, in the middle of the spring runoff, so that they could cross on dry land. But it had been a baptism nonetheless. They had had to get their feet wet in the Jordan before the water stopped. They had had to go forward by faith, following Joshua toward the promised land, and then God had opened the way for them.

"Step out into the Jordan with me," he appealed. "Come, as your fathers did. Come forward. Walk toward Jericho. The God of our fathers is just as able today to part the waters, to break down the barriers, to liberate the land from sinners. Soon God will send a new Joshua to lead us into His new kingdom.

But today you need cleansing. You are not ready to be a part of the kingdom until your sins have been washed away. Repent! Step into the cleansing flood. Let your sins be washed away. And come out, ready to have a part in the kingdom of God that is even now at hand."

John, the son of Zebedee, and Andrew, the son of Jona (for those were the names of the two young men) sat silently, listening, taking it all in. Thinking about how cold that water would feel, and what it would be like to go all the way down into it, be buried in it, as John the Baptizer called it. They watched as men, women, and even some children waded out to join John. As they stood, shivering in the water, he would speak to them about the coming kingdom, and about God's grace that would cleanse them from their sins and make them ready to join the new Joshua in liberating God's country from heathen control, and then he would lay them back, completely under the water, and bring them up, some sputtering and shaking violently, as they made their way hastily to the shore and the large bonfire that some of John's disciples kept going to warm those coming up out of the river.

The Baptizer himself, though, seemed oblivious to the cold, as though some fire inside kept him warm enough to perform the rite for any who would come in sincerity.

Finally John and Andrew could resist no longer. They knew that they wanted to, had to be a part of God's new kingdom. They had to be ready for the new Joshua who would come and lead them into the Messianic kingdom. And so, like their ancestors of 71 generations earlier, they walked out into the Jordan. Inspired by John's appeal, filled with a sense of the Spirit of God drawing them. They hardly noticed the cold. They were, after all, fishermen who had spent many a stormy night out in the rain. But more than that, the fire that burned in the Baptizer's heart had caught their souls as well.

Andrew came up out of the water in a serene and contemplative mood, and made his way slowly, as if in a trance, to the edge of the river and the warming fire. John though, John was known as one of the sons of thunder! And when he came up, he couldn't contain his excitement. "Praise God!" he shouted. "I'm clean! My sins are washed away!" He rushed, splashing all the way to the shore, calling to others who were hesitating. "Come! brother, sister! Come! You must be ready for the kingdom! You must be ready when the new Joshua comes!"

Later, John would be known as John the Evangelist. He no doubt got his start right there at the Jordan in the winter of AD 27-28.

John and Andrew knew that by now their brothers would be worrying, perhaps fretting at them, that they were left to do all the work back home while the two of them were off on holiday. "We should go back," they no doubt told one another. "We should take a report back to Dad, and to James and Simon, and probably we should tend the business while they come down and listen." But they couldn't bring themselves to leave. They were becoming full-fledged disciples of the Baptizer. His words had filled the need of their hearts, and they could not pull themselves away.

Then one day something happened that began to change all that.

People were coming across the river all the time to hear the Baptizer, and no one paid much attention to the ford. But then, on toward evening, just a few days after John and Andrew had been baptized, a man came down the road and walked out into the river, and as he came, the Baptizer turned and looked at him and stopped talking, stopped making appeals, stopped calling people to repentance.

As he turned, all eyes followed his gaze. It was as if a powerful force had caught everyone's attention at once. The Baptizer gazed, and the crowd gazed, and John and Andrew felt a new excitement give a boost to their heartbeats.

The man in the ford was nothing special to look at. His clothes were no different from those of any other Galileean peasant. But there was something about the face and the eyes. The face was hollow and gaunt, as if he had not had enough to eat for a long time. But there was something different from the face of a beggar. The eyes were not furtive, looking down, hoping for a handout. No. The eyes radiated strength, decisiveness, spiritual power. More so even than the Baptizer's. It was clear that if this man had gone hungry, it had been by choice, by spiritual design, not by necessity.

The man had come across the river, paused briefly, fixing the Baptizer with that intense gaze, and then had turned and continued on up the road. The Baptizer said nothing for a moment, and then the words came slowly, softly, so that only those who really wanted to would hear. "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.

"I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

John and Andrew sat in stunned silence as the stranger passed from sight. That night, though, they lay awake, talking and praying until well past midnight. Could it be? Had the new Joshua come? Had they been lucky enough--no, blessed enough to be there at the right time to see the Messiah?

"You know," Andrew later confided. "I felt like getting up right then and following him--finding out where he was going, maybe spending some time with him."

"Then why didn't you?" John, the more impulsive of the two, asked. "Why do you always have to think about everything before you do it?"

"You could have followed him yourself," Andrew responded. "Why didn't you?"

Let me pause in the story for just a moment again, and challenge you with a thought. If Jesus were to walk by this place today. If He were to come out of the backstage area here, and walk down the aisle, and if I were to say to you "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!" Would anyone here feel like following Him? Does anyone here need their sins dealt with by the Saviour of the world?

I know I do. But would I follow Him? Would you? Or would I be too worried about how much He might disrupt my life, or maybe my lifestyle?

"Do you think he'll come back?" John asked.

"He has to! He just has to. For our sake!" Andrew replied.

"Let's pray that he will," John suggested.

The next day was a lot like many others at the river with the Baptizer. But John and Andrew could sense something different in the Baptizer's manner. He kept looking up the road, as if expecting to see someone special. John and Andrew followed his gaze each time, but the day passed uneventfully. Finally, as the crowds were dispersing into the evening shadows, the two young men screwed up their courage and approached the wilderness prophet. "John, sir, may we have a word with you," Andrew asked.

"Certainly," the Baptizer replied. "But you need not address me as Sir. I am just a humble servant of God, as you are."

"Well, um, my brother and I, we were wondering . . . about the man . . ."

"Joshua?" the Baptizer responded.

"Yes, uh, well, uh, no . . . we mean the Man you called the Lamb of God yesterday . . ."

"His name is . . . " the Baptizer stopped mid-sentence. Suddenly he was distracted, looking up the road again. Not toward Jericho this time, but in the direction of the hills of Moab. The direction the stranger had gone the day before.

The two young men turned, and there He was again. Just cresting the hill, going against the flow of the crowd that was making its way to evening shelter. He paused there at the top of the hill, looking down at John, as though He expected some special communication. But John was clearly moved beyond words.

The stranger turned then, and began following the crowd toward the Moabite hills, from which His ancient ancestor Ruth had come. Only then could John muster the strength to speak. "Behold the Lamb of God!" he said, just above a whisper.

For a moment it was as if the two young men's feet were glued to the ground, but then their resolve of the previous night overcame their timidity. John was the first, and he leapt forward, with Andrew following a close second. They ran headlong to the top of the hill, and then slowed to a more respectable pace, still hurrying to catch up with the stranger.

He heard them, or sensed them coming, and turned to fix their gaze. They stopped, dead in their tracks, overcome by the gaunt, but powerful visage that now seemed to question their intent. "What do you seek?" the stranger asked.

"Sir," John started to say, but then he realized that that would not be the proper form of address. "Rabbi--teacher--" he corrected himself. And then he couldn't think of anything to say. He only knew that wherever this man was going, that was where he too must go. And so he blurted out the impertinent question. "Where are you staying?"--as if to invite himself home with the man!

His face began to redden in the slanted, rose-hewed evening sun, and he began to turn away. Then, those three words that saved his face, and saved his soul.

"Come and see!"

The stranger said "Come and see!" Come, follow Me! You're invited! You're in! The kingdom's coming, and YOU have a front row seat!

Ken Follett, one of our era's most-compelling story-tellers: a man who captures the imagination of millions with his stories, explains what it means to be able to capture readers' attention. "When my own children were young," he writes. "I would tell them fantastic tales extempore. Standing at a bus stop, my son would ask me why some buses were red and others green. (In those days London buses were all bright red and country buses were green.) I would say, 'The one to get on is the blue bus. It takes you anywhere you want to go in the twinkling of an eye, but it only comes along once in a lifetime. If we catch it, I want to go to the Wild West and meet Billy the Kid. where do you want to go?"

Where do you want to go?

For John and Andrew the blue bus had just come. The stranger would take them: not necessarily exactly where they would choose to go if they had found a genie and had three wishes, but where their hearts would go if they knew what would bring the greatest joy and excitement and contentment.

Looking back on that day, with his memory undimmed, the apostle John, perhaps 70 years later, could still see the decision he made there that day as the watershed of his life. He could look back on a life of unparalleled drama, pathos, excitement, and joy, that all started that day when he asked Jesus where He was staying.

He would look back with awe and write to some of those who had come to believe in the stranger through his (John's) influence: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life--the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us--that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." (1 John 1:1-4 NKJV).

The two young men followed the stranger that evening. And when they finally had the sense to ask His name, their hearts almost stopped. "Joshua," He said. For the man we call Jesus was really called Yehoshua, which is the same name as the man who led Israel across the Jordan to march around the walls of Jericho. And that day the walls of the kingdom of evil on earth began to crumble.

The next day Andrew tore himself away from Jesus' side and headed up the road. He simply had to share the good news with his family. His brother, Simon, must have been on his way down the road from Galilee already, for soon he was being introduced to Jesus. And the rest is history--the spread of the gospel to one, then another, around the world.

John got on the "blue bus," and it changed his life forever for the better, because he was ready, willing, waiting, hungering for something more than this world offers.

What about you? You are young too, as he was. (Or perhaps you're not so young anymore--it doesn't matter.) Are you so allured and caught up in the things the world has to offer that Jesus could walk by, and you wouldn't know it? Hundreds of people were around that day when Andrew and John caught the bus. But they were the only ones who go on. Because they were the ones who were looking for something more in life--something more than the world can offer.

It's been said that if you were born into a Christian home, and sent to Christian schools all your life, it's like being "born on the bus to heaven." And you can get to feeling secure in that--that there's nothing more you need to do to be where God wants you.

It's not necessarily true, though, you know. All of the people standing around that day had been "born on the bus." They were Jews, children of Abraham, people who believed they had a birthright to the heavenly Canaan.

But only two responded that day to the heavenly King.

I challenge you today. There are one or two or perhaps ten or twenty here today. No, really, God has something better than the commonplace for everyone here--everyone who will listen and respond to the moving of the Spirit of God.

The only question is: will you listen? Will you respond? Will you live the better life that God is calling you to?

Listen for His voice. His Spirit still speaks today, saying "Behold the Lamb of God!" If you'd like to hear His voice more clearly, please get out your Bible. Start with the writings of John, the man who followed Jesus. Read 1 John and the other epistles, read the gospel of John, and AFTER you've done that, read the last of his books: Revelation. In these you'll come to know the Man whom Jesus followed, and as your spirit is sensitized to His voice, you'll find He has something wonderful for you, somewhere wonderful to lead you.

Literally, you'll get a life--His life--eternal life!

This story was originally prepared as a sermon. You are free to use it, but if you desire to publish it in any form, you must first contact the author. Click here to e-mail the author (address: spiritquest@sbcglobal.net).

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