This took place in Bethany

When I read this text in preparation for this morning I wondered, “Where is this place called Bethany ?”  And I thought if what the scripture describes happened in Bethany and if we really believe that the reading and preaching of scripture makes the same thing happen in the experience of those who hear it right now then we can even find ourselves in Bethany today.  So, where is this place called Bethany ?  

You know there are actually two villages called Bethany .  The first is about two miles from Jerusalem on the east slope of the Mount of Olives where Jesus and his disciples often lodged for Passover.  It is the place where Simon the leper was healed, it is the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and it is the place where Jesus ascended into heaven.  The other village called Bethany , where the scene in the Gospel of John takes place, the other Bethany , is described as a village located across the Jordan to the East.  Its exact site is unknown today but it is the place where John the Baptist baptized, it is where John baptized Jesus, and a place to which Jesus apparently returned at least once during his ministry.  

What took place at Bethany ?  John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  He declared, “Turn around.  Become new.  Surrender all that you are and all that you have to God.”  They heard that then and you hear it now.  Then there were two different, opposite reactions to John’s message.  One utterly rejected it and thought it was blasphemous.  The other received it with joy and couldn’t wait to dive into the water to be baptized.  That’s what took place in Bethany .  

Today there are two different, opposite reactions to John’s message.  One utterly rejects it and thinks it ridiculous.  The other receives it with joy and utterly surrenders.  Which way do you react to John’s message?  Because you better believe when the Gospel is read and preached it not only happened then it happens right now.  

Well it was new, it was dramatic, it was powerful, it was radical what John was proclaiming, this man that came out of the wilderness wearing camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist eating locusts and wild honey.  Many people thronged to hear him and so many were baptized.  That’s what caught the attention, you see, of the religious leaders.  In the religious tradition of the time baptism was a standard practice—it was a ritual that restored purity, a rite that transformed the unclean into the clean.  Whenever someone became unclean either by touching a dead body or eating ritually unclean food, or even brushing up against an unclean person baptism was a necessary part of the purification ritual which made one spiritually clean again—ready for social interaction as well as the worship of God.  Women of childbearing age were required to undergo this ritual once each month—they were considered unclean until they were baptized.  Now right into this culture this wild man proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  What took place in Bethany ?  Well, the religious leaders sent their representatives to question him:  “Who are you?  What do you have to say for yourself?  In whose name are you baptizing?”  You see, John the Baptist did not tie his baptism to any of the current religious understanding of purification as far as we can tell.  As a matter of fact, John the Baptist was baptizing people who were already pure according to the current religious tradition.  John the Baptist was saying it is not enough.  That really concerned the religious leaders.  To them, this was all unauthorized.  

John, you notice, does not give them a straight answer.  He just quotes the prophet Isaiah,
          I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the       
          Lord.'
Having denied all authority that the religious leaders would affirm, he simply says,
          I baptize you with water but there is one among you who is coming   later.  I
         am not worthy even to untie the thong of his sandal.
That’s where true authority lies.  

No, John the Baptist does not give them a straight answer.  As a matter of fact in no uncertain terms later on in the Gospel story John the Baptist takes on the religious leaders and even the head of the state and tells them all to repent.  You see, John the Baptist appears out of the wilderness in a time in the culture when those of the religious world knew their place before God and they were comfortable there.  They felt they had earned it—they deserved it—it was simply their rightful place of honor, respect, privilege, and authority because they had made their way to relationship with God.  But to this wild man who wore camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey place and position and authority did not make any difference—that’s not what’s important.  John knew authority was only due to God.  And so he said to everybody—the peasants and farmers so long oppressed and excluded from the social and religious community of the day—the representatives of the religious leaders who came out to question him, even the king himself—he said the same thing to everybody:  “Repent, turn around.”  That really is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That’s what took place at Bethany .  

To repent means to no longer live for yourself but to live for God. The one who comes later, the one whose birth we welcome this season, proclaims the message and talks all about it.  Jesus said the poor, the meek, those in mourning, peacemakers are blessed.  Look after the needs of the least of these.  Take the last seat at the table.  The last shall be first.  The first shall be last.  The only way that human beings can take on the life that Jesus understood to be the way of the kingdom of God is to repent, turn around, and no longer live for yourself but live for God and God alone.  It requires a change of heart.  So John the Baptist out of the wilderness speaks from God.  That’s what took place at Bethany .  

So where is this place called Bethany ?  It is the place wherever you hear John’s message and find yourself called to respond.  What is your reaction to John’s message?  Do you join the throngs who receive his message of repentance with acceptance and joy or are you with the religious who came out and do not understand—you follow all the rules, you’ve done everything the church calls for you to do.  “Who are you to say I must repent?  Just who the heck are you?  By what authority do you question my place before God?”  

Sisters and brothers, one of the real truths of the Christian life is that you always, everyday, repent—you must always have a change of heart—the moment you are comfortable and the more you lay proud claim to your place then you need to hear the message of John the Baptist again and center your life again on God.  

Let’s take this season of the year for example.  In this season you will find yourself among the rush of shoppers.  What happens to you behind the wheel of your car as you creep along in holiday shopping traffic, looking for a place to park in the parking lot?  What comes over you when there is this toy that you absolutely must get for your child or grandchild and there are more of you who want the toy then there are toys?  It does not take long as we examine our hearts and lives to realize that you still need to repent.  To repent means to make a radical change in lifestyle.  That is to look out for the least of these, to take the last place.  You just don’t naturally do that, do you?  You have to repent.  

What would it be like the next time you go to the mall instead of taking the parking place right by the door take one further away, if you are physically able to walk that far, and leave that place for another perhaps less able bodied person.  Now I’ve always looked for the parking place closest to the door and sometimes not very patiently.  But you know I have learned something from those in our congregation who have taken up a weight loss program—now I don’t count points or carry around a carbohydrate calculator but I have heard the importance of one thing and that’s exercise.  So I have discovered one of the easiest ways to get exercise is simply to park further from the door.  In this season of giving perhaps one of the greatest and most lasting gifts you can give to yourself and to others is this—the next time you go to the mall, or the store, or to church instead of trying to be the 1^st one to claim the parking place right beside the door, if you are able and if indeed it is good for you to exercise, why don’t you take the parking place furthest away from the door?  That would be a wonderful gift for yourself and it would be a wonderful gift for many who don’t get around very well who may not yet qualify for handicap parking yet because of realities of age or health and would surely welcome a shorter walk from the car.  What a gift it would be for them to drive up and see 3 empty parking places available right near the door.  Repent.  It’s a lifestyle change, a change of heart.  Now that’s a small, perhaps trivial example of repentance, but if decisions over repentance are so very difficult for you in something as small and perhaps trivial as this how much more in your life do you need yet to give up to God?  You see, the problem is you know your place; you got there first; you’ve earned it; you deserve everything you get.  John the Baptist comes out of the wilderness and says, “Repent.”  

Now the main message of the Gospel today is not about parking places.  John the Baptist is not talking about a place in line, he was talking about a relationship with God.  What happens in your heart—that’s what’s important.   

And John says, “there is someone among you who is coming after me.  I am not even worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”  He is the same one whose coming you welcome this season, this little baby, this king born in a stable and laid in a manger.  It is in his name that you have already been baptized.  You see, you already have the gift of the repentance planted right in your heart by God.  You can do this!  John baptized with water but Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  That baptism works on you all the time—the more you repent the more God can make you who you ought to be.  Whatever you want to do in your relationship with God God will make happen in you by God’s own grace.  That is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That’s what took place in Bethany .  Where is this place called Bethany ?  Well, if something is going on in your heart right now, it’s taking place here, too.