Signposts
This week we again hear about John the Baptiser, this time
from the Gospel of John. While both Mark, who we heard from last week and this gospel
writer are using a similar tradition about the Baptiser, how this gospel writer
presents him is very different.
This gospel writer is very focussed on Jesus. So focussed
that he is not interested in the Baptisers own contribution apart from his
pointing to Jesus. We hear very little about his ministry other than his
pointing. And that is because this gospel is also not so interested in what Jesus
did but to help us see underneath the outward observable actions to see the inner
true meaning of who Jesus is. For this Gospel it is all about Jesus the Word,
the Logos, the Logic by which all of creation makes sense. In Jesus we
encounter The Eternal Word in flesh and blood.
There are interestingly a number of similarities in how John
and Jesus are presented. Both are sent by God. Both are referred to as Moses or
Elijah. Both bear witness to God. But the baptiser is clearly being presented
as simply a sign post to Jesus, who in turn is the means by which we are
pointed to God. The light and life that is God’s is now made accessible through
this Jesus, the Word.
Bill Loader suggests that, “Ultimately God is the central
focus. This is reflected in the fact that the author uses the same language of
Jesus as he does of John: being sent, bearing witness, etc. This characterises
the so-called spirituality of the fourth gospel in which everything, including
the earthly Jesus, is enveloped in central symbols which speak of light and
life, water and bread, sourced ultimately in God alone. In the Advent season such a reading encourages
our focus on that centre, to look where John is looking (especially 1:29) and
to know the one whom Jesus has made known (1:18). Ultimately it is about a
spirituality which makes sense of life or doesn’t make sense at all.”[1]
In the first week of Advent we also heard from Isaiah. We
heard of hopes not realised and were invited to reflect on our own experience of
unrealised hope and what that meant as we approach Christmas. This week we hear
again of hope in the passage made more familiar by Luke 4. This time it is not
our hope that is in question but all that God hopes for. We hear that God loves
justice. God’s hope is in justice. Of
course, how we hear this hope will depend on whether we are the ones with the
land, or the ones longing for a return of the land; whether we are the ones
with resources, or the ones longing for enough to live by. As we enter into the
second half of Advent we are invited to made God’s life and love our central
focus, and to join God yearning for justice no matter the cost.
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