Before I begin, I'd like to thank all of you for your prayers and support during this difficult time. Mom passed away in her sleep on December 20th. Some of you may have met my mother when she visited back at Christmas time of 2005. As I was digging through her things after she passed, I found a bulletin from that Christmas. She had proudly saved it, I think, because on its pages were printed the words, "Acolyte, Evaonne Hendricks." Mom would have been 75-years-old today, had she lived, and while I could have said "no" when asked to preach today, I think this is what she would have wanted. It is a good feeling to know one's mother is proud of you, for whatever reason.

In today's first reading, Isaiah talks of being picked by God before he was even born, and forged as a weapon in secret. Even though Isaiah feels he has labored in vain, God has told him it is not enough that he save the people of Israel, but that he should be a light to all the nations, saving the whole world.

He speaks of "one duly despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers." Here he talks of Israel, which is held captive by the Assyrians. He proclaims comfort to Israel, that some day all nations will bow down because their God is faithful.

John the Baptist was also picked before he was born. In his life, one sees what it must have been like to be an Old Testament prophet. To be a prophet was not to be popular. Usually, the job of a prophet was to warn people that they were wandering far from God and needed to repent--to turn around and come back to God. Prophets were killed by rulers who hated what they had to say. Elijah was pursued by King Ahab, who wanted very badly to see him dead. It is an uneasy undertaking to have to be the social conscience of a group of people who may well be having lots of fun at the expense of others. It was a perilous job. Even Jesus remarks at one point at how Jerusalem killed her prophets, mentioning Zechariah, who was murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

A prophet was the opposite of a politician, saying things that one knew in one's heart were right, but one didn't really want to listen to them. Calling people "vipers" is not the way to be elected to office, especially when the "vipers" in question are the rich and famous. Children don't generally say, "I want to be a prophet when I grow up." Nobody wants to live a life eating bugs and honey, wearing camel's hair, and sheltering in the desert in a cave, especially if it leads to an untimely death.

Having said that, I think people are often a bit hard on John the Baptist. He was doing what God had told him to do, by moving the poor and middle-class to repent, and being a thorn in the side of the wealthy and powerful. He was eventually imprisoned and then beheaded because of the things he said, but that was the fate of most prophets.

When I was reading this gospel reading before preparing this, I was surprised by one line I had never noticed before. John says, "I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel."

Was this John's sole reason for baptizing? Was he only there for Jesus to be revealed? What about all the people who heard his fiery preaching and repented of their sins? Why, then, did he keep baptizing after Jesus was revealed? Perhaps forecasting the coming of the Messiah was not the only task John had, and he was simply unaware of it until his first job was done and God told him differently.

Tradition has it that John was Jesus' cousin. It is interesting that John does not recognize him, though not impossible. I have relatives I've never met. John was preaching at the Jordan river while Jesus was up in Galilee. John's parents were old when he was born. They may well have been dead before he was of age, and he may have been adopted by relatives or friends. Certainly one does not read anything about Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, after he is found in the temple. Lives were short, then, and he may also have been dead before Jesus was a teenager.

John's declaration that Jesus is the "Lamb of God" rings with the joy of having discovered the one person in the world he had been waiting for his entire life. His mission had been accomplished. How poignant it is, then, to read about John standing with his two disciples, one of whom was Andrew, Peter's brother, and watching as those disciples desert him to follow Jesus. I can't help wondering whether or not John felt abandoned at this point.

Another striking part of today's Gospel reading is John's testimony about the baptism of Jesus. John says, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him." The one who sent John to baptize with water--God--told him, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." John then testifies that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Old Testament prophets were visited by the Spirit, and through the Spirit God moved them to speak, but here the Spirit remained on Jesus, staying with him, rather than simply visiting him. Jesus, then, is the one who will send the Spirit to all humankind, starting with his apostles, but this will be only after his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

I believe we are all picked by God before we are born. Paul lists prophecy among many gifts of the spirit, and though few are picked to be God's prophets, I think God gives us whatever gifts we have in order to fulfill the tasks we are meant to accomplish. Free will also allows us a choice: Whether we wish to follow what God has planned for us or not.

We, too, should aspire to the words in the psalm:
'I love to do your will, O my god;
your law is deep in my heart.'

Amen