Last week, I mentioned briefly our current culture’s increasing obsession with all things paranormal and drew a connection between that and a decreased attendance at churches. Now, of course, that connection is not absolute. Not everyone who enjoys Twilight or Ghost Hunters is an unbeliever, and not every unbeliever is a fan of those types of shows.
In fact, in the interest of being entirely candid, when it comes to some of those ghost shows, I have to admit that I find them entertaining, too. Actually, this past week, one of my coworkers lent me his copy the second season of a show called Ghost Adventures. And within a few days I had watched most of it.
Now half of the entertainment of this particular show is making fun of the “investigators” on it. The main guy is one of those people who you can tell is insecure because of how over-confidently he behaves. He likes to “taunt” “spirits” that he deems are “evil.” It’s funny seeing a bulky guy try to threaten a supposedly ethereal being.
Of course, in attempting to get a reaction from spirits, these guys go to some pretty stupid lengths, getting involved in some pretty dangerous spiritual practices. Like in one episode they participate in a voodoo ritual on a southern plantation; in another episode they participate in a Druidic/Wiccan ritual in England. Not smart, not smart at all.
But they do it all in the name of “capturing evidence.” I read an article earlier this week that was really interesting about the nature of the “paranormalist community” and their ability to both isolate themselves from the scientific world and yet mock debate within their ranks so that it appears as if everything is being evaluated. There’s a practice amongst them to produce “evidence” for within the community, but to insulate themselves from any deeper criticism coming from the outside.
For some reason, though, all of that can’t prevent me from watching their shows. Let’s face it, many of us here in America like to get a little scared from time to time. For me, its probably because of the adrenaline rush, for others it may be the same, or it may be the mystery, the deeper spiritual issues, or who knows. Whatever it the cause may be, ghost shows are a big seller right now on TV.
What I love about these shows, however, is that, in my case, it’s the only adrenaline rush I know of where I’m able to, at will, turn that rush on and off. You see, in addition to my deep theological disagreements with the presuppositions which lay behind these shows, at the core of my very nature, I’m a skeptic. Not just with ghostly things, but with most things.
You see, for me, the same thing that keeps me from believing that Chris Angel can really read your mind when he walks up to you on the street, keeps me from believing that what these guys capture on their cameras is the whole story. If you don’t know who Chris Angel is, he’s a magician on TV. He’s really good at his job, very convincing.
But, like many other kids growing up, I loved magic tricks, and my parents bought me all sorts of magic trick sets and books. And one of the things you learn first when it comes to doing magic tricks is this: somebody is always in on the trick. Half the magic tricks you see performed on the TV rely on you believing this one simple line: “Bob here and I have never met before.” If you buy that line, you buy the trick. Don’t buy that line, you don’t buy the trick.
A similar tactic applies to just about everything that happens in these ghost videos. Do you buy that no one was in the room at the time? Do you buy that the “analyst” they brought on to review their “evidence” is legitimate? Do you buy that it was really a voice they recorded and not the typical pops and clicks of a tiny microphone? Do you buy that they didn‘t just create a more interesting recording after the fact? Generally speaking, do you buy that they’re trying to collect evidence, rather than sell a show? If so, you buy the trick, if not, you don’t.
The simple result of my skeptical nature is the reinforcement of an old adage, I have to “see it to believe it.”
The problem with having a skeptical nature, though, is that, while it may be of benefit when it comes to smooth magicians and hokey paranormalists, it can be a bit of bear when it comes to being a person of faith. The fact is that, for all our apologetics and open-mindedness, the Church can still sometimes feel uncomfortable for people with a skeptical mindset.
The Church, like the paranormalist community, sometimes has a tendency to isolate itself from attacks, and when someone from within raises questions or difficulties they may be having, they sometimes feel as if they are getting lumped in with the group from without.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a firm believer in Christian Orthodoxy. In fact, I’m pretty strangely super-naturalistic in my theology. But, what that means is that, not only have I been the recipient of rejection and exclusion when I’ve occasionally voiced my own doubts, but I’ve also done the same thing to other people. When people who love the Lord have approached me with some doubt they’ve been dealing with over a particular aspect of theology, my first instinct has at times been to tear them to pieces verbally.
Though I, myself, have had difficulty swallowing certain aspects of our faith at times, I have also been very unforgiving when others have found other aspects equally difficult.
And, let’s face it, on the surface, the claims of Christianity can seem pretty strange, especially from the perspective of an outside observer. We don’t need to look any further than our passage for today to see that fact.
John the Baptist, in our passage for today, repeats himself on two separate occasions. Both times, when John sees Jesus coming, he announces to those around him “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
Now, that word “behold” is an archaic sounding word. When you read it or hear it these days, you usually think of the Scriptures because they seem to be one of the only places you find it anymore. The word in Greek is the word idou (id-oo).
Not to long ago we had an old-school Baptist preacher come onto campus at Gibault because his church had prepared a traveling Christmas presentation. And during this presentation, the preacher compared the word “behold” or “idou” to the southern expression “lookey-here.” It’s meant to be a phrase that grabs your ears, or your eyes I suppose, and draw attention to what comes next because of it’s importance.
It isn’t like the more bland “well, would you look at that.” It brings with it a sense of something being revealed which the hearer or seer had no notion of prior too. It’s meant to arrest your attention, so that the speaker can make a point.
So, John says “behold,” or, “lookey-here, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Now, when John uses that phrase “Lamb of God,” he’s making reference to two biblical concepts.
The first concept that he’s directing his hearer’s attention to is the “paschal lamb.” As you may know, the paschal lamb meant not only the lambs which were sacrificed in the temple, but the historic time of the Passover when the blood of those same lambs were sprinkled on the doorposts of the homes of all the Israelites in Egypt. This protected them when the Angel of Death passed over their homes, taking the firstborn son of any family which was not protected in this way.
The second concept was that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah chapter 53. In this passage, the Servant remains silent “like a lamb led to slaughter” and “gives His life as an offering for sin.”
So here, right at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, as this passage is John’s condensed version of the Baptism of Jesus (without the actual baptism), John the Baptist is identifying the ultimate end of Jesus’ ministry. He will be the lamb who takes the sins of the world upon Himself in His sacrificial death.
John tells us that this was the point of his own ministry, to prepare the way for and identify this Lamb of God.
He tells us that this Lamb of God doesn’t just cover the sins of the world, though that would certainly be enough, but that He has come to truly take them away. And this He will do by baptizing, washing, with the Holy Spirit.
This baptism with the Spirit is the means by which people are made not merely externally pure, as it was for the ancient Israelites so those who had become ritually defiled and could participate in the Temple again by being washed. Instead, it makes us who receive it in Christian baptism inwardly pure, not by the absence of all of our sinful nature, but by the presence of God’s Spirit within us which continually washes us daily, renewing our faith in Him and in the Lamb’s sacrifice.
External baptism made the recipient pure so that they could participate in the rituals of the Temple. Internal baptism, which we receive through means which look identical, make the recipient pure by the work of the Lamb and the reception of the Spirit so that we might participate in the life of God, in spite of our recurring unrighteousness.
In this baptism of the Spirit God continues to work through us, having set us apart and cleansed our sin, by the presence of that Spirit within us. By the presence of this Holy Spirit, God will continue to “clean house” until the day we die, as He turns us again and again to trust in Him, to have faith, until He brings us home and presents us as finished, spotless, unblemished, because of the sacrifice of the Lamb.
That’s some pretty deep stuff. A skeptic might call it an “extraordinary claim.” And an unbelieving skeptic might posit that “an extraordinary claim demands extraordinary evidence.” Even as believers, we may find ourselves balking at some of these claims, trying to “tame the fire” so to speak.
John’s followers, his disciples, like many of the ancient Israelites, devout though they were, had been coming to be baptized by John for a slightly different reason than why Jesus had come to baptize with the Spirit. Of course, John was a messianic prophet, a man proclaiming by means of divine revelation the coming of the anointed one of God.
And many of those who flocked out to him in droves, we’re told in one passage that “all of Judea” was going out to see him, were doing so in order to prepare themselves. That’s why John criticizes the Pharisees on the shore in another version of this story, asking them “who told you to flee the wrath that is to come?”
John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance only. It was supposed to be a visible sign that one was sorry for having gone astray (which is, of course, a necessary and important aspect of salvation). In short, it was symbolic only and didn’t really do anything.
Jesus, however, was coming with a baptism which actually does something, a baptism which, as we say in the Hymn “Grace Greater than all My Sin,” can pardon and cleanse within. Our baptism does something much deeper than just show we’re repentant, otherwise why would we continue to baptize infants? Instead, we know from 1 Peter 3:21 that “baptism now saves you…” This is gained for us because of His act as our sacrificial lamb.
But we, like John’s disciples, might be puzzled at this. Sure, we’re okay with saying Jesus died for your sins, but when it comes to making a real difference in your life, we tend to err on the side of human effort. Sure, God comes along and helps out from time to time, giving us the extra push so to speak, but really, we just need to buckle down, get out there, and do some repenting. We want to make that fire manageable, useable, but not all consuming.
Perhaps we haven’t seen too many identifiable instances when the Spirit really stepped in in our own lives. Maybe we’re worried that if you really step out, and instead of just paying lip service to the work of the Spirit, actually relied on it, you may end up falling on your face. And, quite frankly, from time to time, you will. We all know that we’re sinners and will continue to, as we say in the Eucharistic liturgy, not love God with our whole hearts, and not love our neighbors as ourselves.
However, I wonder, how much worse it is to trip up from time to time while relying on God than to trip up however often while relying on yourself alone? And how much more can we rely on ourselves to fix our problems than rely on the Lamb of God who has come to take away our sins?
John’s disciples, well, perhaps they were taken off guard. Maybe they were a little skeptical. Maybe they wanted to find some more “evidence.” Maybe they, like so many of us, needed to see it to believe it. And so, they approach Christ, asking Him where He is staying, perhaps so that they might observe Him at work. They’ve been told to look, to see, to pay attention, to “Behold!” And so, they go to investigate.
And when they do, when they begin to search for the answers to their questions, when they want to know where Jesus is staying, what happens? Does Jesus isolate Himself from their inspection? Does He protect Himself from potential criticism? What does He do?
He turns to them, and tells them “Come… See…”
So many of us are in the same place. We want to believe Jesus, we want to be pardoned at least, but that’s about the extent of our faith. Day to day, Jesus gives us an example of how to live a good life, we think, but that’s about the end of it. We don’t actually expect Him to be present in the core of our actual being, to be there in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be capable of actual changing and tweaking the machinery from the inside and not just the outside.
And to those of us who are skeptical in this way, Jesus extends the same call. In moments of doubt we may ask where He is. And on this communion Sunday let me extend this ancient offer to you: Behold! The Lamb of God; Come and See!
Amen
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