No Shortcuts To Cleanliness
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle B
No Shortcuts To Cleanliness
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (vv. 4-8)
A few years back, my church's youth group went on a mystery trip. It is termed such because it is a mystery to the youth as to the destination. The parents are given the entire itinerary, but the youth are only told the appropriate items to pack. The trip is a great bonding experience and great fun as the youth try to discern where we are going.
The destination ended up being a state park where we stayed in a cabin. The cabin was actually two adjoining small cabins -- each with one bedroom, one bath, and an open area designated as living, dining, and kitchen. As is often the case with youth trips, the male-female ratio was imbalanced. We had more guys on the trip than girls. So when we put the guys in one cabin and the girls in the other, the girls had more space. At nighttime, we literally had wall-to-wall guys as sleeping bags were lined up in the living, dining, and kitchen area. The guys would step on each other as they went to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The bathroom was also a problem for the guys when it came to showering. Half showered in the morning and half showered in the evening. That is, except for Matthew. He showered in the morning, and the evening, and in the afternoon. Matthew was entering that adolescent stage of life where he wanted to impress the girls. Any sign of perspiration was an invitation to shower. And shower he did -- all the time, much to the dismay of the other guys trying to have a daily shower as well. Somehow, we managed through the trip and Matthew's sweat-phobia became an interesting remembrance of the trip.
Several years later I saw Matthew just after he completed his freshman year in college. It seems he had overcome his cleanliness idiosyncrasy -- and in a major way. Like so many freshman, Matthew came home every weekend and brought his clothes for his mother to wash. Partway through the semester, his mother noticed that he never brought his sheets home. She had sent him into the world and out on his own with three brand new sheet sets. It was more than three weeks into the semester and she had yet to see the sheets. Knowing he would have slept on each set for more than a week, she questioned her son as to why the sheets had never made it home for laundering. He told his mother, "Oh, I'm taking care of it at school."
A few more weeks passed, and Matthew stopped bringing any of his laundry home. When quizzed about it, again he replied, "I'm taking care it." His mother was proud of her son and his independence.
At the end of the semester, Matthew brought home all of his belongings -- including two unopened packages of sheets. His mother said, "Matthew I can't believe you only used one set of sheets. Didn't you get tired of washing them?"
Matthew replied, "Oh, I didn't wash them. I found this really great stuff. It's called Febreze. You just spray it on, and you don't even have to take the sheets off the bed! And it works great on clothes, too."
There are different levels of cleanliness. Matthew had different levels in high school and college. When John was washing people in the Jordan River, it was one level. He told the people as much. He baptized them with water, which is like a Febreze cleaning. It might pass the smell test, but the dirt was still there.
John announced that Jesus was coming with a greater baptism -- a new and deeper level. This would be no surface cleaning. This would even be better than three showers a day. This baptism with the Holy Spirit would be a soul scrubbing from the inside out.
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (vv. 4-8)
A few years back, my church's youth group went on a mystery trip. It is termed such because it is a mystery to the youth as to the destination. The parents are given the entire itinerary, but the youth are only told the appropriate items to pack. The trip is a great bonding experience and great fun as the youth try to discern where we are going.
The destination ended up being a state park where we stayed in a cabin. The cabin was actually two adjoining small cabins -- each with one bedroom, one bath, and an open area designated as living, dining, and kitchen. As is often the case with youth trips, the male-female ratio was imbalanced. We had more guys on the trip than girls. So when we put the guys in one cabin and the girls in the other, the girls had more space. At nighttime, we literally had wall-to-wall guys as sleeping bags were lined up in the living, dining, and kitchen area. The guys would step on each other as they went to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
The bathroom was also a problem for the guys when it came to showering. Half showered in the morning and half showered in the evening. That is, except for Matthew. He showered in the morning, and the evening, and in the afternoon. Matthew was entering that adolescent stage of life where he wanted to impress the girls. Any sign of perspiration was an invitation to shower. And shower he did -- all the time, much to the dismay of the other guys trying to have a daily shower as well. Somehow, we managed through the trip and Matthew's sweat-phobia became an interesting remembrance of the trip.
Several years later I saw Matthew just after he completed his freshman year in college. It seems he had overcome his cleanliness idiosyncrasy -- and in a major way. Like so many freshman, Matthew came home every weekend and brought his clothes for his mother to wash. Partway through the semester, his mother noticed that he never brought his sheets home. She had sent him into the world and out on his own with three brand new sheet sets. It was more than three weeks into the semester and she had yet to see the sheets. Knowing he would have slept on each set for more than a week, she questioned her son as to why the sheets had never made it home for laundering. He told his mother, "Oh, I'm taking care of it at school."
A few more weeks passed, and Matthew stopped bringing any of his laundry home. When quizzed about it, again he replied, "I'm taking care it." His mother was proud of her son and his independence.
At the end of the semester, Matthew brought home all of his belongings -- including two unopened packages of sheets. His mother said, "Matthew I can't believe you only used one set of sheets. Didn't you get tired of washing them?"
Matthew replied, "Oh, I didn't wash them. I found this really great stuff. It's called Febreze. You just spray it on, and you don't even have to take the sheets off the bed! And it works great on clothes, too."
There are different levels of cleanliness. Matthew had different levels in high school and college. When John was washing people in the Jordan River, it was one level. He told the people as much. He baptized them with water, which is like a Febreze cleaning. It might pass the smell test, but the dirt was still there.
John announced that Jesus was coming with a greater baptism -- a new and deeper level. This would be no surface cleaning. This would even be better than three showers a day. This baptism with the Holy Spirit would be a soul scrubbing from the inside out.
