December 14, 2014 Message: Mistaken Identity

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December 14, 2014 Message: Mistaken Identity SLIDE You probably heard the one about the lineup at St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. The line is long but nobody minds.

1 December 14, 2014 Message: Mistaken Identity SLIDE You probably heard the one about the lineup at St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. The line is long but nobody minds. Then up comes a doctor, and he walks past the line and right up to St Peter. Peter stops him and says, You ll have to wait your turn in line. The man says, But I m a doctor. Peter replies, doesn t matter. Up here everyone s equal. So the man goes to the end of the line. Suddenly up walks this guy, dressed to the nines, with a stethoscope around his neck. It s readily apparent he s a doctor and Peter steps aside, gives him a high five and he goes right on in to heaven. The doctor comes up fuming, Hey! How come he gets to go in like that? Peter says, You don t understand. That s God, and He thinks he s a doctor! SLIDE In the early 1930s, America s most wanted fugitive was undoubtedly John Dillinger, who d robbed over two dozen banks. This situation caused a major headache for 25-year-old Ralph Alsman, a law-abiding citizen from Brookville, Indiana who was practically John Dillinger s identical twin. As if the physical resemblance wasn t enough, both Alsman and Dillinger had a mole next to one eye and a scar on the left wrist. Since Brookville was only 54 miles from Dillinger s hometown of Mooresville, Alsman was easily mistaken for the infamous outlaw. In fact, Alsman was mistaken for Dillinger so often that he was arrested 17 times. Even when Alsman left his home state, he was still arrested in such cities as Detroit and Minneapolis. Although he was always released, Alsman often had to undergo stressful interrogation sessions to convince authorities he wasn t Dillinger. Worst of all, Alsman was also shot 11 times and became justifiably paranoid that a law enforcement officer would kill him before he had the chance to prove his real identity. Alsman s ordeal finally came to an end when Dillinger was gunned down by federal agents on July 22, Because of his resemblance to Dillinger, Alsman was offered movie contracts, but he chose to end his 15 minutes of fame and turn them down. SLIDE In our gospel for today John the Baptist is out in the wilderness, and it says, the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? They re trying to determine his identity, because he s doing something of his own

2 impetus, under no one in particular s authority. He s not been authorized, you see, and nobody can quite decide just who he might be. The situation is fraught with misconception, mistaken identification, and they try to put John on the spot: Who are you? What are you? Messiah, prophet, forerunner, what? Have you ever been in a position of having to defend yourself? Who do you think you are that....? What right do you have to...? How dare you...? Who gave you the authority to...? It's an uncomfortable position. We end up saying things like, "I'm your mother, that's who." Or, "I'm your boss, that's who." Or, "I am the pastor of this church and oh, never mind. In movie stand-offs the answer is "I'm the one with the gun." When our authority is questioned, we respond by appealing to an authority. Our own, that of our position whatever it is that gives us an advantage. John the Baptist is baptizing in the river Jordan, and the Jews send priests and Levites from Jerusalem to demand who he is and why he is doing what he's doing. He begins in a spirit of full disclosure: "I am not the Messiah." With that possibility off the table, his visitors play a short game of twenty questions, running out of guesses after just two. "Are you Elijah?" Nope. "Are you the Prophet?" Nope again. So if you're none of these famous figures, what do you think you are, and what right do you have, and how dare you, and who gave you the authority... to baptize? (1:24) If you're not a familiar and famous saving figure, why are you doing what you're doing? SLIDE John the Baptist deflects the question from himself to someone else. That is, after all, his entire role. He has no misconceptions, no delusions of grandeur about who he is. Da Vinci, in this famous depiction of John the Baptist, has him doing what he does well, pointing to the cross, the representation of the One for he came to prepare the way. He says, in effect, I'm baptizing because "Among you stands one whom you do not know" (1:26). Everything I do serves the purpose of pointing you toward one who is present right next to you but unrecognized by you. John is clear that he is not the main event. He is the opening act. We have lots of ways in current parlance of describing people who highlight and facilitate the accomplishments of others. SLIDE Cheerleaders. Sidekicks. Support Staff. Personal Assistants. Wingmen. They sometimes are used in a way that makes them sound second rate. The public

3 accomplishments of many are not possible without the behind the scenes work of talented, committed people. Who often feel second rate. Who are not always appreciated. As long as no one mistakes him for Jesus, John the Baptist doesn't care whether he is appreciated or not. He is here to do his job. And his job is to constantly remind those around him of the presence of the one who "stands among them that they do not know." The lack of recognition of Jesus is a prominent theme in John's Gospel. In the Prologue, John the Evangelist says of Jesus, SLIDE "He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him." In several encounters with troubled people in the Gospel, Jesus stands next to them, offering them healing and life, and they fail to recognize him. SLIDE Nicodemus comes and stands on Jesus' front step in the dark with his half-baked faith. As Jesus offers him the chance to be spiritually recreated, reborn, Nicodemus babbles about climbing back into the womb. "Among you stands one whom you do not know." In chapter four, SLIDE the woman of Samaria comes to the well to find Jesus sitting there waiting for her. He offers her living water, and she babbles about how deep the well is and how she has no bucket to fetch the water. "Among you stands one whom you do not know." In chapter five, SLIDE Jesus stands by a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years and become somewhat comfortable in his daily routine of misery. As he offers him wholeness ("Do you want to be made well?" 5:6), the man babbles about how he would love to be healed but he hasn't been able to time his entry into the bubbling water quite right. "Among you stands one whom you do not know." In chapter eight, SLIDE Jesus stands on the edges of a crowd about to stone a woman caught in adultery and shames her accusers into dropping their weapons and slinking away. Afterward, the Pharisees question his message and his authority to judge or not to judge. He replies, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also" (8:29). Once again we hear an echo of John 1:26: "Among you stands one whom you do not know." SLIDE After Jesus heals the man born blind in chapter 9, his opponents try to put him on the defensive, demanding to know the identity of the one who had healed him. "As for this man, we do not know where he comes from" (9:29). The formerly blind man replies, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes" (9:30).

4 In chapter 14, Thomas, with great earnestness, says to Jesus, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" SLIDE Jesus responds, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (14:6). No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him" (14:7). SLIDE "Among you stands one whom you do not know." Jesus stands in the garden as Judas brings his captors, and boldly identifies himself. "I am he" (18:6). He hangs on the cross with an ironic inscription over it The king of the Jews. Though used as a means of mockery, it actually made known Jesus' true identity (19:19). SLIDE Jesus stands next to Mary in the garden: "... she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus." She recognizes him when he calls her name. Her response is to tell the disciples "I have seen the Lord!" (20:18) Jesus stands in the midst of shocked disciples in a locked room in chapter 20. SLIDE He stands on the beach just after daybreak offering advice to his disciples on how to catch a bumper crop of fish in chapter 21. So many times in the Gospel of John we see examples of the fact that "Among us stands one whom we do not know." That one offers new birth, healing, forgiveness, living water, new life, spiritual sight, a way to God, and a way out of the prison of our unbelief into resurrection faith. John's purpose in writing this gospel is that we may believe in Jesus and, believing, have life in his name. SLIDE "Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me." (13:44) As Christians who aren't saving up demonstrations of our faith for special occasions, our role is not unlike that of John the Baptist. We are to point people to the truth, the fact, the reality, that "Among us stands one whom we do not know." The fact that we do not know him is no fault of his. He is here. He is seeking to make himself known. He is accessible and available. He wants us to recognize his presence and believe in him and the One who sent him. Why do we fail to recognize him? 1. Like Nicodemus, we may feel the risk is too high to follow Jesus. 2. Like the woman at the well, our own sense of guilt and unworthiness may block our accepting his forgiveness and energizing new life. 3. Like the man at the pool, we may have become comfortable in our pain, limitations,

5 and complaints and lost our motivation to be changed. 4. Like those who yearned to condemn and destroy the woman caught in adultery, we may be unwilling to forgive or be forgiven. 5. Like Mary in the garden, we may be so caught up in our grief that we see only the grave and not the Savior. 6. Like the disciples locked in a room for fear of their enemies, we may be so mired in fear that we cannot raise our eyes to faith. SLIDE At this Advent season we may be one or more of these people. We may know others who mirror their struggles. At this Advent season, for them and for us, we do well to remember John the Baptist's encouraging, challenging words: "Among you stands one whom you do not know."

Signs, Wonders, and the Spread of the Gospel Acts 5:12 16

Hope Christian Church 8 February 2009 D. Todd Cravens Series: The Book of Acts: A Fresh Encounter 15 th Sermon in Series Signs, Wonders, and the Spread of the Gospel Acts 5:12 16 12 Now many signs and