There is a homeless man drawing a lot of attention to himself outside of town. He makes his own clothes. He eats bugs. But when he speaks, people listen.
Rumor has it he's the son of a popular preacher. One of those televangelists with a slick haircut and $3,000 suits. But he went off on his own years ago, vowed to live in poverty.
An angel spoke a prophecy to his father before he was born. "He will bring back many to the Lord their God," the angel said, or so the story goes. "He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous."
This is not fiction. It's the story of John the Baptist ... just updated a bit.
The point of Pastor Josh's message yesterday was that John did not fit the mold of the respectable religious teacher. His father, Zechariah, did. As a Jewish priest, he would wear colorful, flowing robes and a priestly turban called a mitre on his head when he officiated ceremonies. It was the priest's right to take a portion of the animal sacrifice to eat.
By contrast, in accordance with God's will John chose to live in the wilderness where he would make his own clothes out of camel's hair, and locusts and wild honey would be his food. He did not look the part of a religious leader. Yet through this vessel, God would announce his own coming in the form of Jesus of Nazareth.
John's message was an offensive one. He told Jews they needed to repent of their sins and be baptized, a rite reserved for the godless Gentiles. He dared tell his fellow Jews that they were broken. They had a sin problem only God could fix.
They were not, however, fundamentally flawed. It was not shame God wanted the Jews of John's day to feel. He wanted them to repent and enjoy the freedom that comes from forgiveness.
And he wanted them to see that he could use anyone to accomplish his purposes. Even a homeless, locust-eating wild man. Even a poor carpenter.
"If you think that your voice isn't right, that you're not good enough to minister to the people around you, I'm not buyin' it," Josh said.
"Too tall, too short, too skinny, not skinny enough, too old, too young, too much money, not enough money, all those things are just excuses. I want to challenge you. You are a preacher for Jesus."
Part of the Good News is not just the word itself. It's not just what John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world ...") says, it's about whom it was written. Jesus was the son of God, but he was also a poor carpenter from a backwater town called Nazareth. He was announced by a homeless man who had traded robes for camel's hair and meat for insects.
None of us can say we are not good enough to minister to the people around us. If you do, Josh won't buy it. Neither will God.
You are more important than you think.
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