
John 3:7-18
Did you hear about the “holy cow” that was born last week in Connecticut? If you didn’t hear about it, this brown jersey Holstein calf was born with a distinct birthmark. Just between his eyes, there is a white marking that is clearly in the shape of a cross. People have been coming from all over to see this special calf, which children near the farm have named “Moses.” That’s a great Christmas story, isn’t it? It’s heartwarming. It’s special.
If you read the Bible, you’ll find out that God shows up in all kinds of places. God shows up in chaos of an unformed creation-and shapes it in our world. God shows up in a burning bush, speaking to Moses (the real Moses!). Later, God shows up in Egypt with frogs and darkness, with rivers of blood and locusts, and frees an oppressed people. God showed up in a vision to the Prophet Jeremiah of two baskets of figs. So, maybe God does show up in a white, furry cross on the forehead of a newborn calf.
This image, by the way, gets way more publicity, far more press, than the image we have in front of us today: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come?” This is how John the Baptist greets the crowds who have ventured all the way out into the wilderness to see him and listen to what he has to say. This is the same John, by the way, who Matthew tells us was dressed in camel’s hair and a leather belt, and who ate locusts and wild honey.
When you open your newspaper or turn on your television and see the story of Moses the Calf, my guess is that your response will be something like: “Awww.” When we read about John the Baptist-a half-naked man with bugs in his teeth, shouting at us and calling us names, we may be more likely to go: “Ewww.” And that’s why you’ll hear stories about Moses this calf this Christmas season, and none about John the Baptist.
Who knows if this calf’s special cross marking is more than just a nice story to read in the paper around Christmas time? Who am I to say that God can’t send a vision of Jesus on a piece of toast, or a picture of Mary burned into the face of an iron? How can we know for sure that God doesn’t regularly make Himself known through grilled cheese sandwiches?
But, before Jesus arrives on the scene, God sends us John-shouting about vipers, calling for repentance, and warning us of sharpened axes and fiery flames. The only thing he and Moses the calf have in common is that they both get our attention. And I think that’s the idea. John wants your attention. More importantly, God wants our attention.
This season God calls us to get ready for the coming of Jesus. More than anything, to do this-God seems to tell us- we must pay attention. Pay attention, John says. If you’ve got too much stuff, if you’re constantly grasping after more, and if you’re not treating people with compassion and understanding-pay attention, because now is the time to make a change. Repentance means exactly this: get ready. Give up what you don’t need, stop grasping, and revisit your relationships. Now is the time.
When I think about it, this is probably why we hear more about calves with crosses and visions of Mary on irons, and less about guys like John the Baptist. John brings a mandate for change, and not only is change difficult, but change is often unpopular. We don’t like change.
Whether we like it, or not. Whether we’re ready, or not. In just a couple of weeks a big change is coming. In a couple of weeks, the image in the toast, the cloud in the wilderness, the burning bush, and all those other images will pale in their significance and their impact-when all of a sudden God shows up as clear as day and looks back at us through the eyes of a baby boy.
Jesus and Moses the calf have a lot in common. They were both born in a stable. They were both cute. They both could make us stop and look and say “Awww.” But the most important thing they have in common is that they both bore the mark of the cross. Moses has it gently placed in the fur on his forehead. Jesus carried it on his shoulders.
God shows up in all kinds of places-some are clearer than others. The clearest place, though, is a place that doesn’t always get the most publicity, but it is the most important. The cross stands as a sign of how far God is willing to go for you. The cross is the reminder that there is nothing God won’t give up for you. The cross is the place where God grasps not for life or power, but instead resigns himself to give it all up and die. The cross is the place where God makes sure that you and I will have a relationship with Him forever. It’s like Paul says when he writes: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 8:38-39) Paul was paying attention. Are we?
If we haven’t been, it’s ok. It’s ok, because there’s still plenty of time. Plenty of time to drop everything and head for the wilderness for awhile. Plenty of time to listen to John’s advice and get ready for Jesus’ arrival. Plenty of time to repent and change.
God may show up in all of those great stories we hear throughout the year-Jesus burned into a piece of toast, Mary on the grilled cheese, and Moses the cross-marked calf. God definitely shows up through John and his message this week to repent and get ready. God always shows up in the suffering world-walking with the crosses we carry and carrying us to new life beyond them. Have you heard this story? Have you seen his cross? Are you paying attention?