Words.
Words are power.
They are the greatest power.
Words can sink ships, crack the atom, light an inferno, crush the life out of entire nations. They are the sticks and stones that break all our bones.
Words are the greatest weapon of mass destruction.
Words.
Words are power.
They are the greatest power.
Words bless the soul, anoint the suffering, absolve sin, create entire nations. Words build things: space stations, stained glass, marriages, friendships, relationships, all the ways to say I love you.
Words are the greatest creative force.
Words.
They are there for all to use.
No license needed. No instruction manual required.
Guns at least have a safety, they can run out of bullets, but there is no safety switch for words, we have a never ending supply.
We can create, or we can destroy. We each have the astonishing unlimited resources to do either one.
This is the awesome gift and liability of being human, of bearing the image of God.
On my 16th birthday I was given a 12 gauge Remington shot gun. On my 17th birthday I was given a Bible, the New King James Version, the red letter edition.
Years later I realized that the Bible was the much more dangerous gift.
The Word.
The Word speaks, the word goes forth and creates light, day, night, the heavens, earth, life, humanity.
The Word of God.
The Word that speaks the universe into motion.
That Word came to earth and landed not on the emperor Tiberius, not on the Governor Pontius Pilate, not on any of the rulers, not Herod, not Philip, not Lysanias, not on any of the religious leaders or high priests, not Annas, not Caiaphas.
The Word came to earth and landed neither in Rome nor in the capitals of Judea or Galilee.
The Word of God came to John in the wilderness, no one special, no where special.
And he became a prophet.
Prophets carry the word and they speak it, the creative word, the word that recreates the world, that restores the world, the word the reorders the world to the original God intended pattern.
When the word makes a prophet then the world is re-spoken into existence.
That means prophets change things, they change how the world does things, by the power of the word of God revisiting a shattered creation.
And that is why prophets always get into trouble, they change things, they tell us we have to change, that we have to return to the pattern of the God given order of righteousness and justice and to give up on all the other ways we try to disorder and deface the goodness of the God intended ordering of all things.
Prophets say, “You got it wrong. It is time to get it right. Stop wasting all our time. Hurry up before time runs out and God reorganizes things and lets you fall out of the fabric of existence.” They usually aren’t much for deliberation or compromise. There isn’t time for that.
The message usually goes like this, “I’m telling you the boat is sinking. I’m not going to argue with you. Get on the life boat or not, it’s your decision. It’s up to you whether you live or die. I’m just the messenger and the message is that this boat that you have organized your life around, all your comfort and safety, all the profit and plans, all the walls you hide behind, all the weak victims you prey upon, it is ending soon. It’s time for a change of plans. Plan B. Hurry up.”
The message usually doesn’t go over to well.
John the Baptist was one of those people.
The voice in the wilderness crying out, get ready, make room, the messiah is on the way, the world is starting over. It’s time for plan B.
Words.
Words are power.
They are the greatest power.
Words can bless or they can curse.
They are there for all to use.
We can create, or we can destroy.
We each have the astonishing unlimited resources to do either one.
This is the awesome gift and liability of being human, of bearing the image of God.
The voice cries out.
Telling us it is time to speak the words that will recreate and restore.
Speak carefully and clearly.
Say, “I. Love. You.”
See how many ways you can say it.
Find those who are forgotten, left out, preyed upon, broken and help rebuild their world with the word that came to John in the wilderness.