Sermon: Nativity of St. John the Baptist - 2020

24 June 2020

Text: Luke 1:57-80 (Isa 40:1-5, Acts 13:13-26)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. John the Baptist is the last prophet of the Old Testament, though he appears in the New Testament.  John’s prophetic message was also prophesied by the prophets of the Old Testament.  

John is the product of a miraculous birth, like the promised Isaac being born to the elderly Abraham and Sarah.  John was born to the formerly barren Elizabeth, following an announcement to Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah, a priest of the temple.  He was told that his wife would bear a miraculous son by the archangel Gabriel.  Zechariah’s doubted, and his doubt was punished by him suddenly being struck dumb, unable to speak.

Elizabeth conceived John six months before her cousin Mary miraculously conceived John’s cousin Jesus.  Mary and Elizabeth would meet while both were pregnant.  And the world itself was pregnant with the expectation of the events to come.

Of course, we focus on the miraculous birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well we should.  His birth changed the course of all history.  Jesus is God in the flesh, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  But it was His cousin John who spoke these words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, confessing who Jesus is.  And these words are sung in our liturgy and in the services of Christians around the world for two thousand years.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is God, to be worshiped and adored, our Savior born in the flesh, whose death redeems us, whose resurrection confirms His divinity and assures us of our own resurrections by being baptized into Christ, according to Christ’s institution.

But in a real sense, John is there to be an example for us as to how we are to live the Christian life.  John did not seek his own glory, but said that Jesus must increase, even as John must decrease.  John’s disciples became Jesus’ disciples. 

John is an example to preachers, for He preached the Word of God, in season and out of season, calling sinners to repent – the great and the small, even kings and queens, and pointing them to His divine cousin Jesus to receive forgiveness, life, and salvation.  John showed no favoritism.  John accepted no worldly praise.  John was willing to take ridicule from both the religious establishment and the government.  It made no difference to John, for he was called to “Comfort, comfort” God’s people, and “speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”  But he was also called to lift up every valley, and make low every mountain.  John called sinners to repent, and John directed the repentant to Jesus.  Those who would not repent heard condemnation.  Those who would repent heard comfort.

That is the task of the preacher.

But John is also a model for the laity as well.  For he is a confessor of Jesus.  He is a follower of Jesus.  He places himself in the service of Jesus.  He refuses to submit to wicked shepherds, but he submits to the Good Shepherd.

St. John’s faithful preaching and confessing of Jesus will cost him his life.  All faithful pastors enrage those who hear the law from his lips, and all faithful Christians endure the hatred of those who hate Jesus.  St. John was willing to put himself in harm’s way for the sake of the truth, for the sake of Jesus.  John was called to be a martyr, that is, a witness – a witness to our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Word of God, and to the proclamation and confession of the Word – even as all Christians are.

John is known both as the Forerunner and the Baptist.  He was to point to Jesus as the Lamb, and He was the instrument by which the Father and the Holy Spirit spoke to the world of the Son’s incarnation and ministry, of who He is, namely the Lamb, the one all-availing sacrifice to save those whose who accept the gift in faith, and to destroy the malignant devil and his hordes by the ultimate act of love.  John baptized Jesus to fulfill the prophets, and John faithfully carried out that calling.

The priest Zechariah, John’s father, upon regaining his ability to speak following the naming of his son in accordance with the archangel Gabriel’s instructions, spoke the Word of God.  Being “filled with the Holy Spirit,” the priest fulfilled his calling as preacher.  He blesses the Lord God of Israel, “for He has visited and redeemed His people.”  Zechariah preaches about Jesus, who was already living in the womb of the virgin Mary, as a “horn of salvation for us,” the infant King from the royal house of David.  

The mission of Jesus is indeed comfort for His people.  For though they were punished for their sins by being placed under the rule of foreigners, Zechariah points God’s people to the words of the prophets, that in Christ, “we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”  Think about this, dear friends, when you feel the crippling and stifling hand of hatred squeezing down upon your chest.  For we are indeed living in such times, where hatred and violence seem to reign unchecked, where churches are now being called upon to smash their images and tear down their statues of our Lord Jesus Christ, to change their preaching to offer comfort to sinners who need to hear the call to repent instead.  But in Christ, we are indeed delivered from the “hand of all who hate us,” whether in this life or the next.  We are called to confess Jesus, whether loved or hated by men.

St. Zechariah reminds us of God’s “mercy promised to our fathers” and God’s remembrance of his “holy covenant.” 

Zechariah addresses his infant son, whose calling would be that of the first preacher of Jesus the Christ, saying “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,” and will “go before the Lord to prepare His ways,” to “give knowledge of salvation… in the forgiveness of their sins.”

And John’s calling, for which he will dedicate his short life according to God’s will, is ultimately for the sake of guiding “our feet into the way of peace.”

So where do we find this peace, dear friends, even in the midst of hatred, riots, statue-toppling, fearmongering, and destruction – and even open season on Christian people?  We find our peace in the One preached and confessed by John.  We find our peace in being disciples of Jesus.  We find our peace in the Word of the prophets and of the preachers: in the proclamation of the “Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world.”

The miraculous birth of John leads us directly to the miraculous birth of Jesus.  And in a very real sense, this six-month countdown to Christmas is a reminder that in Christ, every day is a kind of Christmas – a celebration of the Incarnate Word in our midst, proclaimed by preachers and distributed by the sacramental and priestly ministry of shepherds who share the Lamb of God with the flock of God, given to you to eat and to drink.

For indeed, “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  And “to us has been sent the message of this salvation.” 

Let us give thanks for St. John and his proclamation, and let us worship the One to whom John’s preaching directs us: to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, our comfort, and our salvation, even Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.