Text: John 1:19-28 (Deut 18:15-19,
Phil 4:4-7)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
John the Baptist is a preacher of the Gospel because he is a preacher of Jesus. When he as causing a stir while calling multitudes of people to repent and be baptized, “the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
This is a funny question. For what they are really asking is this: “Are you the Messiah?” John had a large following. A lot of people were wondering the same thing. He could have taken the glory for himself, but instead, “he confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’”
They also asked him if he were Elijah come back to earth. “No.” How about the Prophet spoken of by Moses in Deuteronomy? “No.” And so they ask him again, “Who are you?” And here is where John reveals both his mission and who he is according to the Old Testament: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
At this point, the Pharisees who are conducting this interrogation should have figured out that John is the forerunner to the Christ. But they are still fixated on John. “Why are you baptizing?” they ask him.
And here, John confesses not only who he isn’t, but also who Jesus is: “I baptize with water,” he says, “but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
They are perplexed by John, but there’s more where that came from. As much grief as John is giving them, they haven’t seen anything yet. The one who is coming after John, the one about whom John cries out: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” John’s cousin Jesus, whom John will baptize and about whom he will hear the voice of the Father and see a miracle of the Holy Spirit – this Jesus will confound the Pharisees, the priests, the Levites, the Sadducees, the scribes, and the lawyers. He will berate them, mock them, call them to repent, challenge them, and perform miracles on the Sabbath Day right in front of them, because He knows that this is their hobby horse. They are more concerned about rules – rules that they made up in the first place – than they are about loving God and serving their neighbors.
They’re already terrified of John, and they have no idea what’s coming.
While the world ponders chestnuts roasting on an open fire, a reindeer with a red nose, and “happy holidays,” the church winds down Advent and prepares for Christmas by meditating on John the Baptist’s message to the ones who will ultimately conspire to crucify the Christ child thirty years after the first Christmas.
John’s message is that Jesus is coming. And for the Pharisees and those who are obsessed with the law, this is a terrifying prospect. For Jesus will knock them off of their self-made pedestals, but will forgive tax collectors and prostitutes. In the words of our Lord’s mother – which we sing to this day – “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the lowly.”
Jesus comes to put the proud in their place, but to raise those who have been beaten down: by the devil, by the world, and by our own sinful nature. To the Pharisees, Jesus is a menace and a challenge to their power. But to us “poor, miserable sinners,” Jesus is our Savior. They see a dangerous man who must be put to death for His supposed sins; we see a righteous man who is put to death for our sins.
As we approach the remembrance of our Lord’s birth, we allow John, the prophets, the apostles, the entirety of Scripture, and preachers of every age to point us to Jesus, to the cross, and to the manger. We meditate on what it means that God has come to earth in the form of a baby, in the form of a man who was baptized in the Jordan, in the form of a preacher who puts the Pharisees in their place, a man who is convicted of terrorism and publicly tortured and executed – and a man who walks out of His own tomb to the consternation of not only the Jews, but also the Romans – and at first, even the disciples themselves.
And this is why Christmas brings Christians such joy, dear friends. It goes far beyond family get-togethers and parties and children opening gifts. Our joy transcends trees and decorations and festive lights. The real joy of Christmas is in the Christ, the Messiah, the Prophet spoken of by Moses, the one Elijah and Moses will speak with on top of the Mountain of Transfiguration, the one John baptized with water, the one who comes to baptize us not only with water but into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We Christians cannot contain our joy because God has come to earth to save us, and He comes to us as one of us: as a baby, as a man who suffers, but also as a mighty king, as God in the flesh, as the one who deals the death-blow to Satan and who rises from death to destroy death.
All of this joy is pent up in us as we count down the days until our Lord’s birth – even as we bubble over in the joy that we know He is coming again to save us, to raise the dead, and to re-create the world anew. Jesus will come again to liberate us from today’s Pharisees: unbelievers, scoffers, those who lord over us, those who are hell-bent to destroy civilization and turn the world upside-down, to call evil good and good evil, and to serve the cause of Satan.
In spite of it all, we look to the manger and we rejoice. We rejoice with the angels and the shepherds, with Mary and Joseph, with the animals and all of creation – and eventually with the wise men who will come and bring the good news back to the Gentiles. We rejoice with the Lord’s followers who rejoiced at His resurrection. We rejoice because He is coming again. We rejoice with St. Paul: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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