"A WITNESS TO THE LIGHT"
Third Sunday in Advent
December 17, 2017
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but came to bear witness about the Light.
John 1:6-8 (ESV)
"I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John" (Luke 7:28). With these words our Savior gave recognition to the greatness of His forerunner and herald, known to us as John the Baptist. But the greatness of John certainly did not lie in his eloquence or in his appearance. (After all, what could be seen as great in a man who is dressed in animal skins ranting and raving in the desert like a lunatic?) No, John's real greatness is to be found in his faithfulness to the purpose for which he was sent, and that purpose was to be a herald of the coming of the Messiah, the Savior--Jesus Christ. John's purpose was to get people's attention by his rude appearance and his harsh preaching of the Law and then to divert that attention away from himself and toward the One whose way he came to prepare--the One of whom he said: "After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie" (Mark 1:7).
Not only was John different than the other preachers of his day in his appearance, but also in his humility. While the religious leaders of the Jews jockeyed for positions of power and honor, John remained devoted to the self-sacrificing purpose for which he was sent, no matter what the personal cost to him--and that cost eventually meant giving up his life. As we seek to get to know John a little better this morning (and especially to heed his call to repentance and faith), let's keep two basic questions in mind: (1) What do we see in John? and (2) What do we hear him saying?
What do we see in John the Baptist? Above all else, we see in John a willing and enthusiastic herald of the coming Messiah. Where do we find John? --in the wilderness, the desert. And what do we see when we look at him? --a man whose wardrobe consisted of a camel's hair coat and a leather belt, and whose diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. And living under the sparsest conditions imaginable, no less. No, John was not exactly the kind of guy that a young woman would want to bring home to meet Mom and Dad! But John's sparse accommodations and provisions were no coincidence. He made sure that he had none of the pleasures of life--nothing more than what was absolutely essential. And why was that? --because he needed to be completely unencumbered by luxuries, because luxuries have a way of distracting even the most faithful of prophets from the task that lies before them. (The scandals of certain televangelists that we witnessed a number years ago ought to have shown us that, if nothing else.) By denying himself so much, the Baptist in the wilderness was able to place himself totally and completely at God's disposal and to focus on the purpose for which God sent him.
In John the Baptist we see a prophet who is humble enough to remain true to his mission. It is obvious from the incident recorded in today's Gospel that there were people who thought that John was something much more than what he really was. He must have been sorely tempted to just let them go on thinking that. That's been an ongoing problem throughout the history of Christendom. Whenever a popular preacher becomes more important than the message that he is supposed to be proclaiming, his status as a preacher becomes null and void, since he has been called to preach not himself but his Savior. Such a person may indeed be an effective and influential leader (those types usually are), but he's worthless as a preacher, because he has stopped preaching the message that he was sent to preach. John didn't have that problem. He didn't allow the flattery of his hearers to get to him, nor did he allow their misconceptions about him to stand uncorrected. He set the record straight immediately, downplaying himself and exalting the Christ whose way he was sent to prepare.
Enough about John himself. Now let's turn to his message. What do we hear John the Baptist saying as he cries out in the wilderness? The essence of John's message was Christ Himself. But John proclaimed the real Christ, who was not necessarily the christ that his hearers expected or wanted to hear about. That's another common human problem, you know--people trying to create their own god in their own image, rather than humbly and faithfully acknowledging the true God as He has revealed Himself in His Word and trying to conform to His image. John's honesty about the Christ rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. They were proud Jews who didn't want to hear any of this nonsense about a "Suffering Servant" who would free them from their slavery to sin. They were looking for a "super-Israelite"--One who would raise an army strong enough to expel the oppressive Romans and restore the sovereignty and pride of God's chosen nation. It is no wonder, then, that even though many came and heard John's message, relatively few believed and took to heart what he had to say.
They were unreceptive to the Christ who John proclaimed because they were unprepared. You can't throw a seed (no matter how good that seed might be) on hard, dry ground and expect that seed to grow. The ground has to be made ready first. In the same way, there is a certain amount of preparation that needs to be done before sinners will be receptive to the salvation that God offers to all of us in His Son Jesus Christ. We first of all need to realize that we are sinners--that we are in need of forgiveness--that we need to be saved. Unless we recognize our need, we will never be the least bit interested in having that need met. Also, after we are confronted with our sin and guilt, we need to be brought out of our despair--made to realize that in spite of our sin God loves us and forgives us for the sake of His Son. These attitudes of the heart are what was spoken of in last Sunday's Old Testament Reading: the "valley" that needs to be "lifted up" and the "mountain and hill" that needs to be "made low." All of this is the "uneven ground" that Isaiah says must "become level" (Isaiah 40:4).
So what are we to make of this John the Baptist--this herald of the Lord's coming? If we're really listening to his voice--really paying attention to what he's saying--he's going to make us a little uncomfortable, both in his appearance and in his message, because in both he convicts us. He convicts us in his appearance because he who tells us to get all the garbage in our lives out of Jesus' way certainly got all the garbage out of his life, leaving for himself only the starkest necessities. He convicts us in his message because his words about preparing for Christ all too clearly point out to us our failure to do that. But it's alright that he disturbs us, because that's his purpose. As we listen to John with open ears and open hearts, the Holy Spirit, working in and through the Word, will prepare us so we might spend these Advent days (and indeed our entire lives) preparing to welcome the Coming One who, having redeemed us with His own blood, will come again to bring to completion everything that He has promised.
Amen.
May the One who once came as an Infant in Bethlehem prepare you for His coming again in glory by His Means of Grace, through which He comes to you even now. May He equip you to be His witnesses so that you, like the Baptist in the wilderness, may prepare the way of the Lord. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.