"MORE THAN A PROPHET" Third Sunday in Advent December 15, 2019 Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church Glenshaw, Pennsylvania TEXT: Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet." Matthew 11:7-9 (ESV) On the surface a desert may not seem to be all that important, but under the right circumstances it can become extremely important. Have you ever noticed how many significant events in the Bible take place in the desert? In the Old Testament Ishmael, Abraham's child according to the flesh, was separated from his half-brother Isaac, Abraham's child according to promise, resulting in the emergence of two rival racial groups--the Arabs and the Jews. Where did that separation take place? --in the desert. God's chosen people wandered for forty years after they left their slavery in Egypt and before they entered Canaan--the promised land. Where did they do all this wandering? --in the desert. In the New Testament the desert was the background against which John preached and baptized in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. It was also in the desert where Jesus was tempted by the devil at the beginning of His public ministry. And after Saint Paul was converted to Christianity he spent some time preparing for his ministry by study and meditation. Where did he spend that time? You guessed it--in the desert (in Arabia). As I have already mentioned, the desert was the scene of the ministry of John the Baptist. This is something that we are particularly mindful of during this season of Advent. What is it about the desert that makes it so important? And what it is about the desert that made the people flock there when John was preaching and baptizing? These are the questions that Jesus asks in the passage before us. The people to whom He was speaking were very curious about John. They wondered who John was and what his mission might be. Jesus prods them with all of these questions not because He doesn't know the answers, but in order to force them to come to grips with their own analysis of John's ministry. This is something that we need to do as well--not only in regard to John, but also (and especially) in reference to Jesus. And so this morning we examine what John's hearers were looking for when they went out into the desert and what they found once they got there. The first possible reason that Jesus proposes for the people going out into the desert was that they might have gone looking for "a reed shaken by the wind." He is not describing some intricate attraction; He is merely referring to the physical appearance of the desert. The question is almost sarcastic, because there's really nothing all that remarkable in the desert to see--at least not anything that is a part of that natural environment. "A reed shaken by the wind" is about as beautiful as it gets in the desert. The point that Jesus is making here in a rather humorous way is that all those people who trudged out into the desert during John's ministry were not attracted there by the physical beauty of the place, since there was no beauty to be found there. Jesus goes on to ask the people if they went out to the desert to find "a man dressed in soft clothing." The irony here is even more striking and more humorous. Why in the world would anyone go out to the desert looking for a person "dressed in soft clothing"? That would be like going to a construction site or a swimming pool looking for someone in a three-piece suit. Even if by some chance you were to find a person in those places dressed in that fashion, you certainly would not go there looking for such a person. Jesus Himself points out the foolishness of such a thing when He immediate answers the question He had just asked: "Behold," He said, "those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." Obviously the well-dressed man is not what they went looking for. So we are left with the same question: What was it that these people were looking for when they went out to John in the desert? Jesus proposes another possible answer. Maybe they went out into the desert to see (and hear) a prophet. Yes, that's what it was. Or was it? In a certain respect the Jewish traditionalists of the first century were not really all that different than some Christian traditionalists of the twenty-first century. They went looking for a prophet, but what they were looking for in a prophet was something else. What they wanted was probably what a lot of church-shoppers today are looking for. They want a speaker who holds their interest and is relevant, but certainly not one who will cause a stir by saying things that they don't want to hear. They're looking for someone who presents a good image and is held in high regard by his peers as well as by the general public. In short, they are looking for a preacher who makes them feel good. That's what the people of John's time were looking for in the desert when they went out there to see and hear John. Imagine their shock and disappointment with what they found out in that desert. John was exactly what they thought they were looking for, but he proved to be more than they could handle. John spoke the truth boldly and bluntly, and he was consistent about it. He didn't tailor the message to various different audiences. If the sandal fit, they would just have to wear it, no matter who they were. John was more than a prophet--or at least he was more than what they thought a prophet ought to be. He prepared his hearers for the coming of the Savior by letting people know in no uncertain terms that they were sinners who needed to be saved. His boldness cost him, as boldness in the name of Christ inevitably does. Eventually John was beheaded when the sin that he dared to expose and condemn happened to be that of the king. Yes, he was more than a prophet. He was a faithful prophet and a fearless prophet. Now let's turn the question on ourselves. What it is that you are looking for--at church, in the Scriptures, in your prayer life, in your Savior? If you're looking for a beautiful environment, this might not be the place--there are places far more beautiful than this. If you're looking for a refined speaker who projects a handsome image, I know you're in the wrong place--better try one of those guys on television. But if you're looking for the unadorned Word of God, this church, this Bible, this Savior is the right one for you. But be warned--don't think that being a disciple of Christ is some kind of sanitized, ivory-tower existence. It's not. He calls you to follow Him, and that means being willing to get your hands dirty and hear some things that you'd just as soon not hear, for what He calls you to do is to take up your cross and follow Him. It is Christ Himself who has led the way in this, not only by setting an example but by empowering you through His Spirit to follow it, repenting when you fail and receiving His strength to go on, confident that He accepts you and your efforts for the sake of His suffering and death. 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. ~