Advent
4
Jn
1:19-28
12/24/23
Last Sunday we talked about how John
the Baptists arrived on the scene and became the object of attention. Matthew tells us, “Then Jerusalem
and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and
they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” John showed up and became a kind of religious
celebrity. He made such an impression that the Jewish historian Josephus,
writing almost sixty years later, mentions John the Baptist.
John’s ministry excited people. And for the religious leaders, that was cause
for concern. A prophetic figure was a
powerful force. The people were looking
for God to act and rescue them from Roman rule, just as he had freed them from
slavery in Egypt. Someone like John
could stir up those desires and cause them flash into a rebellion. We know the Romans certainly had these
concerns. On several occasions they
acted by attacking a prophetic figure and the group that had gathered around
him.
We learn in our text that priests and
Levites had been sent to learn more about John.
John immediately answered what he knew was their first question. He confessed, “I am not the Christ.” John announced that he was not One sent by
God who would fulfill all his promises to Israel.
Then the questioners began to run
through their list of end-time figures who were expected by the Jews. They asked, “Are you Elijah?” God had
promised through the prophet Malachi, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” However,
John responded, “I am not.” He was not
Elijah himself returned to Israel.
Then they asked, “Are you the
Prophet?” We hear Moses say in our Old
Testament lesson, “The
LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you.” This had
caused various expectations about a prophet whom God would send. But John
answered that, no, he was not.
Frustrated, the questioners finally
asked, “Who are you? We
need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” They had run out of guesses about John’s
identity and so they asked him directly about how John described himself.
John replied, “I am the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” We heard these words last
week in our Old Testament lesson. Isaiah
chapter 40 says, “A voice
cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every
mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the
rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”
Isaiah announced that God was coming to his people. He was coming to rescue them from exile and
every obstacle needed to be removed.
God’s glory would be revealed.
Now John declared that he was the one who prepared the way for the
Lord. He was the one prophesied by
Isaiah because the Lord was going to come.
His reign was about to arrive in a new and greater way.
John was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. And Isaiah’s words continue to address us
today. They tell us to make straight the way of the Lord. They call upon us to
remove every obstacle that stands in God’s way.
They urge us to receive God’s reign by repenting of all those things
that we place before God. They lead us to consider those things in our life
that receive more time, attention, effort, and money than God. God is to be God
in our life, and we must confess all those things that compete with him. God
must come first.
We know John as “John the Baptist.” I noted last week that John bore this title
because his baptizing ministry was so unusual.
Jews administered various ritual washings to themselves. However, John was completely different
because he baptized other people – he administered the washing to
others.
This unique action required an explanation. So the
questioners asked him: “Then
why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the
Prophet?” John answered them, “I
baptize with water, 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.” John announced that his baptizing prepared
the way for One who came after him. This
One was so powerful that John wasn’t even worthy to untie his sandal.
In a world
filled with self-promoters, John stands out.
He was not about himself. Instead, his mission and work was dedicated to
the One who came after him – the One for whom he prepared the way. John tells
us in our text that this is the witness or testimony that John the Baptist gave. He begins his Gospel by saying, “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 came to bear witness about Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John tells us that John’s work
of bearing witness did not end after he had baptized Jesus. He continued to point to the One who was
greater than he.
Immediately after our text we read, “The next day he saw
Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After
me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’”
John declared that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world. Sin is the
fundamental problem that afflicts each person.
Jesus said, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” To be enslaved to sin is to have the devil as
your Lord. It is to be living in death. It
leads to physical death for each person and results in the eternal death of receiving
God’s wrath and judgment.
During Advent we prepare to celebrate
the birth of Jesus Christ. We will
celebrate the fact that God sent his Son into the world. The Gospel of John tells us that the Son –
the Word – was God and made the world.
Yet the Word became flesh and dwelt with us.
The Son of God entered into the
world. John says in his first epistle, “You
know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no
sin.” Though sinless, Jesus offered
himself as the sacrifice for us on the cross. The cross was the purpose for
which he entered into the world. Jesus
said during Holy Week, “Now is
my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this
hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.’” Then he added, “Now is the
judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people
to myself.”
Jesus was lifted up on the
cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus gave himself into death on the cross. But death could not hold him. Our Lord announced, “For this reason the
Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up
again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I
have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Our Lord took up his life
again as he rose from the dead on Easter.
Because of Jesus’ resurrection we
know that we already have eternal life now.
We have life with our Lord that will never end. And we also know that Christ will give life
to our bodies on the Last Day. Jesus
said, “I am the resurrection and the
life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and
believes in me shall never die.”
Jesus offered himself on the cross as the lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world. He took
up his life again as he rose from the dead.
Now we have been born again of water and the Spirit. He has given us new life.
And Christ tells us how we are to live in this life. He said, “A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also
are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Christ’s sacrificial love for us now becomes the model and
pattern for how we live. We love others
by putting their needs ahead of our own.
John said in his first epistle, “By this we know love, that he laid
down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” Christ calls you to live in ways that
support, care for, and help others. He
has placed others in your life so you can share his love with them by what you
do and say.
In our Gospel lesson this morning, John the Baptist gives
his testimony about Jesus. He points
away from himself and towards the One who comes after him – the One who is more
powerful than he. John points to the One
who came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ offered himself on the cross for
our sins, and then rose from the dead to give us life. Now he sends us forth to share that love with
others.
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