John Presents Jesus

John 1:19-28

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

St. John 1:22-23  Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”  He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Happy John The Baptist Day!   Every year on this Sunday before Christmas we hear the testimony of John the Baptist; and rightly so.  John was the one sent to prepare the way for the Christ.  The testimony of John recorded in today’s Gospel is very simple and very straightforward.  He confessed plainly what he is not, and he did not deny what he is.   And just as it was in the days of John, so it is also today.  God demands that everyone must pay attention to the testimony of the baptizer, if for no other reason than that John presents Jesus.

Remember who John was… He was the son of that elderly and godly couple Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were probably dead by the time John was thirty years old and began to attract the attention of all Jerusalem.  He lived out in the wilderness alone.  He wore camel’s skin for clothing.  He ate wild locusts and honey for food.  And in his whole life he probably never cut his hair or shaved his beard, much like Samson in the Old Testament.  He would have appeared strange to the people of Jerusalem.

But the strangest thing about John was not his appearance.  No, the strangest thing about John was his preaching and his baptizing.  John was preaching a powerful message of repentance, and he drew large crowds out into the wilderness on the banks of the Jordan river.  Now, baptizing people for the forgiveness of sins was a new thing; it was not commanded in any of the Old Testament Scriptures.  Something new was happening.  So, the religious leaders felt they needed to investigate: “Who are you?” they asked.

The other John, John the Evangelist, in his Gospel, made a big deal about John the Baptist’s testimony to the Jews that day. “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”  Remember, there hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for about 400 years – since the days of the prophet Malachi.  And Malachi had prophesied that Yahweh Himself would come to Israel, referring to Christ the Savior.  In fact, if there were any around who remembered, about 29 years earlier, there had been a stir in and around Jerusalem when some wise men came from the East looking for the Christ who had been born.  But seemingly no one had heard about Him since.  Could this John be the Christ?  But John confessed the truth: “I am not the Christ.”

“What then? Are you Elijah?”  You remember Elijah, that powerful Old Testament prophet who performed many miracles and who preached against the wicked rulers of Israel.  John probably did sound a lot like Elijah.  And remember, Malachi had prophesied in the very last words of the Old Testament, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Yahweh.  And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Mal 4:5-6).

But John confessed that he was not Elijah.  Why does he say that, when the angel Gabriel had told John’s father that John would come “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk 1:17), and Jesus Himself would later confirm that John was the Elijah who was to come?  Well, he said that because the Jews weren’t expecting an Elijah, they were expecting THE Elijah, the same one who had been taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, accompanied by a fiery chariot.  John wasn’t Elijah.

“Are you the Prophet?”, they asked then.  Those who questioned John may have been referring to the Prophet that Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15 said would come back: “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.”  But the Jews rightly understood that the prophet whom Moses talked about was the Christ, and they had already learned from John that he was not the Christ.

Alrighty, then; they may have just been asking, are you a prophet?  And John said, no.  But how could he say no, when he was clearly sent by God to preach God’s word?  He could say no because the office of the Old Testament prophets was to prophesy about future events.  The prophets all had one basic job to do: to declare to the people of Israel that, “Someday the Christ will come!”  And that was neither John’s office nor his testimony.

So, what was John’s testimony?  The Jews asked him, Who are you, then?  And he did not deny who he was: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”  Well, that changes everything.  John is not just one prophet among many.  John has a very specific and special role to play in God’s plan of salvation.  He is the voice that announces the arrival of the Savior.  John was the one given by God to present Jesus to the world.  And, by the way, this is another passage that proclaims the divinity of Christ.  John was specifically preparing the way for the Christ.  And he says, make straight the way of the LORD – that’s the Lord God; that’s Yahweh; that’s the Savior.
The deal was for a non-guaranteed sildenafil online year with a salary of $1.3 million. The disease may well be caused by several factors, such as: A condition that causes chronic low oxygen levels in the bloodDiseases such as scleroderma and rheumatoid arthritis that can damage the lungsBirth defects related to heartCertain diet medicationsCongestive heart failureHistory viagra no prescription overnight of a blood clot in the lungsHIV InjectionLung or heart valve diseaseObstructive sleep apneaBlockage in the veins of your lungs, known as pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD)If the cause of the problem. The cheap levitra brand has imposed a label of security and standard use of the pill about which almost all men go through at some stage of their lives. This drug ordine cialis on line belongs to a class of medicines called inhibitors.
But how is the way of the Lord made straight?  That is what John has been preaching all along.  His message to everyone was Repent!  To tax collectors and harlots, to kings and rulers, to Pharisees and religious leaders, to all of the people of Jerusalem, and to everyone within the sound of his voice, John cried out, “Repent!  You are not good enough to enter God’s kingdom – any of you!  You have not kept God’s commandments well enough to be saved by your obedience – any of you!  You are all corrupt, you are all sinners, you all deserve God’s wrath on the day of wrath.

“And yet, you are all, every one of you, being invited by God to have your sins washed away and forgiven for free.  You are all being given a Savior from sin, because God desires that you all to enter His kingdom.  God is providing peace and rest and hope for all of you – for everyone within the sound of my voice.  But you have to listen!  You cannot deny your sinfulness nor can you go on willfully living in your sins.  You cannot trust in yourself.  You cannot trust in anyone but the Lord Christ.”  That is the testimony of John.

But that is not what the Pharisees and those who were sent by them wanted to hear. They didn’t believe John’s testimony.  They didn’t believe that they were included among the sinners of the world who needed to be saved by the Christ.  And so they didn’t recognize John the Baptist as anyone they needed to pay attention to.  “They asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

So he told them, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”  In other words, “I am carrying out my God-given duty, but it’s not about me.  It’s about the One who is coming after me – not coming long after me, not coming someday, but He “stands among you.”  The Christ is here.  Now.  The Savior is here, and I am pointing you to Him, whether or not you believe me.  God has made me, John, a voice to tell you where to find Him, now that He has come, and how to benefit from His coming, by repentance and faith in Him.”

That was the testimony of John.  And that is the testimony of every New Testament preacher.  You are all sinners.  And you are all commanded to repent of your sins, and you are all invited to enter the kingdom of God for free, by faith in the Christ who has come.  Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Repent and believe in Him.  Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins.

But where do you find Him?  Where do you find Christ the Savior, Christ the Lord, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?  No longer will you find Him in a manger, or on the banks of the Jordan River.  No longer will you find Him out in the desert.  And you certainly won’t find Him in that sinful, disgusting sewage container called your heart.

No, dear fellow redeemed, you will find Him, together with the peace and hope and forgiveness that He brings, in Holy Baptism where He covers you with His own righteousness.  You will find Him in the Sacrament of His true body and blood that He instituted for Christians to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins.  You will find Him in the glorious words of Holy Absolution where the sinner is set free.  Here in this Gospel and in these ways Christ comes to save sinners from their sins and to raise up for Himself a holy Christian Church – holy, because its members have had their sins forgiven by God, and holy also because its members are being renewed daily by the Holy Spirit to lead holy lives in this very unholy world.  //

Most people back then didn’t heed the testimony of John the Baptist, but some did, including some of the worst sinners in Israel.  And they rejoiced at the coming of Christ, because they found forgiveness with Him.  They found God to be a good and merciful Father who gave His Son into death for their sins.

Most people today don’t heed the testimony of John the Baptist, either.  Most don’t believe in Jesus as the Christ; most don’t believe that God came to earth on that first Christmas, or that God is coming to earth again on the Last Day, or that God still comes to earth through the Gospel and will be here in person among us on Christmas Day, giving His very body and blood in the Mass that is Christ-mass.

But some believe.  You believe.  And for you who believe, this is your hope.  This is your comfort.  John presents Jesus to you.  And because he does, Jesus now and always comes to you in His Word and Sacramental gifts.  And this is now also your time to rejoice until He comes to take us Home.

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