Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Philippians 4:4-7; St John 1 :19-28
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
St John the Baptizer is the man for the season. He is the Advent prophet. He stands on the cusp of the New Testament with one foot in the Old. He is more than a prophet because unlike those who went before him, St John not only yearns and cries for the Messiah, he actually points to Him and declares, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All the early Church, Medieval and Reformation art depicting St John the Baptist have him off to the side, with Jesus at center, and the Forerunner pointing his elongated, bony finger at the Christ. He’s not the center of the frame, the center of attention. He’s in the periphery, off to the side, crying out in the wilderness, making ready the way of the Lord.
St John’s cry is one of repentance. This is the cry of penitential season of Advent, a “little Lent,” and the perpetual cry of the Church at all times. Repent. Christ is coming and you’re not prepared.
The baptismal font at Kramer Chapel on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary is a massive, imposing structure. It almost blocks the entry from the narthex into the nave. Weighing in at 3,000 pounds of solid limestone, the font stands between you and the Altar of Christ. It forces you to move. To the right or the left as you enter the chapel. You can’t go straight. It won’t budge. You have to move around it.
The preaching of St John the Baptist is like that. A stalwart ensign, an immovable prophet, St John calls Israel back to the wilderness of their nativity, back to the desert of their sojourn. He calls Israel out to the Jordan, to the place where Joshua led them across on dry ground, into the Promised Land. Remember that it was the Ark that separated the waters of the Jordan River, just like God separated the waters of the Red Sea. Forty years pervious they were baptized into Moses and the cloud through the Red Sea. Now a new generation is baptized into Yeshua through the Ark in the Jordan, in order to enter the land bestowed upon them by God.
The preaching of St John is the preaching of the Law. It calls you back to your baptism. It calls you to repentance. To grind down every mountain in your heart and fill up every valley with Christian virtue to make straight the path for the Lord. You cannot do this alone. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who works within you by His Word. As St Paul writes earlier to the Philippian Christians, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13).
It is God who works in you. This all Judea cam to the Jordan to be baptized by John. Why tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners lined up on the river bank; the work of God within them by His Word and Spirit to bring repentance and faith. They were preparing for the Advent of the our Lord.
But this is not why the priests and Levites come from Jerusalem. St John is sent by God, but they are sent from the Pharisees. And rather than heed his preaching and receive his baptism, they harden their hearts and question his authority. Who are you? He ωμολογησεν, he confessed, and did not deny, but ωμολογησεv, Ἑγω ουκ ειμι ο χριστος “I not am the Christ.” Not, “Εγω ειμι ουκ; I am not the Christ.” Rather, “Ἑγω ουκ ειμι; I not am the Christ.”
Εγω ειμι is the Divine Name. I AM. It is the Name given by our Lord God from the burning bush to Moses. It is YHWH. Jesus says this name several times in St John’s Gospel. I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light of the World, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Door of the Sheep, I am the Resurrection and the Life, before Abraham was I am. Εγω ειμι. Every time. I AM.
But John won’t say it. He wouldn’t be blaspheming the Second Commandment, but still he won’t say it. He not is the Christ.
“What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” (He doesn’t say it here either.) “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” All negative answers. Each time shorter. More curt. He’s blunt and he’s direct. He won’t talk about himself. He doesn’t even want to be bothered with silly questions about his identity. He only wants to talk about one thing. JESUS. He is there to draw all attention to Jesus.
He is Elijah who is to come, but not like they mean. He is the prophet of the Most High, but not like they mean. Others say these things about him, but he won’t say them about himself. Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” This is why St John is the Advent prophet: because he draws all attention to Jesus, to His coming. He’s singularly focused on Him, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the Messiah who is coming into the world, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Bridegroom and the Head. The great I AM. The Word made flesh. This is John’s concern. This consumes him.
What about you? Who are you? What do you say about yourself when the contingency from the world comes asking?
In A+D 177 there was a severe persecution of Christians in Lyon. First they were socially outcast, evicted from houses, from baths, and from the market. Then came the mob violence as these followers of Christ were made scapegoats: stonings, vandalizing of their homes, insults and epithets, and everything an infuriated crowd loves to do to those it hates. What caused this? A misunderstanding of who these Christians are and in what they believed and did. Myths and hearsay about cannibalism and incest, about the Eucharist and the kiss of peace.
Persecution ramped up to the government level as Christians were called to appear before a public forum. Among them were the Bishop, a newly baptized catechumen, a slave named Blandina, a 15 year old boy, and Deacon named Sanctus. It was Sanctus, who upon suffering the application of red-hot plates to his body confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am a Christian.” To every question, “I am a Christian.” Where do you meet? “I am a Christian.” How many of you are there? “I am a Christian.” The red-hot plates pressed against his skin. What is your name? “I am a Christian.” He was eventually martyred. I am a Christian his final testimony. The Greek word for testimony is μαρτυρια from which we derive our English word martyr. This is the μαρτυρια of John begins our text.
What about you? Who are you? What do you have to say about yourself? I shall tell you, dear Christians. For God Himself has borne testimony, He has not denied you, but has confessed, “You are mine.” He inscribed His Divine Name upon you, called you out to the wilderness of your Holy Baptism where He washed you in the Blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; your sin. This is your martyrdom. You share in the death of Christ Jesus and so shall share in His resurrection.
For He who spoke to Moses atop Mount Horeb, terrifying Israel with fire and thunder and thick darkness, has come down. He submitted Himself to John’s Baptism, to the sinner’s death, in order to fulfill all righteousness on your behalf. He sends His men who are to stand like St John, like an immovable 3,000 pound font, calling you to repentance, preparing your heart for the way of the Lord in season and out of season. Make straight the path. Advent disposes our souls to move us toward something or Someone who is coming. Behold He is here. The Lord is at hand.
But do not be anxious, dear Christians. For He whose sandal strap St John was unworthy to loose, Himself stoops low to unbind you from your sins and set you free. He comes to serve you. He comes in the showering grace and mercy of the heavens to bring you over the Jordan of your Baptism into His Promised Land. For He is the Christ, the Anointed, the Lamb of God.
You are not the Christ. But there is a Christ. He has come to bear away the sin of the world. He has finished His work in His death and resurrection. He comes to pardon you as you sang, that is confessed, in the first hymn, “See the Lamb so long expected, comes with pardon down from heav’n. Let us haste, with tears of sorrow, one and all, to be forgiv’n. So, when next He comes in glory and the world is wrapped in fear, He will shield us with His mercy and with words of love draw near.”
Come, dear ones, come up and meet your Lord in His Holy Supper. Here He bestows His peace and pardon. Here He guards your hearts and minds. He shall confess you before His Father in heaven and He shall come again to take you to Himself.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
St John the Baptizer is the man for the season. He is the Advent prophet. He stands on the cusp of the New Testament with one foot in the Old. He is more than a prophet because unlike those who went before him, St John not only yearns and cries for the Messiah, he actually points to Him and declares, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All the early Church, Medieval and Reformation art depicting St John the Baptist have him off to the side, with Jesus at center, and the Forerunner pointing his elongated, bony finger at the Christ. He’s not the center of the frame, the center of attention. He’s in the periphery, off to the side, crying out in the wilderness, making ready the way of the Lord.
St John’s cry is one of repentance. This is the cry of penitential season of Advent, a “little Lent,” and the perpetual cry of the Church at all times. Repent. Christ is coming and you’re not prepared.
The baptismal font at Kramer Chapel on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary is a massive, imposing structure. It almost blocks the entry from the narthex into the nave. Weighing in at 3,000 pounds of solid limestone, the font stands between you and the Altar of Christ. It forces you to move. To the right or the left as you enter the chapel. You can’t go straight. It won’t budge. You have to move around it.
The preaching of St John the Baptist is like that. A stalwart ensign, an immovable prophet, St John calls Israel back to the wilderness of their nativity, back to the desert of their sojourn. He calls Israel out to the Jordan, to the place where Joshua led them across on dry ground, into the Promised Land. Remember that it was the Ark that separated the waters of the Jordan River, just like God separated the waters of the Red Sea. Forty years pervious they were baptized into Moses and the cloud through the Red Sea. Now a new generation is baptized into Yeshua through the Ark in the Jordan, in order to enter the land bestowed upon them by God.
The preaching of St John is the preaching of the Law. It calls you back to your baptism. It calls you to repentance. To grind down every mountain in your heart and fill up every valley with Christian virtue to make straight the path for the Lord. You cannot do this alone. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who works within you by His Word. As St Paul writes earlier to the Philippian Christians, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13).
It is God who works in you. This all Judea cam to the Jordan to be baptized by John. Why tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners lined up on the river bank; the work of God within them by His Word and Spirit to bring repentance and faith. They were preparing for the Advent of the our Lord.
But this is not why the priests and Levites come from Jerusalem. St John is sent by God, but they are sent from the Pharisees. And rather than heed his preaching and receive his baptism, they harden their hearts and question his authority. Who are you? He ωμολογησεν, he confessed, and did not deny, but ωμολογησεv, Ἑγω ουκ ειμι ο χριστος “I not am the Christ.” Not, “Εγω ειμι ουκ; I am not the Christ.” Rather, “Ἑγω ουκ ειμι; I not am the Christ.”
Εγω ειμι is the Divine Name. I AM. It is the Name given by our Lord God from the burning bush to Moses. It is YHWH. Jesus says this name several times in St John’s Gospel. I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light of the World, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Door of the Sheep, I am the Resurrection and the Life, before Abraham was I am. Εγω ειμι. Every time. I AM.
But John won’t say it. He wouldn’t be blaspheming the Second Commandment, but still he won’t say it. He not is the Christ.
“What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” (He doesn’t say it here either.) “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” All negative answers. Each time shorter. More curt. He’s blunt and he’s direct. He won’t talk about himself. He doesn’t even want to be bothered with silly questions about his identity. He only wants to talk about one thing. JESUS. He is there to draw all attention to Jesus.
He is Elijah who is to come, but not like they mean. He is the prophet of the Most High, but not like they mean. Others say these things about him, but he won’t say them about himself. Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” This is why St John is the Advent prophet: because he draws all attention to Jesus, to His coming. He’s singularly focused on Him, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the Messiah who is coming into the world, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Bridegroom and the Head. The great I AM. The Word made flesh. This is John’s concern. This consumes him.
What about you? Who are you? What do you say about yourself when the contingency from the world comes asking?
In A+D 177 there was a severe persecution of Christians in Lyon. First they were socially outcast, evicted from houses, from baths, and from the market. Then came the mob violence as these followers of Christ were made scapegoats: stonings, vandalizing of their homes, insults and epithets, and everything an infuriated crowd loves to do to those it hates. What caused this? A misunderstanding of who these Christians are and in what they believed and did. Myths and hearsay about cannibalism and incest, about the Eucharist and the kiss of peace.
Persecution ramped up to the government level as Christians were called to appear before a public forum. Among them were the Bishop, a newly baptized catechumen, a slave named Blandina, a 15 year old boy, and Deacon named Sanctus. It was Sanctus, who upon suffering the application of red-hot plates to his body confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am a Christian.” To every question, “I am a Christian.” Where do you meet? “I am a Christian.” How many of you are there? “I am a Christian.” The red-hot plates pressed against his skin. What is your name? “I am a Christian.” He was eventually martyred. I am a Christian his final testimony. The Greek word for testimony is μαρτυρια from which we derive our English word martyr. This is the μαρτυρια of John begins our text.
What about you? Who are you? What do you have to say about yourself? I shall tell you, dear Christians. For God Himself has borne testimony, He has not denied you, but has confessed, “You are mine.” He inscribed His Divine Name upon you, called you out to the wilderness of your Holy Baptism where He washed you in the Blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; your sin. This is your martyrdom. You share in the death of Christ Jesus and so shall share in His resurrection.
For He who spoke to Moses atop Mount Horeb, terrifying Israel with fire and thunder and thick darkness, has come down. He submitted Himself to John’s Baptism, to the sinner’s death, in order to fulfill all righteousness on your behalf. He sends His men who are to stand like St John, like an immovable 3,000 pound font, calling you to repentance, preparing your heart for the way of the Lord in season and out of season. Make straight the path. Advent disposes our souls to move us toward something or Someone who is coming. Behold He is here. The Lord is at hand.
But do not be anxious, dear Christians. For He whose sandal strap St John was unworthy to loose, Himself stoops low to unbind you from your sins and set you free. He comes to serve you. He comes in the showering grace and mercy of the heavens to bring you over the Jordan of your Baptism into His Promised Land. For He is the Christ, the Anointed, the Lamb of God.
You are not the Christ. But there is a Christ. He has come to bear away the sin of the world. He has finished His work in His death and resurrection. He comes to pardon you as you sang, that is confessed, in the first hymn, “See the Lamb so long expected, comes with pardon down from heav’n. Let us haste, with tears of sorrow, one and all, to be forgiv’n. So, when next He comes in glory and the world is wrapped in fear, He will shield us with His mercy and with words of love draw near.”
Come, dear ones, come up and meet your Lord in His Holy Supper. Here He bestows His peace and pardon. Here He guards your hearts and minds. He shall confess you before His Father in heaven and He shall come again to take you to Himself.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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