Sermon - Advent 3 - John 1:6-8; 19-28

 

Last week we heard from St. Mark’s Gospel about John the Baptist.  Today we hear from St. John’s Gospel – also about the forerunner of Christ.  Here, there are questions posed to John, and he gives terse and vague answers to the Jews who tried to grill him.  Let’s consider the testimony of John, then, and how he shows that it’s not about John, and it’s not about you.  It’s always about Jesus.

 

“Who are you?”  It’s an innocent enough question.  You might answer first in terms of your job or your family, where you come from or what’s unique and special about you.  What little paragraph summarizes you in a just a few words?  I’m a retired bricklayer from Miami who likes baseball and fly fishing  I’m a mother of 3, a grandmother of 7, and I spend most of my time babysitting them.  Fair enough.  John might have said, “I’m a prophet, the son of Zechariah the priest, and a cousin of Jesus Christ.  My favorite foods are locusts and wild honey, I enjoy long walks in the wilderness, and calling sinners to repentance.”

 

John could have made it all about him.  But he didn’t.  He knew the question behind the question. They didn’t want you know, “Who are you?”  What they really wondered is,  “Are you the Christ?”  And so he answered,  “I am not the Christ.”  Simple as that.

 

But now they seemed curious about John.  And with each of the next questions he seems to grow more frustrated.  “Are you Elijah?”  “I am not.”  “How about the Prophet?”  “No.”  “Well, who then?  You’ve got to have something to say about yourself!  Who are you that we can pin you down and make sense of you?  Who are we up against here?  What claim are you making?”

 

But John, who is not the Christ, only wants to talk about the Christ.  He’s only there to point the way, to make straight the path, to cry out in the wilderness.  John is all about Jesus, not himself.  And what a lesson we can learn from that.

 

The Christian faith is not a me-centered religion. It’s about Christ.  It’s not about who you are, or who you want to be.  Where you’ve come from or where you’re going.  It’s not about the work you do, or should do, or must do.  It’s not about your qualifications, your achievements, your prayers, your faith, your love.  John said, “I must decrease, that he may increase”.  And we say the same.

 

If it is about you, then it’s a sad case indeed.  For we can all answer the question, “who are you?” like this:  I’m a sinner.  I’m not worthy to be a slave that takes off the Master’s sandals.  I’m corrupt by nature, and my corrupt nature likes it that way.  I’m a poisoned apple that hasn’t fallen far from the poisoned tree, like my father Adam, before me.  I’ve never met a command of God that I don’t want to break.  I’ve never desired to submit and obey and do my duty.  I want to call the shots, set the rules, be like God.  That’s the story of my sinful nature, my Old Adam. That’s who you are, that’s who all of us are, apart from Christ, if we can even admit it.

 

But after John comes another preacher, another baptizer.  John was getting people’s attention, and drawing great crowds – but one was coming who would draw all people to himself, far greater crowds than John’s little gatherings.  The One greater than John is who John really wants to talk about, and who we poor sinners need to hear about – Jesus, who is the Christ.

 

It's all about Jesus.  There is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.  There is no other savior from sin and death and devil and hell.  No guru or wise man before or since.  No pope or bishop, prophet or pastor.  No king or president, rock star or supermodel. Only Jesus can save.  Only Jesus is the Christ.  And only Jesus is worth preaching about, pointing to for salvation.  When the smoke cleared on the mount of Transfiguration, and Moses and Elijah had gone, the disciples saw only Jesus.  When the hot air clears from every Christian pulpit, may it be the same – that it’s always, only Jesus.

 

Only Jesus can do what the Christ must do – stand in our place.  Only Jesus could bear the sins of the world.  Only Jesus could defeat the devil and all his wiles.  Only Jesus could fulfill the Father’s will and every speck of the law.  Only Jesus could lay down his perfect, blameless, spotless, life, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

 

John couldn’t do it.  But Jesus can, and Jesus did.  That’s why John points to Jesus.

 

But for Jesus, it’s all about us.  Jesus does speak of himself quite a bit, but always in terms of what he has come to do for us.  What he has to give us.  What his mission is to save us.  Even from the cross, Jesus’ first words were about us – “Father forgive them…” And so the Father does.

 

No, John is not the Christ, but Jesus is.  And John is all about Jesus, and Jesus is all about us.

 

And that changes things for us.  For we are no longer about ourselves. Who are we now? We are no longer just an Old Adam, self-absorbed and self-consumed, living for our own desires and concerns.  We are baptized into Christ.  We come confessing our sins, and are forgiven.  We are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.  We are not who the law says we are, who are sins say we are.  We are not really even who we see in the mirror.  We are who God says we are:  his children.  Beloved.  Blessed by the father.  Sheep of his pasture.  We are his friends.  We are his people.  We are the body of Christ. We are living stones in the temple of God.  We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation.  We are his own treasured possession.

 

And we have a future.  What we are now is not what we will become – for when he comes again in glory, we will be glorified.  Changed, resurrected, shining like the sun forever.  We will be like him, for we shall see him as he is, at his great and glorious advent.

 

Until then, we wait, and we hope, and we pray, and we serve.  We are not the Christ, but we can share Christ’s love with others.  We are not Jesus, but we can make him known, in word and deed.  We, like John, bear witness to one greater than ourselves, greater even than John, who we are not worthy to undo his sandals, but has given us an example of loving service by washing his disciple’s feet.

 

Who is John?  Not the Christ, but Jesus is.  Who are you?  A sinner who needs Jesus, just like John, just like everyone. But a sinner who is baptized and forgiven, a child of God in Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus?  He is the Christ, the one who came to save us, die for us, rise for us, and who will come again in glory, for us.  It’s not about you.  It’s all about him, for you.