August 7, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
When you think of John the Baptist, how do you think of him? Do you think of him as an impressive figure? Or do you think of him as just a regular kind of guy? Do you think of him as a rugged outdoors sort of fellow? Or do you think of him as a man who’s been softened by city living? Well, when I think of John the Baptist, I think of him as a man who would do well living out West in cattle country. Though he never kept sheep or goats, though he never drove cattle, he was a hard man who had a hard life. He was a hard man who lived out in the wilderness eating locust and wild honey. He was a hard man who wore clothes made out of camel’s hair with a leather belt wrapped around his waist. But even though John was a hard man, he was also a privileged man. For he is the only man, besides Jesus, whose coming was prophesied in the pages of Scripture. He was the man who was chosen by God to be the forerunner of his Son. He was the one who was fortunate enough to proclaim the message: Behold the Savior of the world!
Behold the Savior of the world! This was the very message that John proclaimed as he pointed the people to their Savior. As the Bible tells us, “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:4–8, NIV84)
In essence, John’s mission was simply to point people to the Savior of the world, and this is what he did. For there, in the desert on the other side of the Jordan River, John preached a message of harsh law. He did not shy away from condemning sins, rather, he proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” He did not falter when people made excuses for the wrongs they had done, instead, he applied the full weight of God’s Holy Law and crushed that sinner to pieces. Not even when the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day came to investigate him did he back down. For he went head to head with them condemning their sinfulness and their failure to see it. Because of this, John’s fame spread and people from all over the region of Judea and Jerusalem came out to hear him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized in the Jordan, assured of the forgiveness of sins, and pointed to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
This is the same message we need to hear as well. For even we Christians need to be reminded that our sins separate us from our God. We need to be reminded that our sins are just like those round bails that we see on farm places throughout the countryside. Though they may start out small as farmers begin to make their pass through the field, by the time that bail is ejected it has grown so enormous that no one could never hope to lift it. It has grown so huge that if it rolled on top of you for any reason it would kill you. The same is true for our sins. Though they might start out as a few small sins of anger, jealousy, frustration, or even greed, they can grow larger and larger. Before we know it, that small sin of anger has grown into a grudge you hold against another person. That small sin of jealousy has lead to hatred. That small sin of frustration has led to exasperation. That small sin of greed has led to a desire for more and more, and before we know it, our sins have grown so huge and have wrapped so tightly around us that we are unable to move. They have grown so enormous that we are crushed under their weight and can do nothing to be rid of them ourselves.
But that’s when John’s message of comfort comes to us as he points us to Jesus, the Savior of the world. Take a look at what he has to tell us in verses 7 and 8, “7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7–8, NIV84).
With these beautiful words, John points us to our Savior and the forgiveness he offers. With these words we are reminded how Jesus was baptized by John on the day he began his public ministry so many years ago, which was the very reason that Jesus came to the earth! He came to be the Savior of the world, just as had been proclaiming ever since he started preaching. Mark tells us: “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9–11, NIV84)
Though it doesn’t tell us in this Gospel, we learn from Matthew that when Jesus came to John to be baptized, John didn’t understand why. Rather, John tried to deter Jesus by telling him that he, John, needed to be baptized by Jesus. But Jesus simply told him, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” For the thing was, by being baptized, Jesus was showing his connection to sinners. Though he himself was sinless, he was identifying himself with sinners by giving himself to the work of bearing our sins. As Luther points out: Jesus was here rightly beginning to be the Christ, the Anointed One, and “was inaugurated into his entire Messianic office as our Prophet, Priest, and King.” For through the voice of the Father from heaven and the Holy Spirit lighting on Jesus in the form of a dove, all three persons of the Trinity were proclaiming that this Jesus was the Savior of the world.
Thus, the one true God, the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit revealed that they were launching the culmination of the plan of salvation through Jesus our Savior. The long period of expectation and preparation was now over. The most momentous days the world would ever know, the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, culminating in his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension were now beginning. Satan’s power and dominion were doomed, because the world’s redemption was at hand. This, in a nutshell, not only was John calling on us to behold the Savior of the world, but the Holy Trinity was proclaiming the very same thing on the day that Jesus was baptized. The Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were there calling on each and every onlooker as well as you and me to behold the fact that Jesus was the Promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.
What greater assurance could the Baptism of Jesus give us than the assurance that he is the Lord, our Savior! For today, as we have heard the voice of the Father proclaiming that Jesus is indeed his Son whom he loves and with whom he is well pleased, we have been assured that Jesus truly is our Savior. As we have witnessed the Holy Spirit descending upon him as a dove, we have witnessed the fulfillment of the promise that we would recognize the Christ by the decent of the Spirit upon him. In short, as we have beheld the Lord Jesus, our Savior today, we have been assured that he is our only true Savior who has forgiven all our sins.
How incredible it is to know that as we behold our Savior today, we behold the very Son of God who freed us from the crushing weight of our sins. Even though we were completely immobilized by the bails of our sins, Jesus came with the John Deer tractor of his grace and lifted those sins from us. He loaded those sins onto the flat bed trailer of his forgiveness and hauled them away, never to be seen again. Though we may have been trapped in the sins of anger and grudges, our Savior has freed us from them. Though we may have been trapped by the sins of jealousy and hatred, our Savior has freed us from them. Though we may have been trapped by the sins of frustration and exasperation, our Savior has freed us from them. Though we may have been trapped in the sins of greed and an unholy desire for more and more stuff, our Savior has freed us from them. Now since we have been freed from our own sins by our Savior Jesus Christ, how can we not follow his example and forgive our fellow Christians from the heart when they do us wrong? How can we not remember that when we were baptized, each and every one of us was buried with Christ and rose again with him as new creations? How can we not remember that when our Savior went to the cross, he went, carrying the weight of the sins of the world? How can we not make the most of every opportunity to gather together as Christians in worship of the Lord our Savior?
Now that we have beheld the Lord our Savior, let us seek to live our lives in service to him. Let us dedicate our lives to him so that we continue growing in his Word as we read and study the Bible both at home and in Bible Studies during the year. Let us make the most of every opportunity we have been given to gather to worship the Lord our God and grow in our faith as we encourage our brothers and sisters in their faith. Let us grow in our baptismal grace, fulfilling the promise that we all made on the day of our confirmation that we would face even death rather than forsake the Lord God our Savior. Though we don’t know exactly what Jesus looked like while here on earth, today we have all beheld Jesus as the Lord our God and the Savior of the World. We saw John point him out to us, we heard the Holy Trinity proclaim him, and we have been reminded of how he has freed us from our sins. This is Jesus, our Savior, who was baptized at the beginning of his public ministry so that he might take on the all important work of redeeming us from our sins and winning us back to the Lord. Behold him, he is your Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN
