December 11, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
During the Christmas holidays, you can find all
sorts of special articles popping up in your local papers. Sometimes they are articles, which are simply
reporting Christmas events happening in the community. Sometimes they are religious articles
designed to remind everyone who reads them that Jesus is the true meaning of
Christmas. While at other times we might
find an article, which calls to mind the fond memories of the Christmases of
our childhood. Most of the time, these
articles are designed to get us into the Christmas spirit as the days move ever
closer to December 25th. Well, this
morning we have a different type of Christmas article before us. It is not an article written to tell what’s
happening in our community. It’s not an
article designed to bring back Christmas memories. Rather, it is an article that was written to
tell us a little bit about John the Baptist, his mission, his message, as well
as to prepare us for the coming Christ child.
So why don’t we take another look at the article,
which is before us today—the article written about John the Baptist by the
Apostle John in our Gospel lesson. The
article which could easily be titled, “Follow the path, which John the Baptist
prepares.” By, the Apostle John: “There
came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to
testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He
himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. Now this was
John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him
who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the
Christ.’ They asked him, ‘Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Finally they said, ‘Who
are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say
about yourself?’ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the
voice of one calling in the desert, `Make straight the way for the Lord.’ Now
some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, ‘Why then do you baptize if
you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ ‘I baptize with water,’ John replied, ‘but
among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the
thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ This all happened at Bethany
on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” (John 1:6-8,
19-28).
Now at first glance this may seem to be just a
regular article that you would find in any paper describing the events that
took place on a regular day. But the
truth is, there is so much more going on in this article than meets the eye,
and if we are not careful, we could miss it.
For example: as the Apostle begins his report, he gives us a little
history behind John the Baptist, and as it turns out, John was no ordinary
man. First of all, he was a man who had
been sent by God himself as a witness to the Light of the World. Though he himself was not the light, He was
the one whom God had chosen to be a witness to the Light. He was the one whom God had chosen to point
people to Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, and that is what he did. For as we heard in our Gospel lesson last
week, John had come, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
He came preaching: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the
thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” In fact he was so successful at what he was
doing that “the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went
out to him.” This is why the Apostle’s
report tells us that the religious leaders of the people sent a delegation out
to question him and ask who he was.
Can you imagine what the people gathered around John
the Baptist must have been feeling that day when they saw the group of priests
and Levites coming down the road to the Jordan?
For when the people saw the priests, they must have known that John was
going to be questioned, but when the saw the Levites, they would have
immediately known that this was official church business. For the Levites were there to lend authority
to the whole event much in the same way a sheriff’s car adds authority to the
speed limit. When they reached John they
asked him straight out if he was the Christ, because from his following it was
easy to get the idea that he might be.
But John firmly answered, I am not the Christ. They asked him if he might be Elijah, because
they misunderstood the prophecy from Malachi, which said: “See, I will send you
the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.”
(Malachi 4:5) They thought that John
might be Elijah returned from the dead, come to proclaim the Word of God before
the day of the Lord. Because of this,
because of their misunderstanding, John was forced to tell them, “I am not
Elijah.” Even though he was the
fulfillment of the prophecy, even though Jesus was referring to John the
Baptist when he told his disciples that Elijah had come, John had to say he was
not Elijah, because they misunderstood the prophecy. They asked him if he was the Prophet, the
Prophet whom they were expecting to come and usher in the Messianic age. But again, because of their misunderstanding,
John had to tell them no.
Finally, out of frustration they asked for a
straight answer, and this is what John gave them. For when they asked, “Who are you?” He
replied with the beautiful words of the Prophet Isaiah: “I am the voice of one
calling in the desert, `Make straight the way for the Lord.” (John 1:23). In short, John was telling them that he was
the one whom God had chosen to prepare the way for the Lord. He was the one whom God had chosen to point
out the Christ. He was the one whom God
had chosen to lead his people to their Savior.
This is why the Apostle titles his article the way he does. For in that title, he is encouraging you and
me to follow the path, which John prepares, because the path, which John
prepares, is the one, which leads to the Savior. That was John’s mission here on earth to
prepare the way of the Lord, to point him out, and to lead people to their
Savior, and that is the task he performed admirably. In fact, even though it has been many years
since John the Baptist was beheaded, this is a task he is still accomplishing
today. For by reminding ourselves of
John’s mission here on earth, we have once again followed him on the path that
leads to our Savior, and now that we have once again followed on the path which
John prepared, the torch has been passed us.
For as Christians, John’s mission has now become our mission. As Christians, it is now our mission to
prepare the path, which leads to our Savior, so that many more might follow it
to him.
Now if you think about it, what greater mission
could we have than the mission to lead others to Christ? For there are billions of people in our world
who do not know him. There are millions
of people in our country who do not know him.
There are thousands in our state who do not know him, and there are
hundreds in our cities and counties who do not know Jesus Christ. In fact, I would be willing to bet that if
you went to Minneapolis, St. Paul, anywhere in the metro area, to Belle Plaine,
Mankato, or even St. Peter and asked people the question: “How does Jesus fit
into Christmas?” I’d be willing to bet
that fewer than 20% of the people you asked would know that Jesus is the Savior
of the World. Now my statistics might be
wrong because I’ve never actually conducted this kind of a survey, but I think
my point is clear. There are many people
who need to hear the message about Jesus who came to earth as a little child so
many years ago. There are many people
who need to hear how that child grew and went throughout all of Israel
preaching God’s Word to the people.
There are many who need to hear how that sinless Son of God died on the
cross and rose again from the dead to free us from our sins. And we can tell them.
Even though we don’t really have a formal evangelism
committee, and when we did have one very few people were open to being a part
of it, we can all be evangelists. We
call all follow the path which John Prepares, even as we begin to lead others
on the same path by telling them about their Savior. And we can tell them about their Savior in so
many different ways! Here at home, we
can tell them by simply inviting them to come to church with us so that they
too might hear the Word of God. We can
include passages of Scripture in the Christmas Cards we send out. We can pray for all those who do not know
their Savior, asking that the Lord would give them an opportunity to hear his
Word and that we might always be ready to share that word with them. But even when we are away from home we can share
our faith in so many ways. While we’re
wandering through a mall or simply out shopping in another town, we can wear a
smile on our face even when we are growing tired and weary. As we find ourselves in a conversation with a
cashier or another customer, we can ask what they are planning to do for
Christmas Eve. If they no plans or no church of their own, we could invite them
to attend our local WELS congregation for their Christmas service. Even if you don’t know the name of the church
or time of the service, you can simply tell them to look for W-E-L-S in the
church section of the yellow pages. But the thing is, these are just a few of
the little ways that we can use to share our faith with others, because
following the path that John has prepared to our Savior and leading others to
that path as well, is not merely the job of the Pastor. It is the job of every single Christian. It is the job of each and every one of us to
tell others about our Savior so that through the Word of God they might also follow
the path that John prepared to the Lord Jesus, our Savior.
I know that at first it can be a little scary to
step out of your comfort zone and share your faith with others. I know that it is not always easy to do this
because we are so engrained in our thinking that we shouldn’t ask other people
about their religion or their church. I
know it can be quite scary, because when we hear that it is our mission to
spread the Gospel, it is so easy to think that we need to have a well thought
out presentation of Law and Gospel.
While something like that could be very useful, there are so many little
ways we can use to lead others to Christ.
This is why the Apostle John is encouraging us to
follow the path, which John the Baptist prepared. For as we follow that path, we are constantly
being prepared to go out and find others so that we might lead them to their
Savior as well. This is the mission John
the Baptist undertook when the Lord sent him to preach to the people of Israel,
and this is the mission we have been given today. For our mission this Advent season, and
indeed throughout all our lives, is to lead others to their Savior. Our mission is to proclaim the message of
Christ the Savior so that many more people might be added to the kingdom of
God. Our mission is follow the path that
John the Baptist prepared so that we might be ready not only for the coming of
the Christ child at Christmas, but also for his return on the last day. Prepare yourselves then as you continue to
work and witness for Christ so that through your efforts many more might come
to the knowledge of their Savior Jesus Christ, the baby who was born as the
Savior of the World.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
