Let John prepare the way for you, too

Sermon for Advent 4

Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

Last week we heard Malachi’s prophecy about John the Baptist: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.” There it was Jesus identifying John as God’s messenger. In today’s Gospel, we hear John identifying himself in the same way from a similar prophecy found in the book of Isaiah: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD!” On this, our final Sunday of the Advent season, we turn to John the Baptist once more, examining his ministry to see how he prepared the people of Israel for Jesus’ first coming. Because the same preparations are necessary for us, as we await Christ’s second coming, and as we would seek to celebrate His coming at Christmas in just a few days. Let John prepare the way for you to meet the Lord.

John’s role in God’s plan of salvation was unique. As we just saw, he was more than just a prophet. He was the prophet who was to hold the door open, as it were, for the Messiah, as the herald of His arrival. And he began to perform that service even before he was born!

When newly pregnant Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant with John, Elizabeth informed Mary that as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Yes, already in his mother’s womb, John was filled with the Holy Spirit, as the angel Gabriel had told John’s father Zacharias that he would be. There he was, already celebrating the arrival of the One who was greater than he, rejoicing in the salvation Mary’s Son would bring, and showing us that, even in his or her mother’s womb, it’s possible for a little baby to have faith in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word.

Some thirty years later, John headed out into the wilderness to live by himself. But not to be alone! He traveled up and down the Jordan River, preaching to all who came by, and his powerful preaching attracted more and more people. In fact, St. Mark begins his Gospel of Jesus’ life with the ministry of John the Baptist: John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John was fulfilling what the angel had foretold about him: He came in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, waking them up from their spiritual slumber. They had forgotten about the Lord for too long, had neglected their souls for too long, had become too focused on this world, with its pleasures, and with its troubles. Here’s a sample of his preaching:

“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. A strong warning to repent, to turn away from their sins before the Lord comes in judgment. But also strong comfort in this new Sacrament called “baptism,” which God had directly sent John to administer, through which God promised to forgive them their sins. Finally, a strong warning not to go on sinning after receiving God’s forgiveness, but to mend their ways and bear fruit consistent with repentance. In other words, if you say you’re sorry for living in adultery, then stop living in adultery! If you say you’re sorry for stealing, stop stealing! If you say you’re sorry for neglecting God’s Word, then stop neglecting it!

After preaching for many months to sinners who needed to repent and receive God’s forgiveness, John was surprised to see Jesus finally step forward to be baptized—the only man in history who had no need of repentance or of forgiveness. We’ll hear about that in a few weeks, during the Epiphany season. After He was baptized, Jesus disappeared for the next 40 days to face the devil’s temptations alone in the wilderness. The events of our Gospel apparently took place just as those 40 days were coming to an end, as Jesus was just about to return.

Well, the scribes and Pharisees (the religious leaders in Jerusalem) hadn’t yet heard of this “Jesus.” But they had heard a lot about John and were nervous about his popularity with the people of Judea. So they sent to ask him who he was and by whose authority he was preaching and baptizing—because they certainly hadn’t authorized it! As you heard in today’s Gospel, John didn’t for a moment claim to be more than he was. In fact, he came right out and denied being the Christ. But what he claimed about himself was still extremely important. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD!” That meant that the Lord was just about to appear on the scene. And, sure enough, the next day, He did!

But before we move forward, we should pause and consider what John meant when he said to the Pharisees’ envoys, “I baptize with water, but there stands among you One 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.” John had said something similar earlier, Yes, I baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Evangelical churches tend to teach wrongly about “water baptism.” They make it something inferior to the “real” Baptism, which, according to them, has nothing to do with water. But was John’s baptism inferior to Jesus’ baptism because John baptized “with water”? No, it wasn’t inferior. It was a “baptism for the forgiveness of sins,” according to Scripture. Jesus would soon institute a similar water baptism “for the forgiveness of sins,” and it’s this “water baptism” that is a “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul writes. Baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is and has always been “water Baptism.” So there’s nothing insignificant about it!

But, as John says, Jesus would also “baptize with the Holy Spirit.” In fact, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus explained to His apostles exactly what that meant: For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. He was referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers on the day of Pentecost—the same Spirit who is now given in connection with “water Baptism,” as Peter told the crowds on the day of Pentecost: Repent and be baptized…for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

As for the baptizing “with fire,” that’s referring to Jesus sending forth His Gospel into the world after the Day of Pentecost, a Gospel that would spread like wildfire as the Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God and works through it to spread the kingdom of God. As Jesus once said, I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

So John wasn’t minimizing his divinely-ordained baptism. He was simply confessing to the Pharisees that the Christ would do far, far more than he would. While John baptized a relatively small number of people in the Jordan River, the Christ, who was far superior to him, would send the Spirit of God to convert sinners to repentance throughout the world.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, apparently returning from His 40-day fast in the wilderness, and John told some of his disciples, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Finally, Jesus had arrived on the scene to begin His ministry, and John was the one holding the door open for Him, pointing people to the Christ who had come. From then on, John began to send his own disciples away to follow Jesus, the Savior of the world. From then on, John, as a faithful messenger, told people plainly, He must increase, and I must decrease… For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. In this way, John prepared the people of Israel to receive their Savior in repentance, in faith, and in joy.

His preaching prepares the way for us, too. “Christ is coming,” John declares. He’s almost here! It’s time to wake up from the daily routine that so easily lulls us to sleep. It’s time to hear the Word of God and truly pay attention to it. It’s time to recognize sin for the deadly snare that it is. It’s time to repent and, either be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, or cling to the promise God made to you when you were baptized, because Jesus is the Son of God, sent by the Father to save the fallen world, including you, the Lamb of God who took the sins of the world upon Himself and suffered for them on the cross, and who now holds out the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit of God. And, Christians, it’s time to bear fruit consistent with repentance, to live each day as the children of God, as the Christians you proclaim yourselves to be, because Christ is coming soon in judgment against the sinful world, and He’s given you this time before His coming to prepare, so that you may escape the judgment and go with Him, rejoicing, into a new and glorious world. This preaching, this message, is how John the Baptist prepared the people of Israel for the Lord’s first coming. May it also serve to prepare you, so that you may be a people ready to receive the Lord on the Last Day, and before then, a people ready to celebrate the Lord’s birth. Amen.