Transcript
3 points on John the Baptist
John the Baptist always shows up on the second Sunday of Advent. Invited or uninvited! He’s a bit like Father Christmas in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe who appears midway through the book. “I’ve come at last,” said he. “She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The Witch’s magic is weakening.”
If you don’t like that analogy.Here’s another one.John the Baptist is like uninvited guest that shows up to a wedding reception.There’s a song about this by Garth Brooks called Friends in Low Places.
… Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots
And ruined your black tie affair
The last one to know, the last one to show
I was the last one you thought you'd see there
I don’t necessarily support the rest of the song.But like I said, John the Baptist is like the unexpected guest showing up to a wedding.And he speaks truth.
John the Baptist is not polite.
Verse 7: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
What does it mean?
I have three ideas for you today about John the Baptist.
- John the Baptist stands on the boundary.
Verse 1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
He is a liminal figure.
He stands on the boundary of nature and culture.Wilderness and the city.
Verse 4. John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.That’s nature.That’s wilderness.
Verse 5. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.That’s culture.Jerusalem. That’s the city.
John the Baptist, who stands on the boundary of that which is wild and that which is tame.He can speak authentically from that space.Like no one else can.
And what does he do? He plunges people into the River Jordan.
You know, Baptism itself is a liminal experience.A boundary experience.You go down underneath the water: you’re not exactly dead, but you’re close – that’s the point.You are being buried in the water of Baptism.So that you can be reborn in new life.
2. John the Baptist points to Jesus.
Verse 11. After me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
This is so crucial to understand, because today we often hear people say, “Well, Jesus was a great moral teacher – I can accept that.”
Or
“Jesus was obviously a very good person – I admire that.”
But look, here’s John the Baptist.He was a great moral teacher.He was a very good person.Jesus actually says at one point, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”
So if John is a very good person, and a great moral teacher – and if that’s all anyone needs – then why wouldn’t John point to himself?
No, he points to Jesus.Why, because John knows what we all know deep down inside.We don’t need another moral teacher.We need a savior.
3. John the Baptist calls for repentance.
Verse 2. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Verse 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
Repentance means to turn around.Greek metanoia.Change your mind.
Personal story.I was driving out of the parking lot the other day.
A lot of people think to repent is to say I’m sorry.That’s not quite it.Sorry can be part of repentance.But if I had kept driving right past that person, going the wrong way, and I waved and said sorry!That doesn’t do much.
Repentance is to think, act, and live in a new way.
Why are we afraid to repent?
I think that we’re afraid that we’re going to be thrown out.
I want to show you a picture.
I got this from missionary friends from Uganda – this is Uganda Christian University.This was in their newsletter.It looks like these desks are being thrown out.But they explainedthat these desks are being piled up so that they can be repaired. In Uganda, they explained, nothing gets thrown away.It gets repaired.
Friends, if you are in Christ, when you repent – you will not be thrown out.You will be loved.You will be accepted.And you will be repaired.
Last thing
Jesus Christ makes repentance possible.Why?How?
We said that to repent means to turn around.In the Gospel of Luke, there is a very famous verse that is the hinge of the entire Gospel.Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem.It means that he turned around.Instead of going back to Galilee, he turned toward Jerusalem, and he knew what was waiting for him there.The cross.His death.His suffering.His passion.
Jesus turned around toward Jerusalem – to die – so that you and I could turn around to live.He loves you that much.
His turning makes possible our turning.
Those desks?I said that they were not being thrown out.Well, Jesus was thrown out.He was rejected.He was cast aside.And he did it so that you wouldn’t have to be.
Oh there are parts of your life that need to be thrown out – yes.Parts of your life that need to be cut down and burned.But not you.You get to be repaired.He loves you that much.
Well you say, Fr. Matthew there are things in my life that are so broken that they will never be the same.
That’s right.
And that’s real life.
But you know Jesus doesn’t promise to make you the same as what you were before.He promises to make you new.
Isaiah 43:18
Thus says the Lord:
“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
