Love like John
Notes
Transcript
Today we have moved into the second Sunday of Advent. We now have 19 days until Christmas, which is quite exciting!
As each of us countdown the days until Christmas with advent readings, or advent calendars, or however you are doing it, everyone shares in the same excitement for Christmas.
We have all, in a way, prepared for Christmas. We’ve taken down our fall decorations and, some of at least, have eagerly and happily put up our Christmas decorations!
Last weekend Larissa and I went out to get our Christmas tree. We went a few different places, looking for the perfect tree. We carefully analyzed every inch of each tree. We had to make sure it looked healthy, wasn’t too tall, and wasn’t too skinny or fat. It had to be just right.
We finally found the tree we wanted and brought it home. Now, as you walk into our home you will see a nicely lit and beautifully decorated tree. All of that, mixed with our other Christmas decorations, lets us know that Christmas is right around the corner.
Maybe in your home you do the same thing. Maybe you decorate a tree, or hang lights outside. Maybe you put garland around the home, put up Christmas villages, or a few wreaths. Maybe in your household you have an elf on the shelf which mysteriously moves each day.
This season of preparation for Christmas often includes decorating, eating good food, listening to almost non stop Christmas music on repeat, the watching of many Christmas movies (or the Hallmark channel if you are my father-in-law), and it even provides us with some hope. Many of my friends actually decorated incredibly early this year and when I asked them why they even said, “Because I needed something good this year. I needed something to look forward to.”
How fitting is the season of Christ’s birth to bring us some hope.
Well, as I sat sipping on my egg nog and contemplating the preparation that goes into Christmas, I couldn’t help but to think of John the Baptist.
As we read Isaiah this morning you may have recognized a pretty well known statement. Isaiah 40:3, which says
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
If you didn’t know, this is something that is said about John the Baptist.
Let’s read over our Gospel reading this morning. Mark 1:1-8
1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
This morning we read the introduction to the book of Mark, and a lot is already going on.
Without skipping a bit, Mark immediately regards Jesus as the Son of God. He leaves no room for interpretation with this, no need for anticipation. Essentially, Mark is saying “I need you to know who this amazing man is before we even begin.”
So, after establishing that we are about to read the “good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” Mark sees fit to introduce John the Baptist by quoting the prophet Isaiah.
He says,
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
Then, after quoting Isaiah, Mark presents us to John the Baptist. He’s described as someone who proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, in the wilderness. Keep that in mind, I’ll come back to that a bit later.
So then, John the Baptist’s message and preaching brings in crowds of people from the Judean countryside, and not only that, but people from within the holy city of Jerusalem were coming out to hear what John had to say. Not only did they listen to him, but they embraced his message and were baptized, confessing their sins.
Next, we are told a few of the things that John has...
A garment of some sort made of camel’s hair
A leather belt around his waist
A diet of honey and locusts
This, many don’t realize, is paralleling prophets from the past. Largely, Elijah
Camel’s hair refers to Zechariah 13:4
4 On that day the prophets will be ashamed, every one, of their visions when they prophesy; they will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive,
His leather belt refers back to 2 Kings 1:8
8 They answered him, “A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
Then, Mark tells us what John the Baptist was proclaiming. Remember, this was said in front of large crowds of people, many who came from within the Holy City of Jerusalem.
7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Remember earlier when I said that we would come back to John being in the wilderness, well here is why.
The wilderness is often described as place of temptation, a place where holiness seems absent.
Yet, here we have John, baptizing people. Instead of people needing to go into the city of Jerusalem and make sacrifices at the temple, John is encouraging them to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
Well, keeping that in mind, John then says that someone even more powerful than him is coming, and that he isn’t worthy to untie this person’s sandal. That this person will baptize with the Holy Spirit!
So, John the Baptist, who brings people together in large crowds, from all around, even from the Holy City and Temple, who baptizes for the repentance and forgiveness of sins, says that someone even greater is coming.
John is proclaiming the good news that we know today. That Christ is coming.
Today, we celebrate love.
John loved God so much that he was willing to wear camel hair, eat locusts and honey, and proclaim a message that not everyone loved to hear.
He loved God so much that he was willing to die by a brutal execution, and he didn’t care what others around him thought about his words or looks. He wanted them to know the truth.
And, in that, he loved them. He cared so deeply for the people around him that he was willing to face persecution and even death so that others could hear the good news!
John, because of his love of God and love of people, prepared the way for the Lord.
Doesn’t that sound familiar?
During Advent, we prepare for the coming of Jesus. Not only do we prepare to celebrate his brith, but we also prepare for His return.
This is a season of not only anticipation, but also of preparation.
Like with Christmas and our decorations that we just can’t wait to bust out, we anticipate for the coming of Jesus!
Or, at least we should.
Imagine, for a moment, if each of us went out into the world and proclaimed the coming of Christ, like John did.
Imagine if we took it upon ourselves to go out into the “wilderness” and proclaim a message that may not be popular.
Today, it seems as though our message of hope and love in Christ is an unpopular one. It’s one that most people ignore or scoff at. It’s a message that sometimes comes with eye rolls, insults, and in some places it brings about abuse and even death.
The message that we are called to proclaim is the same that John proclaimed, that one greater than us is coming.
How prepared are you to prepare the way of the Lord in today’s world?
We are quick to prepare our homes, our work spaces, and our hearts for Christmas, but how often do we prepare ourselves to go out into the wilderness of today’s world and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ?
We are quick to say, “put Christ back in Christmas” but sometimes slow to put Christ in our lives.
John saw nothing more important in this world than to tell people about the coming of Jesus Christ, and shouldn’t we be the same?
If we truly believe that Christ is the forgiver of sins and that those who believe are saved, why aren’t we as zealous as John the Baptist?
It’s because it’s hard.
We become so worried that we don’t know enough, or that we may get something wrong, or that others will judge us and put us down, and we never step up and tell the world about Jesus.
We wait for it to be comfortable, or timely, or when we get a chance, or we say we will do it after we’ve read more of the Bible...
We all need to take bigger steps toward this status of John the Baptist. We each need to be willing to step out in faith. Nothing that we will go through for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ will ever compare to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Today, as we celebrate love, as we remember the message of John the Baptist, and as we look forward to the returning of our King, let us all be encouraged to step out in faith like John did.
Let us each go out into the wilderness today, and everyday to come, and proclaim the forgiving work of Jesus Christ!
Amen.