Advent 2 (4)

Mark 1:1–8 (NIV)

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— 3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” 4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, 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 comes the one more powerful than I, the straps 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.”

One of the themes of the history of the nation of Israel is that of looking to God to deliver his people from oppression. We see example of that in the following narratives:

Deliverance from slavery to the Egyptians at the time of Moses.

Deliverance from enemies whom God used to punish them in the time of the Judges.

Deliverance from the Philistines at the time of Saul and David.

Deliverance from the Assyrians and the Babylonians.

During these periods of oppression, God would send prophets to predict a time when God would send the Messiah who would set free captive Israel.

Isaiah 40:9–11 (NIV84)

9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Zechariah 8:7–8 NIV84

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

And so when the people were oppressed, God will reassure them that he would save them. In the context of Messianic prophecies, it meant that God would someday send that special someone “The Anointed One” who would rescue them. But it wouldn’t be from pestilence, or drought, or natural disasters, or invading armies, or occupational forces. This “Anointed One” would save them from the consequences of their sins.

We can relate to the need for being rescued. It has been over nine months now that the COVID-19 has been impacting our lives. At first we may have dismissed it as someone else’s problem because the limited number of cases were happening far away from our hometowns and county and we knew of no one who had contracted it and we may have figured the chances of us catching it ourselves was slim to none. We have come to the stark realization that this is no longer the case. Most likely all of know people personally who have had the disease and some of us have close relatives who have died as a result of it. We can no longer dismiss it as someone else’s problem or live as though it is not a threat.

There are certain protocols we can follow to limit exposure. We may be convinced that we need someone (or a group of people) who can develop a safe and effective vaccine to save us from catching it or to treat us effectively so that we will not succumb. Certainly, we can pray to God for help in this but be realistic in understanding that he may no choose to miraculously save us from this virus.

But there are other things we may realize that we need to be rescued from.

Other illnesses.

Accidents,

Violence and abuse.

Economic downturns.

Inclement weather.

Our own foolish decisions.

But the greatest threat, a threat common to all of us, is suffering the effects of the consequences of our sins.

We can add to that death and the power of the devil as Martin Luther so often groups them together.

The person God promised to send to save us from those threats is, of course, Jesus. During the Advent season we reflect on how he came to carry out his work as “The Anointed One”. But before he began his ministry, God has prophesied that he would send his messenger to prepare the way That person is John the Baptist — he is well known to us.

His message should also be well known and continued to be heeded.

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins

Because of his unique appearance, use of baptism, and powerful message; we are told that people began to wonder if he could be The One. In true forerunner fashion John deflected attention from himself and pointed ahead to Jesus.

7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps 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.”

In typical powerful teaching fashion, John employed figures of speech which represented what he mean but did not always say directly the message. In describing that Jesus would be more powerful, he used the illustration of untieing sandal. I doubt that John ever literally untied Jesus’ sandals but he meant that Jesus would be so much greater than he that he (John) did not even measure up to the position of a servant.

His comment about baptizing is also a figure of speech. What did he mean?

1:8 “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John’s baptism with water indicated immersion in the water of the Jordan River. John’s baptism demonstrated repentance, humility, and willingness to turn from sin. This was the beginning of the spiritual process. John baptized people as a sign that they had asked God to forgive their sins and had decided to live as he wanted them to live. Baptism was an outward sign of commitment. To be effective, it had to be accompanied by an inward change of attitude leading to a changed life. John’s baptism did not give salvation; it prepared a person to welcome the coming Messiah and receive his message and his baptism.

John’s statement, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, revealed the identity of the “one” coming after John as the promised Messiah. The coming of the Spirit had been prophesied as part of the Messiah’s arrival:

• I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3 niv)

• The time is coming…. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people…. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jeremiah 31:31–34 niv)

• I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26–27 niv)

• And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28–29 niv)

The Old Testament promised a time when God would demonstrate his power among people and give special relationship and blessings to his people. This looked ahead to Pentecost (Acts 2), when the Holy Spirit would be sent by Jesus in the form of tongues of fire, empowering his followers to preach the gospel. All believers, those who would later come to Jesus Christ for salvation, would receive the Holy Spirit. When Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit, the entire person would be transformed by the Spirit’s power. Jesus would offer both forgiveness of sin and the power to live for him. We need more than repentance to save us; we need the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, St. John pointed ahead to the powerful work of Jesus in connection with the power of the Holy Spirit who continues to come to us through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.