Who Is This Jesus Guy?

Introduction

We often learn who someone is through the eyes of someone else.

None of you except for two people in this congregation knew my mom. For you to get to know her, you would need me to tell you about her which I did if you watched my mom’s memorial service this past July.

My mom was the oldest of two children born to Marlin and Lillian Raabe. She was born in Minnesota, but moved to Oregon when she was six.

My mom married my dad right after she graduated from high school and my dad had recently returned from serving our nation in WWII. Like many people in the Lutheran Church, they met through Walther League.

She was a doer, not a talker. Her place was in the home.

You see for you to know my mom means you needed me to tell you about her.

On this Second Sunday in Advent we become more familiar with who Jesus is through John the one who came baptizing people. However, to get to know this Jesus we must first get to know this guy John as the Evangelist Mark makes him known to us.

Transition: Learning about who John is, is like a crescendo, building to what he will proclaim about who this Jesus guy is. The first thing we learn about this John guy is that he was sent to prepare the way for good news about Jesus. Let’s look at verses 2-3. (Read Mark 1:2-3)

Who Is This John Guy? He is the One Who Prepares the Way for the Good News

First Mark combines two Old Testament quotes in verse 2. The first is from Exodus 23:20 and the other is from Malachi 3:1. He uses these as a setup for his quote in verse 3 of Isaiah 40:3.

Today, the Second Sunday in Advent, is traditionally known as Preparation Sunday. John’s job was to prepare the way for people to hear that the kingdom of God had drawn near to them.

John’s purpose was spelled out for him in Scripture.

As the baptized of God active in the world today, we need to remember that the kingdom of God has come upon us, too, in the person and work of Jesus.

Yet we need to see everyday as a preparation for Jesus coming in his glory. How do we do this?

By staying connected to Jesus.

By staying connected to people.

Transition: The crescendo continues in verse 4 as we learn that this John guy preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. (Read Mark 1:4)

Who Is This John Guy? He is the One Who Comes Preaching a Baptism of Repentance

Notice that Mark speaks of John by what he is doing is baptizing and he preaching. For Mark, John is known by what did.

He baptized people and he connected that baptism to repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John was uncompromising in his ministry. He was killed because he told Herod that his taking his brother Philips wife to be his wife wasn’t lawful.

We admire John for his courage. However, what we often miss is the purpose of John’s preaching. His purpose was that people could experience forgiveness. it’s all about redemption, not about letting people have it.

We see a lot of sin in the world today. The church is still in the business of preaching repentance, but always, always, for the purpose o forgiveness. It’s about freedom, true freedom for people.

Transition: Again, the crescendo grows louder as we next learn that this John guy is the one to whom people come confessing their sins. (Read Mark 1:5)

Who Is This John Guy? He is the One to People Come Confessing their sins

People responded to John’s message. Mark is the champion of exaggeration to get our attention. It’s a literary device that he uses in his gospel. Mark makes it sound like everyone was coming to John. The impact is that many, many people were coming to John.

We talked about what John did, but what did the people do in response to John?

They were baptized by him.

They were openly confessing their sins.

Did someone confess his extortion of people’s money, collecting more taxes than he needed?

Did another confess a marital unfaithfulness?

Did another confess ignoring the poor with his resources?

We hear John’s message and we confess our failures. We receive God’s forgiveness.

People today still hear the message, still confess, and are still forgiven. God hasn’t changed how he does things.

Transition: We’re now on the edge of our seats as the crescendo nears it peak when we see that this John guy’s life reflected his message. (Read Mark 1:6)

Who Is This John Guy? He is the One Whose Life Reflects His Message

If there is one person in the scriptures who defined integrity was John. His words and his actions were in concert with each other. Even the way he dressed, as uncomfortable as it was, conformed to the message he proclaimed. Again, he lost his life because of his integrity.

On this preparation Sunday, as we wait for Jesus to come we see the need to live with integrity in the world. Integrity doesn’t mean perfection.

If e are people of grace then we need to live as people of grace, that people will see Jesus in us. It means not conforming ourselves to this world but being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Transition: Finally, the crescendo reaches it peak when we understand that John who mission is to point to Jesus. John will tell us now who this Jesus guy is. Let’s look at verse 7 and 8. (Read Mark 1:7-8)

Who Is This John Guy? He is the One Who Points to Jesus, the Son of God.

For me there is one Bible passage that explains this guy John. It comes from John 3:30 John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John’s life starts on a high note and ends with his execution in a dungeon.

Think about your life. Isn’t it also a reflection of John’s words? Are you and I called by God to decrease in importance that the blessings of Jesus might grow in the lives of others, that Jesus might still be proclaimed as the Son of God.

The church’s mission is to point to Jesus, the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world.

Conclusion

Who is this guy Jesus? He is the one we proclaim to be the Son of God. In Mark’s gospel, when everyone had abandoned Jesus at the cross, it is a Roman centurion standing at the cross who declares, “surely this was the Son of God.”

Mark began his gospel with the words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Another way of saying that would be to say, “The beginning of the preaching of the good news about Jesus, the Son of God.

If it is a beginning, it means that this proclamation is still going on. We are still telling the world that this Jesus is the Son of God. Amen.