SERMON
December 4, 2022 - Matthew 3:1-12
“The
voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the
way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
Matthew’s account of John the
Baptist, a rough looking, strangely clad fellow who ate locusts and wild honey,
boldly emerging from the wilderness, proclaiming “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near” is for a breathtaking story.
This John is of course the same
John that we first meet when he is still in his mother’s womb. I’m sure you
remember the story of the Immaculate Conception as it is told towards the end
of the first chapter of Luke’s gospel. Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that
she is with child. Amazed and humbled she follows the angel’s directive to
visit her relative Elizabeth in the hill country. Elizabeth, who is in her 60’s
is also miraculously with child. When Mary finally arrives and enters
Elizabeth’s house, she shares the account of her visit from the angel Gabriel
and of the angel’s proclamation that Mary was now with child, and that the
child would be Holy. Upon hearing the story, Elizabeth’s child, John, “leapt
in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Less frequently do we hear the
story of John’s conception, which comes at the very outset of Chapter One. Luke
tells us that the angel Gabriel, prior to visiting Mary, visited Zachariah,
Elizabeth’s husband. When Zechariah saw the
angel, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. “But the
angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been
heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You
will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he
will be great in the sight of the Lord…even before his birth he will be filled
with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord
their God.”
And then, at the very end of Luke’s
first chapter, we come upon Zachariah’s beautiful hymn, best known to us in the
Book of Common Prayer as Canticle 16, The Song of Zachariah. This
powerful hymn is a prophetic description of what is to come about as the result
of his son John’s birth. Midway through the hymn Zachariah says, “And you,
child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the
Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the
forgiveness of their sins.” In one brief sentence Luke concludes this hymn
writing that “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the
wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.”
Putting the bits and pieces of these
gospel stories together helps to place John the Baptist in a context that is
the very heart of the New Testament. John is not some bizarre character who suddenly
emerges from the wilderness claiming to be a prophet. Far from it. John is the
prophetic messenger empowered by God through the gift of the Holy Spirit while
still in his mother’s womb to grow strong and to be the one crying out in the
wilderness announcing the arrival of the Lord.
John the Baptist is the prophetic
messenger sent by God to proclaim the arrival of his Son, Jesus. John’s
ministry of repentance and baptism by water is intended to prepare the way for
Jesus’ arrival and his baptism not by water but by the Holy Spirit. John has
been chosen by God to announce the arrival of the Son of God, God incarnate, Jesus
Christ, into our world. As Zachariah proclaimed, “He will turn many of the
people of Israel to the Lord their God.”
Matthew concludes this prophetic
message delivered by John as he emerged from the wilderness with the most
stunning statement “He will baptize you with the
Holy spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the
threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.”
In today’s vernacular John is
telling us “This is it folks. Here is your opportunity to receive God’s
grace, forever. I suggest you take it because if you do not you will be
negatively impacted by its absence.”
In just a few short weeks
Christmas Eve will be upon us. The arrival of Jesus Christ in the world, once
again. The next morning, Christmas morning, Bishop Russell will join us as both
celebrant and preacher. He has selected for the gospel passage that morning the
most beautiful hymn of all. The opening verses of the Gospel of John. This exquisite
hymn in just a few stanzas tells the whole nativity story in language that clearly
speaks to the reality and purpose of God incarnate among us. Jesus’ presence among
us as the Word of God that, if followed, shines a light in the darkness of our
lives and prepares the way for salvation.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
“To all that received him, who
believed in his name, he gave power to become the children of God, who were
born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
My friends in this all too brief
period of Advent we are privy to the most powerful stories in the New Testament.
Stories that bring to life the context in which Jesus entered our world. Stories
that proclaim God’s intent in sending his Son to be among us. Without these
stories there would be no New Testament, no scripture as we know it. There
would be no Christmas Eve; no Christmas Day.
It is in quietly and repeatedly reflecting
upon the powerful words delivered in these stories that the miracle of the
Nativity, the miracle of Jesus among us emerges and begins to seep into our
minds and touch our hearts in ways that are life changing. It is through these
stories that we understand fully the context of how God came into the world
through the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. It is through understanding,
accepting, and living into this miraculous gift of God’s Word, God incarnate
among us, that we become his beloved children.
My point today is to underscore the context of Jesus’ complex birth story and to take seriously John the Baptist’s words of warning, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The nativity story, Christmas
carols on Christmas eve and festivities filled with presents, good food shared
with family, and friends on Christmas Day can easily eclipse the story of John
the Baptist and his prophetic voice announcing the arrival of God incarnate
into our lives. A story that began with a messenger sent by God, the angel
Gabriel. A story that was filled with it the power of the Holy Spirit. A story
of two women, one young and one elderly, whose wombs were filled through the
power of the Holy Spirit to give us the gift of Jesus, God incarnate, and the
powerful and courageous voice of a prophet, John the Baptist.
The Nativity Story is an
incredible story. It is a story that is at the same time both understandable
and ineffable, overwhelming, and indescribable.
It is the story of God’s
miraculous gift to us. A gift given in love. A gift given in the hope that it
will be received in love. A gift meant to bring peace on earth and good will
among all men.
John’s sudden emergence from the
wilderness with all its disruption in the lives of those who heard his voice
was, and is, a wake-up call for us – a disrupting wake-up call in the life of the
St. Simon’s community and for all other communities in the world.
John is not some crazy fellow
wandering around in the wilderness with no purpose, shouting out nonsense, and
eating strange food. John the Baptist is a holy man sent from God to announce
the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry – his Word and his gift of baptism by
the Holy Spirit. John was sent by God to disrupt our lives and to warn us that
we must take care. John alerts us to the saving grace of God’s gift of the Word:
the Way, the Truth, the Light. A Word to which we must pay close attention, for
it is only in paying attention that we will experience the way and the light;
that we will find the way to peace on earth and good will to all men.
Words cannot through any stretch
of the imagination adequately describe the story of Jesus’ arrival as it
unfolds in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. Words are useless when attempting
to express the miracle of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, as he comes into our
lives and lives among us – there are none. However, we can in the coming weeks spend
time reflecting upon the gift of Christmas Eve, the birth of the Christ child,
God incarnate among us. We can listen for John’s cry as he emerges from the
wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” We
can focus on bringing that gift given in love to our community and to the
world. It leaves me breathless – how
about you?
