Let us pray, drawing words from our Epistle reading today: “May the God of peace sanctify us entirely...for the one who calls us is faithful. AMEN.”
Last week we read the message of John the Baptist, as told in the Gospel of Mark. I didn’t preach on it (I preached on the Isaiah lesson), but I’ll tell you now: the thrust of John the Baptist’s message in Mark is this: REPENT. John the Baptist, with Isaiah and Mary and Micah, are Advent prophets. And we actually get two weeks of two perspectives on John the Baptizer this season...
This week, the Third Sunday of Advent, in the Gospel of John, the word “repent” doesn’t appear at all! It’s a different thrust completely. In fact, baptism, in the Gospel of John, has far less to do with REPENTANCE, and everything to do with revealing God’s love, like shining a spotlight on Jesus. John himself only wishes to “testify” to God’s love. John certainly baptizes, but he does so for the sole purpose of making Christ known…and in so doing tells us all who he is not—John the baptist is not the Messiah. If we’re in the Gospel of John, especially, I actually like to call him John the Pointer.
John proclaims, even to us today, that the Messiah position has already been filled. In other words, God is God, so we don’t have to be.
I have a friend who was called to a church some years ago – and when she came she was greeted with wide open arms, like she walked on water. You see, she was highly qualified. She’ll probably be a bishop one day. She has the kind of solid theological training, the kind of compassion and passion for God’s people that any congregation would envy. And this congregation knew it. You see, the congregation, like many others, had been through years of decline, and so they were very excited to have her with them! In fact, she actually had somebody refer to her, shortly after she arrived, as “the Messiah” — the one who would save them. My friend very quickly assured them that that position had already been filled…and that that was good news.
Siblings in Christ, whether we live or whether we die, we belong to God. Our salvation does not depend on us. Jesus has already filled the Messiah position. (That’s good Advent news; that points us to the meaning of Christmas.) Jesus has filled the Messiah position...and now our job is to be about proclaiming that, like John, giving testament to that good news, shining the spotlight on the manger.
(As a little bodily preaching prep this week, I brought a new spotlight from home, to shine more light on our weathering manger out front. It’s another way of pointing.)
John the Baptist teaches us that lesson today. Our call is to go and do likewise, giving our egos a little reality check, and proclaiming this Advent season, not who we are, but who we are not. And shining the spotlight, pointing to the Christ, born in Bethlehem.
We do that by our actions. Francis of Assisi famously said “preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” How might we proclaim that the Messiah position has already been filled…with our actions?
I heard a story once about a missionary in India. He had been sent there by a Christian organization in the United States, who was sponsoring him. And after many years of trying to start a Christian church in a primarily Hindu culture, he finally realized that his missionary attempts weren’t getting any traction. He called to inform his sponsors of where things were at. They understood, and plans were made for his return home. As it turned out his departure date was scheduled for December 26th. And so he would be there for Christmas Day, on the western coast of India, in the midst of a deeply Hindu people and culture. The missionary decided he wanted to throw a Christmas party before he left. So he set up tables and chairs in the center of the marketplace. Then he took all of his remaining funds from his sponsoring organization, and bought as much rice and bread and milk as he could. Hundreds of dollars, which is what he had remaining from his years in India, can buy a lot of rice and bread and milk, in that part of the world, at that time.
It was a wonderful party as you can imagine—a Christian man sharing and eating among the poor in a distant land. The next day, he packed up his things, and climbed aboard the ship that would eventually bring him home.
When he arrived back in the United States, his sponsoring organization quickly found out what he had done with the remaining funds.
They were furious. “How could you have done that? It was a failed mission. And in the end, no one became Christian. They’re not even Christian!” The man listened to the board of directors and calmly responded. “But I am, and it is the Christian story that I am sharing on Christmas Day.” [pause] Like John the Baptist, he remembered that he was who he was for the sole purpose of making Christ known. Friends, we are who we are for the sole purpose of making Christ known.
And who is Christ to which we point? He is the one of whom Isaiah sings: He is the one who brings good news to the oppressed, who binds up the brokenhearted, who proclaims liberty to the captives, the cancellation of debts, gladness instead of morning, life instead of death! The one to whom John points, the one on whom we shine the spotlight with our lives, is Christ Jesus...who loves justice and peace, who restores all the earth with shoots of green that spring up, who welcomes and includes everyone, who forgives and embraces and feeds and shelters and comforts all...
Siblings in Christ, we are invited again today to reflect and respond to the gift of who we are—forgiven followers, proclaimers, spotlight-shiners, pointers to Jesus...through our words and actions.
And siblings in Christ, we celebrate this Advent morn who we are not—the Messiah, who is with us now and loves us still, who is faithful and will not ever let us go. May that peace sanctify us entirely this day and always. AMEN.
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