Historian David Barton has an interesting discussion in an article entitled “Christmas—as Celebrated by the Presidents.” Barton writes,
Even though Christmas did not become a national holiday until 1870, it has a centuries old history in America. Interestingly, in colonial America, the southern regions that were more directly linked to High-Church traditions (e.g., Anglicans, Catholics, Episcopalians) celebrated Christmas; but the northern regions especially linked to Low-Church traditions (e.g., Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers) did not. Those Low-Church colonists associated the pomp and grandeur of Christmas celebrations directly with the autocratic leaders and monarchs in Europe that they so opposed. Massachusetts therefore passed an anti-Christmas law in 1659, and it was not until the 1830s and 1840s that Christmas celebrations became accepted in New England (although as late as 1870, a student missing school on Christmas Day in Boston public schools could be punished or expelled). But by the 1880s, Christmas celebrations were finally accepted across the country and began to appear at the White House. For example: in 1889, the first indoor decorated tree was placed in the White House, and in 1895, electric lights were added. In 1923, the first National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony was held. . . . In 1953, the first White House Christmas card was created by President Dwight Eisenhower. . . . Christmas was celebrated by our national leaders as a religious holiday, not the secular holiday it has become. For example, every Christmas Eve, President Teddy Roosevelt and his family would pile into the family sleigh (later the motor car) and travel to a Christmas service at Christ Church in Oyster Bay, New York. Following the pastor’s sermon, Teddy would deliver one of his famous “sermonettes” on the true meaning of Christmas and then close the service with one of his favorite hymns, “Christmas By the Sea.” President Franklin Roosevelt would set up and decorate a tree on Christmas Eve, gather the family round him, and either read Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” or recite it from memory.
Barton’s article comes against the backdrop of many in America pushing back against Christmas. But as Barton’s article suggests, we can find encouragement in the fact that our predecessors were not shy about celebrating Christmas. In our Gospel text this morning we consider an important predecessor of Jesus. We’ll entitle the sermon The Predecessor from God.
Luke introduces Jesus’ predecessor John the Baptist in our text by addressing him as the son of Zechariah. In order to understand who John is, we first have to look at who his father Zechariah is. For this we have to go back to the beginning of Luke’s Gospel. The first account in Luke’s Gospel is that of Zechariah in the temple in Jerusalem. It’s as if Luke’s Gospel is picking up right where the Old Testament left off. As the Old Testament concluded there were priests serving in the modest rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. They were awaiting the coming of the long-awaited Messiah, and the prophesies that accompanied their service indicated that his coming was getting near. So it is that at the beginning of Luke Zechariah steps right into this story. But there’s more to the story now for Zechariah than there was for those living at the end of Old Testament times. Many of you probably remember well that I believe that the Gospel of Luke has three main parts. The first part is centered in Galilee, the second part contains a journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, and the third part is holy week in Jerusalem. If this is the case, why does Luke begin his Gospel right in the heart of Jerusalem at the temple? Why doesn’t he begin way up north in Galilee? The answer to this question is that The Predecessor from God. Although Zechariah is in Jerusalem, the greater reality is that Luke places Jerusalem on a Roman map. Thus Luke introduces Zechariah by saying “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah.” Herod was a Roman King approved by Augustus Caesar himself. Zechariah steps into a large and cosmopolitan Roman world. Here there are multitudes of people, people all created by God. Zechariah is in the presence of God is in fact the chief point of this account. Zechariah is offering incense on the altar of incense just outside of the inner room of the temple; he was in the presence of God, and in fact this was the closest that he could get to the presence of God in the holy of holies. And as he is serving, the angel Gabriel is sent to speak with him from heaven. A little later in the account Gabriel identifies himself by saying, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” And while Zechariah is in Jerusalem, the greater reality is that he is in the Roman Empire among multitudes of people, and the greatest reality is that all of these people have been created and served by God. And Luke’s Gospel associates God being the creator of all people with the term Galilee than the term Jerusalem. So John the Baptist, whose conception is brought about in connection with his father Zechariah being in the presence of God, is a man sent from God (as John’s Gospel puts it [John 1:6]); or as is more fitting for Luke, he is The Predecessor from God.
We return now to our text from Luke 3. Here we see further confirmation that John the Baptist is The Predecessor from God. For example, just before introducing John, Luke rattles off a lengthy list of Roman rulers, including Tiberius Caesar himself. In this way John is associated with the Roman empire in such a way that John is associated with multitudes of people and even more so with the God who has made and served these people. And a little later in the text we see that after baptizes all the region around the Jordan River, including the area east of the Jordan that historically was Gentile rather than Jewish, we hear Luke quote the prophet Isaiah saying that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God”—not just Jewish flesh but all flesh made by God in heaven. Again John is from God the Creator. As the text continues, John warns the people not to trust in being descended from Abraham, which is what the Jews at the time prided themselves on. And then something fascinating can be seen in the groups of people that ask John what they should do in connection with being baptized by him. What is striking is how these people seem to have Gentile vocations. Tax collectors, those who collect taxes for Caesar, ask John what to do, and Jesus tells them to not collect more than they’re supposed to. Then “soldiers” also ask John what to do. One imagines here a centurion from the Roman army. John tells them to not extort money and be content with their wages. It’s as if John is teaching these seemingly Gentile people the Ten Commandments for the first time. There’s something penitential about the text, as these people who either don’t know God or don’t God very well will soon know him a lot better in Jesus. This is true even of John the Baptist himself. John was penitential from birth as Gabriel instructed Zechariah that John was not to drink wine or strong drink in his life and apparently be what the Scriptures call a Nazirite. And even when God sent John to baptize people, John did so in the wilderness and only knew who Jesus was, not the contours of what Jesus would do.
How are these things applicable for us here today. Well, the first and main thing I think we should contemplate is how God has worked in our lives. As we look at John bringing the gospel from God to these people, many of whom seemed to know very little about God, we should recall that there was a time when we were like them, not knowing God. And even if we were baptized when we were infants, we can remember various times where we really didn’t feel like we understood God very well. We suffered the devastating effects of original sin. We felt within us that we didn’t trust God very well. We felt within us that we didn’t care about others very well. We knew there was a problem in our life, and we came to know that God was the answer. And we cried out like those around John, “What about us? What should we do?” And God’s response was to teach us about his will, to teach us about his love for us and all people. He taught us his ways, and pointed us to the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We had the advantage of Jesus already having revealed himself in this world. All those Christians around us who introduced us to God as Predecessors from God could point us to Christ as the final and best revelation of God. Those who preceded us pointed us to God the Creator and to his Son who revealed his goodness in an ultimate way through the cross. They brought us to Baptism and taught us to pray and trust in our Baptism, for God would take care of us, just as God took care of the crowds gathered around John and soon pointed them to Jesus and his work.
The other main thing we can learn from our text in this advent season is that we should strive to be The Predecessor from God for others. As we reflect on how there was a time when we didn’t know God and times when we didn’t know him well and yet God took care of us through our predecessors, may we be encouraged by God’s love and strive to reach out to others. For there are many around us who don’t know God. And there are many around us who don’t know God well. There are many who are stuck in the inescapable maze of original sin. No matter how they strive to reform their lives, no matter what they do, there is no escape. They cry out in exasperation “What about us, what shall we do?” May we like John the Baptist in our text give them the answer. May we teach them to learn about God and his good will for this world. May we serve them and show them that God is faithful to his promises. Even though there may seem to be now way out of their own sin and death, God does provide a way. May we encourage them in the knowledge that Christ will come to them in time. He will make things clear, clearer than they ever thought possible. The maze will be removed, the crooked way shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways. As we marvel at all of the various predecessors from God that brought us to him, may we also do our small parts to be The Predecessor from God for others.
