“Pointing to Jesus”
John 1:6-8, 19-29
Many thanks to Adam Hamilton’s book: “Prepare the Way for the Lord” for helping guide me in this sermon.
John the Baptist is famous for many things, but his most important role is to point away from himself and toward Jesus.
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, John points out Jesus as “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
And so, he gives insight, right at the very beginning of John’s Gospel, into how things will end and why.
Jesus will die a sacrificial death for the world's sins.
And sure enough, Jesus’ death occurs in the afternoon when the Passover lambs are killed in the Temple.
Jesus is the TRUE Passover Lamb, and John wants us to understand these things about Jesus as a new and better Exodus story.
Just as God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, God was now getting new people out of even older and darker slavery.
But who are these new people?
In the original Exodus story, Israel is rescued from the dark powers of the world, which in that case meant the Egyptians under Pharaoh.
But now, God’s Lamb is going to take away the sin of the world itself.
John 1:12-13 says: “to all who did receive him (referring to Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor human decision or a parent’s will, but born of God.”
This means everybody--not just those with a particular family tree or fantastic achievement.
Over and over in the Gospels, we see the ancient people of God, especially their rulers and self-appointed guardians of tradition, missing the meaning of what Jesus is doing, while people on the margins, outside the boundaries, get the point and find themselves forgiven, healed and born anew by God’s transforming love.
This is what John the Baptist wants us to get when he points Jesus out as God’s lamb, taking away the world’s sin.
People thought John the Baptist might be the Messiah, but he constantly said that he was not the one, but someone much more significant than he was on His way.
Nearly everyone respected and admired John, yet he was unwilling to point to himself.
In John Chapter 3, John’s disciples start getting jealous of Jesus.
They come running up to him saying, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
And I love John’s response.
He says: “He must become greater; I must become less.”
What if this were our goal in life?
Perhaps it is.
When we humble ourselves and point to Jesus through our actions, kindness, thoughts, prayers, words, and lives…this is when we are most happy…this is when we are most alive.
It quite literally is the fruit of our repentance…
…the reason we were created…
…the only thing that can truly satisfy us and enable us to live into whom we are supposed to be.
It is the answer to the problems of the world and the problems in our minds.
It frees us to be truly human and to love God and our fellow human beings.
Notice how John the Baptist is first described in John’s Gospel?
Verses 6-8 say, “There was a man sent from God named John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him, all might believe.
He was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”
One night I was awakened by the light of a full moon shining through my window in the middle of the night.
It was bright enough to see our yard outside by its light.
I’ve been told that if you look at the moon through a telescope and the right lens, you can see the mountains on the moon, the edges of the craters, and even the American flag—okay, not the American flag, but fantastic views of the mountains and craters.
But if you do this, you must use a specific filter.
If you don’t have a filter on the lens, you’ll hurt your eyes if you look too long because the moon is so bright.
Yet the moon doesn’t produce light; it only reflects it.
This was the role of John the Baptist.
And this is to be our role as well.
In our Gospel lesson, something extraordinary is happening.
God is coming to deliver, rescue, ransom, and redeem humankind.
To make Himself known to us.
To show us mercy and grace and to offer us eternal life.
John came to testify about this light, to witness to Christ’s light, to announce that the kingdom of heaven was near, that someone more significant than he was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
He came to call people to change their hearts and minds to prepare for the coming of the King, the Light of the world; the Word made flesh.
Think of the darkness our world has been living through over the last few years.
Darkness was us watching a million Americans die of COVID-19 and the social isolation that the virus brought, and we still haven’t gotten fully over it.
The world became polarized over masks, school closings, and vaccines.
Racial uprisings and political divisions are driving families apart, along with churches and communities.
The darkness is school shootings, mass shootings, and missiles attacking cities in Ukraine.
The darkness is suicide, the second largest cause of death among young people.
We need that Light of Christ, “the true light that shines on all people.”
But Christ, the Light has come; two thousand years ago, He came.
Our job, as His Church…as those who put our trust in Him, is to reflect His light—bear witness to His light.
It’s to live as those who have heard John’s message, asking God to change our hearts and minds and living differently in response.
It is to bear fruit worthy of repentance.
That’s what we talked about last week.
It’s what John was inviting us to do when the crowds asked, “What does it look like to repent? To prepare the way for the Lord?”
And John replied, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, we are told that the leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he is, and John shifts the questions about who he is to who Jesus is.
“I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,” John declares, “make straight the way for the Lord.”
“I baptize with water, but one you do not know stands among you. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
John the Baptist is the voice from the margins, from the wilderness, called to point to Jesus.
And, when you think about it, John has been doing this his entire life.
In Luke, we are told that when Mary, pregnant with John’s cousin Jesus, entered Elizabeth’s home, John leaped in his mother’s womb.
And because of this, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and “In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!’”
You are blessed, indeed.
Each year on Christmas Eve, we end the worship service by singing “Silent Night” out on the front steps of the building.
By the time we are done singing, the candlelight has been passed to everyone, and the area is filled with light.
The front of the building had been pitch dark just a few moments before.
One small candle appeared, representing the baby born in Bethlehem.
But as we each accept the light, a miracle occurs.
The front area is filled with light.
The light.
This is God’s strategy for pushing back the darkness in the world.
And when we come to believe and begin to bear the fruit of repentance, we accept His light and seek to reflect His light.
We are called to let our light shine before others so they will see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven.
This is the last of a four-part sermon series highlighting John the Baptist.
I want to invite every one of us to follow in the footsteps of John before I close.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Last year it was reported that for the first time in as long as anyone could remember, the number of Americans who were members of a church dropped below 50 percent—down from 76 percent just a few decades ago.
Many who aren’t involved in the church have faith in God and profess to be spiritual but not religious.
Most might attend a candlelight Christmas Eve Service if someone they know, respect, and value would invite them.
Many people have come to or returned to faith because someone invited them to church.
I wonder if God is calling each one of us to be His messenger, His witness, to prepare the way of the Lord by inviting someone to Christmas Eve Worship?
There may be someone in your sphere of influence or a bunch of people you might invite to join you for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service here this year.
So many times, people say they can’t come to the worship service because they have family or friends in town.
Why not ask them to come?
How might their lives be different if you invited them and they said yes?
We’re meant to testify to the light with our actions and by our words in witness and invitation.
Your mission, my mission, like John’s, is to testify to the light.
How will we testify to the light this Christmas?
How will we prepare the way for the Lord to enter people’s hearts?
Let us pray:
Lord God, We thank You for sending John the Baptist to prepare the way from Your entrance into our world.
Enable us to follow his example by inviting others, by our lives, and by our words to help prepare folks to welcome You into their lives.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake, we pray.
Amen.
