12.17.23 John 1:6–8 (EHV)
6 There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.
There Once Was a Man Named John
Some people are just larger than life. They walk into a room and you can’t help but notice them and gravitate towards them. Sometimes they are called the life of the party.
John the Baptist wasn’t the life of the party. But he was in some senses a larger than life figure. You couldn’t help but notice him, even before he was born. Announced by the angel Gabriel, who then struck Zechariah’s tongue so that he couldn’t speak until he wrote those words on the tablet, “His name is John.” Predestined to have faith even in the womb, leaping for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. Luke writes of his miraculous birth, born to Elizabeth who was beyond child bearing years. 30 years later he comes onto the scene wearing camel hair and eating locusts, living out in deserted areas. Everybody knew who John was. You couldn’t miss him, even out in the desert. He was so well known and impressive that many people thought that he might be the Christ.
Throughout the years many have tried to emulate John by living out in the desert and living in communes, wearing rough clothing, living as hermits and in communes. But it’s kind of like the Elvis impersonators, they just don’t quite cut it. There was only one Elvis, and there was only one John. And John didn’t want to be imitated, for us to put on John outfits every Advent, buying our children camel skin suits and chocolate covered locusts. He wasn’t trying to set a new fashion or trend. The clothes and the style of life were simply meant to draw a picture of repentance. Rough clothes for a rough heart. In contrast to the priests and the teachers of the law, he was not attached to the beauties and luxuries of this world. He wore the same clothing as Elijah and dwelt in the same type of region that the Israelites did as they journeyed for 40 years on the way to the Promised Land. This was John’s message and John’s calling, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, as prophesied by Malachi.
As attractive as John the Baptist was in his own ugly way, he didn’t want people to pay attention to him. He was meant more to be a bright blinking road sign pointing people ahead to a sharp curve so they don’t go over the edge. In today’s text, the apostle John follows John the Baptist’s lead in this gospel. He doesn’t say ANYTHING about John the Baptist’s clothing or his miraculous birth. This is all he says. There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. Simple enough. John was a man. Nothing earth shattering there. But there’s something to be said for simple. John wasn’t a superman. He wasn’t royalty. He wasn’t an angel either. Even with his miraculous birth, he was still just a man, a normal human being. Yet God chose him and God used him in a miraculous way, even though he didn’t perform any miracles that we know of - no chasing out of demons or raising the dead. Just a normal guy with abnormal clothes, baptizing people. Even I have done that.
But that’s the great thing about it. It shows us that God can work through anyone, and this is how God likes to work - through mothers and fathers and workers and children. He likes humans to do His divine work of clothing and feeding people, baptizing them and taking a part in their Christian education. You don’t have to be superhuman to do God’s work. He can work through a woman named Jane and a guy called Jerry. He even spoke through a donkey. So if you’re human, God can work through you too.
But there was something unique about John. He was on a specific mission from God, a divine mission, announced even before his birth, that he would prepare the way for the Lord. So much for free will in some senses. John didn’t have the option of being an officer or a farmer. He was born to be a preacher, that was it. It was foreordained for him. There was no question about it. Yet we don’t hear any complaints from John. “God made me be a prophet. I wanted to be a clothes designer and I got stuck in this camel hair.”
It must have been nice in some senses. He didn’t have to go to a career counselor and try to figure it out. He didn’t have to meander through life and go from one job to another, unsure of what he was meant to do. That happens in life. I can recall when I first started college there was only one guy who was dead sure that he wanted to be a pastor. Ironically, he was one of the many who didn’t make it. There were plenty of guys who decided against it. I wasn’t sure I was going to be a pastor, practically until I was a pastor. That’s the way life is more often than we think.
So that makes people unsure of their calling then. They feel worthless if God doesn’t call from heaven and say, “I have ordained you to be a plumber. I have called you to get married at age 23 and have three children.” It doesn’t work that way. So you end up looking back on your life in regret, wishing you had done something different, been something different, if only God had revealed it to you and made it clear. But in another sense life doesn’t have to be that difficult. Bloom where you’re planted. You may not want to be in the same position you are in right now, working your job for the rest of your life. But it doesn’t mean you can do the best that you can do to the glory of God right here and right now. Just because you may not like what you’re doing right now, and even if you may not be good at it or born for it, doesn’t mean that you should just quit and wait for something else to come.
When you think of John the Baptist, you might tend to think of a crazy eyed law preacher, wearing his camel hair and preaching about God having the ax at the root of the tree. But it’s interesting to hear the way John the apostle describes the Baptist’s mission. He came as an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him. His purpose wasn’t just to preach the law and tell people to repent. He ultimately wanted to point people to Jesus, so that they would have faith in Jesus as the Messiah. His baptism was also given with the promise of the forgiveness of sins. So far from being primarily a law guy, John was a gospel guy, a grace guy.
Actually, that’s what his name means. It may not be the flashiest sounding name in the world. But God didn’t just have him named John because He liked the sound of the name or because it was a popular name at the time. The name packs a beautiful punch. It means the LORD is gracious. God wanted to give people His grace through the ministry of John, so He specifically had John named John as a reflection of that purpose. John’s ministry was supposed to be one of grace, preparing the people for the LORD to come.
Wouldn’t we all want such a name, to have that be a part of our mission as well, as ministers of God’s grace. In the way you speak to the attendant at the bank or the drive thru, you want them to think of you as a kind and gracious person. You don’t want to be seen as an angry or disgruntled or bitter person. You want people to see the love of God coming from you in the way you speak and interact with them, no matter what your vocation. You want them to see John in you. Then maybe more people would want to find out about what makes you different.
How was John supposed to fulfill his mission? It wasn’t just by being a nice guy, a kind guy. It had to involve words. He came as an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. First John mentions that the Baptist was to be an eyewitness. This happened at Jesus’ baptism. He saw the dove come down and land on Jesus. He personally heard the Father speak from heaven. He told people about this experience, what he heard and saw. So the key wasn’t just seeing what he saw and hearing what he heard, but he also came to TESTIFY. John mentions it twice. He came to testify about the light. The Apostle Paul wrote, Faith comes from hearing the message. But if we don’t ever say anything to anyone, if we are too afraid of saying the wrong thing or being rejected, then how will anyone ever end up in church? How will anyone end up being saved if they remain in the dark?
It’s kind of an odd thing if you think about it, for John to testify about the light. You would think that a light testifies for itself. I mean, if you put a light in a dark room, it is obvious to see. I shouldn’t have to say to anyone, “Hey, look at the light.” But if the light isn’t in the room, or if the light is hidden, then a testimony would be needed, kind of like telling someone where the light switch is while walking in a dark room.
The Apostle John said some pretty amazing things about Jesus. He created the world and everything in it. He gives life to the world and everything in it. But the world didn’t recognize Him as the Creator. Why not?!? Because His glory was HIDDEN under His humanity. Jesus had to HIDE His glory in order to be seen by us. The only problem was that in HIDING His glory He didn’t look very GLORIOUS. He just looked like a normal man walking around. So that’s where John the Baptist had to come in. He had to tell people about who Jesus was and what He saw.
Since John had the special birth that everyone knew about, and since the people saw him as an obvious prophet from God, he had the attention of the people. Since they were listening to him, he had the opportunity to TESTIFY to them boldly and loudly who Jesus was and what they needed to do. He told them the truth about their sins. He told them to “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” But then he also had the joy and the ease of just pointing at Jesus and saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He was right there, walking on the same ground as John! “There! Go follow Him! He’s going to die, like a sacrificial Lamb, for the sins of the world.” God relied on John to fulfill his calling as the forerunner of Christ, so people would be ready for Jesus to come and see who He was when He came. John played an integral role in preparing the way for Jesus. People came into the desert and they were baptized into Christ!
We can be thankful for how God did it through John, because God still works the same way today. That’s what Advent is about. We want people to be ready for Jesus to come. God seems so distant from our world, so hidden. We witness sickness and death and war and fighting. We wonder, where is God in this mess? People don’t know where to look. But we do! So God depends on us to open our mouths and point to the Bible and say, “Look there in the manger. See that helpless baby? There’s your God! See that helpless man dying on the cross? There He is! Dying for you! See that empty grave? There He is, He’s risen from the dead! And now He’s ascended into heaven, and He’s coming again! Do you want to be ready for Jesus to come? Do you want to see Him and your loved ones in heaven? Repent. Be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Believe in Jesus to be saved!”
The same God who worked through John can and does work through us. The same God who commanded John to baptize commands us to baptize as well, and that baptism still works too! It doesn’t matter what your “job” is in this world as a plumber or a student or a banker. You still have a divine call from God. “Go into the world, and make disciples of all the nations, by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” You don’t have to wear camel hair. You don’t have to receive your own private revelation from God. The message remains the same, as we live in the same dark world. Whether your name is John, Fred, or Jane, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be John. You be you. You can read Bible stories to your children. You can invite people to church. You can give offerings to send out missionaries.
There once was a man named John. Jesus said there was no one greater. John was a unique and very blessed man, on a mission from God. But John didn’t want people to look at him. Blessed as he was, he was still just a man. He wanted people to look at the light of the world, the Creator, the Redeemer, the Lamb of God, God in the flesh. So he spoke to people. He testified to the truth.
It’s a sad thing as we witness so much sorrow in the world and so much heartache. People don’t know up from down anymore as they all proclaim their own truth, which is nothing but darkness. But here we have a message that can bring people joy, no matter what the circumstances. If you’re dealing with sickness, loneliness, death, job loss, hunger, you still have a God who loves you, who died for you. His name is Jesus, the Lamb of God. This is where joy is found. But if people don’t hear the message, if we don’t play the role of John and testify, they won’t have that joy. That’s what Advent is all about, talking about sin and grace, and pointing people to Jesus, the God in the crib who died on the cross. It started with a man named John, and it continues with a man, and a woman, named you. Amen.
