One You Do Not Know
Third Sunday in Advent
December 14, 2008
John 1:6-8, 19-28
"among you stands one you do not know"
The murder mysteries where everyone is in a mansion and no one can
leave are fascinating. Everyone knows that one among them is the
murderer, but no one knows who it is. John the Baptist said to the
religious leaders that they did not know the one among them he was
pointing them to. It was mystery. A mystery that was about to be
revealed. We know who He is. They didn't. But that's why John the
Baptist was there.
How do we know who Jesus is? The way we know is that He comes among
us. No one can know who Jesus is apart from Him being among them. It
is impossible for you to know Jesus apart from Him coming to you in
His Word and Sacraments.
John the Baptist's interaction with the religious leaders raises
questions about Jesus, even though we who know who He is. How do we
know who He is? Is there anything about what John the Baptist says to
the religious leaders—who didn't know who Jesus was—that applies to
us? If so, how? What do we need to do in order for us to fully know
Him?
Reason won't help here. There is no proof that Jesus is who He says He
is. Many people heard John's proclamation and repented and were
Baptized. Many did not. Both groups, though, did not know who Jesus
was. John was the one who came to tell them. To point the way. John
the apostle says that John the Baptist was "a man sent from God." For
all the crowds knew, he was just another eccentric preacher. For all
the religious leaders knew, he was just another pretender.
There was nothing about John that made him special as the Messenger of
Jesus Christ, the voice crying in the wilderness. It's not that he was
a powerful preacher, or that he was different, or that he had the
credentials. No, it was nothing like that. It was simply that he was
sent from God. It was nothing more than that he preached the Word of
God. It was nothing else than that he pointed the way to Jesus.
John the Baptist is sent from God. He might have been tempted to think
highly of himself for that fact. But being sent from God he realized
that it really wasn't important who he was. It was all-important who
the Christ was that he came to point to. The religious leaders wanted
him to talk about himself, they wanted to know who he was. But, nope,
that's not what he wanted to talk about. That's not why he was sent.
I'll tell you who I'm not. And I'll tell you about another person you
do not know.
When John came on the scene no one knew who Jesus was. What does it
mean to know Jesus? We cannot know Jesus apart from His revealing
Himself to us. That is why He has come among us. We celebrate His
birth at Bethlehem for the reason He was born at Bethlehem. Joseph and
Mary knew their son. But did they really know Him? Did they look down
at their cute little baby and see God? Did they know He was the
Promised Savior who would suffer for the sin of the world?
We can't get into the minds of those people back then. What we know is
what we know. And we know who Jesus is. But do we look at the things
He's given us and shrug them off as insignificant? Do we hear His Word
as simply a nice message? Do we treat our Baptism as something that
happened to us so long ago—and we're glad it did—but we're not sure
what impact it has on our lives day to day? Do we take the Lord's
Supper for granted, much the way we take many of our meals?
If you are staying away from the Gospel, if you are ignoring your
Baptism, if you pass off the Sacrament as merely a ritual, you do not
know Christ. These are the only ways you can know Him because these
are the only ways He is among you. The religious leaders questioning
John not only didn't know Jesus, but when they were met with Him in
the flesh they rejected Him.
What about us? We can handle the baby Jesus in the manger, the healing
and preaching Jesus, the suffering Jesus on the cross, and certainly
the Jesus who rose from the dead —but what do we make of the Jesus who
comes among us in words and water and bread and wine? Is it really
Him? It is really the Incarnate God, Jesus, coming to us in those
simple ways? Is He really delivering to us in that Word and those
Sacraments forgiveness of our sin and eternal salvation? Is He
actually coming among us in those means, uniting Himself with us in
those ways?
John would say yes. The one he pointed to would say yes. God's Word
says yes. All who point to Jesus say yes, who preach that very same
Gospel of one among you who is your Savior. And, yes, you do know Him.
You know Him because He is among you. Because He dwells among you in
the flesh in His Word and in His Sacraments. You know Him because He
knows you and dwells among you. You know Him because He has claimed
you as His own in His Gospel, coming to you in your Baptism, coming to
you in the Supper He prepares for you. You know Him because you have
come to see as John the Baptist did that it's not about you but always
about the one he pointed to.
Jesus knew that when He came He would be rejected by many. That didn't
stop Him from coming. John stayed the course when they tried to steer
him off course. There's a reason God sent John. To show people the
among-you-ness of the Gospel. That God sends people in the flesh to
bring about salvation. John, coming to people to point them to the
One. The One Himself coming in flesh, among us, to be the Gospel
incarnate. Coming in the flesh to suffer in the flesh—His body
sacrificed, His blood shed. Coming in the flesh in your very life, as
you live and breathe by every Word that comes from the mouth of God;
the flowing water of life in your Baptism; the Body of Christ
sustaining you, His Blood coursing through your veins. He is among you
and knows you, even as you know Him. The one among you will come again
in glory that you may be with Him in glory forever. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.blogspot.com
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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