"Who You Know Is What You Need to Know" Fourth Sunday in Advent Rorate Coeli Commemoration of Thomas, Apostle December 21, 2014 John 1:19–28
The Pharisees had a good thing going. They had a power base going with running the religion of the Jews. It’s hard to fault the Pharisees and very likely most God-fearing Jews didn’t. The Pharisees were good people. How they ran the religion was good for society in general and how they lived their lives individually was often very good for others’ lives individually. The Pharisees had a successful religion because it was a religion based in what could be measured and obtained. It was a religion in a what. What you know and what you do. Now John the Baptist shows up. The Pharisees are aware that there’s a prophet out in the desert. He’s preaching. He’s Baptizing. He’s dressed a little bit like Elijah, the famous prophet of old and who wore camel’s hair for clothing and ate wild locusts and honey for dinner. This prophet out there is gaining a lot of attention and so the Pharisees sent out some priests and Levites to check him out. Who does he say he is? Is he out there gathering crowds in order to let the world know that He is the Christ, the Messiah? If so, the Pharisees need to put a stop to it before things get out of hand. They find John confessing exactly the opposite of what they expect. Far from stuck on himself and wanting to gather attention for himself, they find him humble. To the point of annoyance. Are you the Christ? No. Are you Elijah who is to come? No. Are you the Prophet who was promised that will be greater than the prophet Moses? No. What then? Anything? If you are not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet, why are you doing what you are doing? Why are you gathering such a following? Why are you baptizing people? There’s got to be a reason you are doing the things you are doing. And there is. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. I’m the one who was promised by Isaiah to prepare the coming of the Lord. John confesses who he is not. He is not the Messiah. In his humility he can’t even make the claim that he is the one prophesied that is the Elijah who is to come. Jesus Himself will make that claim for John. And he’s certainly not the great Prophet who will replace Moses. But he doesn’t leave them hanging. They want to know who he is, he tells them who he is. He confesses that he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. This is why he is doing what he is doing. He is a voice, a proclaimer. He is preaching and Baptizing. And he is doing these things, as the prophecy of Isaiah foretold, out in the desert, a voice crying in the wilderness. The reason he has come as a voice crying in the wilderness, as the prophecy of Isaiah goes on to foretell, is to make straight the way of the Lord. This is why he is here doing the things he is doing. They were asking John who he was but what they were really after was a what. They wanted to know what he was all about. What he was doing was infringing on their religion. Their religion wasn’t based on a who but a what. It was centered in God but in what they needed to know and what they needed to do. That’s why they interrogated John the Baptist. We need to find out what you’re all about so that we can show how you’re going against proper religion and shut you down. They knew the same Scriptures John the Baptist knew. How was it that they came to the conclusion that religion is about what you know and what you do and John came to the conclusion that it is about who you know? It is because he saw in the Scriptures God revealing Himself in those very Scriptures, not as a knowledge to be gained but as Himself coming to us in the Person of His Son. This brought John to his second confession to the religious delegation: the one I am paving the way for, I am unworthy to untie the straps of His sandals. I am simply a voice. How is it that we spend so much time in our life trying to figure out what we need to know and what we need to do instead of just knowing who God is? That’s what John said to those religious leaders, there is one in the midst of you who you do not know. That’s the key, knowing the one who is in the midst of us. It is Jesus. You can’t know Him by getting all the answers right or doing all the right things. You know Him by trusting in Him that He is your Savior and your entire religion. Who He is is the one you need to know, not the one who tells you what you need to know. This is what John means by saying that he is a voice in the wilderness. A voice cries out. A voice proclaims. The voice crying in the wilderness proclaimed not information but a who. A person who was flesh and blood just like him. Just like we are. God is Spirit, that is, He is a spiritual being. But He came in the flesh. He has revealed Himself to us in the person of a man who was born of a woman and who lived on earth. The voice crying in the wilderness comes to straighten the path. The way needs to be prepared. What mountains need to be brought low? What valleys need to be raised up? When your religion is based on a what and not a who you look at the Ten Commandments and you congratulate yourself on how well you keep them. Murder? Check. Haven’t unlawfully taken the life of an innocent person. Adultery? Check. Haven’t had an extra-marital affair. Stealing? Check. Haven’t taken anything from anyone else. And you keep going through each commandment so that you can see yourself for the good person you know you are. This was how the Pharisees saw themselves. John came in, though, showing the Person behind the Commandments. It is God Himself. God is not interested in what you know or how good of a show you put on before other people. He sees straight into your heart. He hears the thoughts of your mind, what you really think of other people, what you really would like to do to them, what you really would rather have instead of what God has given you. These are hindrances to true religion because they block you from God Himself. They obstruct the Lord's way, which takes comfort and pride, as Luther describes it, “in spiritual conceit and pharisaical pride, which thinks highly of its own life and good works, feels secure, does not condemn itself, and would remain uncondemned by another.” It’s too bad the Pharisees wanted to know who John was instead of the one John came to point them to. Jesus was the one they didn’t know but needed to know. John was a voice in the wilderness, but that was about it. He wasn’t worthy to untie the straps of Jesus’ sandals. It’s ironic, being as Jesus Himself came in humility. But He came as the Lord of all, meaning He came as the Savior. He came to stand before His Heavenly Father. The astonishing thing is, He did so as a sinner. Not because He sinned, He didn’t. Because He took the Pharisees’ sins, John the Baptist’s sins, your sins, my sins, and everyone’s sins on Himself. He took them on Himself and died with them on the cross. This is what you know about God. Not what He demands of you or expects you to know. Who He is. How He has shown you who He is in His Son. How He loves you and forgives you and gives you far greater confidence in eternal life than you could ever achieve if you were to rely on yourself. Instead of seeing the Commandments as things you need to know and do, knowing your Lord transforms them into ways you serve Him by serving others. What you need to know is not what you need to know. Who you know is what you need to know. And you know who you need to know. It is Christ—crucified, risen, alive forever. You are alive forever with Him. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net 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] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
