I think I'm getting a preaching voice

John 1:6-8, 19-28
Advent 3B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN

How do you witness about your faith? How do you testify about what Jesus has done for you?
Do you witness about your faith? Do people know that you’re a Christian?

One way you witness about your faith is by coming to church. You’re here this morning. You aren’t at a football game, you’re not out eating breakfast at a restaurant, or you’re not at home. People you know are probably aware that you go to church on Sunday mornings. Thus, you testify that your faith is important enough to set aside specific time to worship and gather with other believers.

What else? Perhaps you pray for friends and family. If someone is ill or experiencing some sort of crisis or loss you might tell her that you will pray for her. That simple statement is testimony that you have a relationship with God and that you believe that you can intercede in behalf of your friend and help her because of who you believe God to be and how he acts in the world.

The Greek word for witness is martyr. As you know, Christianity has not been, and is not in some places, acceptable. It is illegal or misunderstood or simply unaccepted. This can give rise to persecution of people who still try to practice Christianity. In the ancient church there are stories of men and women who refused to denounce their faith. They testified that they believed in Jesus Christ and because of that belief they were killed. They were martyred- they are witnesses.

Would you die for your faith?


In today’s gospel reading we again encounter John.
John who isn’t immediately designated as John the Baptist but simply as John, as one who came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

John is the first person who points toward Jesus, who stands a sign who proclaims that Jesus is coming into the world.

John’s testimony also points to something else. A witness, or one’s testimony is not to be confused with the real thing, with the real person the testimony is about.

There were many who believed that John was a prophet like Moses or Elijah, or that he himself was the messiah. There are those in this world who believe that their witness, that their faith in God and relationship with God means more than just pointing to the one who saves us, to the one who brings good news in the world and effects change. There is the danger that we might think of ourselves as the one who has the power to save or the power to condemn or the power to effect change rather than standing as a witness and allowing the one who does effect change to do so in and through us.

But, John did not succumb to this danger. John confessed the truth.
I am not the Messiah, he said.
John said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord,' " as the prophet Isaiah said.

When the power of God is revealed, when the presence of Christ is in our midst, our job is not to stand gaping and in awe- though we may very well do that. Our job is to get out of the way, to see God at work and to point to what God has done. Otherwise we bar the way for others to access God.

And that’s what John does. John stands out of the way. John isn’t obliterated from the story, John is still important for the story to happen- but he stands aside, he is not the central character, he is one who points to the truth, to the word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

26 John answered the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal."

John was baptizing because God determined that Jesus should be baptized by John so that Jesus would be revealed to the world. And although it’s not in today’s reading- the story continues- and John describes how he saw the spirit of God descend up on Jesus at his baptism. John claims, “I myself did not know him but the one who sent to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God"

The first one to publicly claim Jesus as the Son of God is John the Baptist.
A human being declares it in the gospel of John, not God not a demon as in other gospels, but an ordinary, chosen by God, man. Perhaps even some might describe as a lunatic- but he is the first one who witnesses to the truth about who Jesus is.

And even as John points to Jesus and our eyes focus upon him we see that as much as Jesus is the Son of God and as much as Jesus has done for the sake of the world- Jesus himself stands as a witness, Jesus himself testifies and points to one greater than he, he points to the one who sent him, to the Father in heaven who sends Jesus to reconcile the world to him self.

For God so loved the world that he sent his only son, not to condemn the world, but so that all those who believed in him might have eternal life.

The son- Jesus- who is sent by God for you and for me, for the sake of the world- who at the same time is the word made flesh- the Word that has existed from the beginning, the word that was with God, that word that is God. God himself has put on flesh to live and dwell among us, to be in relationship with us, to restore the world to life.

How do you witness to that? Do you stand out of the way, do you let the truth speak for itself?
The gospel of John begins with the witness and testimony of John the Baptist- one man who sees Jesus for who he is and claims it, claims the truth, even to the religious authorities who had the power to arrest him and put him to death.

And the gospel narrative itself stands as a witness- the stories, the characters, the signs that Jesus performs, these are all witnesses to the truth of who Jesus who, to the truth of how God is breaking in and acting in the world. The story itself points to the truth, it makes the way straight to the Lord.

And why? Why do we need witness and testimony about the truth- a truth and reality that at one level seems so basic. God created, God loves, and God will sustain the world- and he does this primarily through the person, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is it so hard for us to believe this? Why is it so difficult for us to proclaim this, to testify the truth when we hear it over and over and over again?

For the simple reason, that like those priests and Levites from Jerusalem, it is difficult to wrap your head around the idea that there is one who- though John the Baptist is unworthy to stoop down and untie his sandal- who takes on human flesh, who lives as an itinerant, poor preacher, who brings good news to the poor and downtrodden, who condemns the principalities and powers of the world, who is then crucified by those same principalities and powers, who is the son of God. Who is the one whom God sent as savior and Lord, savior and Lord who serves and asks us to serve one another, to serve the world, to get out of the way and to point toward the one who brings light and salvation and life to the world.

But it is true. This one whom John proclaims, whom we worship, is the one who is the light and life of the world, the one for whom we wait, the one for whom we anticipate, the one for whom we step out of the way and make his path straight so that the world might know him, so that the desperate needy ones of this world will see him and have life.

Thanks be to God for the testimony and witness of John the Baptist who points the way toward Christ. AMEN