Third Sunday in Advent, 2011
Place: St. Paul, Janesville
Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28

In the name of our Lord and Savior dear fellow Christians:

With all the rush of the 30 or so days between Thanksgiving and Christmas there hardly seems as if there is any time to get into the “Christmas spirit.” But just what exactly is Christmas spirit? When we are younger we become energized by the building excitement that surrounds Christmas. Trees go up. Presents appear under the tree. Homes are decorated. For a child Christmas is the most special of the year. But as we grow older, it often becomes more and more difficult to get excited. We’ve been through it before. It’s a lot of work and more money spent on presents than we want to think about until after the New Year. The excitement is tempered by a growing credit card balance. The wonder of Christmas wanes as weariness sets in.

That said, when we stop to think about it so much of what we do at Christmas really has little, if anything, to actually do with Christmas; at least not from the standpoint of what Christmas is really all about. Where’s Santa or the reindeer in Holy Scripture? Do you see any Christmas trees in Luke 2? We don’t hear sleigh bells ringing the night Jesus was born; but we do hear the angel choir singing. There were no bands of carolers roaming the streets; but there shepherds “glorifying God” because of the precious gift which God was giving. There probably wasn’t a drummer boy; but there is John the Baptist.

To help people focus on that first and still most precious Christmas gift God sends John the Baptist. Though some 2000 years have passed, John the Baptist is still one of the major players in the Advent season. Nearly everything about him piques our interest. His food: wild honey and locusts. His dress: camel skin. His message, as sharp a message of the law as anyone could preach: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Yet, the sharp words of law were counterbalanced by a baptism that painted a perfect picture of how God washes away sin.

The Advent message he proclaims is still as powerful today as when the words first passed through his lips. His message helps us to understand the true nature and character of Christmas. Listening to John, carefully weighing his words, understanding what the ministry of John the Baptist is about, Advent becomes a time of “Getting into the Christmas Spirit.” The Christmas spirit is 1) seeing God’s grace in the Christmas gift, and 2) living forgiven Christmas lives.

<<Part 1>>

But who exactly is John? We know he is the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, a miracle baby now a man. The apostle describes John the Baptist with these words: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.”

To be sure, John the Baptist is a powerful witness with a powerful testimony. His words are effective. His words are powerful. There is a sting in what he says about sin. There is comfort in his words of forgiveness. The Holy Spirit uses John’s witness. The gospel writer: “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” John the Baptist caught the attention of the average person on the street and even the powerful Jewish religious leaders. They didn’t know what to think about John the Baptist. They were confused about just who he was. We can see that for ourselves as they come to him. They are curious. They ask John, “Who are you?”

That question is understandable. After all, the Jewish people had not seen anyone the likes of John the Baptist for some 400 years. They knew he was a prophet. He was dressed like one. He talked like one. But who was he? Some thought that perhaps he was the Prophet Elijah come back to this earth. Could this be the Prophet Elijah? John the Baptist’s answer was “No.” He wasn’t the Prophet Elijah. But as the angel Gabriel told his father Zechariah, John had come “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” but he was John the Baptist.

Others thought that perhaps John the Baptist was that “Prophet” whom Moses foretold in Deuteronomy 18. God tells Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” John the Baptist tells the Jewish leaders that he is not that prophet.

John knows that what is going on around him is not about him. The Baptist tells the people: “I baptize with water, John replied, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
John the Baptist knows that it is not about him as an individual. It is about God’s love for sinners. John is merely a witness. He came to testify, to point people to the coming of the Savior and that he did. He did it proclaiming God’s Word. John witnessed when he pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” That is exactly why our gracious Lord sent John the Baptizer: to point people to their Savior.

And our Lord still blesses his people with men just like John: pastors who are called through the Church to proclaim the gospel. Through you God called Pastor Homan to serve as your pastor for the past 18 months. He has led you through some spiritual mine fields. He has helped peel some things away so that you can better understand who you are and what you are to be about. Now a new pastor is about to come. He will be your John the Baptizer, a worker called by God through you—to proclaim Law and Gospel, to lead this congregation in a direction pleasing to our Lord. Each is God’s chosen instrument to declare the same message that John proclaimed: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

<<Part 2>>

The Lamb makes “getting into the Christmas spirit” easy. The Christmas spirit is 1) understanding the Christmas gift which our God has given us. In a world that chases after so many things trying to catch the Christmas spirit, as God’s people we don’t really need to chase after anything. We have already received the greatest gift—a Savior who has given us faith, life and forgiveness. Understanding how precious that gift is in turn leads to us 2) Living forgiven Christmas lives.

That message of sin and grace is why so many of the Jewish people were flocking out into the wilderness to hear John the Baptist. No one was forcing them out there. No one was bribing them to come out into the desert. They were coming of their own free will. Coming because they yearned for after John’s message; and it wasn’t really that complicated a message. What John tells the Jewish leaders when they want to know who he is, is also his mission statement. John says, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John’s message is a call to change the lay of the land. The Jewish people understood what John was saying. The roads and walkways in the Jewish countryside were anything but straight. It was understandable There were high mountains and deep valleys to traverse. Like the old horse and buggy trails these roads were extremely crooked, winding back and forth, up and down. The roads were oftentimes bumpy and full of ruts.

John is not calling for a new highway project. Rather he is calling upon the people to change the lay of the landscape in their lives. Their lives resembled the lay of the Jewish countryside. Many had made their homes in the deep valleys of discouragement. Others lived on the lofty heights of arrogance. It didn’t matter where they lived—all traveled the crooked highways of sin. The Prophet Isaiah says, “The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads.” Moses tells the Old Testament Children of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy that “they are a perverse and crooked generation.” If that was true for the Children of Israel, it is also true for all mankind. St. Paul says that “all have turned away they have all together become corrupt, there is no one who does what is good, not even one.” Everyone travels the crooked highways of sin.

John the Baptist calls upon sinners to straighten out their ways. He calls people to repentance. Repentance is more than feeling sorry because we have either been caught or have done something wrong. Calling people to repentance John is calling upon people to be different…to change their lives. When we sin God isn’t interested in a quick apology. He wants a change of heart, a change in the direction, a change of priorities. That begins by realizing that our sins are not moral flaws or genetic weaknesses. Rather each is an offense against God himself.

Remember what King David says when he is confronted by his sin? In Psalm 41 David says, “O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you.” In Psalm 51 he confesses, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”
Repentance is the realization that you, that I, have sinned against God, that we deserve nothing but damnation in hell, that we receive forgiveness only through the gracious sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross, but it doesn’t end there. We are able to see that in King David. He says in Psalm 32: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

There are no regrets in forgiveness because forgiveness brings no guilt. Forgiveness washes away the guilt. Forgiveness changes the way that we live and talk. King David continues in Psalm 51, saying, Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

As you move forward away from the past into the future with your new pastor, our Lord’s forgiveness will continue to be the greatest blessing that you share in this place. Forgiveness means that God has dealt with your sin. Look at the manger. Look at the cross. Do you see the precious gift? Because of our Lord Jesus you can live in that forgiveness every day.

• King David: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
• Because of Jesus you can say to your neighbor what our Lord says to you. In the book of the Prophet Jeremiah our Lord says: I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Forgiveness means that you can now do things differently both as individuals and as a congregation. Forgiveness is why our Lord established his Church. Forgiveness means that the church is not about what one group wants over against another group within the church. Forgiveness means that the church not what laity want as opposed to professional church workers (pastors). Forgiveness the church is not about what one professional church worker (pastor) wants over against another professional church worker (pastor). Forgiveness means that as the people of God you gather together here at the foot of the cross.

Gathering together at the foot of the cross, what do you see? Look down. Do you see the pool of blood there? Follow the stream of that blood up the cross, past the feet with nails in them, past the wound in the side, the corner of your eye catching the nails in each hand. What do you see? I see the exhausted, bruised and swollen face of my Savior, your Savior. His head adorned with that gruesome crown of thorns pressed in. That sacrifice is offered up by him so that you (we) might be the people of God together.

There is no need to return to the past. Forgiven at the foot of the cross you can move boldly forward into the future understanding your unique position here in Janesville. The Apostle Paul is talking to forgiven sinners like you when he writes, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Forgiveness is not just for the people of John’s day. It is for us as well. Forgiveness is about the past but also about the future. The most precious Christmas gift ever given is still that first gift that came from our heavenly Father. Catching the Christmas spirit” is 1) grasping the Christmas gift which our God has given us with the hand of faith, and 2) it is living forgiven Christmas lives because of the gift we have received. Catching the Christmas spirit we stand at the manger and look to the cross.

What Child is this who laid to rest On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Nails, spear, shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the Son of Mary.

To our Lord’s glory. Amen!