Jesu Juva
“Pointing to the Gift”
Text: John 1:6-8; 19-28; Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
It’s now just about a week until Christmas. I’m sure you’ve been preparing. Perhaps making travel plans. Probably gift shopping. Maybe baking. You might have your tree up already, and maybe there is even a gift already under it waiting to be opened in a week. And, of course, there are two questions about that gift: what is it? and, who is it from? To find out the first - what is it? - maybe you shake it, take a guess by the size and shape; but really, you have to unwrap it. To find out the second - who is it from? - you look at the tag.
But what if it doesn’t have a tag? Then you have a problem. Then you have to try to figure it out. Investigate. Does the wrapping paper match other gifts that you unwrapped? Who would give such a gift? Who thinks like that?
Well, I submit to you today that’s exactly what the Pharisees were doing with John, when they sent some folks to find out: what is it? and who is it from? For John was a very popular gift. As we heard last week, people from Jerusalem and Judea and the whole area were going out to him. But what we heard today is that the Jewish leaders didn’t know much about him, so they sent some priests and Levites to unwrap him and look at his gift tag. Find out, and bring back an answer.
Now, maybe you’ve never thought about John as a gift before. He’s not very Christmassy, after all. But he is very Adventy. So hold onto that thought; I’ll get to that in a moment.
First, though, back to the men sent by the Pharisees. Who are you? they ask. It’s like they’re shaking the box. He’s not the Christ. Is he Elijah? No, not Elijah either. The prophet? The prophet Moses promised would come after him and lead the people into the Promised Land? Nope, not him either. Well who are you, then? All wrapped up in your camel’s hair coat, leather belt, and eating locusts and wild honey.
Now John had bona fides. He could have said: I am a priest! Because he was the son of the priest Zechariah, so he was a descendant of Aaron, Moses’ brother. But though true, that’s not really who he was. He was more than that. He had a special vocation. He was a special gift. I am the voice, he said. The one the prophet Isaiah talked about. Preparing the way for the one coming after me, who is greater than me, and so much greater, so much bigger, so much more that I am not even worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.
So here’s what’s going on: they unwrapped this gift without a tag, but it is one of those packages that doesn’t have the gift inside, but a clue so that you can find the gift! The real gift, the greater gift, the bigger gift. The gift coming next. That’s the one you want. John’s just there to point the way to Him.
Now, John - not the Baptist, but the Apostle, who wrote the Gospel we heard this morning - tells us the answer to what the Pharisees were trying to figure out: who he is and where he was from. So we know! We know who sent that gift and put it under the tree. But at that time, the Pharisees didn’t. So first, let me just read those words again, and then I’ll explain them. This is what John (the apostle) said: 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. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
And here’s what that means, putting it into our context, into our story: There was a man sent from God [so that’s what the tag said: from God], whose name was John. He came as a witness [as a voice, the clue], to bear witness about [to point to] the light [the gift], that all might believe through him [that all might receive that gift]. He was not the light [he was not the gift], but came to bear witness about the light [that is, be the clue that points to it]. So that the people then, and people still today, would receive the gift - the gift not just of a prophet (the smaller gift), but of a Saviour (the greater gift).
Now this is a good time to circle back to what I said before: you may never have thought about John as a gift before, because he’s not very Christmassy. In our world today, once November comes, it’s the holiday season and we tend to rush right to Christmas. Even Thanksgiving is now just kind of a speed bump on that super highway! The focus is on the lights, the presents, the music. And that’s okay. I’m not going to stand up here and tell you to be a Scrooge or a Grinch. But the danger is that this gift from God gets shoved under the tree, and to the back, against the wall, and forgotten about, or overlooked. So here in the Church, John comes. To get us to slow down a little. Tap the brakes. To be the guy with the radar gun on that super highway to Christmas! To be a gift we get to open before Christmas, so that when the real gift, the big gift comes, we’re ready.
And again, we heard last week what John’s voice says: John calls us to repent. Because if the real gift that’s coming is the gift of a Saviour, the gift of the forgiveness of your sins, the gift of the Spirit, the gift of life - life after death, then how we get ready for that gift is to repent. Because if you don’t, if you don’t know you’re a sinner who needs the gift of a Saviour and forgiveness and life, then unwrapping that gift is a bit like unwrapping a present and finding underwear instead of the video game you wanted! You’re disappointed, or worse - you don’t want it; you toss it aside. You toss HIM aside. But if you know that a Saviour is the gift you really need, then there is joy when you receive that gift. Joy, when you look in the manger, or in the Font as we did last Sunday, or on the altar as we do every Sunday, or what you hear from the chancel, and you know . . . this is the gift. The gift above all others.
Now, we didn’t hear John’s preaching this morning like we did last week, calling us to repent. But he said he was the one spoken of by Isaiah - and we did hear from Isaiah what this one, this voice, would speak, and to whom. So we’ll let Isaiah do the preaching! And these were the folks that the voice, that John, was sent to . . . John was sent
(+) to the poor, or those bent low under heavy burdens. And that’s you. Bent low under heavy burdens of sin, guilt, worry, fear. For yourself, for your families, for other loved ones. Burdens that sometimes seem crushing.
(+) to the brokenhearted, or those shattered. To those with shattered hopes, or dreams, or lives. Things not working out as you hope or planned, and you’re left in pieces.
(+) to the captives, like when Israel was captive in Egypt, or later in Babylon. Bonds from without, from others, holding you down, holding you back, controlling you.
(+) to those who are bound, with bonds from within - the bonds of sin, your sin, holding you down, holding you back, controlling you. Sin you don’t want but sin you can’t shake! What is it for you? Those sin you seem to always need to confess? Of greed, of anger, of sex, of abuse, of lies, of covetousness, of neglecting God and His Word . . .
(+) to those who mourn, and there is plenty to mourn in our world. The death of people, the death of civility, the death of relationships and marriages, and so much more. So much death caused by sin. Our sin.
(+) to those with a faint spirit, or those disheartened. Ready to give up, ready to give in, ready to lose hope that anything’s going to change, that anything’s going to get better. And who among us hasn’t felt that way?
So yes, to you John comes again, to, as Isaiah says, bring good news, proclaim liberty, the opening of the prison, the unchaining, the Lord’s favor, comfort, gladness, and praise. That God is coming to save. That God is adventing to set things right again. Or as I tell my catechism classes, to fulfill the promise He made to Adam and Eve in the beginning, to make things right and good again. To fix what they - and we - broke, and break. God made that promise and the whole rest of the Bible is about how God kept that promise! That in a world filled with the poor, the brokenhearted, those held captive, those bound, those who mourn, and those with a faint spirit - and Adam and Eve and all people since have been those things - that there be hope. Hope that now, God is coming, adventing, to save.
So John may not be very Christmassy, but he is Adventy. And we need Advent to be ready for Christmas! We need the little gift with the clue inside, with the voice inside, so that we receive the big gift. So that you look in the manger and see your Saviour. So that you look on the cross and see your Saviour. So that you come to altar and say, yes, my Saviour! And that on the Last Day you rise, and see your Saviour forever.
Until that day, Paul says to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, he says. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Which, if you take these words out of context, just sounds like a bunch of demands. But really, these are all things that come from receiving the gift - the main gift, the big gift, of a Saviour and His forgiveness and life. With that, with Him, comes - to all those people Isaiah talked about - joy and prayer and thanks; the Spirit of God, not of the world; truth and good and not indulging, but abstaining from evil. Or in other words, a new life.
And that’s the real gift John wants you to have, and the gift Jesus has come to provide for you. So that when people want to know who are you? you can confess, I am a child of God. Which may not sound like much compared to all that people claim for themselves and claim to be in our world today. But John would say: Oh, it is! There is no greater gift you could receive than of a Saviour, and to be His own, His child. And then living that new life of joy and prayer and thanks and the Spirit and truth and good, you then get to be like John - a voice, a little gift to others, pointing them to the big gift; pointing them to Jesus. Not because you have to, but because that’s who you are.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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