John the Baptist [Jn 1:19-34]

Transcription

1 John the Baptist [Jn 1:19-34] I'd like to start by asking you a question, and I'm going to give you a minute to think about and then we'll take a few answers. The question is: What was the point of God sending John the Baptist? We hear about John the Baptist every year, he's an important figure in the gospels - we should be able to come up with a few answers! Well, I'm going to leave that question floating as we come to our passage from John's Gospel today. Keep thinking about it, and we'll come back to it. Now before we dive in, I'd just like you to imagine something: imagine you're a first-century Jew, who lives in or around Jerusalem. The last Prophet that God sent your people was four hundred years before. In that time, your country has been conquered by Alexander the Great, conquered by the Roman Empire - you're a bit fed up of being conquered! It's been a long, long time - but you're expecting God to do something. You're expecting God to provide a Messiah, a saviour, someone who will redeem His people. It's a time of real anticipation, of hope, of looking to the future - a bit like advent is for us today! So that brings us to the start of our passage. We're in John 1, verse 19. Read v19. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had heard that something was going on. John had made quite an impact in first century Palestine! All of a sudden, after four centuries of silence from God, something was happening, and they wanted to know what was going on. So, the Jewish authorities send out a group of priests and Levites to ask John who he was. Was he the one who was to come? But, as we see in v20, John the Baptist isn't having any of it. "He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely: I am not the Messiah". It's interesting, isn't it, that immediately John's confession is that he is NOT the Messiah! John starts his answer by telling us who he is not - just in case there's any possibility we might mistake him for the Messiah. I don't know if any of you have seen the film "Monty Python's Life of Brian", but there's a scene in it where a crowd of people confuse Brian for the Messiah. The more he tries to deny it the more they believe that he is! John doesn't want us to make that mistake. V20 tells us that he stated emphatically that he was not the Messiah. So then we have this little exchange in v21. They ask him whether he is Elijah, or "The Prophet". Both of these were associated with the coming of God's Messiah, with that future hope of Israel we talked about a moment ago. The Jews had this idea that Elijah was going to come back first, and God promises in Deuteronomy 18:15 to raise up a prophet like Moses. But John says, "nope". I'm not those either. So by this point, I'm sure these priests and Levites must have been getting a bit frustrated. I can imagine by the time we get to v22, they're saying to themselves: "Who does this guy think he is?" And finally, v23, John gives them some kind of answer. But instead of using his own words, he quotes Isaiah the prophet: "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" We'll come back to that in a moment.

2 But the Pharisees among the group weren't satisfied with that. They ask him directly in vv24-25, "If you're not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet, why do you baptise?" In other words, they're asking him what his authority is. In those days, baptism wasn't like it is now: no-one baptised like John the Baptist was doing - occasionally people would kind of baptise themselves, to symbolise purification, but the Jews were thinking that what John the Baptist was doing must indicate something special going on. Finally John replies in vv26-27, "I baptise with water, 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." In the ancient world, taking off shoes was a task for slaves. But John doesn't even consider himself worthy of that! As an answer to these Pharisees, John says: "Yes, I do baptise, and that is unusual. But that's NOTHING when compared with what's coming. You think you've seen something special, but you don't even know the half of it." Now, do you see throughout this whole section that John hasn't once defined who he is in relation to himself? He never says, "I'm John the Baptist. I baptise. That's just what I do, I suppose, it's my identity." No, his identity is always in relation to someone else. When asked who he is, he says, "Don't look at me! Look to the one who is to come." And who is the one who is to come? It is the LORD himself - see v23. John says that he is the one preparing the way for the Lord. He himself is not the Lord, he is just there to prepare the way. It's a bit like if you work for a big company and get sent to negotiate a deal with another big company. As the representative of the company on that assignment, if someone says to you: "Who are you?" You can't define yourself without reference to who you are and what you're doing. You can't just say "I'm Joe", you have to say, "I'm Joe from ACME Corporation and I'm here to do " whatever. John the Baptist had an assignment from God, and he couldn't define himself without relation to that mission. When questioned about his own identity, he could do nothing but point to Christ Jesus. Also, note that John referred to himself as the Scriptures referred to him: he wasn't standing on his own testimony, he was standing on the testimony of Scripture. And we see this in the second half of our passage. The next day, John the Baptist sees Jesus, and in vv29-31 he says: [ ]. John declares that this person who they've been waiting for, this person who the Jewish people were expecting, is actually Jesus. And John makes abundantly clear, once again, that Jesus is greater than himself. Not only that, but he says "the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." John the Baptist's mission was to reveal Jesus to Israel. That was the point of his coming. And seeing John as revealing Jesus to Israel is the key to understanding the next paragraph. Why does John make such a big deal in vv32-34 of the Holy Spirit coming down to rest on Jesus, and Jesus baptising with the Holy Spirit? Well, for starters, let's remember who John is talking to: he's talking to people who know their Scriptures - our Old Testament, as it is in our Bibles today! Let's just flip back to the book of Isaiah, chapter 11, for a moment - the very passage Hugh was preaching on here last Sunday! This is what vv1-3 say:

3 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. As Hugh told us last week, this shoot from the stump of Jesse is the one through whom God would put right everything that was wrong. All the problems that Israel had - sin and turning away from God - would be put right through this man. And Isaiah tells us that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on him! John the Baptist is testifying to us that this Jesus is the same one who the prophets had spoken about! Keep a finger in Isaiah for a moment. Do you notice, back in John 1, that John the Baptist says in v34: "I have seen and I testify that this is God s Chosen One." Flip on in Isaiah to chapter 42, verse 1: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. For those who knew the Scriptures, John the Baptist couldn't have been clearer, could he? This Jesus is God's servant, the one who the prophets foretold. But that wasn't all that Isaiah said about God's servant. Remember, John said back in v29 that this Jesus is the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Isaiah prophesied, in chapter 53, about the servant of God: he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. How is it that Jesus, the Lamb of God, was able to take away the sin of the world? Because the LORD laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. All the things which drive a wedge between us and God, all the wrong things we do, every evil thought, every evil deed - all of them, laid upon Jesus at the cross. John the Baptist said to his hearers then and he says to us today, "Look! This is the man whom God has chosen, this is the one who takes away our sin, if only we will believe in Him."

4 Do you see, in v34, those words: "I have seen and I testify." In fact, all the way through this section we have that language - v19 "testimony", v20 "confess", v32 "testimony" again. The message for us, today, is that John the Baptist gave a testimony. He gave a witness to Jesus the Christ, the chosen one of God. John the Baptist never pointed to himself, he never exalted himself. He always defined himself with respect to Jesus' identity and Jesus' mission: the purpose of John the Baptist was to witness to Jesus the Christ. And this is the key question for us today: do you believe John's testimony? Do you think John is a reliable witness? These are questions which demand a response. You can say yes or no, but you can't ignore it. And if you do think that he was a reliable witness, what are you going to do about it? John testified that Jesus was the Christ, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God who came to take away your sin, who came to take away my sin. To remove everything that was separating us from God and bring us back to Him. If you carry on reading chapter 1, you'll see that people's reaction to John's testimony was to follow Jesus and become his disciples. That is exactly what we're encouraged to do. If we believe that John the Baptist testified rightly about Jesus, our only option is to follow Jesus. If you're not sure about it, then I would say to you - don't leave church today without finding out more about this Jesus who John the Baptist was witnessing to. If you want to explore the evidence a bit more, we'd like to invite you to join a Discover course here at Christ Church, and the details of that are on the welcome desk at the back. Come and talk to Richard, Phil or Mike, or come and talk to me. And there are some good books over at the bookstall at the back. But this is too important an issue to ignore. John the Baptist testified that Jesus Christ was the chosen one of God - surely that's worth investigating! If, on the other hand, you have believed John the Baptist's testimony, a challenge for us is whether we've followed his example. Those of us who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, are we like John the Baptist? Do we testify to him with our lives and with our words? Do we point to him? Have we told our friends and neighbours or work colleagues or university friends about him? John testified that Jesus takes away the sin of the world. This is a message for everyone. Recently, at Christ Church we've been thinking as a congregation about how we might be a witness to Jesus by giving someone a copy of Luke's Gospel - one of these "Uncover" gospels. Maybe you could think about giving one to someone else, or maybe you could think about inviting someone to church or to a Discover course. There are plenty of ways of doing it. Be praying for opportunities to be a witness to Jesus Christ in the world. I'd like to finish by reading a passage from a bit further on in John's Gospel, chapter 3, where John the Baptist is speaking again, and he explains why all of this is so important. And, by the way, if you'd like to find out more about this Jesus I'd very much encourage you to read the rest of John's Gospel. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God s wrath remains on them.

5 John the Baptist testified that Jesus really is the chosen one of God, the Messiah, who takes away the sin of the world. Accepting or rejecting that testimony really is a matter of life and death. In this season of Advent, we remember that Jesus will come again - and when he comes again he will come as judge. Make sure that you've considered carefully John's testimony before it's too late.