THE MEANING IS IN THE WAITING John the Baptist Still Waiting Layne Lebo December 11, 2016 Past, present and future separate and distinct, yet also inextricably linked. That s true for God s activity in our world and it s also true for his work in our lives. In Advent, past, present and future converge and nowhere is this intersection more clearly seen than in the life of John the Baptist a mysterious figure who came onto the Biblical scene between the Old and New Testaments. John was a bridge between the prophecies of Isaiah and the coming of Jesus. In her book, The Meaning is in the Waiting, Paula Gooder associates John with the mythical Roman figure Janus. Janus was the Roman god (small g) of time and of beginnings and transitions. His depiction of having two faces symbolizes his ability to simultaneously look backward to the past and forward to the future. Like Janus, John the Baptist also looked both backward and forward. John is mentioned in each of the four gospels, but it s Luke who gives us the most details about his birth and his ministry as Jesus forerunner. John is a central figure in the Advent story and yet we tend to gloss over him because of the transitional role he plays between the Old Testament and Jesus. I want to share his story found in Luke chapter 1 with us this morning. And as I share his story I want to place this era of waiting in context. The time of John the Baptist s birth was a troubled time in Jewish history on several levels. It was a time of political unrest for the Jews. Israel and Judah were part of the expansive Roman Empire, ruled by a Jewish king named Herod. The Romans believed that having a Jew serve as their king would predispose the Jews to follow Herod and not cause trouble for the Empire, but the Jewish people viewed Herod as a pretender, a puppet king. Ethnically, Herod was a Jew, but he didn t practice the Jewish religion. Herod reigned from 37 B.C. to 4 A.D. and after his death his kingdom was divided among his 3 sons and his sister. During the years the Herods reigned there were a series of Jewish/Roman wars, none of which ended well for the Jews. Finally, in 70 A.D. the Romans had had enough they destroyed Jerusalem, the Jews capitol and holy city. 1
The time in which John was born was also a troubled time for the Jews religiously. They had been waiting for the Messiah s deliverance for over 700 years, since the prophecies of Isaiah. And they had heard very little from God for 400 years since the days when Nehemiah led the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem and Ezra led the people in a mini-revival. While a lot was going on during those 400 years, this period is frequently called, The Silent Years, because God seemed distant and quiet. During these 4 centuries of waiting numerous attempts were made by pseudo messiahs to persuade the Jewish people that they were the Promised One and some of these Messiah wannabes attempted to prove their claims by leading rebellions against Rome, but all of these coup attempts were squashed. And so the Jewish people s long wait for the Messiah continued. John s father was a priest named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, was a relative of Jesus mother, Mary. The Bible tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous people in God s eyes, but they were childless and they were very old does this sound familiar? (Abraham and Sarah) As a priest, Zechariah was chosen by lot to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. This was a very sacred duty that priests were only rarely chosen to perform. As Zechariah went into the temple to perform his priestly duty, an angel appeared to him. Luke s Gospel tells us that Zechariah was startled and gripped with fear (Luke 1:12) a common response of people to angelic visitations throughout the Scriptures. Zechariah had no idea why the angel was there, but the angel said, Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:13-17 Understandably, Zechariah had his doubts. He reminded the angel that he and his wife were both well along in years. The angel then identified himself as Gabriel and he told Zechariah that because he didn t believe the angel s words and as a sign that this was indeed God s Word, Zechariah would be unable to speak until the child was born. 2
The worshipers outside of the temple who were waiting for Zechariah to complete the sacrifice were growing impatient and wondering why this was taking so long. When Zechariah came out of the temple he couldn t speak to them and they realized that he must have had some kind of divine encounter. When Zechariah s time of service in the temple ended, he returned home and Elizabeth became pregnant. When she realized she was pregnant Elizabeth thanked God and in her declaration of thanks she highlighted God s favor a common theme surrounding the coming of the Messiah which we encountered last week in Isaiah s prophecies and which we ll bump into again in a few moments. Elizabeth said, The Lord has done this for me, she said. In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people. Luke 1:25 When Elizabeth was six months pregnant the angel Gabriel made another visit, this time to Jesus mother, Mary. He told her she was also going to have a Son. The angel told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was also going to have a child in her old age. And so Mary made plans to go and visit her relative Elizabeth. Three months passed and it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son and her neighbors and relatives shared in her joy, because God had blessed her. On the 8 th day when the baby boy was to undergo his circumcision ritual, they were prepared to name the child. They were considering naming him Zechariah after his father, but Elizabeth said, No! He is to be called John (Luke 1:60). Their family and friends said, There is no one among your relatives who has that name. They made hand motions to Zechariah who still couldn t speak asking him what he thought they should name the child. Zechariah motioned for a writing tablet and when he got it he wrote, His name is John. As soon as Zechariah wrote that message his tongue was loosened and he spoke, praising God. As you can imagine, everyone who saw this was amazed at these events and they asked, What then is this child going to be? Luke 1:66 Luke tells us, For the Lord s hand was with him. And he goes on to say that John grew up and became strong in spirit and that he lived in the wilderness until it was time for him to appear publicly in Israel. John s ministry was a prophetic ministry he pointed people to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. In his prophecies John quoted the Old Testament prophet Isaiah; 3
he spoke words of judgment against people who were just going through religious motions and who weren t really prepared for the coming of the Messiah; he baptized people with a baptism of repentance; and, eventually, when Jesus came on the scene, John identified Him as the promised Messiah. John was a shadowy, mysterious figure he lived in the wild, ate locusts and wild honey and wore camel s hair. It appears that he was a Nazirite, one set apart for God at birth. Nazirites didn t drink wine; they adhered to a strict diet; they never cut their hair; and, they were devout followers of the Jewish law. John played a critical role in God s plan standing in the gap between the Old and the New Testaments and between the prophets of Israel and Jesus. I d like you to listen to the words Zechariah spoke immediately after John was named. Zechariah s words tell us much about God s love for his people and about John s future ministry. Zechariah s Song as it s called in Scripture is found in Luke chapter 1 verses 68-79. I ve asked Kevin Barnes to read Zechariah s Song for us Zechariah s Song Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. I d like us to explore some of the implications John s life and his ministry of pointing people to the coming of the Messiah have for us. The starting point for John the Baptist s life and ministry is God s favor. In his prophecy, Zechariah uses the following words: redeemed, salvation, mercy, rescue, freedom from fear, forgiveness, shining light and peace. John the Baptist was sent as a demonstration of God s favor to people and John pointed people to the ultimate expression of God s favor Jesus the Messiah. The significance of John s name is emphasized in John s story the angel used it; Elizabeth said it was to be the boy s name; and, Zechariah emphatically wrote, He is to be called John. The Hebrew name for John, Yohanan means, God has shown favor. And contained within the 2 nd half name of that name is also 4
the meaning, prayer for favor. Elizabeth and Zechariah s insistence on the name, John, demonstrated their understanding that their son s life was a living picture of God s favor. Jesus coming as Immanuel God with us loudly communicated the message then and forever that God isn t angry and upset with us. He s not looking to judge and condemn us. He loves us and He longs for each of his sons and daughters to receive the gift of his love that came to us through Jesus. Today is the day of God s favor. You and I are the recipients of his mercy, grace and love. I began the sermon this morning by talking about the connection between past, present and future. I want to circle back to that idea now. In the details surrounding John s birth, God clearly links his work in the Old Testament with the coming of Jesus. John s birth has strong parallels with the births of Isaac, Samson and Samuel, which we read about in the Old Testament. Each of these boys was born to parents who had been unable to conceive children and who were well advanced in years. But in the midst of their infertility, these couples received divine messages that they were going to have sons, and they were told that their sons would play key roles in God s unfolding story. The message behind each of these births was that God was going to do great things through their sons that only God could do. Isaac, Samson and Samuel were linked to John by a common thread. In a similar way God links our past, present and future. We tend to live in the moment. We easily forget the past and the future seems too far away for us to worry about. But God sees continuity between our past, present and future. What s happened in our past good things and bad things feed into who we are today and into what God has for our future. That s God s redemptive work. Even the things we d like to erase or forget about, God can and does use to mold and shape us today. And this leads directly into something else I want us to see about John the Baptist. Throughout his ministry, John called people to a baptism of repentance. The word repentance means turning around and going in a different direction. John s way of life and his teaching were radical. He wasn t part of the religious establishment of the day. There was a reason why he lived in the wilderness. John s lifestyle was symbolic of his message. His life and teaching were an offense to many especially the religious leaders. The only way people could be 5
prepared for the Messiah s coming was through a complete reorientation of everything they knew and believed. And that s true for us as well. To walk in step with Jesus, we can t just go with the flow. Paula Gooder says, The repentance/reorientation called for by John requires moving ourselves out of the center of our lives so that there is room there for Jesus. John lived this out through his life and death and stands as a beacon to us, challenging us to do the same (p. 109). Advent is a time for us to evaluate our lives to reconsider the path we re on and where we re headed. It s a season of alignment a time for us to attune ourselves to God and to align our hearts and our lives with his. And the last thing I want to call our attention to from John s life was alluded to during our lighting of the Advent Candle. John s life and ministry set up a chain of which we are now a part. He was the one who pointed others to Jesus and that is what each of us is called to as well. We take our place in that chain by remembering and celebrating what God has done in our past; by living attentively and engaged in the present; and, by looking toward the future with hope. As we move toward our time of response today I want us to reflect again on the points I highlighted from John the Baptist s life. The starting point for John the Baptist s life and ministry is God s favor. Some of us need this truth to sink into our hearts and minds today. Jesus, Immanuel is with us. God is for us. He s not against us. He loves us. He wants our best. In John s birth, God clearly links his work in the Old Testament with the coming of Jesus. Our Heavenly Father sees your life and my life in continuity as one piece. Our past, present and future are all part of us. We tend to limit ourselves based on our past failures, sins and embarrassments, but God redeems those things and uses them for his glory. John called people to a baptism of repentance. And our Heavenly Father calls us to repent to turn around and to reorient ourselves to Him. He wants us to attune ourselves to Him and to align our hearts with his. Advent is a season of favor, of looking back and of looking ahead and it s a season of repentance. What is your Heavenly Father calling you to today? 6