1 Rev. William J. Shields St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois The Seventh Sunday of Easter June 1, 2014 Gospel Lesson John 1:19-34 Sermon Series The Gospel of John Part 2 Behold The Lamb 19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No. 22 So they said to him, Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet? 26 John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. 32 And John bore witness: I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. When I was a kid, I was a huge baseball fan. And I loved the Chicago Cubs. And my favorite player, my boyhood hero, was Billy Williams. It probably had something to do with the fact that my name was Billy. When I started playing Little League baseball and they asked me what position I wanted to play, I always said left field, because Billy Williams played left field. When we were choosing uniform numbers, I always wanted to be number 26, because Billy Williams wore number 26.
2 And if I couldn t get number 26, I would ask for number 13, because that was half of 26. I went through a period when I wanted to be called Billy Leo, because Leo was Billy Williams middle name. And when our first child was born our daughter Becky along with all of the joy and excitement of that event, I also had the extra thrill of knowing that she was born on June 15 th, the birthday of Billy Williams! Fast forward now, to the year 1997. We took the kids to a Cubs/Brewers game in Milwaukee, in the old County Stadium. The kids wanted to stay after for a while, to see if they could get some players autographs. So we were waiting outside the players exit, and a pretty good crowd was gathering. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a door open about 50 feet to our left. Out stepped a 59-year-old African American man. He was bald on top, he was wearing glasses, and he was carrying a duffel bag. I said to my kids, Look over there. They said, Who s that? And I said, That is Billy Williams. And while the crowd was hovering around some Brewers relief pitcher who had just come out of the locker room, I took my kids over to meet a Hall of Famer a guy I had been waiting to meet since I was about 5 years old. I thought about that moment this week, when I was studying this text from John, chapter 1. I was thinking about what it must have been like for John the Baptist as he stood in the Jordan River one day, baptizing people, and suddenly the next person in line was a man that he knew, a man that he was actually related to. And as John baptized this man Jesus, God the Father revealed to him that Jesus was more than just a man. John learned that Jesus was the One. He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God! It was a moment that John had been waiting for his entire life. Now, in order to fully understand the story of John the Baptist, we have to first understand why he was so anxious to meet the Messiah. And in order to understand that, we have to go back to the beginning of John s life. The story of John the Baptist begins with I. His Miraculous Birth God was preparing John for his mission before he was even born. John s parents were a priest named Zechariah and his wife named Elizabeth. Before John came along, they were childless. And they were beyond the age when they thought that they could have children. But in the first chapter of Luke s Gospel, Luke describes how Zechariah went into the Temple one day, to do his priestly duties, and he was visited by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son, and that they should name him John, and that God had a special mission for him. Zechariah, after first absorbing the shock of meeting an angel, questioned how this could be, since he and Elizabeth were so old. Gabriel responded to his doubt by making him unable to speak, until the day that John was circumcised and named, eight days after his birth. Luke then records a second miraculous event which took place when Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant with John. Elizabeth and Zechariah got an unexpected visit from a relative of Elizabeth s a young girl from Nazareth named Mary. Mary was also pregnant with a miraculous child, and when she entered the house, the baby inside of Elizabeth s womb leaped. God was already preparing John for his mission. Gabriel had told Zechariah that his son John would be the one who would prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah. And I m sure that those words of Gabriel were
3 repeated again and again to John as he was growing up. And then the last words that we hear about the young John are found in Luke 1:80, where Luke says, The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. At some point in his young life, John left home and lived in the Judean wilderness, east of Jerusalem. Some people believe that he lived in the Essene community at a place called Qumran. The Essenes were a group of Jewish religious scholars who lived simple lives in the desert, copying and interpreting the Old Testament Scriptures. It s quite possible that John lived with them, and studied the Scriptures with them, until the day that God called him to his mission. Finally that day came, and II. John Burst Onto The Scene John traveled north from Qumran, to the area where the Judean wilderness descends into the Jordan River Valley. John probably stood near the road that goes up from Jericho to Jerusalem, and he preached a powerful message of repentance. And the people responded! They came to him in large crowds, asking him, What must we do to be saved? And John told them that they must confess their sins, and turn back to God, and prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah. And to drive home the message that they needed to be cleansed of their sins, John led them down to the River where, one by one, he baptized them. He told them that this washing with water was a sign of the spiritual washing that God was doing inside of them in their hearts and in their souls. John was now acting as the prophet that God had called him to be, before he was even conceived. And very quickly III. John Attracted The Attention Of The Religious Leaders In Jerusalem The High Priest and his cronies began to hear stories about the new prophet in the wilderness. Some people were even wondering if John was the Messiah. This alarmed the priests. If John were to start a Messianic movement, the Romans would surely hear about it and they might decide to revoke the Jews religious freedoms and shut down the Temple. So the Chief Priests sent some representatives to investigate. They sent some lower level priests and some Pharisees, along with some Levite temple guards. This group confronted John by the river, and the first question that they asked him was, Who are you? And I love the way that John the Gospel writer describes John the Baptist s answer in verse 20. He says that, [John] confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. That triple emphasis, confessed did not deny confessed, is John the Gospel writer s way of saying that John the Baptist vehemently and adamantly said, I am not the Christ; I am not the Messiah. His message to the people was that the Messiah had arrived, the Messiah was among them, but that he, John, was not the Messiah. So the leaders asked, Who are you then? Are you Elijah? Now why would they ask him that? Well, it s because the last book of the Old Testament, the book of the prophet Malachi, said that before the Messiah came, the prophet Elijah would come first, to prepare the way. And so they were saying to John, Are you claiming to be the prophet Elijah, returned from Heaven to introduce the Messiah?
4 And John said, No, I am not Elijah. John was not going to make any false claims about himself. He was not an Old Testament prophet who had come back to life. He was just the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. But what John didn t know was that he really was Elijah. This is what Jesus would say about his cousin John in Matthew 11. He would say that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets and that he was the greatest of them all. And then Jesus says, in Matthew 11:14-15, If you are willing to accept it, [John] is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears, let him hear. Jesus was saying that John was the symbolic Elijah. Or, as the angel Gabriel had said to John s father Zechariah, [Your son] will go before [the Messiah] in the spirit and power of Elijah. John truly was someone special. But when the religious leaders pressed him for an answer to their questions in verse 22 of our text, he simply said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord! And this is why I love John the Baptist. There he was, with crowds of people streaming out into the wilderness to see him and powerful religious leaders paying attention to him. He could have claimed to be the embodiment of Elijah. He could have claimed to be the Messiah himself and people would have believed him and followed him! But John said, It s not about me. I m just here to point you to the one who is coming. And people, we in the Christian Church today need to learn this lesson from John. We need to learn that it s not about us. It s about Jesus. We live in a very me-centered society today. People want the world to cater to them, and revolve around them, and meet their needs. And if someone disagrees with their point of view, they will challenge, and mock, and protest, and even sue. People in America today are so easily offended. They are so quickly outraged. They want everything just the way they want it, and they cannot tolerate anyone who does not think or act in accordance with their will. But the Church of Jesus Christ is not supposed to be like the culture. We re supposed to be like John. Our world is not about us. It s about Jesus. It s about what Jesus wants. It s about his Word, his purpose, his kingdom. The religious leaders didn t understand that. They understood self-promotion. They had seen many self-proclaimed Messiahs before. And they exalted themselves above the sinful rabble. But John was an enigma to them, because John wasn t promoting himself. In verse 25, they said to him, Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet? And here is where IV. John Finally Reveals His Agenda It reminds me of something my Uncle Ole did this past December. One afternoon, he picked up the phone and called his son Hans. Hans and his wife Linda, and their new baby, were living out in California. And Ole said, Hans, I have some bad news for you. Your mudder and I are getting a divorce. Hans said, Dad, what do you mean? Have you filed any papers yet? Ole said, No. Hans said, Well, then, I ll tell you what. Linda and I and the baby are going to fly to Minnesota this weekend. And I want you to promise me that you won t do anything before we get there. Ole Said, I promise. When Ole hung up the phone, Lena said to him, Ole, why did you tell Hans dat we re gettin a divorce? We re not gettin a divorce. Ole said, Yah, I know dat. But now dey are all comin home for Christmas, and dere payin for dere own plane tickets!
5 That was Ole s hidden agenda. And in verses 26-27 of our text, John finally shares his hidden agenda. He says, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. John tells the religious leaders, The Messiah is already walking among you. And John knew who he was. It was someone whom John had known all his life, a relative of his, the man from Galilee named Jesus. John was not preaching and baptizing so that he could draw a crowd of followers around himself. John s ministry was for one purpose only. It was to introduce the people of Israel, and the people of the world, to their Savior, Jesus Christ. And that s exactly what John did the next day. In verses 29-30 we read, The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. John was saying, This is the guy that I was telling you about yesterday. This is Jesus, the Messiah. And that phrase Lamb of God was very insightful of John. The Lamb had a very important symbolic meaning in Israel s history. On the night of the Passover, when the people of Israel were set free from their slavery in Egypt, every household killed a lamb and roasted it over a fire for their supper. And they took some of the blood of the lamb and painted it on their doorposts. And that night, the angel of death passed over their houses. They were saved by the blood of the lamb. Later on, in the sacrificial system that was established by Moses, they had a special day called the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur. On that day, a lamb was symbolically killed for the sins of the people and its blood was sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant. And then, in the 53 rd chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah describes the Messiah as, A lamb that is led to the slaughter, who makes an offering for [our] guilt. John was saying, There goes your Savior, the one who can forgive your sins, the one who can give you eternal life. And how did John know that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lamb of God? How did he suddenly know that his own cousin was the Savior of the world? He knew it because God revealed it to him on the day that he baptized Jesus. John says, in verses 32-33, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John heard the voice of the Father from heaven and he saw the Holy Spirit come to rest on Jesus. And John says, in verse 34, I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. That was John s mission. It was the mission that he was born for. It was the mission that he had spent his entire life preparing for. And it is the same mission that we have today at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Lindenhurst, Illinois. V. Our Mission Is To Point The World To The Lamb Of God Everything that we do here at St. Mark must, in some way, be connected to that mission. A little over a week ago I heard a story on the CBS Evening News. I was so moved by the story that I looked it up online, to make sure that I had my facts straight. It s the story of a man named Melvyn Amrine, and his wife Doris. They live in Little Rock, Arkansas, and they ve been married for more than 60 years.
6 On the Saturday before Mother s Day, Doris called the police to report that Melvyn was missing. You see, Melvyn has Alzheimer s, and he had wandered away from the house. The policemen who responded to the call found Melvyn more than two miles away. He couldn t remember his name and he couldn t remember where he lived. But he knew where he was going. One of the officers said, He was on a mission. Every year, since the birth of their first child, Melvyn had bought flowers for his wife for Mother s Day. And when the officers asked him where he was going, he said, Tomorrow is Mother s Day, and I have to buy some flowers for my wife. So the officers did something really awesome. First, they called in to say that they had found Melvyn and they were taking him home. But on the way home, they stopped at a grocery store and helped Melvyn as he picked out a beautiful bouquet of white roses. Melvyn pulled a few dollar bills out of his pocket, well short of the cost of the flowers. But the officers paid the difference. When they got to the house, they escorted Melvyn up to the front door. When Doris saw them coming, she broke down and cried. She said, When I saw those roses, and I saw the smile on Melvyn s face, I knew that the man I had fallen in love with was still in there. I knew, because I could see his heart. I want the world to see that heart here at St. Mark. I want the world to see the passion of John the Baptist here at St. Mark. I want the world to see us and to know that we are on a mission. And what is our mission? Our mission is to point the world to Jesus Christ in everything that we think and say and do. I want to urge all of us to put aside everything that is small and petty and unimportant. Put aside personal agendas and long-held grudges. Put aside me and point to Him. And tell the world, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Amen and Amen.