John 1:6-8, 19-28
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 this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 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?” 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.”
(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”John answered them, “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.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, December 17, comes from the Gospel of John chapter one, verses six through eight. And then 19, through 28. 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 this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed and did not die, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No. 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? 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. Now, they had been sent from the Pharisees, they asked him, Why then are you baptizing? If you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the Prophet? John answer them. I baptize with water, but among newstands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of who sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. He runs the reading. The Gospel of John has an interesting approach to telling the story of Jesus. And it has a different approach to telling the story of John as well. It doesn't introduce him using the standard formation, formulation, the guy who had the camel's hair and the belt around his waist, and then he's out eating locusts and wild honey, and then repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All that stuff that you see in Matthew, Mark. And Luke begins by telling us about John, who is a witness about the light, and is very emphatic that he is not the light. He is not the guy. He is a witness to the light. And it could be really easy for someone like John the Baptist, who got crowds to come out to see him who had baptizing people in the wilderness, and they were repenting and doing all this stuff to be well to make it about himself. But he doesn't. He came to point the way to Jesus. And the same thing happens when the Pharisees come to him, and ask him, Who are you? It's interesting, he says, it says he confessed and did not deny but confessed. John wants to make sure that you know that what John, that John the Baptist is saying is absolutely true. He is not claiming to be the guy. I am not the Christ. He said, he's not Elijah. He's not the Prophet. No, he's very simply a voice. He says, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said, I like how John is, is taking the light away from him, so to speak, like the spotlight is not on John the Baptist, saying, No, it's not me. I'm not the Christ. I'm not the Prophet. In fact, I am nothing. There is one thing that matters. The Lord is coming. Make his pads straight. May ask him again. Why are you baptizing? And again, John takes the spotlight off himself. He doesn't say, I baptized because I'm also more because I do these things. He says, don't think about me, someone is coming, who's greater than me, strap of who sandals I am not worthy to untie. So he even takes that moment to point away from himself to Jesus. And I think that's a great model for us to understand within the within the church, for pastors, for teachers, for congregations, is that our job is to point away from us towards Jesus, which and it's really hard to do that because anytime a congregation gathers a little success makes a name for themselves. We like to think yeah, look at me, I did this but just always, like, point to Jesus. He's the one. I'm not the man. I'm not the one gathering people. I'm not the one doing ministry. It's all about Jesus. It's his power. It's his word. It's his mind. It's not me. Everything is about Jesus. And I think it's amazing that the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, spends this moment when they come and they ask him, what's your testimony? It's Don't worry about me, guys. Jesus is coming. And that's what we should consider. Let's not worry about ourselves and always point to Jesus. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai