| Psalm 126 Isaiah 65:17-25 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28 John 1:6-8,19-28 |
"Who are you?" As I read the Gospel lesson for this morning I could not help but think of the game show, "What’s my line?" As familiar as John the Baptist is to us, it is obvious that the priests and Levites had no idea who this character was that was baptizing hundreds, if not thousands of people in the Jordan River. They wanted to know who he was and by what authority he was calling people to repentance and then baptizing them. Who did he think he was – the Messiah, Elijah, the prophet? No, he answered, I am just "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’ As the prophet Isaiah said."
On this the Third Sunday of Advent, I believe the lingering question this morning is, Who are you?
The many conferences, seminars and retreats that I have attended usually begin with having to introduce who you are. Sometimes they make a game out of it like having to introduce the person next to you to the rest of the group. Perhaps you have had similar experiences. We use many adjectives, titles, and other words to tell who we are, but I would venture to say that none of us has used a passage of scripture to identify who we are. Perhaps it is because we have not found a scripture passage that really identifies us. Or maybe we have not even thought of using verses from the Bible to tell others who we are.
One verse that might work very well for all of us comes from the Book of Isaiah that we heard on the First Sunday of Advent. "O, Lord, you are our Father; we are clay, and you are our potter, we are all the work of your hand."
Our prophets this morning, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul all allowed God to mold them for his purpose in this world. We have heard their words of judgement on previous Sundays, chastising not only the people of their own times, but also us, for drifting away from God. We have also heard the cry to repent, to get ready for God, because he is coming into this world. From the beginning of November we have heard about the Second Coming of Christ, of the dreaded judgement day. Now, a week and a half before Christmas we are told to REJOICE.
In the conclusion of his First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Paul summons Christians to rejoice at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist announces, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." People got so caught up in his announcement that they repented of their sins and were baptized.During December we get caught up too, but it is usually not about the coming of the kingdom of heaven. We get caught up creating the spirit of Christmas, with its bright lights, joyous songs, parties, and gifts. The problem with the spirit of Christmas is that it comes and goes. After presents are unwrapped and the tree taken down the spirit of Christmas is put away for another year.
The "Kingdom" has not been put away, it is still in our midst. Even death could not destroy it. We rejoice because in Jesus Christ, God did something so different, so wonderful, that it can only be express by using the adjective "new." It is something that was never done before and has not been done since. The "kingdom of heaven" in Jesus Christ has descended upon our world and made it "new;" and through the power of the Holy Spirit it lives with us each and every day.
Unfortunately, as John the Baptist noted, "among you stands one whom you do not know." There are people in our community today who do not know Jesus. There will even be people at our Christmas celebrations who do not know him. When they come in a week and a half will they gain a sense of his presence within these walls - only if they hear our rejoicing, prayers and thanksgivings for the presence of the King of the Kingdom within us. It is not only his birth in Bethlehem that we celebrate on December 25th, but more importantly his birth in us.
We rejoice, because the one of whom John the Baptist spoke, "Among you stand one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me…" is Jesus Christ. Unlike the priest and Levites, we know Jesus. We know him because we have read and heard about him in the Holy Bible. We know him because we were baptized in his name. We know him because we receive the sacrament of his Body and Blood each week. We know him because we have invited him into our lives.
Who are we? We are witnesses to the light of Jesus Christ. We are Christians. May the light of Christ shine in us, so that others might also believe.