Sermon manuscript:
John the Baptist was a great man. You don’t have to take my
word for it. Jesus said so. “None born of women has arisen who is greater,”
Jesus said. What made John so great was his trust in the Word of God. John said
God’s Word. He wasn’t ashamed of it. He didn’t change it. He didn’t improve
upon it. He just said it and let God do whatever he wanted to do through it.
So, as we heard last week, John said to the Pharisees and
Sadducees that they were a brood of vipers. He told the tax collectors that
they shouldn’t extort money from people. He told that soldiers that they should
be content with their wages. All of this, and there would have been a lot of
other things John said, was so that people could know what was right and wrong.
Then they could repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. It’s
not possible for anybody to repent if they don’t know what’s right, and that what
they have been doing isn’t right. So this was no small task and no small
accomplishment that John told people what was right and wrong so that they
could repent.
And to those who did repent, John was very kind and gentle.
He pointed them to Christ, the one who was coming after him. He testified: “That
one, Jesus, is the Christ. That one is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world. Trust in him.” This made John into the best and most needed
of all guides. He turned people away from whatever foolish and sinful paths
they were getting lost on in the dark. He told them, “That won’t work.” And
then he pointed them to what does work. Jesus Christ himself is our peace.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He lays down his life for the sheep. He leads his
sheep with his voice. Follow him and you’re going to be alright, come what may.
And let’s not kid ourselves about that “come what may.” Just
think of poor John. He ended up in prison. Why? Not because he did something
wrong, but because he did what was right. John told king Herod that it was
adultery for him to divorce his wife and to marry his brother’s wife. “Shame on
you,” he said. If only Herod and his adulterous wife would have owned that
shame, but they refused. They would have been greatly helped if they had.
Admittedly, it is never fun to say that you were wrong, but it’s awfully good
for the soul. But instead of repenting they got even. They put John in prison.
That was John’s “come what may.” Follow Jesus and you’re going to be alright,
come what may.
But John’s “come what may” wasn’t over with either.
Eventually these calloused and wicked people, who hated the light of God’s
truth so badly, would conspire so that John’s head would be chopped off his
shoulders and served on a silver platter. But Jesus says in another place: “Amen,
I tell you: When all things are made new, … everyone who has left homes or
brothers or sisters of father or mother or children or fields because of my Name
will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”
John the Baptist continued to be alright because his Good
Shepherd laid down his life to redeem him. John didn’t do badly by sticking
with the Word of God that made evil people hate him. He did well. The Word of
God guided him to that which is good and truthful and life-giving, just as he helped
others by that same Word. God was faithful to John, whom he loved, even as he
went through his “come what may.”
But although John the Baptist was an extraordinary man, he
was still flesh and blood, the same as us. You heard in our reading how he sent
messengers to Jesus when he was stuck in that foul and uncomfortable prison. He
asked Jesus: “Are you the Coming One or should we wait for someone else?”
I don’t think things were panning out the way that John the Baptist had
envisioned. He needed to be encouraged.
And Jesus did encourage him. He said, “Go, report to John
what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have
leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the Gospel is
preached to the poor. Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me.”
The reason why this message back to John would be
encouraging to him is because Jesus is saying that he is the fulfillment of
what was prophesied in the Old Testament. We heard one of those prophecies in
our reading from Isaiah where it says, “Then the eyes of the blind will be
opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. The crippled will leap like
a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.” These are signs and
wonders that were unheard of in the Old Testament. We do not hear of the blind,
the deaf, the lame, or the mute being healed in the Old Testament, but we hear
of a great deal of that with Jesus. Jesus is the Christ who turns back the
curses and ailments and brokenness that came with sin. Jesus’s miracles testify
to the sorting out and life-giving power that the Christ has. Jesus’s message
pointed to himself and his work. It is as though Jesus was saying to John: “Don’t
lose hope. I’m still here and at work for you.”
It is a great thing to have our faith and our hope refreshed
by realizing anew that Jesus is our Lord, Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the
Savior. None of the Gospels report how John received this message to him, but,
surely, that message was a light in that dark prison. Everything was going to
be alright, come what may.
None of us, unfortunately, have been as faithful as John the
Baptist. Therefore our own “come what may” might not be a noble, crying
injustice like it was for John. He didn’t deserve to have what happened to him
happen. If anything he should have been thanked for his faithful service
instead of thrown in prison. Our bed, unfortunately, is much more likely to be
the one that we have made for ourselves. We are much more likely to be in the
dark prisons of our own making. But, as Paul says, “This is a faithful
saying: Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”
And so we just might dare to send our own message to Jesus today from our
prison: Encourage us, Jesus, we who are in the dark. Let your light scatter the
darkness, and illumine your church.
And Jesus’s words are applicable to us, just as they were to
John the Baptist in at least a couple of ways. We might think that they do not
apply because we do not see the exact same kinds of miracles that Jesus did
2,000 years ago. But what Jesus is doing among us is no less than what he did
then. If anything what he does now is actually greater.
First of all, there is a spiritual healing that Jesus does
now. He opens the eyes of the spiritually blind. He opens the ears of the
spiritually deaf, and so on. This is no small feat. The world is full of people
who do not see the evil, godless times that we are living in. You see and know
that Jesus is coming. The world is full of people who are deaf to God’s Word.
God’s Word is so good for leading us rightly and truly so that we make our way
through this valley of sorrow to God in heaven. You have heard this Word. God
has opened your ears.
But let’s not be content with just a spiritual understanding
of these things. We are also at the beginning of the literal fulfillment of the
more profound healing and restoration that Jesus talks about with John the
Baptist. We have already begun to live our eternal life. That started when we
were baptized. The working of God is upon us which will finally culminate in
the resurrection from the dead and the perfect healing of every ill of body and
soul.
In this way the working of Jesus upon us is not less than
the miracles that the apostles witnessed, but much greater, by many orders of
magnitude. Those people whom Jesus healed were made well in this fallen body of
ours, but our fallen bodies are nothing compared to the bodies we will have
when we are raised on the last day. Lazarus was raised from the dead after four
days, but that, too, was only a restoration to this present life that is still
so thoroughly contaminated with our own sin and the sins of others. The work
that Jesus is doing and will complete is altogether more and better. If you
want to catch just a tiny glimpse of what that will be like, you can read for
yourself the Old Testament reading. Isaiah is prophesying what things will be
like in the end times.
And so we have encouragement from Jesus to help us in our
times of darkness. Our encouragement is Jesus. Jesus himself is your peace. He
will see you through, come what may. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He is
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has chosen you and
given you his grace. He has baptized you and will continue to work on you so
that you may enter into the making of all things to be new.
Finally, note that Jesus said to John the Baptist: “Blessed
is the one who does not take offense at me.” I wonder if John thought of
that message when things got still darker for him. I wonder if he thought of
that when the door to his cell was opened and the executioner came in. “Blessed
is the one who does not take offense at me.” That is another way of saying,
“Not my will, but your will be done.”
We can certainly learn from that too. The way God does
things is not always the way that we would have chosen if it were up to us. But
God has his reasons. What Jesus says to Paul can also be applied to us. Paul
tells us of how he bitterly complained to God about a thorn in his side, a
messenger from Satan. Jesus said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you,
because my power is made perfect in weakness.” It’s like how the old song
goes: “I am weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.”
So stay the path. Remember that God’s Word is what is right and true. Don’t be led astray by bad guides and bad advice. Let the commandments be your guide for how you should live. And remember that Jesus is your Lord. Cast all your cares upon him, because he cares for you. Live from one moment to the next knowing that God is in control of your life. You know the Good Shepherd, and, more importantly, the Good Shepherd knows you. You know his voice. Follow him, and, come what may, you’ll be alright. In fact, you’ll be more than alright.
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