Sermon, Advent 3
When someone asks who we are, we recognise it's a big question - of identity, of presense, of purpose, etc. And we answer based on the context: we have different aspects of ourselves that are revealed appropriately in diifferent contexts. The response to "tell me a little about yourself" will be different in a job interview than a first date or meeting a new neighbour.
And, however we answer such a question, we know that it is a partial answer: we cannot possibly sum up the entirety of our beings. Yet today's Gospel focuses almost exclusively on that style of question. WHO ARE YOU?
It's repeated towards John the Baptist, and he definitely keeps his interrogators - and us! in suspense as he's rather cagey in his replies.
The context itself is strange, as we have some priests and Levites - some religious scholars and lawyers - asking on behalf of another group of people - the Pharisees - who are unwilling to come out to the rivers' edge themselves in order to have a conversation (or perhaps condemnation) with wild-looking wilderness-man John. Ironic how we don't learn the identity and purpose of the very folks asking about identity and purpose! Instead, we have go-betweens who are acting out of a sense of duty and obligation. That changes things a bit.
And we see that John is not going to engage in potentially tense situation; instead he de-escalates the situation by starting off with who he is NOT - he is not the person they are looking for, he is NOT the Messiah.
Now, John is smart - he knows his mission and ministry is causing a stir with the religious and political rulers of the time. And he knows they want to trap him into saying something heretical. So he replies in clear, concise statements, unflappable and untrappable - for he knows the references that are being made in the questioning.
No, he is not the Messiah.
No, he is not Elijah - a prophet of early scriptures who was whisked into heaven in a flaming chariot. And he reveals that he knows his scriptures
No he is not the Prophet - a statement proving he knows about Isaiah, too, and is deeply rooted in the history and tradition of the Jewish people.
So, while John may look rough, and smell worse, he is NOT a fool. He has lived beyond the presumption of him as a simpleton, some crazy guy in the river with delusions of grandeur.
And finally, they ask him an open-ended question, instead of trying to force answers that would entrap him. Who ARE you?
And here's where it gets fun, with an unexpected reply: He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord.'"
WHOA. This is big. This is important. There's a lot going on in the nuance of that statement! Because his answer, to those with ears to hear it, reveals a BUNCH about his identity, and his purpose. Because the passage he is quoting from, which we heard last week in Isaiah 40, is a prophesy, and it reads: A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." *A* voice. Not the voice - a voice. So the person fulfilling this voice is carrying the voice of God, the Good News of the Messiah, within them.
This is why this account is adapted and expanded in the Gospel according to Mark, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
So it is very important for us to realise that when John replies to these pharisaic questions about identity with “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’”, John is telling these folks - and his followers - and the crowd gathered - and US - that this is a big deal. He's not just coming into town for supplies, he's not just a traveling evangelist preaching on baptism and repentence, he's not just the earthly cousin of Jesus.
He IS the bearer of Good News. He is the voice calling from the wilderness, inviting preparations for the coming of the Christ.
John has let the world know that he is connected to the Messiah - that somehow, by the grace of God, he is the one to announce the coming of the Lord, the one for whom all the Jews have been waiting expectantly for thousands of years. John has essentially just announced that he is fulfilling the prophesy of the Prophet Isaiah.
....Aaaaaandddd... they miss that. They don't actually hear him answer their question. Because they continue on, stubbornly focused on having their question answered in a way that they expect.
I like to imagine John at this point trying hard not to roll his eyes and sigh. And he's even more clear: Among you stands one whom you do not know.
John, of course, is referencing Jesus: the light come into the world, the light that John was called to be a witness of and a testimony to. The light is coming, and John's inviting the world to get ready for it.
Yet, we can be like those folks gathered at the water, so set in our ways that we miss the answers, we miss the truth, we miss the signs and wonders of God in our midst.
Yet realising that they're just not ready to see and hear, John continues to be calm, and in reacting and responding in these ways, we learn a lot about John: he knows who he is, and who he is not. He knows his purpose, and his ministry. He knows that his preaching and baptising is not just a job to pay the bills, but a vocation - a calling - from God, knowing that it is part of the fulfillment of God's truth.
By doing this, by knowing his God-given place, John is helping people to believe. He is helping to set the scene for the coming of the Christ. He is doing what he can, to bring about the Messianic wonders that will change the world forever.
John is a powerful witness: not just for his shock value, but for his faith, his ministry, his self-knowledge. How appropriate that this saint who is the epitome of describing identity and purpose is the one aligned with the ministry of baptism: that sacrament wherein we declare our name before God, and celebrate the forgiveness of sins, and invoke the Spirit to help us identify our gifts and skills, and be identified as a beloved child in the household of God, and receive the light of Christ...
In baptism, we are named and claimed by God, and we delight in the sacred festival of identity and purpose.
So as our Advent continues, I invite you to consider yourself: your identity, your purpose, your place in the household of God.
And I invite you to embrace some glorious truths:
YOU are a beloved child of God.
You are the person God loved into being.
You are being called by God to do amazing acts of love in this world.
You are reminded of your role in testifying to the light that has been given to you - to us - to the world.
As this Advent season continues, I pray our hearts will continue the journey, with assured identity, with renewed holy purpose, and with longing for the light which is, and which is to come.
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