A Sermon given by Revd. Tessa Stephens

'John the Baptist and Jesus'

Preparations for Christmas are well underway. There are spiritual preparations as we think about Christmas services and practical ones too. For example, I’m currently working on Christmas the Spreadsheet and am attempting to organise the family who are coming to visit so that I at least know when they are all arriving. Ellie is convinced that Christmas is already here – after all we have the tree up and the advent calendar and we’ve been to see the Christmas production at the Church School. On Thursday she was demanding Christmas Pudding and did not react well to being told that actually Christmas isn’t here – yet. So this morning we lit our third advent candle - a sign that we’re more than halfway through Advent and also a reminder that it isn’t Christmas yet. And this morning in our candle prayer, we’ve specifically remembered John the Baptist.

So who was John? The wild and hairy man of the desert, the Bible describes him as “The voice of one shouting in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord”. He was famous for his ascetic lifestyle; for dressing in clothing made of camel hair and living on locusts and wild honey and for calling the people of God to repent and be baptised. So he wasn’t altogether a comfortable character to be around.

He was also Jesus’ cousin. When Mary, pregnant with Jesus goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John, John leaps with joy within his mother’s womb. So according to Luke’s account, even before birth, John recognised Jesus.

And that moment of joyful recognition was confirmed and brought to fulfillment at Jesus' baptism. Jesus recognises and affirms John’s ministry by coming to him for baptism. And as John baptises Jesus, the spirit of God descended on him like a dove, confirming that this is truly the son of God.

But as we look at our gospel reading today, that moment of joyful recognition seems a long way away. John the Baptist has made some unwise comments about the marital affairs of King Herod and has been imprisoned as a result. Stuck in the fortress of Machaerus by the Dead Sea, it’s hardly surprising that doubts are beginning to knaw at him.

He’s hearing all sorts of stories about what his young cousin Jesus is up to, but frankly they don’t meet his expectations of what a Messiah should be doing. In fact John starts to feel so doubtful and worried that he wonders whether Jesus is the Messiah at all. John himself had preached that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This was part of a terrifying prophecy in which the wheat would be gathered into the granary and the chaff would be burnt with unquenchable fire. In other words John was expecting Jesus to separate the righteous from the unrighteous and then to deal with those who hadn’t met the standard in a decisive way.

But that isn’t what Jesus has been doing. His activities seem to be less about judgement and more about healing and compassion. And this is what Jesus answers to John’s disciples who come to see him and to ask are you the one? Or are we waiting for someone else?

Jesus replies with a list of the miracles that have been accomplished so far within his ministry. And this list is astonishing. The blind are seeing again. The lame are walking, lepers have been cleansed, the deaf hear. Whereas John was expecting Jesus to be an Elijah-like character who would call down fire from heaven and bring judgement, Jesus himself is more focussed on bringing compassion and restoration. As Jesus spoke, perhaps he was thinking of the passage from Isaiah 35 that we’ve heard this morning. Isaiah gives us a beautiful picture of a kingdom restored and of the healing that this restoration brings.

So, Jesus subtly affirms his own ministry and his identity as the Messiah. However, he is careful not to be too explicit. With John already in prison, Jesus would have been aware that he was also vulnerable to the authorities and would not have wanted to attract too much attention from them at this stage in his ministry.

Jesus also affirms John’s ministry. He makes the point that John is a prophet, not a king. Herod’s coins had the image of a reed on them, and Jesus makes the point that John is no reed in the wind or king dressed in luxurous garments. And as he speaks about John, affirming his prophetic ministry and pointing out that John is no king sitting in a royal palace, perhaps he is also making a subtle point about his own prophetic ministry and underlining the fact that as Messiah he has not come leading armies or as a new King David.

So what can we learn from John’s questions and Jesus answers? Like John, we all have times in our lives when we experience doubt. John was in a real prison, but we sometimes find ourselves in prisons of our own making. Prisons of despair, or anguish or pain. And in those circumstances perhaps it’s not surprising if we too find ourselves having doubts about who Jesus is and about the promises that he makes to us.

I find it really encouraging that someone as close to God as John the Baptist was not immune from this very human tendency. But John was able to send his disciples to Jesus and to receive an answer from him. How can we respond when we find ourselves suffering from doubt or wondering if, like Narnia under the spell of the Snow Queen it will be always winter and never Christmas?

There are no easy answers. But it may help us to turn to our reading from James. In four short verses, James offers reassurance to us as we wait for the coming of our Lord. He asks that just as a farmer waits patiently for the crops to grow, so we also should be patient. And patience sometimes seems to be the hardest thing of all, because it means that we are not in control. The manger is empty still and as we wait with longing for the coming of our Lord we know that we cannot force his coming to happen to a timetable that we dictate. This isn't an easy thing to do. Our culture demands hard work and quick results.  The world around us glorifies those who can get things done, quickly and efficiently.  But Jesus’ return is not like that. We cannot force it to happen. But, like the farmer we can patiently and faithfully till the soil, knowing that the harvest will come in due season. And knowing also, that as Isaiah describes so beautifully, it may well be in the wilderness, that new life breaks forth. And so may the Lord when he comes, find us watching and waiting.

Amen