I am not the Christ
John 1:6-8, 19-28
17 December 2017 – Redeemer
I am not the Christ and you are not the Christ, but we want to be. That’s the same temptation John the Baptist faced in the wilderness.
The priests and Levites came out from Jerusalem thinking John must really be something. He was dressed in the same garb as Elijah of old. He had divorced himself from the world of luxury and abundance, yet all of Judea and Jerusalem were coming out to him. But the most disturbing activity of John was that he was baptizing Jews.
Jews weren’t baptized bodily. They may have ceremonially washed their hands or cooking utensils, but not a full-body immersion. That was reserved for non-Jews, the Gentiles. If somehow one of your German or Swedish ancestors had lived in Jerusalem back in those days they would have had to be baptized – full body. Gentiles needed to be cleaned up if they wanted even a little taste of the Lord’s worship. Something new was happening with John. He proclaimed God’s kingdom was at hand and entry required baptism for all. He was washing God’s own people and every one else in the muddy waters of the Jordan in a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Water was often the entry point for God’s people – the water of the Red Sea was their entrance to freedom from Pharaoh. They crossed this same Jordan long ago to enter the promised land. The greatest acts of the Lord’s salvation happened through water. This truth wasn’t missed by the Jewish leaders. So they sent priests and Levites to ask John, “Who are you?”
They assumed he was the Christ. He looked like Elijah. He was leading the people into the wilderness like Moses, and he was preaching God’s Kingdom is literally here and now.
“Who are you?” they asked. How easy and glorious it would have been for John to say, “I am the Christ.” He had been born miraculously to Zechariah and Elizabeth. He came from a long line of priests. His hometown was Jerusalem and the temple was practically his second home. Meanwhile his cousin Jesus had been born in a barn and lived “up north” in a shack. Mary and Joseph were poor and distant from the temple. John had already gathered a large congregation. Jesus’ ministry had just publicly begun. The glory could be all his. All John had to say was, “I am the Christ.”
It’s your temptation too. Oh, not to be an imposter like John and actually walk around claiming to be God’s anointed savior of the world, but you and I are tempted to be the Christ. Do you ever excuse your sins without confessing them? It’s not gossiping if I tell the truth. I know I was angry, but I had a long day. Do you judge your sinfulness based on other people? I’ve never murdered anyone. I haven’t had a physical affair. I’m not a terrorist. Do you have just enough of God so that you’re comfortable? Do you live your week apart from the gifts of Christ you received this morning? Is the only time you pray when you’re in church? Then you have made yourself Christ. Or perhaps you fall on the other side of the cross. You feel such shame and guilt that you don’t believe Christ could forgive you. You’ve stumbled and fallen so many times you feel beyond the forgiveness and love of God. Then you have made yourself Christ. Whenever you fashion God in your own image, sculpting him to fit your sins, molding him to be a comfortable pillow on which you can sleep in sin, or when you think His Son did not die for you – then you are taking Christ’s place.
For Christ is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4). He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. (Heb 1:3) There is no other way to know God, to trust Him, to worship Him, to be His child than in His Son Jesus Christ. When you go around Christ by living in sin or by living in despair you have effectively taken Christ out of the manger and off the cross and put yourself in His place.
John did not give in to the temptation. “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” (vs 20) John said he was nobody. Are you Elijah? I am not. Are you the Prophet? No. Who are you? We can’t go back to town without an answer. John doesn’t even have an original answer, no witty reply from this wild man. Like most good preachers he simply spoke God’s Word borrowed from Isaiah the prophet. I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
I stumbled across an interesting little point this week. The Greek word for voice is φωνή. It is the word from which we get our English word phone. Has your phone gone off during church? Who is it? What is it? Is it important? Maybe there is a new cat video on Facebook or your friend is texting you a picture of his plate at the breakfast buffet. Whatever it is – your phone is not important, but rather who is speaking through the phone – well sometimes, maybe.
John is a φωνή you should listen to. He’s ringing in the middle of this dark night of sin and death to wake you up. “I am not the Christ” but I’lll connect you to Him. “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.” (vs. 26–27)
Jesus is the Christ and John the Baptist – the greatest of men born among women (according to Jesus himself) is not worthy to touch the sweaty strap of Jesus’ sandal. Where does that leave us who have played with sin or think our sins are too great for God’s blood to cover? We most certainly are not worthy to touch Jesus, but John’s sermon is that Jesus has come to touch us.
Jesus touched us when the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary. He touched us when He was baptized with a congregation of sinners in the Jordan. He touched us when He sat down with Sally Streetwalker and Elmer Embezzler and Peter the Proud and Gabby the Gossip. He touched us whenever He cast out demons and healed the sick and made the lame to walk. He became sin for us and at the cross became untouchable to His Father. The Father would not even speak to His Son as Jesus was touched with the suffering, death, and hell our sins deserved.
I am not the Christ. You are not the Christ. Jesus is the Christ of God and He does what we cannot do, what we will not do. He doesn’t ignore Satan or give in to Him. He resists him and disarms him. Jesus does not become comfortable with sin or excuse it. He takes our sin away into the consuming fire of His Father’s anger. Jesus does not mask death with make-up and celebrations of life. He lets death swallow Him whole as the perfect sacrifice, but since death has no stomach for the righteous, Christ rises on the third day. That is what God’s Christ does. John is not the Christ. You are not the Christ. I am not the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. In His name. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
16 December 2017 anno Domini