I Am Not
John 1:19-28
December 22, 2019 anno Domini – Redeemer
I am not. That is John’s confession and it is a good confession of us on this fourth Sunday of Advent.
John the Baptist had a golden opportunity. His preaching and teaching had gathered attention. People from Jerusalem and all of Judea were coming out to him. They believed his word and they were baptized. And that baptizing was something new. Normally the only people who went through a ritual washing to become God’s children were Gentiles, Greek speakers, those who were not born in Judaism. John was calling all people to repent, including the Jews. He was calling everyone to be baptized for the forgiveness of the sins. This baptism, this new thing, had attracted attention. The Jewish leaders were wondering who this wilderness preacher was?
John had good credentials – a miraculous birth to Elizabeth and Zechariah. He belonged to long line of priests. And he was bringing out the crowds. Nothing more popular than a preacher who can pack them in. John could have used all of that when he is asked, “Who are you?” He could have claimed top spot, but he answers, “I am not the Christ.”
John may have missed his greatest opportunity, but a great opportunity still presented itself. For four hundred years God had been silent. Malachi was the last prophet of the Old Testament, but through Malachi the Lord promised, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” When Elijah arrived on the scene the people would know God was again speaking and His great day was here.
You remember Elijah. Elijah was one of three men in the Old Testament that God took care of at the end of their lives. Enoch walked with God. Moses was buried by God. And Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind accompanied by fiery horsemen and chariots. That meant Elijah had been in the Lord’s presence for almost 900 years. Imagine what you could pull off if people who were looking for Elijah thought you were Elijah and that you sat in the heavenly kitchen and conversed with the Most High God. But when the Jews asked John the Baptist, “What, then, are you Elijah?” John said, “I am not.”
I am not. This is a good confession for us because we all pretend to be someone we are not. We take places God has not given us. We don’t trust doctors because occasionally they make a mistake so we self-diagnose and self-medicate. We don’t trust politicians because some of them only serve themselves and their agenda when they are in office. We self-govern and make our own opinionated laws about who is right and wrong, and usually I am right and you are wrong. Your wife isn’t perfect so you lust with your eyes and fantasize on your screen – you take the place of an unmarried man, or worse, of an animal. You take your pastor’s place when you believe your spiritual life is sufficient without being in the Lord’s house regularly. We take the pastors place when we don’t like the truth of God’s Word he is preaching, when we think God’s love should tolerate sin or His way of salvation shouldn’t be limited to Christ alone. Who among us has not put on the doctors coat, the judge’s robes, and the pastor’s collar? Who among us has not cast aside who we are to take God’s place?
It is time to confess with John, “I am not.” And that confession while it kills your sinful self, should at the same time enliven you. John the Baptist is not the Christ. Your doctor is not the Christ. Your favorite or least favorite politician is not the Christ. Your pastor is not the Christ. And above all take comfort in this you are not the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary is the Christ.
Jesus is the Christ. This is what John confessed and what we need to hear. “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” John’s simply the voice getting people ready to meet the Lord. Jesus is coming straight at you. He doesn’t cut any corners. He won’t let the mountain of your pride stand. He won’t let you go round about His Word, going in circles trying to redefine what He clearly said. He won’t leave you in the valley of death or in the dark pit of despair. Your sins have run you into the ditch and stuck you with death, and that is where Jesus of Nazareth heads straight away.
It is odd that the lectionary leaves off the very next verse of the Gospel reading. For there John confesses who is the Christ and what He has come to do. “The next day [John] saw Jesus come toward him, and said, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.”
There it is. Jesus of Nazareth is the Father’s offering for sin. He is the Lamb of God — the final offering, the only offering that work forgiveness. The Father pays the price of your forgiveness. This is on Him. It comes out of His pocket. His only-begotten Son goes straight to your problem. You’re a sinner who is dying and so He becomes the sin of the world, your sin and then He dies. John then tells us that it isn’t merely the blood of Mary’s son that stains the cross and gushes from His side. John confesses, “He ranks before me, because He was before me.” Jesus was born six months after John, so how could He be before John? He was before John because He is the son of God, begotten from eternity – He was eternally before John, yet was made man after John.
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. You are not. You learn that when your doctor is no help, when the politicians accomplish nothing (or even worse do the devil’s bidding), when pastors fail to save the church, when you cannot make your children believe in Jesus, whenever your life is not what you want it to be. You need to confess, “I am not the Christ, and then in the same breath confess with great joy, “but Jesus is the Christ.” Jesus fulfilled every prophecy of the Old Testament – He’s the greater Moses who delivers us from slavery to sin and death. He’s the greater Noah whose Spirit brings us into the ark of Christendom, the Holy Church, that we might safely be delivered from judgement. He’s the greater Ram that was caught in the bush that spared Isaac’s life on Mount Moriah. He’s the final Lamb of the Passover, and now death will pass over us. He’s the greater Jonah who was swallowed by the earth for three days and then came forth from His tomb alive. Jesus is the Christ, who died for your sins and who rose again declaring you justified – right before your Father. He sent His Spirit to work through Word and Sacrament to bring people to faith and deliver His salvation to them. He is ruling the world right now and will come again soon to bring His bride home. You don’t need to save the world, your children, or yourself, because you are not the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and that should be a great relief to you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.