A Homily given by Fr. Ben Jones, Curate;

St. George’s Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC;

On the Fourth Sunday in Advent; A.D. 2009.

“The Baptist”

+ In the name of God the Father,

and of God the Son,

and of God the Holy Ghost,

AMEN.

John 1:20-23.“And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.  And they asked him, what then?  Art thou Elias?  And he saith, I am not.  Art thou that prophet?  And he answered no.  Then said they unto him, who art thou?  That we may give an answer to them that sent us.  What sayest thou of thyself?  He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.  Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”

Have you ever been asked to write an introduction for yourself??  Have you ever had to tell someone who you were??  Have you ever been asked to describe your Faith and belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour??  Keep these questions in mind and we will come back to them.

Our Gospel lesson begins with John the Baptist being approached by a group of Priests and Levites from Jerusalem that was sent by the Sanhedrin.  This governing body didn’t care for any type of gatherings.  They were very comfortable in their position under the Roman rule and didn’t want any correspondence or much less any visits from Rome because they were not doing their job in an efficient and effective manner!!

According to Jesus, John the Baptist’s ministry marked the end of the era of the law and the prophets.  The new era of the Kingdom of God was now being ushered in.  John stood as the last and the greatest in the long succession of prophets who foresaw and foretold of the preparation for and the coming of the Messiah.  The ministry of John the Baptist is recorded in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles because he was “THE FORERUNNER” of Jesus Christ.  Crowds of people from the surrounding area flocked to the Jordan Valley to hear him because there was a note of authority recognized in his preaching, NOT as a disciple of any other teacher of righteousness, but as a NEW teacher of righteousness, with his own disciples.  The people knew there was something different.  For some reason they were drawn to hear John preach.  “For all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.”1  Those who heeded John’s call to repentance and accepted baptism at his hands would form the righteous remnant.  John was charged “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”.2  We call to remembrance certain Scripture specific to John the Baptist.  One being, “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”3  Another would be, “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire”.4  The Scripture which seems most familiar tell us, “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.  But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.  Then he suffered Him.  And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”.5  This was the last fulfillment of prophecy by the Baptist.  The descending of the “Spirit of God” as a dove, (the symbol of innocence and purity), fulfilled the predicted sign received by the Baptist that would indicate the true Messiah as described in The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, (11:2), and in The Gospel according to St. John, (1:33).

Let’s take a closer look at the way John the Baptist answered the questions of the Priests and Levites.  First of all, he gave his answer of who he was as reflected in the prophetic Scripture.  This was to show that the Scripture was fulfilled in him and that his ministry was supported by a “Divine Authority”.  Being obedient, he became that which the Word of God made him.  It can be said of the Baptist that he had three types of voices.  The first is, “I AM the voice”, as if he were (‘vox et praeterea nihil’) a mere voice.  The Baptist was humble in his ministry and in his identification of himself.  He didn’t boast of himself, but did boast of the one who would come after him.  The second is, “HE WAS the voice”.  This is from the prophecy of the “Proclamation of the Comforter” which is found in the Book of the Prophet of Isaiah, (40:3).  This was the voice to “ALARM AND TO INSTRUCT”.  This voice was a “human voice”.  The people who were awaiting the coming of a Messiah were certain that they were preparing for some catastrophic sign that they would be sure not to miss, to receive the law by the voice of thunders or by trumpets; something that would make them tremble, similar in the way Moses received the law at the hand of God.  Instead, they were prepared for the Messiah by the voice of a human; a still, small voice.  This was the same voice as the voice in which God came to Elijah.  Thirdly, he was the voice of “ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS”.  This tells us of the Baptist’s sincere and earnest ministry in calling people to repentance.  He cried aloud and did not spare.  Recall the verse I mentioned earlier where he called them vipers.  He openly preached that all manner of persons might hear and take notice.  It was in the wilderness that this voice was crying.  The Baptist carried out his ministry in a place of silence and solitude.  He was out of the noise of the world and all that it offered.  However, here is an interesting twist in the place of his ministry.  This place was the most public part of the wilderness of Judaea.  His preaching and baptizing took place at a crossing of the River Jordan just north of the Dead Sea where the traffic between the province of Judaea and the Roman district of Peraea passed by in great numbers day in and day out.  The “voice crying” cried to “make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias”.6  The Scribes and the Pharisees possibly out of personal gain, with their corrupt interpretation upon the law, had caused the people to err in their beliefs.  The Baptist was now calling the people to repent and to turn back to God in preparation for the reception of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  The Baptist used his voice in the different ways of, a mere voice, a voice to alarm or instruct, and a voice crying in the wilderness, in order to fulfill the Scripture in being that “MESSENGER”.

NOW, how should we introduce ourselves and our belief and faith?  Will we be humble as the Baptist or will we be boastful and prideful in our own accomplishments??  Will we retire from our secular affairs to OUR wilderness, that place of silence and solitude, out of the distractions of the world and its hustle and bustle where we can be with God in prayer, and in meditation, and in the study of Scripture?  Or will we offer what appears to be prayer in the example of the Pharisee praying in the Temple in the Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee?  Let’s be prepared for our Saviour.

We are just about to bring an end to the “Season of Advent”, the “Season of Preparation”.  We have been preparing to commemorate the “Birth of our Saviour”, that Babe of Bethlehem, and at the same time to prepare for His return to redeem His people.  I pray that this has been a “Season of Cleansing” in the preparation of our hearts to receive our Saviour.  We have a mini “Cleansing and Preparation” each and every time we are present at the Mass.  We pray at each Mass, “And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with Him, that He may dwell in us, and we in Him”.7  Have we through our obedience become that which our Saviour has called us to be??  Let us prepare to receive Him and to let His Word permeate our very soul.

Amen.

+

And now unto God the Father, God the Son, and, God the Holy Ghost,

be ascribed all might, majesty, power, and dominion,

most justly due this day, both now and forever, world without end.

Amen.

1 The Gospel according to St. Mark 11:32b.

2 The Gospel according to St. Luke 1:17b.

3 The Gospel according to St. Luke 3:7.

4 The Gospel according to St. Luke 3:16.

5 The Gospel according to St. Matthew 3:13-17.

6 The Gospel according to St. John 1:23b.

7 The Book of Common Prayer, 1928 ed., pg. 81.