"Humility from on High" Fourth Sunday in Advent Rorate Coeli December 22, 2013 John 1:19–28
In the Old Testament God promised He would send a Prophet greater than Moses. He would be the one who would fulfill all prophecies. We heard that in the Old Testament reading. If someone were to ask you if you were the one, I imagine you would say that you are not. The Old Testament also saw the prophecy of the Christ, the Anointed One of God, the Messiah. He would come as the Savior for people in their sin. If someone suspected you might be that one you would certainly tell them that you aren’t. In the Old Testament there was also the promise of one who would come before the Messiah, Elijah, the prophet returning to pave the way for the Savior of the world. Certainly you would say that, no, you are not the Elijah who is to come if someone were to ask you if you are. So far you have this in common with John the Baptist. He was asked all three questions. And three times he denied each title for himself. Even so, John the Baptist wasn’t just anybody. It was Jesus who said of him in Matthew 11: “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” John wasn’t just anybody, he was the one Baptizing. He was the one preaching repentance, a voice crying in the wilderness, the one who pointed out the one people did not know, the Lamb of God who takes the away the sins of the world. And despite his ignorance of being the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Elijah who was to come, he was the Elijah who was to come. John was the Forerunner of the Messiah. Jesus did not come on the scene until the Forerunner, the Elijah, the Voice in the Wilderness first came on the scene and paved the way for the Messiah. John was the one baptizing people for repentance. He was the last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, all pointing to Jesus as the Savior, all coming to a crux in John pointing Him out in the flesh. So there are major things you don’t have in common with John. You are not a prophet. You aren’t in the business of baptizing people. You certainly aren’t the second coming of Elijah. And much as you might have wished for Jesus to single you out, He didn’t say of you, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than [insert your name here].” John the Baptist truly is in a class by himself. He was chosen by God for a unique calling and Jesus points this out. There is one trait you ought to share with John though. Perhaps John’s signature trait is his humility. If you can learn this kind of humility then it will be for you what Jesus said after his pronouncement “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” The next thing Jesus said was, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” It’s great irony that if you learn humility as John the Baptist had you will be greater in the kingdom of heaven than he. When John the Baptist comes on the scene, he makes waves. The camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey immediately bring to the mind of the people the great Old Testament prophet Elijah. His serious preaching of repentance and the need for cleansing from sin through Baptism make a splash, literally and figuratively. It’s only natural that people will want to know who he is. Is he the Messiah? Is he the one promised in the Old Testament that will be the Savior, the anointed one of God? Or is he the one the Old Testament prophesied would pave the way for the Messiah, the Elijah who will come again? When asked, John dispenses with all those notions. This is not about him. This is about the one he is there to point to. He is simply a voice crying in the wilderness. He is simply a prophet who is there to tell them about one they don’t know. The Messiah is coming, and John is going to point Him out to everyone so that they will know He is there. This is the humility of John. John knows exactly who he is. He is a servant. He is one who is there to do another’s bidding. He is there to give increase to another even as he himself decreases. In his own eyes John was a simple preacher. It wasn’t about him. It was about Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one of God. Although the New Testament makes clear that John was in fact the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would come again, John didn’t see himself that way. How could he think of himself in such an exalted way? He was simply a preacher. He was a lone voice in the wilderness. He was there to point people to someone else, the one who would take away the sin of the world. So “they asked him, ‘Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them, ‘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.’” The humility John exhibits is not just in not ascribing to himself titles and roles. He’s not just simply a preacher but one who is not worthy to do even the most menial task of the lowest slave. If it were to fall upon John to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandal, John would see himself as unworthy of that task. The humility of John is humility that doesn’t come from his own valuation of himself. It is humility that comes from without. When you are preaching that others are sinners who need to repent how much more do you see that you need to repent? When you point others to the Messiah, the one who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, how much more do you see that He has come to take away your sin? This is what John the Baptist realized of himself and thus in John the Baptist you learn humility. You cannot gain true humility unless you gain it from on high. The Most High God brings you low, and that is why John was preaching repentance. You must repent and that takes humility. You must see yourself as John saw himself, not as someone great or as one people needed to note. But as someone who saw that he was not worthy. Someone who looked solely to the one who is the true one who was to come and came in the Person of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Imagine if John had seen himself in the way he was prophesied to be, as the Elijah who was to come. He then would have seen his ministry in those terms rather than simply as one who was a lone voice in the wilderness, the one who’s only purpose was to point people to the Christ. Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. He was the one who came from on high and it was in Him that John saw how humble he himself was. He could never make himself more than he was, which was nothing. It was only in Christ that he was everything. It’s a marvelous gift God has given you in the Forerunner. He has pointed you to where you need to look in order to be humble. It is only in being brought low, in humility, that you are raised up and attain glory. The humility God calls you to is humility He gives you from on high. Where did John point people to? Jesus, and specifically Baptism. You have humility when you continue to go back to your Baptism. There is where you see your humility. In your Baptism you see your unworthiness, that you must be cleansed of all of your sin. You must die so that you can rise to new life. You must be brought low so that God can raise you up. When you daily go back to your Baptism you are daily brought into the rich mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, where He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There is no greater humility than that of Christ on the cross. The one from on High was brought low. The Creator of the universe died. The Lord of all was condemned as the Sinner of Sinners. The one who loved unconditionally was forsaken. On the cross Jesus was reigning as King in the most glorious fashion—in humility. In pure love and grace toward you and every sinner. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He humbled Himself in order to exalt you. He took away your sin by taking it upon Himself. He reigns as your King by being your servant, acting in the most amazing way, placing your life before His. The gift of humility is yours. Let John the Baptist be your model. Look not to yourself but to your Lord, the one who has taken away your sin. As one who is Baptized, look to the continued ways your Lord comes to you, in His humble serving of you by loving you and forgiving you. You are not worthy, and yet your Lord invites you to dine with Him. You are not worthy to partake of anything He would bless you with and yet He gives you Himself. In His Holy Supper you partake of Him. Humility means you approach this Sacrament in self-examination, as John saw of himself, that you are not worthy, that you need to confess your sins. But it is humility also of simply, and boldly, taking your Lord at His word, that He gives you Himself, “This is My body, given for you” and “This is my blood, shed for you.” Think about what John must have thought as He said to the people, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me.” They didn’t know who the Messiah was, so John pointed them to Him. Think about the humility of God, becoming a man, standing among sinners, and ultimately taking all their sin upon Himself. Consider that though you are very different from John you stand here also and your Lord, the very same Lord of John the Baptist, stands among you as one who comes to you in water, and spoken word, and bread and wine to give you Himself for your forgiveness and to raise you up. Humility stands before this and sees that there is nothing but praise and thanks and humble serving in response. Humility from on high, God in the flesh, given to you for your forgiveness and to strengthen you in body and soul to life everlasting. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
