Last week we heard scripture from the gospel of Luke announcing the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah. But, because he and his wife are getting on in years, Zechariah does not believe the angel Gabriel’s announcement, and for that reason he is struck mute for the length of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, which had to be a long wait. And yet, they had already been waiting a lifetime for this momentous occasion to come. They had been praying to God for a miracle to take place, for them to have a child, thinking and probably believing that it was never going to happen. And so, as we look through their eyes at the miraculous birth of their son, who we are told will make the way for the coming of Jesus, we see their waiting and the waiting that John the Baptist will also have to do, although we don’t have to do that same waiting because last week when the scripture passage ended Elizabeth was 5 months pregnant with John and today we encounter him, and he is around 30 years old, man does time fly.
John is a special character in scripture, because he is the only person who is continually referred to by what he does, that is he is John the Baptist. So, we have to note that John is not a Baptist, it’s not like saying John the Methodist, but he is known for being the one who baptizes, which we will dig into a little more in the new year when we come back to Mark’s account of Jesus baptism by John. As part of the proclamation to Zechariah, he is told that John “must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” What this statement means is that John was a Nazarite, which again has nothing to do with a specific denomination like the Nazarenes, but instead this was a very special group of people, men, in Judaism who took special vows. Two of the most famous Nazarites were Samson and Samuel, who both also happened to be the result of births of formerly barren women, and they entered into their vows because of pledges their mothers had given to God about what they would do with their child, if they were able to have a child. Of course, in this case, it’s not the pledge of the mother, or at least not that we know of, although Elizabeth was praying hard for a child, but instead the pledge that God is making on behalf of who John is and who he will be.
Additionally, and maybe more importantly, in that passage from Luke, and what we hear from Mark today, connect John not only as a potential prophet, but as part of the prophetic tradition. In Malachi, the last of the 12 minor prophets, and the last book in the Hebrew Scriptures in the Protestant tradition, Malachi prophecies that God will send a prophet to prepare the way, the same as Isaiah says before him, but Malachi is more specific in what that means, and says, “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord, He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” So, what the prophet Malachi says that Elijah will do as the precursor to the coming of the messiah, is what the angel Gabriel says that John will also do. And to make this identification just a little clearer, we are told John is wearing camel hair and a leather belt. Now for the fashion conscious amongst us, you might think, “well a camel hair coat and a leather belt sounds pretty nice, I wonder if it was accompanied by loafers or wing tips,” but that is not the attire being referred to here. Instead, this is the wardrobe of a penitent, as is the meal, and someone who is not putting money into their clothing. Now, does anyone want to make a guess at who else in scripture we are told wears this attire? Elijah, the one who prepares the way. But, this has been a long time coming. There is a gap of nearly 400 years between the end of the prophetic witness of God and the promise of the coming of the messiah, of seeing John as a new prophet who prepares the way. If you think having to wait in long lines at the mall to buy that present is hard, imagine waiting for 400 years to see the promises fulfilled, of waiting for the coming of the Lord. But the proclamation that John will be filled by the Holy Spirit even before his birth means that the messianic age is dawning, that the promised coming is actually coming, the waiting is over.
And John himself also must wait. We are told that John appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance and of the forgiveness of sins. That makes it seem like he just comes out of nowhere, he’s just suddenly there. Singer and comedian Eddie Cantor said that it takes 20 years to become an overnight success. We don’t know anything about the intervening years of John’s life, but presumably he was preparing for this time, preparing himself in order to be able to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. And think about that for a moment. John knows that he is the perpetual opening act, and he has to be okay with that. He knows what his role is, and it is not to be the headliner, but to be the one who prepares and supports. That’s not an easy place to be. In this world of the need and desire for instant gratification, of cooking shows in which we have people who just graduated from culinary school who want to be given jobs as executive chefs at the best restaurants in the world. Not to be the best line chef or the best sous chef, but we’re going to look down our noses at them, because if we’re not at the top, then we’re nothing. But that’s not who John is; John is the one who prepares the way, not the one who is the way.
But, John does not know when the Messiah is to appear, and it even appears that he doesn’t know what the Messiah will look like, because in Matthew and Luke, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him, are you the one who is to come, the one he has been preparing the way for, or are they to wait for another. And Jesus responds, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” (Matt 11:4-5) While Elijah was a miracle worker, that role is not John’s, but instead it is Jesus’. Jesus is the one who brings healing and wholeness, and it is important to remember where John is making his proclamation, out in the wilderness. Another sign that the inbreaking of God is not coming through the established political or religious hierarchies of the day, because they are not prepared either to receive or accept the good news that Jesus, or even John, have to offer.
Even though we are looking at those who waited for the arrival of Jesus, Jesus too had to wait because what is the precipitating event that begins Jesus’ ministry? It’s the arrest of John, and so in that way, and with his eventual execution by the Roman authorities, John prepares the way for Jesus in more than just inviting people to repent and receive forgiveness. But what is even more surprising, and the point I want us to remember this morning is the fact that we remember John and that Jesus, even Jesus, needed someone to prepare the way. We talk a lot about people who are self-made, but that is ridiculous on its face. No one is self-made. Everyone has at least one person who helped them out along the way, who pushed them in the right direction, or gave them guidance, acted as a mentor, supported them and allowed them to be who they were. We can talk about the genius of Steve Jobs and the amazing things he did, and his hard work and dedication, but to understand his story we have to know that as a youth he was friends and mentored in many ways by Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett Packard. But, except for in Oscar speeches, it’s pretty rate to have people give thanks and to acknowledge those who prepared the way, because to do so takes enormous humility. It takes humbling ourselves to recognize that regardless of the heights that we reach, most of us stand on the shoulders of the people who have gone before, who have given us a boost up the mountain before we even stated. But if Jesus, the Son of God, who, as Paul says, “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.” If Jesus can recognize those who made the way, then we too should be able to do the same.
Additionally, we must also look at and remember the humility of John the Baptist, who also did not regard himself as more than he was. Even though he seemed to be quite popular, and had his own disciples, at least according to the gospel accounts, he was always telling people that he was simply making the way for the coming of the messiah. If John didn’t admit that he was not the one, then he would simply be the latest person to come around claiming that it is all about him. But, instead, he was a man wearing the clothing of beggars, or prophets, depending on how you want to see it, he lives out in the wilderness subsisting on locusts and honey, and he takes no credit for himself. Humility is part of parcel of this story, and it is also part and parcel of being a disciple, because to be a disciple we have to be humble enough ourselves to admit that it’s not about us and that we can’t save ourselves, that we need Christ in our lives. We have to be humble enough to hear first John and then Jesus’ call to repentance and admit that we have made mistakes, and to turn around and seek forgiveness. And we must be humble enough to say that God is not waiting for us to prepare the highway, to make the way straight in order to do something, but that God has already drawn near, God has prepared the way, because it is God that sent John and it is God that sent Jesus, who also prepares the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In this season of Advent, we must be humble enough to prepare our hearts and minds to again welcome the Christ child, who was born humbly in a manager into our lives, as we cry out, Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus, Come. I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.
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