No denial in Christ [Advent 4]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Deuteronomy 18:15-19

• Philippians 4:4-7

• St. John 1:19-28

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
 
Who speaks to us on this fourth Sunday of the new Church Year, saying,

“Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

 
In this confrontation between John the Baptist and the Jews, we can already hear the distant echoes of the Trinity season, where immediately Jesus warns us that they will not believe even if someone were to come back from the dead.
 
In this confrontation from our Gospel heard today, John the Baptist seems to be defending himself to the point of contradicting Jesus, Who will later call him “Elijah to come” (Matt 11:14). What would cause John to take such a precarious stance, that would make people call into question the whole Bible because of it, in our days? 
 
He spoke that way because John the Baptist knew who he was taking to at the river that day. He knew he was facing off against the Original Murderer, the father of lies himself. And he knew that if he gave even one inch of agreement, it would be the end. And so he takes up the position of complete denial of satan, his works and his ways.
 
Of course John is going to deny that he is the Christ. Who in their right mind would claim that title?? More important is: why did the Jews ask the question? Because they want him to be the Messiah of their making. If he says he is, then they can make him as they want him. They can set him up and they can knock him down, taking the hopes of the people with him, in order to control them and keep their positions of power.
 
He says he is not Elijah, because if he gives an inch, then they will throw the books at him. Well where’s your fire from heaven? Where’s your chariots?  John knew he didn’t have those things, so he wasn’t lying, but he is not the Elijah the Jews want. If he were to say such an affirmation, they would raise a mob and turn everyone against him.
 
Finally, if he were to admit he was a prophet, then his words would just be twisted. Where are your miracles? What are your prophesies? Where are your words and actions approved by us, who are chosen of God and keepers of His Word? See he is not a real prophet, but a charlatan. Do not listen to him, people of Israel. He is a blasphemer.
 
Rather than contradicting God’s Word, John was contradicting the Jew’s words. I am not the Christ you want. I am not the Elijah you’ll be happy with. I’m not the prophet you will accept. This is John’s denial, not of Jesus, but of the devil. Therefore his answer to these demonic forces is as general and simple as possible. Basically, he states: I am a Christian.
 
I tell you today, if John the Baptist were to have come in our time, things would be no different. That should be obvious, especially when you see on TV things that are evil being called “good” and things that are good, called evil. In our sin, we are quick to side with the Jews and are ready to judge even the One Who has come back from the dead.
 
Yet, I also tell you, that of such is the perfect Salvation that Jesus had purchased and won for us, even for John, that the Baptist could have answered all those questions in the positive!
 
How could John say he is the Christ? When you call yourself Christian, what do you think that means? It means you are a little Christ. You have union with the Son of God. You have been clothed with Him and you no longer live, but Christ lives in you. What you will be on the Last Day is you will look like Him. By Faith, you look like Christ to the Father.
 
That John could also be Elijah, is at Christ’s word. He says plain as day: John is Elijah who is to come (Matt 11:14), who will “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb…will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God…[and will] turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:15-17). Not in chariots of fire, but in the forgiveness of sins.
 
Likewise, is John a prophet, for a prophet’s first and foremost duty is to point people to faith in the Messiah and John does that, literally. Behold I will send my messenger in the wilderness, before the great Day of the Lord, who will prepare the Way, a straight highway for our God.
 
All of this is what St. Paul means when He says “If I were to judge myself I would not be judged”, in 1 Corinthians 4. That, because he is using and handing over only what the Lord has instituted and handed over Himself, that if people would judge, they wouldn’t be judging him, but God. 
 
Likewise, John the Baptist uses or speaks nothing except what the Lord has already given and already spoken. This is the reason for his incredulity when the Jews do not believe, calling them a brood of vipers. This is the day the Lord has made, how can you not believe it?
 
This is the mercy Jesus bestows upon us, that He is judged for our sin, death, and the power of the devil. In Him, we are not judged, and if we are, in us is only found the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Jesus Christ our Lord, in faith. For our Lord, comes down all glorious, to be judged. The One Who said, “Love your neighbor” is hated by His fallen neighbors, in our place.
 
Yes even you. For, as you heard last week, even John the Baptist asks Jesus, “Are you the Christ?” Are You the One to Come? Though, where John and our sin denies, Jesus acknowledges. He is the Christ, chosen and anointed of God, and blessed are you who hear and believe, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven (Matt  16:17).
 
Jesus is Elijah’s Lord, He Who gave to Elijah his fire and his chariots and his eternal life, for Christ’s sake, now appears in order to purchase and win such life for all. Jesus can do all the things Elijah can do, but perfectly. Where Elijah could only depose Jezebel and her priests, Jesus unseats the very usurper who deceived them, the devil. Where Elijah could only ascend with the help of heavenly chariots, Jesus rises again from the grave never to die again.
 
Jesus is also the Prophet, of Whom Moses spoke. Jesus is from among the brothers, that is He is God and man. The voice of the Lord God spoke on Transfiguration’s mount, “Listen to Him”. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (Jn 3:36). And where Moses could only speak words, Jesus is the Word of God Who Speaks and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast. (Ps 33:9)
 
John baptizes with water, but Jesus baptizes with water and “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt 3:11). And His baptism is a life giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of new birth. The baptism of Jesus raises you from the dead (Rom 6:5) and that resurrection is how you know it is the Lord’s work, as He said in Ezekiel 37:13. 
 
The Jews were not after John, they were after God. King Herod did not want to behead John, he wanted to behead God Who made such commands against sins. Such is the violence and murder that sin works in our bodies and spirits. But thanks be to God, that “the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force” (Matt 11:12), that is the violence of the cross of Christ.
 
In our sinful rebellion we put to death a lamb of God and return Easter Day to find an Eternal Lion. An Eternal Lion that brings us into His realm of Grace and mercy, such that we find only the things that are instituted by Him, His Word and His Sacrament. Believing in those things and surrounding our life with His Divine Service, we then also may answer with John: I am a little Christ!
 
At the Word of His Forgiveness you are washed clean. At the washing of rebirth and renewal, your Old self is drowned, daily, and the New Self, Christ, is put on. At the invitation from the Lord to “move up higher” at His Wedding Feast, you now prophesy the Lord’s death until His comes again in glory.
 
In His Church, we faithfully and confidently renounce the devil, his works and ways. Instead, through faith, we cling to Christ, His works and His ways. The Work of Salvation, freely given in His Body and Blood, and the Way of righteousness, whereby we commune with a new, righteous life, denying our old sinful ways and following Christ our example.
 
“The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him;
if we endure, we will also reign with Him;
if we deny Him, He also will deny us;
if we are faithless, He remains faithful—
for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim 2:11-13).