The Fourth Sunday in Advent
Hymns: 60, 61, 58, 56
John 1:19-28 — “The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Gospel reading appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Advent is John 1:19-28:
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 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.
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Introduction
“And this is the record of John.” Marturia, this is the marturia of John. John was a true martyr of Jesus Christ. He is a true witness of Jesus Christ. Today’s text is the account of the witness or testimony that John gave when the Jews sent Levites to challenge John concerning the testimony that he was testifying in the wilderness. This testimony is much larger than John. It did not originate with him, nor has it ended with him. It is the everlasting testimony upon which we depend and to which we also testify as we gather into the name of Jesus. It is this testimony to which we are turned on this Fourth Sunday in Advent as we prepare to observe the coming of the Lord to the world to save His people.
I. I Am the Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 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.
The challenge that is put to John is typical of the challenge that all true martyrs encounter. The true martyrs proclaim the testimony that they have been given, and they are challenged with the question, “Who are you?”
John was not the Christ, and John plainly and openly confessed this. John made no special claims concerning himself. He did not even answer with those things that were prophesied concerning himself that would have satisfied those who challenged him. Even regarding being Elijah who was to precede the Lord’s advent, John answered “No.”
Why not? Why did John give an answer that seems to contradict what the Lord Jesus later testifies concerning John? Actually, the testimony of Jesus answers this question. He says:
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. (Matthew 11:12-14)
Who can receive John as Elijah according to the challenge of our sinful human reason? Those who challenged John were not looking for the one to whom he testified. They did not understand that John’s testimony was ushering in a new era. They did not want to hear that their own attempts at fulfilling the law were being shown for the pile of stinking and despicable crap that they were. They did not want to hear that they were those to whom John was to preach that their hearts needed to be turned. And so, when challenged by these impenitent usurpers of lordship in the Church of God, John denied that he was what they were seeking.
Instead, he answered with two prophecies concerning the work that the Lord had given him to do. The synoptic Gospels show that John first quoted Malachi and then quoted Isaiah, with the emphasis on Isaiah’s prophecy. In today’s Gospel of the Apostle John, he condenses the Baptist’s quotes, even condensing Isaiah’s prophecy to say simply: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”
Notice what John says concerning himself, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” He does not say that he is the one crying in the wilderness. He says that he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Now John is certainly in the wilderness. John most certainly is crying out. However, this is not his message. He is simply the voice. He is merely the preacher. In this way John is not any different than those who came before. Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of the prophets cried out with a message that belonged to them only with regard to the office with which they had been entrusted. The message belonged to the one who commissioned them. Thus, John directs the attention away from himself to the one who is crying out in the wilderness. He directs us to acknowledge that this message is the Lord’s.
Notice where John is serving as the Lord’s voice. He is in the wilderness. Why is the Lord crying out in the wilderness? Consider the quote from Isaiah along with the very familiar verses that precede it.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:1-3)
This message is to be proclaimed to Jerusalem. It is to be proclaimed to those within the walls of the holy city. It is to be proclaimed from beyond the city and beyond the temple. It is to be proclaimed from the wilderness. Why?
Why does the Lord even need to come to the city? Why does He need to come to His temple? Why is He not already there?
He is calling from the wilderness because the leaders of the Church and of the people and the people themselves have made the Church uninhabitable for the Lord. They have filled the Church with their own works. They have turned the Church into their church. They have turned away from the Lord and have begun to rely upon themselves for the righteousness that they need. They have turned the house of the Lord into a den of thieves.
So the Lord calls to them from the wilderness, leading them away from their self-chosen heritage and the bondage of their traditional worship. For the true worship of the Lord has never been traditional worship. True worship of the Lord is liturgical, flowing from heaven through the divine liturgy. There is nothing traditional about it. Traditional is what we make of the liturgy through our misunderstanding and our inattentiveness. And so like with Abram, the Lord calls us to a new country that He will show us. He did the same with the sons of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, bringing them to Mount Sinai in the wilderness, to receive from Him the Torah which would guard them until the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ.
Thus the voice of the Lord calls out from the wilderness, apart from the cities and the sanctuaries that we build for ourselves. He calls us away from our own works to hear the words of His voice. He calls us away from all of our own preparations to that which He has prepared for us.
II. Make Straight the Way of the Lord
And what has He prepared for us with this voice calling in the wilderness? “Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”
To whom is the Lord speaking? Who is the intended audience of this voice of the one calling in the wilderness? What does the Lord mean when He calls out to make straight the way of the Lord? How can this be? Is the way of the Lord not already straight?
Wait! What is the way of the Lord? Is this not the first question that we should ask?
Why does the Apostle John only speak of the way of the Lord and not the paths that Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the Baptist as saying? Moreover, why does John the Baptizer change Isaiah’s words in this way, so that he mentions paths in the plural whereas Isaiah only speaks of one path? The other Gospel accounts record the Baptist as saying: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
The apostle John condenses this to the way of the Lord, which is the Logos or Word. Two words are used in the synoptic accounts, hodon and tribous. Hodon is singular because there is only one way, Jesus, the Word. However, tribous is plural, because there are multiple paths by which the Lord, that is Jesus, comes to us. He comes through the preaching of the Word, through the water and Spirit of Baptism, and through the bread and wine of the Holy Supper. Thus the paths need to be made straight among us even as the Way is rightly proclaimed.
Sadly, we want to prepare for ourselves our own Way, a Jesus of our own definition. Thus the voice calls to us in the Church from the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord!” There are no twists and turns in the way of the Lord. There are no alternate versions of the Truth. The words of Jesus cannot be selectively heard and believed and practiced. The Sacraments cannot be redefined. The Church cannot be taught as mixed or mingled with the world and with the perceptions of sinful mankind. How can anyone be sure of anything unless the Way of the Lord is made straight in the preaching and practice of the Church? How can anyone know for certain that it is to the true gathering into the name of Jesus that a person gathers unless the Way is preached without adulteration?
“Make straight the way of the Lord!” is the same message that St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he warns them saying: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.” (1 Corinthians 11:29) How can anyone eat and drink worthily when the gathering that is called church is not the true gathering into the name of Jesus, that is, when the gathering is not truly the body of the Lord through which He comes to us?
Thanks be to God that He does not leave this to us to do. He is the one who makes the way straight for us through the voice by which He cries out to us in the wilderness. As we hear His voice, we recognize the Lord and are drawn to Him. Instead of wandering this way and that way seeking to find Him on our own, He calls to us so that we are drawn in a straight path to Him. It is for this reason that He has ordained His means of grace. He has given us simple earthly elements to which He has attached His promise and command, so that He may come to us directly and straightforwardly, leaving no cause for doubt. Since this is all His doing, as long as we allow it to be done His way, we cannot obstruct it. All obstacles are removed and the true faith is restored to us again and again.
III. Why Baptizest Thou Then
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Those who have hardened their hearts to the existence of the pure and visible Church that exists purely through the pure administration of the means of grace are simply unable to hear what God cries out to us through the voice in the wilderness. No matter how plainly God declares His Way, no matter how straightforwardly His Way is lifted up before them, they refuse to hear it. How can they? How can anyone hear it except through the Way that the Lord comes to His Church? If they refuse to discern the body, if they refuse to admit that it really exists as God has established it, if they insist on making the body of Jesus impure and invisible, how in the world can they ever be brought into it? How can they receive the pure means of grace if they insist that it is impossible even to know where they are being offered rightly?
Why is this the case? Why do the people and their leaders continue to ask, “Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?” What are they really asking by this? They are asking the ones who baptize where they get their authority and power. Since all that they observe is the impurity of those whom God gathers to receive His declaration of righteousness in Christ, they never actually discern the body of Christ. They look to the ones traveling on the straight paths rather than to the one leading them on the paths.
Here is the Baptizer’s answer:
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
Yet again the Baptist points to the one of whom He testifies. John’s baptism was a baptism of metanoia, that is, of being changed in one’s thinking. We commonly translate this as repentance, which is contrition or sorrow over sin. But metanoia is much more than being sorry or contrite. John preached the Law, which produced repentance, or contrition. But John baptized into the forgiveness or remission of sins. He baptized into the righteousness of God in Christ. He baptized to set people free from their repentance. “What?” That’s right. God does not want to make us sorry or contrite, at least not as a continual state. He wants us to be absolved and set free to live as His righteous and holy children. He wants us to be set free to rejoin Him in the life that He created us to live and has redeemed us to live again. What good is our sorrow unless it leads us to receive His forgiveness and reconciliation?
This is why John baptized. In Baptism we are turned from our sorrow to see the smiling and loving countenance of the Lord again. When Baptism is rightly administered as the Lord’s path by which He brings us back into His good graces so that we see what He has done and is continuing to do for us rather than focusing upon how we fail Him and try miserably to approach Him on our own, when Baptism is administered to us again and again through confession and absolution so that having heard the full force of the Law we turn in our despair to hear His gracious proclamation of absolution for Christ’s sake, then we come joyously into the fullness of His Holy Communion to eat and drink freely, having all sorrow turned to Eucharisting or Thanksgiving.
This is why the Baptizer baptizes. This is why the Lord calls out in the wilderness through His ordained voice saying, “Make straight the way of the Lord!”
Conclusion
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
This is certainly a powerful conclusion to the testimony of John the Baptizer. John was on the other side of the Jordan at a place called House of Crossing. Standing on the other side of the river, John baptized into God’s kingdom those who came from the promised land and the holy city and the temple. The people came to John to hear what they did not hear from what today people often call organized religion and church. Yet the true Church existed. It was clearly visible and people were coming into it, on the other side of the river, by a solitary voice calling in the wilderness. Regarding this the Lord Jesus told the chief priests and the elders of the people:
Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. (Matthew 21:31-32)
John stood out as a voice of the one crying in the wilderness. “Make straight the way of the Lord! The voice has not been silenced. That voice continues among us today. The Lord continues crying to us, calling us to come near and to receive that which He has prepared for us. He has ordained the means by which He comes to us. The Way of the Lord is made straight before us. Let us draw near and partake of His merciful goodness. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.
The Fourth Sunday in Advent
Hymns: 60, 61, 58, 56
The Introit (Is.45:8; Ps.19:1)
P: Drop down, ye heavens, from above:C: and let the skies pour down righteousness.
P: Let the earth open:
C: and bring forth salvation.
P: The heavens declare the glory of God:
C: and the firmament showeth His handiwork.
(The “Gloria in Excelsis” is omitted during the Penitential Season of Advent)
The Collect
Stir up O Lord, we beseech Thee, Thy power, and come and help us with Thy great might, succor us that by the help of Thy grace whatsoever is hindered by our sins may be speedily accomplished through Thy mercy and satisfaction; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
The First Lesson Isaiah 40:1-8
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
The Gradual (Ps. 145:18,21; 40:17b)
P: The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him:C: to all that call upon Him in truth.
P: My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord:
C: and let all flesh bless His holy name. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
P: Thou art my Help and my Deliverer:
C: make no tarrying, O my God. Hallelujah!
The Epistle Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The SENTENCE for the Season (Psalm 25:6)
P: Hallelujah! Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies:C: for they have been ever of old. Hallelujah!
The Holy Gospel St. John 1:19-28
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 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.
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John 1:19-28 — “Who Art Thou?”
Introduction
I. The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness
II. Make Straight the Way of the Lord
III. Why Baptizest Thou Then
Conclusion
[Back to Top of Page]