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Witnesses to the Light In the name of God, our Creator, Sustainer, and Sacred Companion. Amen. You may have noticed that the portion of the Gospel you just heard was not the text printed in the insert sheet. We have two choices for the Gospel reading today. I chose the alternate Gospel because it offers such a different picture of John the Baptist from the one given last week. John appears in all four Gospels, and in the first three, Matthew, Mark and Luke, he is a formidable character. Barbara Brown Taylor calls him the Doberman pincher of the Gospels', guarding the doors of the Gospels, barking, 'Repent, you brood of vipers!' He dresses in camel's hair, and eats locusts and wild honey. But in John's Gospel, the one we just heard, there is a different man altogether. The Doberman pincher is gone. The author of the fourth Gospel says, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light." There is not a word about camel's hair or locusts; he is not even called 'the Baptist.' I like this portrait of John. He seems more accessible to me than the wild man of the other Gospels who seems so filled with self-assurance and direction. This John has a quiet authority, and that gets my attention. As in the other three Gospels, John baptizes people, and is apparently very effective and very popular because religious authorities come from Jerusalem asking, "Who are you?" John only
says who he is not. "I am not the Messiah." "What then?"
they ask. "Are you Elijah?" Instead of answering directly, John shifts attention from the baptisms to the one who is coming. John replies, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." The religious authorities probably shook their heads and went away angry because they could not figure this man out. Perhaps they asked themselves, what is the source of this man's power? This gentle John has much to teach us. He stands in the murky water of the present, with trust in the God who sent him and with hope for the future. He trusts in the fidelity and goodness of God, past, present and future. This is the God of justice and mercy, proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah, "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind…I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress." John remembered that, through thick and thin, God had been faithful to the people, even when they were not faithful to God. Like Isaiah, John trusted God's promise to send the Messiah, and John knew that he was not the Messiah. Perhaps John's great trust in God, coupled with his humility, enabled him to see clearly that the Savior, the Holy One of God, was coming, and coming soon. Advent is a time of waiting. Specifically, we await the birth of Christ. But it is tricky when we know, or think we know, how the waiting will end. Jesus Christ will be born! It happens every year. In the commercial world, Jesus is already here, has been since Thanksgiving. But the Church's Advent season is very important! If we can learn to wait as John waited, our lives can be enriched immeasurably. John waited with a creative balance: He knew his own limitations. He was only a 'voice', not the Messiah, or Elijah or the prophet. He did what he could but had no illusions about himself. And he trusted God. Perhaps we cannot really trust God without knowing our limits. Knowing who we are NOT, knowing our limits is not easy or comfortable. For much of my life, I have acquired skills, stored up all sorts of knowledge, and armed myself to tackle anything. Looking at John, I realize that knowing your limits, knowing who you are and who you are not, gives you inner strength and authentic presence. John consistently pointed away from himself, to God, to the light and the one who was coming. What a relief to realize that we are not The Light, to know that the world does not revolve around us. Ironically, people who focus on God, not themselves, have a spark of God's light in them. They are the ones who become voices in the wilderness, lighting our pathways, pointing us to God. That is what John the Baptist did. And that is what Mary the mother of Jesus did. Like John, she was not the light; but she came not just to bear witness to the light, but to bring that light into the world. In a stunning gesture of humility and trust, she faced potential humiliation and disgrace, proclaiming "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Mary and John, the first witnesses, the first disciples of Jesus, are people from whom we can learn much about living a life of faith. Both of them were sent by God to a darkened world; they bore witness to the great light that became Jesus, who came not only to lighten our personal worlds but to change the world at large. Always, always,
the message of hope and love is tempered with responsibility to carry
out God's purposes: that all will live in peace and justice, the lowly
will be lifted up and the hungry filled with good things. Self-enlightenment
is only half of the vision; the other half is a fairer, Twenty-five years ago, I was in a pretty dark pit of self-pity and despair. I had exhausted all of my inner resources and exhausted most of my friends as well! As a last resort, I called a 24-hour prayer hot line. A woman answered the phone, calmly listened to me, then said, "Repeat after me. 'I am a child of God, one with God's light and wisdom. I see my way clearly.'" "But I do NOT see my way clearly," I protested. "Just say it over and over, and eventually, you will," was all she said. I did as she told me, and little by little the light did dawn on me. I have said those two sentences thousands of times since, and I offer them to you as a light that might lighten your way. I am a child of God, one with God's light and wisdom. I see my way clearly. There was
a man sent from God whose name was John. There was a woman sent from God
whose name was Mary. Amen. Gospel:
John 1: 6-8, 19-28 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. NRSV
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