Worship is canceled today due to weather. Here is a short message since we cannot gather in person today. It is based on John 1.19-23. Blessings on your Sunday! See you in the new year! Stay warm and safe!
I know we were planning on just doing a lessons and carols service today. But here is a short message since we are not able to gather together due to weather.
The reading scheduled for today based on our lectionary is from John 1.19-34. I will center my remarks on the first few verses, shown below. To avoid confusion, the John being referred to in the reading is John the Baptist, not John the gospel writer.
John 1.19-23 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah said.
In our world today it is easy to feel like John the Baptist. When John says that he is, “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness” he means that no one is listening. We think that our witness has little to no effect on the community around us. We believe, teach, and confess that, according to The Formula of Concord (one of the foundational statements of Lutheran faith), “the gospel is not a proclamation of repentance or retribution, but is, strictly speaking, nothing else than a proclamation of comfort and a joyous message which…comforts consciences against the terror of the law, directs them solely to Christ’s merit, and lifts them up again through the delightful proclamation of the grace and favor of God, won through Christ’s merit.”
Put simply, we put our trust in the message of God’s love and mercy and it brings comfort and joy. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like that message is resonating with the world around us. There is so much strife, tension, and division that we wonder if our actions do any good at all.
The story of John the Baptist reminds us that it isn’t about us and our effort; it is about Christ. We may not see that our discipleship is having an effect. It may feel at times that when we share the good news nothing comes from it. But it isn’t about us, it is about Jesus. We don’t change people, Jesus does.
When we share the good news with the world it is an act of faith. We are trusting that we are: called by God; made in the image of God; delivered from the powers of sin and death; and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love God and neighbor.
We know that John the Baptist was “crying out in the wilderness” before Jesus showed up, but we don’t know how long. It was long enough to draw crowds, estimates are somewhere between 3 and 30 months. But the point isn’t to figure out exactly how long John the Baptist’s ministry was before Jesus showed up, it’s to recognize that it didn’t happen immediately. John didn’t start his ministry only to have Jesus show up the same day.
Ministry takes time. We simply trust that the Holy Spirit works in us to share the good news of God’s love. And we leave it to the Holy Spirit to continue the work of that good news in our community.
So, when you feel like John the Baptist. When you are discouraged because “those knuckleheads just don’t seem to get it.” Take heart. Trust in the Holy Spirit. And be encouraged by the words of Isaiah 55.11, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Glory be to God!
A PDF version of this message can be found at this Google Drive link.