As we move forward in this period of Advent we are still preparing the way – we are still hearing stories of those that come before Jesus. Last week we heard from Marks Gospel about how John the Baptist came preaching that people should confess and  repent  , just as Isaiah had prophecised that he would (Isaiah 40 v3 – “A voice of one calling : ‘In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord^[a];
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God’”.

  And we heard how John had preached that someone was coming who’s sandals he was not worthy to untie.  Someone who could baptise with more than the mere water that John used. And we heard in that passage as Jesus was baptised that this clearly was the fulfilling of the ancient prophecies Mark reports that the spirit came on to Jesus and Gods voice was heard. 

This week we are hearing again about John but from a slightly different angle. Last week we found out from Mark that John was, well,  a bit odd really – a bit alternative, a man who wore fur and ate locusts in the wild– certainly not a good fit with the religious types who were about at that time – the pharises who were well dressed, well respected and cosy with the occupying Romans.

In this weeks 2 part passage John (the Gospel writer) doesn’t waste any time talking about the physical appearance of John the Baptist.  Instead he makes sure we know that John (the Baptist) was sent by God to tell people about someone else who was coming –  The gospel writer says “He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light” So we are left in no doubt that John the Baptist is the messenger – another prophet who, as we found out before was also fulfilling an earlier prophecy in Isaiah.

Our split passage jumps on to John  19 and this is where the jarring of John with his rustic image and the posh self centred pharises comes.  The religious types have come out from their places in town to the country side to see what the fuss is all about.  Have they come because they are afraid someone is musceling in on their patch?  Have they come because the message is quite unlike anything they have ever preached? Have they come because John is simply  taking their punters away? What we do know is that the Jewish Leaders in Jerusalem sent them to find out who this guy was.  John the Baptist was obviously starting to get noticed – and was clearly stiring things up enough that the religious leaders wanted to check him out.

I cant imagine these guys were asking out of politeness – one article I read calls them the church’s private investigators –  sent out in a hurry to check out what’s going on .  that same article tells me there are 3 facets or parts to the question “Who are you”?

First theres is the obvious one – “Whats you name”

Secondly there is the “Who are you really” ie what are you like, what kind of person are you

And thirdly there’s the  “Who are you to talk like this? By what authority do you speak?”

I imagine the scene as though John the Baptist has been cornered by journalists all shouting basic questions at him like “Who are you” but all the time knowing they have an ulterior motive. 

John of course tells them what he has told everyone else – “I’m not the messiah”  So they ask him if he is Elijah, another ancient prophet who lived simply and ate whatever was around – No, he’s not Elijah ether.  So Is he the prophet – No not that either. 

“Well what on earth are you then” 

These guys have been sent from the town by their bosses to get an answer and they are in danger of not getting one – they plead with John “Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

And John finally opens up – with a line of scripture they would know well which must have shaken them.  I can’t help thinking that these guys that had been sent to check out John thought it would be a quick case of checking he was a nutter and then home in time for a nice lunch. Instead John himself tells them that he is a prophet fulfilling another prophecy – that of Isaiah.  I suppose the natural extension from that is that if one prophecy was coming true then is there any reason why the one about a messiah might not come true too?!  Lunch is suddenly looking a long way off for these investigators.

I I might be doing these guys a disservice – maybe knowing the scriptures they got  excited and maybe some of them went  running back to their bosses in a state of excitement to give them the good news but given what we know of the religious leaders at the time and the way they are almost universally portrayed  I doubt it.

Again in my mind I see them almost reluctantly asking the last question – “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or a prophet?”  They are starting now to get tense – they need answers and maybe things are starting to sound serious

And does what John say next frighten them? –  John doesn’t bother to try and explain why he is baptizing (after all the mere word “baptize” and what he has been doing speak for themselves) instead his reply is designed to just be the truth and what a shocking truth it must be – “I baptize you with water but among you stands one you do not know – He is the one that comes after me who’s sandals I am not worthy to untie”  John tells them in this simple sentence that he is just an ordinary man “I baptize with water” , that someone far greater than he is coming “who’s sandals I am not worthy to untie” but also that Jesus is already here “among you stands one you do not know” John even manages to make it plain that they don’t get it – he’s here among you now and you don’t even know him.

That’s a challenging thought to everyone who was present-  the much prophecised saviour of the world is among them – NOW. John has thrown back the challenging questions from these religious investigators and where they have demanded certainty (preferably that he was a fruit cake!) John offers them some head spinning confusion.

What the priests wanted from John was that they could categorise him – they could put a label on him to explain away his antics.  He might have been misguided, or a fruitcake, or some cult or something else to explain why he didn’t represent their official view of religion.  But as we know, time and again the religious people didn’t know Jesus was among them  – they obviously came to know a guy called Jesus was around making waves but they didn’t know him, they didn’t know who he really was and of course we know they tried everything they could to make him go away.

In this time of Advent, when we wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus what John says still holds true of our world today.  We do not know who Jesus is, we have not seen the light and yet we must, our world must come to know who Jesus really is.  And of course as John says  – Jesus is among us, and yet do we really know and see him? Do we see that he is already here?  Or is it more convenient to carry on and ignore that fact?  More up to date question:  Does how we do advent and Christmas proclaim our Christian faith or that we are just part of the same normal Christmas that non Christians have?

As Christians hopefully we should have got some of those things sorted but the world has not, perhaps as Advent continues we are all called to be a little like John the Baptist – no, you don’t have to wear a fur and eat locusts but you do have to be different  – Different in a world that is desperate for good news.  Here now, especially in Advent and on towards Christmas , lets make sure we spread a little of that light.  Let us be the voice crying in the wilderness that more people might know what Christmas really means

Amen.