Advent 4, 2023
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. John 1:19-28
Advent 4 (Rorate Coeli)
December 20, 2020
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
I suppose one of the more exciting aspects of expecting a new child, other than finding out the gender of the child, is coming up with a name. Sometimes this can prove to be difficult. Naming someone effectively gives him or her an identity. “Who is that?” “Oh, well that’s so and so.” “Who are you?” “I’m so and so.” Names give people their own individuality and identity. Names mark a person as himself. And it could be that names call to remembrance older family members, that is, if a name that’s chosen has been in the family for a few generations. And more often than not, that’s what we do with names—we give our children our names or our parent’s names or grandma or grandpa’s name.
So it was that when Moses approached the glory of God in the Burning Bush, Moses said to God, “If I come to the people if Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God answers Moses and gives him His name, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Our God is a God who is. He is the only God that exists. By definition, all other gods are not. Our God, YHWH, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the only God who exists, because He is. That’s His identity. Our God is a God who is God. No one else is God.
When the son of the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth was born, it came as a surprise to everyone that Zechariah did not give his son a family name or an ancestral Levitical name. Instead, Zechariah gave him the name John. John was to be set apart. John was different in many ways. He did not drink wine or strong drink but was filled with the spirit of Elijah the prophet and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Now at the time when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to question John concerning his identity, and who he was, and by what authority he was doing the things he was doing—preaching and baptizing, John never gives them the answer they were looking for. John never gives them his name. He never states his name and says, “I am John, son of the priest Zechariah.” He says, “I am a voice.” That’s it. Simply a voice. “A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, as the prophet Isaiah said.” John’s name doesn’t matter.
Central to John’s ministry was a Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. That’s what matters to John. This is what should matter to us as well. This is how we prepare for the coming of the Lord—by repentance and by receiving forgiveness. John baptizes with water. But among the Jews stands one who is The Prophet and who is The Christ. This one, Jesus, baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In this Baptism—this heavenly washing of renewal and the Spirit—instituted by the Lord and carried out through the ministry of the Apostles and now through the Office of the Holy Ministry, we are given a new identity, a new name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, YHWH, Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. That’s what the name Jesus means. Jesus gives you His own name and therefore, a new identity. You are no longer a slave of sin, of this fallen world, or of the devil. You are a slave to righteousness and therefore, an heir of eternal life. God has rained down righteousness from heaven and it has been poured over you at the font.
You are the Lord’s. You are Christ’s. You belong to Him. He is to whom John points. He has come and He has died for you, but He rose from the dead. In Baptism, you have been crucified with Him and buried with Him into His death. So also will you rise again.
John is not the Christ. John is not YHWH. John is not Jesus. John is a voice crying in the wilderness. And if John is a voice, let us then be ears. Let us be ears to hear this rough, foresty, wilderness voice and repent of our sin. Let us be ears also that hear the voice of our Savior who tells us that our sin and guilt don’t condemn us any longer. “It is finished. It is accomplished,” our Savior cries out while hanging on the cross in our place. By this act of love, He calls us out of this valley of the shadow of death; He calls us and guides us to springs of living water. Let us be ears to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd when He says, “I forgive you all your sins. Go and sin no more.”
If we are ears then let us also be knees—knees that bow in the Lord’s kingly presence. He comes to us, still in time, humble and meek, yet fully divine. He is not angry or wrathful; a king in whose presence we must cower and hide our gaze. He is a loving and gentle king—of the house and lineage of David. He is David’s Son yet David’s Lord and He approaches us, lifts up our faces, and wipes away tears from our eyes with His right hand.
And if we are knees that bow in the Lord’s presence, then let us also be mouths, but mouths first to receive a Holy Supper. For there is wine here to revive you, bread to make you strong. But this meal is not prepared for you so that you might receive physical sustenance. It is given and shed for you so that you might be spiritually sustained—that you might weep no more, that you might find strength to live another day, that you might forget your sins and your failures and live a life of righteousness in eager expectation of the Resurrection of the Dead. This meal is instituted so that you might receive it in your mouth and that it would revive your soul.
Having received this, then let us be like John. Let us point to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let us also go forth and proclaim the goodness and wonders of God, that He loves sinners and how He calls His little lambs to Himself. Let us tell it on the mountain, shout it from the rooftops. But also let us console the weeping, the downtrodden, and those saddened by sin and their state in this life with the Gospel of Jesus. Let us also pray to our Father in heaven that He would continue to rain down righteousness on His beloved people; that He might continue to fight for us and defend us against the fiery arrows that the devil shoots at us.
John proclaimed that he was not Elijah or the Christ. He never gave his name as a response to the Jews. He was simply a voice—a voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord. He was a voice crying out that the Kingdom of Heaven was near. This is also our prayer: that God’s Kingdom would come to us so that by His grace, we may believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity. Because the Kingdom of Heaven will come and God’s will is done. God’s will is done when he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come. God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan of the devil, such as, when He sent His Son to be born a Man in Bethlehem. And God’s will is done when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. For those who have been Baptized into Christ’s Holy Name, this is most certainly true.
In +Jesus’ name.
