“John the Witness”

December 11, 2011
Advent 3B
John 1:6-8, 19-28

In 1970, a musical debuted at Carnegie Mellon University, it was called “Godspell.” Musical was written by Stephen Schwartz and based off of the Gospel of Matthew, with some parables thrown in from Luke. The musical found its way to Broadway and even had a film version made, staring Victor Garber as Jesus. The movie version of the musical begins with a random selection of New Yorkers being visited by a John the Baptist character, who sings “prepare ye the way of the Lord.” After he blows his shofar, a ram’s horn used in the Jewish culture, the group gathers in central park and is baptized in a fountain all the while dancing around the fountain and singing “prepare ye the way of the Lord” aloud for all that could hear. This is not the John that we hear about this morning from the Gospel of John…well in a way it is, but not really.
What I mean by that is this, the John that we find described in the Gospel of John is the same person that we heard about in Mark last week…but John views him in a very different way than Mark, Matthew and Luke do. In Mark, Matthew and Luke, we see meet John the Baptist in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey, wearing camel’s hair and pretty much looking like a mad man. This John baptizes people for the repentance of their sins, preparing them for the coming of the one greater than he. He is the loud, audacious man with the shofar, baptizing people in a fountain in Central Park, dressed like a circus entertainer. The John that we meet in the Gospel of John, however, is not so much a baptizer as he is a witness. Yes, he baptizes here and there, but that is not his primary function. This John is a much more subdued, humble character who does his work at Bethany, along the Jordan. And he was sent by God to witness to the light that was coming into the world, to the Word become flesh, to Christ.
As we meet John the Witness, we hear an account from him of who he is. “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?... 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.
With the exception of his last statement about his identity, John responds to those who had been sent to him with the words “I am not.” I am not the messiah, I am not the prophet, I am not Elijah. He identifies himself by stating who he is not, the one who he bore witness to used the opposite tactic, saying “I AM”…and when John does identify who he is, he ties his identity to the one who sent him “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “make straight the way of the Lord.” And, as much as it is in his power, he is faithful to his calling to be a witness to the Word made flesh, to testify to the light coming into the world.
Soon after his encounter with those sent from the Pharisees, John sees Jesus and says, Look! There he is! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And again, just a few verses later he repeats this confession of who Jesus is. Behold, the Lamb of God. The witness of John to who Jesus is in the Gospel of John is the earliest witness that is found in the Gospels as to the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. It is John who gives his witness to what happened at the baptism of Jesus when the dove descended upon Jesus and remained upon him. And it is because of the witness of John that many came to believe in who Jesus was.
As we grow ever closer to the Nativity of our Lord, which is just two weeks away, we hear in the call of John the witness a call of our own. A call to be witnesses to the light that has come in to the world and who will come into the world again. A call to testify to the Word made flesh and where we see him at work in the world. We have a call as followers of Christ to join our voices to John the Witness and proclaim “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” But how do we do that when some are so ready to shut us down at the mere mention of Christmas? How do we testify to the light when for so long it has been seen as the Pastor’s job…? How do we witness to who we are and how we fit into God’s story and Jesus’ story when, quite frankly, it has become an intimidating task? Am I going to say the right thing? Are people going to take my testimony seriously? Will they think less of me because for some reason, I haven’t seen God this week?
There was a study that came out a couple years ago, called the National Study of Youth and Religion, that became the basis of a book called “Almost Christian.” The study was aimed at talking with teenagers about their faith, or lack thereof, and their feelings toward the church. The study found that while a majority of teenagers they spoke to claimed that they were people of faith and had positive feelings about the church, most of were also very apathetic to the practices of their faith tradition. The small percentage who were not apathetic towards religious practices had a powerful story to tell about their faith and came from faith communities that had a very strong sense of mission that challenged these youth to think outside of themselves. This study has led to the claim that Christianity as a victim to “moralistic therapeutic deism,” a belief in a higher power that we call upon occasionally when we get in trouble and who helps us to feel better about ourselves, but demands little from us in return. There really is no unique vocabulary with which to voice this belief, and it is a belief system that fails to challenge us into deeper faith. And it is something that we, the church, have passed down to the youth of the church after years of missional understanding and teaching being watered down. But it doesn’t have to stay that way…we have some unlearning to do as a church, though.
We have been called by virtue of our baptism, to join our voices with John the witness to testify to where we see the light of Christ shining in the world. We are called to be witness to who the light is. Now, I’m not saying lets all go down to Mass Street and stay there until we have convinced all of Lawrence who Christ is…as exciting as that might seem. But let’s take the time to share with each other our God moments, the times and places in which we have seen God at work, in which we have seen the light shine in the darkness. Spend some time at the dinner table talking to your spouses and friends and children about your faith, about questions and concerns, and pray with each other about them.
God sent John into the world to testify to the light that was coming into the world. God did that to get the attention of humans around John that something wonderful was coming into the world, a light that would shatter the darkness for good. The Word of God was becoming flesh in order to redeem us, to save us from ourselves.
God has called us to the same task, that we may be stirred up by the Word of God and go out into the world and bear witness to Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It’s not just an Advent thing, it’s a lifelong practice…so let’s get practicing!