Sermon for 2nd Advent
What to do with John the Baptist
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
You brood of vipers! God’s wrath is coming. The chaff will burn with unquenchable fire!
These are not nice words, these words of John the Baptist we just heard read from Matthew’s gospel. Not words that say, “Happy Advent” or “Christmas is coming.” No, these are words of judgement and foreboding.
What do we do with these words from John the Baptist?
Well, it appears that the Gospel writers are not so sure about what to do with John the Baptist either. It sure looks like the gospel writers do not quite know what to make of him.
Think about it: These guys are writing the story of Jesus and right up front they have to deal with John the Baptist. John who is, in many ways, a little too much like Jesus for comfort. After all, and as we just heard, John, too, attracted crowds and disciples. John, too, provoked the religious leaders. John, too, is eventually killed by the ruling authorities (and some, later, will even wonder if John has been raised from the dead).
And if all that’s not enough, John baptizes Jesus. Shouldn’t that have been the other way around? I mean, isn’t it usually the teacher who baptizes the follower, not the reverse. Talk about awkward!
Now, clearly, John left an indelible impression, became too important a figure to leave out of the story. And so, each of the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, each of the gospel writers must figure out a way to take this Messiah look-alike and fit him into their gospel narratives without having him upstage Jesus.
Mark, as characteristically succinct as ever, Mark takes the most straightforward route and in a handful of verses just plain claims John as the fulfillment of prophecy, the one who heralds the coming Messiah.
John – the gospel writer, that is, not the Baptist – John the gospel writer is shamelessly bold, as he records the Baptist confessing – or is it un-confessing? – that he is not the Messiah not just once, but twice (just in case anyone was confused).
Luke may be the cleverest of the bunch, as he names John as Jesus’ cousin and then has him give testimony to his younger and superior relative from his mother’s womb.
And then there is Matthew in today’s Gospel lesson. After reading Matthew’s words, it is easy to surmise that, perhaps, Matthew does not like John the Baptist at all. Overall, Matthew’s characterization of John’s preaching is pretty severe, as in, like, unrelenting fire and brimstone. True, Luke offers much the same, though Luke’s John the Baptist at least gives the people some hope, inviting them to offer what little they have in response to his call to repentance. Not so with Matthew, whose John the Baptist employs an apparently effective if somewhat predictable two-step preaching formula of repentance: threat, repeat.
Take, for instance, Matthew’s description of John’s encounter with the Pharisees. Pretty harsh stuff: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?!”
Maybe Matthew is trying to make Jesus look better by contrast. You know, have John the Baptist give ‘em hell so that Jesus seems so much kinder and gentler by comparison? As tempting as that interpretation is, though, it does not hold up, as later in his story, Matthew records Jesus saying things just as fierce, if not more so. (Mt. 23:1-36)
Well then, maybe Matthew is trying to set John up for a fall. You know, have John be all fiery and bold in this passage but a little later, and as we will hear next week, show a little later John to have feet of clay after all by describing his doubts about whether Jesus is really the messiah.
Except that interpretation does not hold up either, as Matthew records Jesus himself saying that John is the greatest of the prophets.
So, what’s gives?
When you think about it, Matthew portrays not one glimmer of grace in John’s preaching. Mark and Luke, by comparison, though also depicting John’s clothes, cuisine, and cutting rhetoric in similar detail, Mark and Luke nevertheless both describe John as proclaiming “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk. 1:4; Lk. 3:3).
Not so with Matthew, who only reports John’s terse sermon as, “Repent!” (1:2). No forgiveness. Nothing.
But what if that is Matthew’s point all along? What if it is not that Matthew does not like John, it is just that Matthew wants us to be certain about who and what John is – the forerunner, the one who points to Christ, for sure, but also the one who not only calls our attention to Jesus but creates in us a hunger for Jesus.
Don’t look to John for forgiveness, Matthew implores, because you will not find it.
If you read further along in Matthew’s story, there is another place Matthew diverges from the script that Mark and Luke also follow closely. This time we are in Jerusalem at the Last Supper, where Jesus, gathered with his friends, shares himself as fully and completely as one can. Lifting a loaf of bread, Jesus says, “Take and eat. This is my body.” And then, offering them a cup, he tells them to drink, explaining, “This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
There it is. Right there. In Mark, Luke, and even Paul (in 1 Cor. chapter 11), there is no mention of “forgiveness of sins” connected with this scene. Matthew, it seems, has taken the phrase he tore out of the popular description of John’s preaching and pasted it right here, at the climax of our Lord’s Supper. Jesus’ blood is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
So, no, it is not that Matthew does not like John. It is that Matthew believes John only has half the story. Repentance, remorse, turning back, longing for restoration – these are important themes, themes that John preaches with passion and that Jesus will also state. But it all comes to nothing if there is not the promise of forgiveness at the end, the promise of grace.
And, for that promise, Matthew wants to be clear, we have to look to Jesus. We have to look to Jesus.
Advent, of course, is all about waiting and watching, preparing and repenting. And John the Baptist reminds us why all of this waiting and watching and preparing and repenting is important. In this world of immediate access and instant gratification surely we need John’s call to watch and wait, to turn around and repent.
Matthew invites us also to ask, what is it that we are watching, waiting, and preparing for? And where do we find the courage and hope to repent?
For Matthew, the matter is terribly straightforward: it is Jesus, always and only Jesus, the one who judges in order to forgive, accuses in order to justify, gives law in order to show grace, and dies that we might have life. It is always and only Jesus.
So, does Matthew like John the Baptist? I am not certain. But, more importantly, for Matthew, Jesus is not just the fulfiller of the law, Jesus is the law’s fulfillment. For in Jesus God’s love comes down and is made real so that all those things that John and Isaiah, Elijah and Moses, and all the law and the prophets, all that they all pointed to finally becomes clear.
And so here we are, a week or two into Advent, invited to stand between the Baptist and the Baby, caught amid the wreckage of our own failed plans and schemes yet also called to look with hope toward Bethlehem’s manger where, if we listen carefully, we will hear the husky cry of a newborn sucking in his first breath of the same air we all need to breathe, a newborn sleeping in his mother’s arms, seeking the love common to us all.
Matthew and John the Baptist call us to look to Jesus. In this way, this vulnerable child signals through his very flesh and blood that God most surely is with us and for us – Emmanuel – God most surely is with us and for us now and forever.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
(From a sermon by the Rev. Dr. David Lose on “A Sermon for Every Sunday.”)
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
December 7 & 8, 2019
