Do you ever have a really deep seated sense of longing? A yearning, almost an aching? Something tangible, physical. For some of us it might be for someone we love when we are apart from them. For some of us it might be for a particular place or landscape. For others of us still it might be for a time in the future when things will be different, better, fairer, freer, more just. That sense of just not being complete unless we are there in that place, in that time with that person.
This is the sound that Advent should ring long and deep within our hearts; that insistent tolling, reminding us that with God, the best is yet to come. Things can only get better - and no not in a glib, political, well advertised, slick sort of a way, but one where the fabric of our world is transformed by God and the topography of our innermost souls is transfigured. Change is coming.
The royal purple cloak of Advent, symbolising the coming of God as King and our need of Him because of our brokenness is lightened by the bright beams of hope especially today - hence the pink - rejoice, celebrate, be happy, the change you long and yearn for is coming!
This is the message of John the Baptist to us. But John is significant, not because of what he is, but because of what he’s not.
What is important about John is not his political or religious significance but rather his lack of significance. What is denied about John is extraordinary: he was not the light, he is not the Christ, he is not Elijah, he is not the prophet, he is untrustworthy to untie the sandal of the one coming after him, whilst he baptises with water the one coming after him will baptise with the Holy Spirit, he is not the bridegroom, he must increase so I can decrease. The subordination of John to Jesus shows how important it is that we get their relationship straight. John’s significance is gained only by being one chosen and sent by God to point toward the the One who would bring in God’s long yearned for change.
The other thing we know about John is that he is a witness and gives testimony. This is language of the law court, and in Advent, a trial is underway. But it is not Jesus who is on trial but us, our world, it’s leaders, our drives and motives, our lives and lifestyles, our choices. As God comes amongst us, returning as a longed for lover, are we still the people He fell in love with at the first moment of Creation?
Did you see the moon on Friday night? Round beautiful and full. It was one of those rare occasions where it feels so close that you could almost reach out and grab it. In areas without too much light polution, the effect was apparently quite stunning – and the amazing thing about the moon, of course, is that of itself it has no light at all. The moon shines only with the reflected light of the sun.
And here John the Baptist stands as the moon, to the sun that is Jesus. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness to that light. Like Friday’s moon, he shone more brightly that those who had gone before him, but he was not that light. He bore witness because he too shone with reflected glory….and he was in no doubt that his role in the gospel was not centre stage. In the account we have just heard, John is not called "the Baptist". The emphasis is on his witness. His calling was to be a sign, pointing the way to Jesus.
Jesus’ coming demands a decision on our part. His signs are too powerful to ignore. He is either at least a prophet or a false prophet who must die. He claims authority which is Gods, and therefore is either a blasphemer and deserves death - or he speaks the truth.
The moon’s light comes from the sun. Similarly John refers us still to Jesus. Like the sun, light, Jesus, shines, and is either welcome as it shows goodness and Godness in our lives; or it is unwelcome as it exposes things in our lives and reveals us as we really are.
John is a witness to the truth of all that God is doing in and through Jesus. We need to decide for ourselves who He is. As we stand on the cusp of a soft focus crib scene - who will this baby grow to be? C.S Lewis put it well...
‘...I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to...’
John’s testimony to who Jesus is, challenges us still to react - who is he? The intrusion of Light into the world will not leave things as they are - we must decide. Our decision puts everything at stake...
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