Sermon Talkback 12 14 2008
John 1:6-9, 19-28
Accounts of John the Witness
Today we have a second account of John the Witness in the Fourth Gospel to compare with last Sunday’s account in Mark 1:1-8. While both accounts use Isaiah 40:3, “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord,” in the Fourth Gospel, John the Witness is the one who cries in the wilderness. John is not the Lord who is coming, but the one who makes a way, or witnesses to, the Lord. In Mark as well as in Matthew and Luke, this is not as clear.
The Pharisees want to know why John baptizes if he is neither the Messiah nor Elijah, nor the prophet (1:23). John does not directly answer this question in our text, but simply points to Jesus as one whom the Pharisees do not know (1:26-27) and says what he is: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.”
In Mark, Matthew and Luke, the baptism of John has an apocalyptic overtone (Mt. 3:2—“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.” The meaning of the baptism of John in Fourth Gospel is quite different. According to John 1:31-34, the purpose of John’s baptism is not to identify John as a great figure, but is to reveal Jesus as the Messiah. While the text does not directly say that John baptized Jesus, the Fourth Gospel seems to assume this occurrence. For example, John implies that he saw the Spirit descend and remain on Jesus (1:32-33). By saying that the purpose of John’s baptism is to reveal Jesus, the Fourth Gospel undermines any claims by the followers of John about the importance of his baptism.
Cosmos
The Fourth Gospel presumes that creation is divided into two spheres: (1.) The world (kosmos) that is distant from God and is a sphere of darkness, falsehood, hate, slavery, and division; (2.) Heaven is where God dwells in a sphere of light, truth, love, freedom, and oneness (true community). God sent Jesus from heaven into the world to illumine the brokenness of the world and to offer people who believe in him the opportunity to experience heaven even as they continue to live in the world. In death people who believe in Jesus depart the world and follow Jesus’ way into the heavenly world (14:6—“I am the way, and the truth, and the life…”)
Fulfillment
In Jewish traditions that make use of the notion of the messiah, the messianic figure is intended to fulfill God’s purposes that offer individuals and communities complete fulfillment. Today, as in the past, different individuals, ideas and movements compete with one another in offering visions of life fulfillment. John the Witness in the Fourth Gospel while not shallow was really only incomplete. His ministry moved in a faithful tradition (Judaism) and pointed in a positive direction (towards Jesus), but did not go far enough.
1. Who and what in our world today promise us complete fulfillment?
2. How can our church today, especially in this Advent season, continue the work of John by being a witness for Jesus?