Third Sunday in Advent

Third Sunday in Advent (C)

December 15, 2024

Text: Luke 7:18-35

            Trigger warning: This sermon is politically incorrect.  If something of what I’m about to say offends you, good.  Something in you needs to die, and here it goes.

            St. John the Baptist is a man, a real mensch.  Virtuous.  Courageous.  Gritty.  Gusty.  This is no reed shaken by the wind.  Attired in leather belt and camel’s hair.  No soft clothing for him.  Living in the wilderness on a diet of locusts and wild honey.  He speaks plainly.  He is not afraid to call a spade a spade, a sin a sin.  He is genuine.  He speaks the truth.  And he doesn’t care who you are, or what you think of him.  He calls out the people (Repent!).  He calls out the Church authorities (“You brood of vipers!”).  He calls out royalty, and suffers for it (No one wants to hear the preacher call them out for sexual sin, least of all Herod, and Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife!).  John is not afraid to suffer for telling it like it is.  But he’s not just trying to be a jerk, either (that’s not manly).  He cares about these people, whether they care for him, or not.  And he’s been sent by God to do this.  He has a duty to perform, and he’s going to perform it, no matter the consequences, or how difficult, or unpleasant the task.  He does what must be done.  “Be a man,” we may say to one who is wavering in his duty, one who needs to pull on his big boy britches and get to it.  John is the model of godly masculinity.  We need him as the antidote to a culture that considers masculinity toxic (and a culture that, apparently, doesn’t even know what a man is, or what a woman is).  John is the kind of man men should aspire to be.  He’s the kind of man women should desire their men (husbands, fathers, sons, brothers) to be.  He’s the kind of Christian all of us Christians should aspire to be.  He’s the kind of preacher a pastor, like me, should aspire to be.  St. John the Baptist is a man, and he is the model.  Consider the Lord’s own assessment: “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John” (Luke 7:28; ESV).   

            Some might think that John’s doubt disqualifies him from that assessment.  Some might think that admitting such doubt makes him less of a man.  Quite the contrary.  He’s doing the harder thing.  He’s being honest.  As a man should be.  To expose a vulnerability, particularly before God, is to bring that vulnerability out of the darkness, into the light, where it may be dealt with.  Confession.  And John is assuredly in the dark.  Herod’s dungeon.  And in sending his disciples to Jesus with his message, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (v. 20), John is confessing to the very One… the only One… who can help him.  See, it’s not that the doubt is heroic.  It’s the confession of that doubt to Jesus Christ that is heroic.  It’s the facing of that doubt head-on.  That’s what a man should do.  And what is John hoping for? … Praying to Jesus for?  Confirmation of his faith, yes.  And confirmation that his life, coming now to this seemingly miserable end, his impending martyrdom after all these years of hardship in ministry… is worth it.  And in confirming that for John, in not rejecting John or his question, Jesus is forgiving John’s doubt.  And taking it away.  Holy Absolution.  The one who heard all those confessions of sin in the Jordan, now confesses his own sin to the Lamb of God who takes away his sin, and the sin of the world.  John is absolved.

            This is extraordinary, because, who of us has never doubted?  Who of us has never wondered if this faith we’re staking our eternal life upon is the right one?  Who of us has never pondered, “What if Jesus is not the One?  What if we should look for another?”  Some people think that being a Christian means you should never struggle with faith.  Which necessarily creates a crisis in the heart of every one of us… or a false sense of pride, one of the two.  Some commentators and preachers even try to save John the Baptist from his doubting.  They say, of course he never doubted, but he sent his disciples to ask the question because they were doubting, or so that they could hear Jesus’ answer.  While it certainly may be the case that some of them were doubting, and that a part of John’s reason was so that they could hear, I don’t find it the least bit comforting or edifying if we try to save John from the disgrace of doubt.  If John never doubted, he must have had some kind of super-human, divine gift the rest of us could never hope to attain.  But if St. John the Baptist, the man, the mensch, could doubt, and come through by Jesus’ grace… well then, I can, too.  I can come through it, by Jesus’ grace.  And so can you. 

            Now, don’t misunderstand me.  Doubt is sin.  Doubting Jesus and His Word is sin.  But when you doubt, don’t deny it.  The Christian doesn’t deny sin.  Or excuse sin.  Or justify himself in sin.  The Christian confesses sin.  He speaks the sin aloud to Christ.  He repents.  Confession is a very manly thing to do. …  And womanly, please hear me on that, but we’re dealing just now with a man, John the Baptist.  And what does Jesus do when He hears John’s confession of doubt?  Does He reject John?  Does dismiss the question?  Does He rail at John for having such a weak faith? 

            No.  Actually, He does for John what He also does for us in time of doubt.  It’s true, He doesn’t give a direct answer, as desirable as we may think that to be.  Rather, He points John… and therefore us… to the Scriptures.  Remember the Prophets, John!  What did Isaiah, for example, say that Messiah would do?  “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see… Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Is. 29:18; 35:5-6).  O disciples of St. John… O Christian people… what do you see and hear in the ministry of Jesus?  These very things!  The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and even more!  Lepers are cleansed.  The dead are raised.  And, what is actually the greatest miracle of them all: The poor have the Gospel preached to them.  Who can do these things but Messiah?  So, what’s your answer?  It is right here in the Scriptures, John.  It is right here in the Scriptures, dear Christian.  The Scriptures, which are the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16).  The Scriptures, which reveal the Messiah, the Christ.  The Scriptures which give us the Messiah, the Christ.  In a time of doubt, run to the Scriptures, where the Lord Himself is present for you, to assuage your doubt, and to forgive it.

            Of course, we aren’t told what happens when John’s disciples return to Him with Jesus’ response.  But we know.  John believes the Scriptures.  And our Lord’s preaching of the Scriptures is enough to sustain John, all the way to the chopping block.  John is a man, a mensch.  A man knows the hallmark of his calling as a man is self-sacrifice.  A man knows that there are things…, and people… worth dying for… that the Christian faith is worth dying for… and that in dying such a sacrificial death, a man follows in the way of Christ the Crucified.  Again, a woman, too, and when she does, she is the picture of Holy Church, suffering persecution in this world, but trusting her Bridegroom, her Lord, and waiting for better things beyond this life.  But the man is called to die first.  He is called to give his life first.  To protect the Bride and her Children.  To save the Bride and her Children.  As Jesus, THE Man, gave His life for His holy Bride, to save her, to redeem her, to cleanse her, to sanctify her (Eph. 5), and us, her Children.  John did just that.  He was not offended by his Lord.  He followed in the way of Christ.  And so, he is blessed. 

            What is it that makes it so?  What makes John blessed?  What makes John great?  The Greater One.  The only One greater than John.  And that, of course, is the One who gave up everything to become Least in the Kingdom of Heaven, that John, and we, may become great.  That is our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is what Christmas is all about.  God Almighty is born a helpless infant in a stable.  To suffer.  To die.  The death of a criminal.  The cross.  To be buried in a tomb.  To gather to Himself miserable criminals, us sinners, who suffer and die and rot in tombs.  To rise… and so raise us to newness of life, eternal life, forgiven life, resurrection life.  Our only greatness is the greatness of the One who became the Least in the Kingdom for us and for our salvation.  St. John is great in Him. 

            Now the Scriptures hold St. John before our eyes.  He is the Lord’s messenger, who prepares His way.  He does it in words, but also as a model, in the way he lives his life, and dies his death.  What ought we to imitate in St. John? 

            Men, be like him in his virtue and courage.  Never ask which way the wind blows, and live not for the soft luxuries of life in this world.  Speak plainly.  Honestly.  Faithfully.  Speak the Lord’s Word.  Especially to your family.  Care for them.  Care for others, whether they care for you, or not.  Point one and all to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Confess your own sins, your weakness, your doubts.  Run to the Scriptures.  Hear and believe the Absolution.  Do your duty.  Even when it is hard.  Sacrifice.  Die.  To yourself, certainly.  Physically, if necessary.  Women, desire this in your men.  Encourage this in your men.  Respect this, and submit to this, in your men. 

            And men and women… Christians… follow John in these things: Repentance.  Confession to Christ.  Absolution from Christ.  Faith in Christ.  Ears that hear His Scriptures.  Eyes that look upon the healing He brings wherever He is present (as He is, here, for you).  Do not be offended by Him.  Blessed are you when you are not.  No, testify to Him.  Speak of Him.  Speak Him forth.  Die for Him.  Live in Him.  Men… be men!  Women… be women!  Christians… be Christians!  And God grant me, and every Christian pastor, to be the kind of preacher John the Baptist was, and is.

            Now, I warned you at the beginning, so if you’re all hot and bothered that I held forth masculine masculinity and feminine femininity as Christian goods to which we should aspire, see me after for a little remedial preaching and the death of Old Adam.  It is a good to be a man in the way of THE Man, Jesus, as was St. John the Baptist.  It is good to be a woman in the way of Jesus’ Bride, the holy Church.  Don’t kick against this.  You were made for this.  You were redeemed for this.  Rest in it and rejoice in it.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.