Working Preacher Narrative – Sunday, 29 December 2013

Working Preacher Narrative – Sunday, 29 December 2013

Lectionary Scriptures:

John 1: The Testimony of John the Baptist

19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”[a] 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 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.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah,[b] nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”[c]

Footnotes:

a. John 1:20 Or the Christ

b. John 1:25 Or the Christ

c. John 1:34 Other ancient authorities read is God’s chosen one

Psalm 32: The Joy of Forgiveness

Of David. A Maskil.

1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,

    whose sin is covered.

2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,

    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Commentary on John 1:19-34 by Gilberto Ruiz

The image many of us have of John the Baptist comes from his memorable depiction in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt 3:1-12; Mark 2:2-8; Luke 3:1-20).

He appears in the desert as a fiery prophet, an Elijah-like figure who wears clothes made of camel’s hair, eats grasshoppers and honey, preaches a message of repentance, and baptizes all who take his message to heart.

The Baptist we find in John 1:19-34 is a bit different, however. His introduction in verse 19 says nothing about his dress, his food, his message of repentance, or his baptizing activity. It focuses on his “testimony.”

The word “testimony” (Gk. martyria) refers to speech about what one has seen and finds prominent use in legal settings (both ancient and modern). Fittingly, a trial motif that runs through John’s Gospel (with Jesus being the one put on trial) is introduced in verses 19-28 with the arrival of priests and Levites sent to interrogate the Baptist.

They are sent by “the Jews,” a term the Fourth Gospel often uses for Jewish religious authorities based in Jerusalem, as it does here. Verse 24 specifies it was the Pharisees who sent them. Though Pharisees would not have had authority over priests and Levites at the time of John the Baptist and Jesus, John’s Gospel anachronistically projects such authority to them because Pharisaic rabbis represented Jewish authorities to the Johannine community (cf. 7:32, 45; 11:47, 57; 18:3). The location of this interrogation, Bethany across the Jordan (precise location unknown), is not the same as the Bethany near Jerusalem that forms the setting of later scenes in the Fourth Gospel.

The Jewish emissaries seek from John an answer to the question, “Who are you?” In response, John outright denies he is the Messiah. The narration puts on John’s lips what it had informed the reader in the prologue, that John himself is not the light (1:8). His denial is introduced in a redundant fashion (“He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed”) for emphasis. It underscores the importance of right identification of the Messiah, as is reinforced by John’s use of “I am not” in his response, which contrasts Jesus’ messianic use of “I am” statements later in the Gospel (e.g., 4:25-26).

Upon further questioning, John rejects his identification with two figures expected as messianic forerunners, Elijah (Malachi 4:5; Mark 8:28; 9:11) and a prophet in the tradition of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). This is a notable point of difference between John and the Synoptics, which associate John with Elijah (Matthew 11:14; 17:12; Mark 9:13; Luke 1:17).

In John’s Gospel, no category other than “witness to the light” suits John the Baptist, who in verse 23 quotes Isaiah 40:3 to identify himself as the medium through which testimony is spoken. The Synoptic accounts use this verse to describe John (Matthew 3:1-3; Mark 1:2-4; Luke 3:3-6), but by having John name himself as “the voice,” the Fourth Gospel calls attention to his primary role as witness, that is, one who testifies about what she or he has seen. In the Fourth Gospel, John prepares the way of the Lord not by baptizing but by testifying or witnessing to the truth he has seen in Jesus.

When asked as to the purpose of his baptizing, John turns attention away from himself to Jesus. He mentions his baptizing activity briefly, and when he discusses it more fully in verse 31 (after the priests and Levites had left), he explains that its purpose is to witness to Jesus, “that he might be revealed to Israel.”

The bulk of his response in verses 26-27 is spent anticipating Jesus, who is present but unknown, who is to come after John, and whose significance exceeds John’s (untying sandals was a slave’s chore). John’s inquisitors are left with less knowledge of who John is (he is “the voice”) than who he is not (the Messiah, Elijah, the Mosaic prophet), and they are introduced to a figure they did not ask about in the first place, Jesus. John’s words and actions are wholly directed toward making Jesus known.

This is even clearer in verses 29-34. Jesus appears for the first time in the Gospel narrative, but John does all the talking. On this “next day,” Jesus is there simply to provide the catalyst for John’s testimony, for John’s “voice.” In contrast to the first day of John’s testimony, no audience is specified. John speaks to anyone willing to listen, testifying to Jesus’ christological and soteriological significance before Jesus takes an active role in the story. John’s witness here will be developed and unpacked over the course of the Gospel.

According to John, Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The lamb imagery is reminiscent of Revelation 5 and blends the depiction of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53:4-7 with the paschal lamb sacrifices that commemorated God’s salvation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12; cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7).

John’s Gospel presents Jesus, who in John is crucified at the same time as the lambs are slaughtered for Passover (19:14), as another saving act of God, this time to liberate the world from sin. “Sin” in verse 29 is singular, signifying that according to the Fourth Gospel’s soteriology, Jesus’ messiahship is salvific not because he saves believers from individual sinful acts but because he liberates from the sinful human condition that alienates all people from God.

To downplay his own importance, John also tells about Jesus’ preexistence, a christological claim introduced in the prologue (1:1-3) that appears elsewhere in the Gospel (8:58). Though John appears first in the Gospel story, Jesus has priority over John both in status and time (cf. verses 15, 27).

Using imagery familiar from the synoptic baptism accounts (though without admitting that John baptized Jesus), John says he saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and “remain” on Jesus. He uses the perfect tense to introduce what he saw (“I have seen”), which indicates the Spirit still remains with Jesus (in Greek the perfect tense denotes a past action that still has its effect).

This, along with John’s testimony that Jesus “baptizes with the Holy Spirit” reflects the Fourth Gospel’s pneumatology. God’s Spirit remains with Jesus until Jesus himself passes it unto the believer (20:22). John ends his testimony by identifying Jesus as “the Son of God” (verse 34), one of the key christological affirmations of the Fourth Gospel (1:14, 18, 49; 5:19-27; 11:27).

John 1:19-34 presents John the Baptist as having a clear sense of who he is and who he is not, of his role in manifesting God’s work on earth, of God’s presence and revelation when he sees it, and of his life’s work as a testimony to that revelation. He baptizes not to cleanse people from sin but to witness to God’s presence in the world.

The John the Baptist we find in John’s Gospel shows how what we do reveals to others what we believe. Have we reflected on our individual identities enough to have a sense of the talents we have, and those we do not have, to carry on the work of God in our own particular contexts? Are we aware of the sort of God we reveal to the world by our words and actions? Do our acts witness to a God who takes away that which alienates people from God and each other, and does so not by militant violence but by sacrifice? Do they reveal a God who remains present in the world?

Or do our acts witness to a different sort of God altogether? The presentation of John the Baptist in John 1:19-34 challenges us to examine how our actions testify to our beliefs and what beliefs it is that they present to the world

PRAYER OF THE DAY:

Glorious God, Help us to hear when your chosen voices proclaim the work of your son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns in this world and the next. Amen.

HYMNS:

Cold December flies way by Howard Hawhee (ELW 299)

"In the hopeless time of sin shadows deep had fallen,

All the world lay under death, eyes were closed in sleeping

But, when all seemed lost in night, came the sun

whose golden light brings unending joy,

brings the endless joy of our hope,

highest hope, of our hope's bright dawning,

Son beloved of heaven.

...Cold December flies away at the rose-red splendor."

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There’s a voice in the wilderness by James Lewis Milligan (ELW 255)

1. There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,

a call from the ways untrod:

prepare in the desert a highway,

a highway for our God!

The valleys shall be exalted,

the lofty hills brought low;

make straight all the crooked places,

where the Lord our God may go!

2. O Zion, give voice to good tidings,

ascend to the heights and sing!

Proclaim to a desolate people

the coming of their King.

The works of pride all perish,

like flowers they shall decay;

the power and pomp of nations

shall pass like a dream away.

3. But your word, O God, is faithful,

your arm, O Lord, is strong;

you stand in the midst of nations,

and you will right the wrong.

You will feed your flock like a shepherd,

and fold the lambs to your breast;

in pastures of peace you’ll lead them,

and give to the weary rest.

4. There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,

a call from the ways untrod:

prepare in the desert a highway,

a highway for our God!

The valleys shall be exalted,

the lofty hills brought low;

make straight all the crooked places,

where the Lord our God may go!

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CHORAL

Nunc dimittis, Rene Clausen

The Canticle Of Simeon

(In honor of the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary)

Now, Master, You can dismiss your servant in peace;

You have fulfilled Your word.

For my eyes have witnessed Your saving deed displayed for all the peoples to see:

A revealing light to the Gentiles,

the glory of Your people Israel. [Lk. 2:29-32]

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John Wesley’s Notes and Commentary for:

John 1:19-34

Verse 19. The Jews - Probably the great council sent.

Verse 20. I am not the Christ - For many supposed he was.

Verse 21. Art thou Elijah? - He was not that Elijah (the Tishbite) of whom they spoke. Art thou the prophet - Of whom Moses speaks, Deut. xviii, 15.

Verse 23. He said - I am that forerunner of Christ of whom Isaiah speaks. I am the voice - As if he had said, Far from being Christ, or even Elijah, I am nothing but a voice: a sound that so soon as it has expressed the thought of which it is the sign, dies into air, and is known no more. Isaiah xl, 3.

Verse 24. They who were sent were of the Pharisees - Who were peculiarly tenacious of old customs, and jealous of any innovation (except those brought in by their own scribes) unless the innovator had unquestionable proofs of Divine authority.

Verse 25. They asked him, Why baptizest thou then? - Without any commission from the sanhedrim? And not only heathens (who were always baptized before they were admitted to circumcision) but Jews also?

Verse 26. John answered, I baptize - To prepare for the Messiah; and indeed to show that Jews, as well as Gentiles, must be proselytes to Christ, and that these as well as those stand in need of being washed from their sins.

Verse 28. Where John was baptizing - That is, used to baptize.

Verse 29. He seeth Jesus coming and saith, Behold the Lamb - Innocent; to be offered up; prophesied of by Isaiah, Isaiah liii, 7, typified by the paschal lamb, and by the daily sacrifice: The Lamb of God - Whom God gave, approves, accepts of; who taketh away - Atoneth for; the sin - That is, all the sins: of the world - Of all mankind. Sin and the world are of equal extent.

Verse 31. I knew him not - Till he came to be baptized. How surprising is this; considering how nearly they were related, and how remarkable the conception and birth of both had been. But there was a peculiar providence visible in our saviour's living, from his infancy to his baptism, at Nazareth: John all the time living the life of a hermit in the deserts of Judea, Luke i, 80, ninety or more miles from Nazareth: hereby that acquaintance was prevented which might have made John's testimony of Christ suspected.

Verse 34. I saw it - That is, the Spirit so descending and abiding on him. And testified - From that time.

Psalm 32:1-12

PS 32 The happiness of them whose sins are forgiven, ver. 1, 2. The necessity of confessing our sins, and of prayer, ver. 3-6. God's promise to them that trust in him, ver. 7-10. An exhortation to rejoice in God, ver. 11. A psalm of David, Maschil. Title of the psalm. Maschil - Or, an instructor. This psalm is fitly so called, because it was composed for the information of the church, in that most important doctrine, the way to true blessedness.

Verse 2. Imputeth - Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in Christ. No guile - Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God with all his heart.

Verse 3. Silence - From a full and open confession of my sins. Old - My spirit failed, and the strength of my body decayed. Roaring - Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath.

Verse 4. Hand - Thy afflicting hand. My moisture - Was dried up.

Verse 5. The iniquity - The guilt of my sin.

Verse 6. For this - Upon the encouragement of my example. Found - In an acceptable and seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy. Waters - In the time of great calamities. Not come - So as to overwhelm him.

Verse 8. I will - This and the next verse seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers. Mine eye - So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon him.

Verse 9. Will not - Unless they be forced to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.

Verse 10. Sorrows - This is an argument to enforce the foregoing admonition.

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