John the Baptist, Holiness, and Joy

 

12 December 2021: Advent 3 (Year of Luke).

 

Gathering Prayer

God for whom we watch and wait,

you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son.

Give us courage to speak the truth,

to hunger for justice,

and to suffer for the cause of right,

with Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Reading (Old/Original Testament): Zephaniah 3:14-20

Canticle (in place of a Psalm): Isaiah 12:2-6

New Testament Reading: Philippians 4:4-7

Gospel: Luke 3:7-18

Reflection

Today’ theme is not hidden from us. Today’s theme is obvious. Today’s theme is John the Baptist. His name in Hebrew was Yochanan. His name in Greek is Ioannes. His name tells us something about the mercy, the grace, the kindness (or even the beauty) of God.

What do we know about John the Baptist?...

Between us, we know that he was a relative of Jesus, his cousin.

He was a priest. As the son of the priest, Zechariah, he was a priest.

He felt compelled to go into the desert. There he wore rough clothing, and ate something that got called “locusts” and something that got called “wild honey”. He came back from the desert, with a message from God. Thus we Christians say: he was a prophet. Jesus at one point says he was more than a prophet, but only after he has said he was a prophet: he was a prophet, and more.

He preached (prophesied) what we’d have to call a fierce message. That the people of faith (the people of the covenant) had lost their way, had fallen into disobedience. They needed to “repent”. This means: they really need to turn around, 180 degrees. They needed – we might say – to start again with their lives. He gave some concrete examples of this (as we have just heard), speaking to soldiers and tax-collectors.

The good news here is that he insisted you could turn your life around. You could do this, by an act of ritual washing. This washing was not a little dab of water, nor a hand-washing splash, but full immersion. You go all the way under. So it’s also a ritual drowning. Let’s not hide that – it is as dramatic as that.

Given all that we’ve said, it’s no surprise that he got into trouble with the authorities. Indeed, he ended up being imprisoned and killed by the powers-that-be. His cousin Jesus could only take to heart how dangerous speaking out – being a prophet – really is.

Here is a question which is not all that easily answered. One that is not all that often asked, truth to tell:

Was John the Baptist a Christian?

I don’t mean: did he call himself a Christian? We are pretty sure he didn’t. The word “Christian” comes later than the lives of John and Jesus. But did he ever actually consider himself – and become – a disciple of Jesus? We are not told. It’s actually tantalising. John gets his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the One who is to come. Jesus replies: look around you. And John receives this message, and thinks…

Well, if he ever had time to think (as he was soon to be killed), the gospels do not tell us what conclusions he drew. They do not tell us if John was convinced that Jesus is the One who was to come.

And yet, even given this ignorance of ours (this ignorance of the Church), we boldly call John the Baptist a “saint”. Without him, the story of Jesus would not be what it is. He is a necessary part of the story of Jesus. He is part of the Christian story. And of course, in this he is not alone. We can – we must – say the same of

·        Miriam and Moses,

·        Sarah and Abraham,

·        the Prophets Deborah and Isaiah,

·        the heroes Esther and David, and so on.

The ancestors from what we know as the “Old Testament”.(1)

I suggest there is a message for us in this, precisely for today. We might summarise it as “whoever is not against us is for us”. But maybe that’s too simple. Certainly, though, we can say: some – many – who are not explicitly in our in-group can be blessed with a holiness we need to learn from. God distributes holiness as God chooses, and not as we’d plan things. So we can – we must – expect holiness in unexpected places.

Today, then, we mark a Prophet never known to be a Christian, that great saint revered in the Church, Saint John the Baptist.

***

There is a secondary theme today. We are roughly in the middle of Advent. Advent is – as I’ve said, though it sounded weird then, as it sounds weird now – a season of reflection, and even of going-without, to help us reflect on where we are in our walk with God. (We go without good things, not to feel bad about ourselves, but to check how dependent we are on our comforts, as a way of seeing where God truly is in our lives.)

In the middle of these seasons of reflection and penitence – Advent, Lent – we take a break. We have a breather. Indeed, even the colour in Church can change, from purple to… rose. Look… We have half managed this today (thanks to a friend lending us their supply of rose). Rose – or pink, to use the normal English word – is close to purple, but lighter. This is a day we can lighten our load. Hay, today is a day when even those who are keeping Advent might allow themselves a mince pie!

Closely related to this is another name for today. Today is Gaudete Sunday – which just means Rejoice Sunday. And that’s because of our second reading, deliberately chosen for today, for our rose – our pink - day. Let us hear from it again:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

How can St Paul - how can anyone – command anyone to “rejoice”? Surely joy is something that comes when it comes. Sometimes – not least in this place – sometimes joy is hard or even impossible to find. I get it. It’s a good point. I tend to put it this way: we do have a duty to do what we can to be ready for joy, to “orient” our lives towards the joy that is, in truth, our birthright.

And there is one hint about how to do that, within the text from St Paul: he tells us to make our requests always “with thanksgiving”. Always give thanks. There is always something to give thanks for. Give thanks for the sheer fact that you are alive. Give thanks that God promises to be with you. Give thanks for the fact that when you give thanks to God, you will be heard. These are good places to start.

So, not as a stern command, but rather as an invitation, today is also a day when we might, in all gentleness tell ourselves: “Rejoice; again I say: rejoice!”

Amen.

(1) In the Orthodox Calendar (New Style) this Sunday in Advent is the Sunday of the Forefathers. 

Prayer from Common Worship: Additional Collects, © 2017, Archbishops Council.