John the Baptist, the Forgotten Christmas Hero

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Matthew 3:1-12

    My parents grew up in South Dakota, and hence, my uncles are real live-off-of-the-land, adventurous, hard-working kinds of people.  I grew up many a weekend these winter months going hunting, ice-fishing, tobogganing and snowmobiling with my uncles and cousins.  One uncle in particular takes it a step further – he is a taxidermist by trade.  He makes his own buckskin leather and designs actually really cool belts, purses, small furniture pieces and so on with wood and the leather he makes.  My aunt (his wife) still tells this hilarious story of the time when they were on vacation in Yellowstone National Park, and people kept coming up to my uncle asking for his autograph or local information about the park.  They thought he was an official park guide dressed up like one of those western historical characters – Wild Bill Hickock, Davey Crockett or General Custer – but he was wearing what he just wears, like on an average day – buckskin pants and a jacket with the fringe with a nice cowboy hat and boots.  Of course, he totally went with it and posed for photos with random strangers and tried to help even though he was a tourist himself and probably gave a wrong direction or two.
    Every time I read the description of what John the Baptist wears and eats in our gospel for today, I can’t help but think of my “a little bit out there” uncle who’s not afraid to just be who he is.  John the Baptist is the forgotten Advent hero whom you won’t likely find in any nativity scene.  He is Jesus’ cousin; his mother Elizabeth and Jesus’ mother Mary are pregnant at the same time, the gospel of Luke tells us.  Jesus’ birth is only recorded in Luke and Matthew, but all four gospels, including Mark and John, include John the Baptist as an important figure who consistently points us to look to Christ for our salvation.  Of course, his most prominent role in the gospels is baptizing his cousin Jesus before Jesus begins his public ministry as an adult, and he baptizes others as we hear today with water for repentance to prepare them for Christ’s coming (hence the name, John the Baptist).  But I kind of get why you can’t find a nice figurine of a guy with camel’s hair clothes and a leather belt on in most nativity scenes.  John is pretty in-your face-confrontative, not to mention weird because he lives in the wilderness, subsisting on honey and bugs.  “Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers!” is not the ideal Christmas greeting or carol.  We somewhat struggle with what to do with John the Baptist’s part in Jesus’ story, I think.  How does John’s message jive with the hope, love, joy and peace we celebrate in this Advent season?
    Notice, however, that despite his harsh words calling people to repent and warning them of unquenchable fire, people flock to John from Jerusalem, all Judea and all the region along the Jordan.  They want to be around John.  They listen to him, they confess their sins and are baptized by him.  Of course, none of us have met people like Davey Crockett or Wild Bill Hickock in the flesh, but we know a western guy when we see one, like when people saw my uncle at Yellowstone.  Similarly, the people coming to see John recognize him to be like Elijah, one of Israel’s most famous prophets, who also lived in the wilderness, dressed in camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey.  They recognize Elijah in John’s word and behavior – in his call to repentance and in his faithful reliance on God.  And as Matthew also notes, the people recognize John to be the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.;” from Isaiah 40.  Despite his message that calls the people to self-examination and confession of their sins, John is a sign of hope that the Lord God who has spoken and acted through the prophets in the past like Isaiah and Elijah is continuing to speak and act in their present time of need.  Isaiah talks about a shoot coming out from the stump of Jesse – John is a shoot of living hope that God can and WILL do something great through Jesus.  So the people pay attention, listen, and follow him when John points them again and again to Jesus.
    Who in your life today reminds you that God is STILL living and active like John does for the people of Judea?  Do you have anyone in your life whom you trust to be honest with you, even when their words are difficult to hear, because you know they want the best for you?  You know, the kind of people who aren’t afraid to tell you if you have something green between your teeth and so on?  Hopefully, that same person is someone like John who doesn’t just leave people wallowing in the guilt of what they’ve done wrong but inspires them with hope. John assures us that Christ is coming, and we can prepare for Christ’s coming by striving to remove what is dead or not helpful within us – chaff, dead wood, so that we can bear good fruit and live LIKE Christ.
    In our modern-day understanding of what it means to “prepare the way of the Lord” in Advent, we probably first think of Christmas preparations like food shopping, card mailing, giftwrapping and giving, house decorating.  We think of doing things outside of ourselves.  John stands here off to the side of the traditional nativities, out in the wilderness of dark cold January after the holiday sprees keep pointing us to Christ and preparing for Christ’s coming.  We prepare spiritually for Christ’s coming by examining ourselves on the inside.  What do I do or how do I spend my time in ways that are life-giving?  And is there anything that’s just dead weight and can be cut out of my schedule or put aside or thrown into the fire so to speak to fuel good ministry?  How does my life, like John’s, point people to Christ as the source of hope and life?  Where can I make amends in relationships including in my relationship with God?  What things in my life do I take for granted that I can treasure and then find ways to share or give back to God to use?  Out of the stumps of what was, what new branches or good fruit is God trying to bring forth in us?
    These are the kinds of questions I imagine John asking of us as we continue to prepare for Christmas.  Remember, Advent is not just a season of preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, but a time of hopeful anticipation of the time when Christ will come again.  John asks us a good, challenging question – Are we ready?  Amidst the busy-ness of all kinds of different preparations, let’s pay attention to John’s words and prepare not just on the outside, but also on the inside.  Thank God for the people in your life who may be a little bit strange, but who nonetheless keep you rooted in Christ.  Dare yourself to be a little bit weird for the sake of the gospel.  Rejoice that God keeps doing new, wonderful things through Jesus.  Prepare the way of the Lord.  Amen!