Let us pray…
Now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
I am Michael Macintyre. I am a pastoral candidate in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, a husband, a father, a son; I am…well, I’m lots of things. But somehow I can’t quite seem to capture everything in a list like this, so let me try again.
I am baptized. That’s the place to start. Usually, I tell people I was baptized. But, it’s occurred to me that if I were to tell people that I was married, you would likely either a) kick me out of this pulpit for idiocy (‘cause I know how lucky I am to have my wife); or b) offer your congratulations to said wife (‘cause I know how difficult I am to live with). I am married. I am baptized.
But what does that mean? Am I baptized United Church, you ask, or Lutheran, or Anglican, or whatever? Well, as a wise pastor in this congregation told me shortly after I came here, it doesn’t matter what denomination did the washing; Christ did the redeeming. I am a baptized Christian, a reality that shapes my worldview, my outlook, my values, and my identity.
Because I am baptized, I know that I am justified by the grace of God that I have received as gift through faith in Jesus Christ. In the words of that old hymn, I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. It doesn’t mean that I am free of sin -- what we call our age-old rebellion before God – but it does mean that I am free of the sentence of death – death of soul – that is its end result.
I am baptized. I am free. Because I am free of working to redeem myself before God, I am free to turn and minister to those who live beside me, who in turn may need to hear that they too, can be free. I am free to bear witness to the light.
There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
John was a scary sight. No pristine hair, no startling white alb, no suit, no tie. Mark tells us that John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and he ate locusts and wild honey. He didn’t smell all that bad, by virtue of standing in the river Jordan for so many hours of the day. But he was emaciated; his hair and beard matted by dirt.
Yet the people revered him as a man of God. Where he was, there were crowds of people who came to be baptized for the remission of their sins. He was so important that the Temple authorities sent men to question him; to find out exactly what he was about. Surely, such a popular holy figure must be someone important. So they sent priests and Levites – the cleanest of the clean – all the way from Jerusalem to where John was baptizing.
Who are you? They asked, meaning, are you someone we should trust and place our hope into? Are you one of us? Are you clean? Are you holy?
And John answered honestly. No. I am one who came to proclaim to you that though I baptize with water for the remission of sins, One who comes after me will wipe away all transgressions, one who is so powerful that I am unworthy to even touch his feet.
And the priests and Levites then asked, are you Elijah, who was supposed to come before? Or are you THE PROPHET – Moses? What are you talking about?
John answered again: I am one who proclaims the coming of the Lord, telling people to prepare themselves.
Again the priests: why then are you baptizing? Or more succinctly, why are you performing an official rite if you don’t have any official status?
And John replied: what I do doesn’t matter. All things will be through him.
The message John brought was one of hope: that for all the worries, cares, and demons that walked with the people who came to see him, he proclaimed that there would hope for the helpless, rest for the weary, and love for the broken heart.
That there would be grace and forgiveness and mercy and healing – for people wherever they were, no matter what. That for all who were broken, there would be wholeness. For those who suffered injustice, there would be justice. For all those who sat in deep darkness, there would be light.
There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
To bear witness to the light means to bear witness to hope. Hope for those who feel hopeless and helpless:
- for everyone who’s lost someone they loved
- for everyone who struggles, just to hold on to today
- for the lonely, the lost, and the forsaken
- for the marriage that’s struggling just to hang on
- for the parents who can’t reach their children
- for all children whose nightmares come in the daytime
For all of us. For in Christ alone, all hope is found.
In our baptism we are joined together in the body of Christ. We are found, reborn children of God through Christ Jesus. In baptism, we become witnesses to the light of the world, the hope through which the world finds salvation.
We come to bear witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, the light which no darkness can overcome. For He alone overcame the power of sin and death and brought to each of us everlasting life.
This is the promise that we receive at our baptism; the promise that we bear witness to. This is the song of creation, in which we unite and sing back to God, joining in the chorus of voices that proclaim the sovereignty of God in all creation, the incarnation of Christ in humanity, and the blessing of all of us in sanctity. We are holy, because Christ first was holy.
We are whole, because Christ made us whole. We are in Christ, because we are baptized. We are baptized; we are free. We are free to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, that because God so loved the world, he gave his only Son, that whosoever believed in him would not perish, but have life everlasting.
We remember God’s promise of salvation to the world; we remember Christ’s promise to return. We remember that Christ walked our path, first as a baby, so that we may walk with him, and not be lost.
There were people, sent from God, whose names were Grace, and Tanya, and Michael, and Stewart, and Margaret, and Norman, and Diäna, (their names are all the names spoken by the breath of God) -- all who were baptized into Christ Jesus. They came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through their witness. They were not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. And their song was joyous, and their reward was everlasting.
Amen.
