“AND HE
CONFESSED”
Saint John 1.
19-28
Rorate Coeli: 4th Sunday of Advent—23
December Anno Domini 2012
Fr. Jay Watson
SSP
In The + Name of
Jesus
“And
this is the record of John…” by the word of John the Evangelist, brother of
James, about John Baptizer. These are the words of said Baptizer about Christ
Jesus! Jesus is the Word of God—the Word made flesh.
John was not a cloistered monk. John was not an ivory-towered “lecturer” with no stomach for the
parish. John was a Spirit-called and
Spirit-filled Prophet of the Highest. He spoke in public, in the open, to great
crowds. His light was set high on a pedestal—bony-framed, camel haired covered,
leather cinctured, dripping of honey and smelling of sweat and locust.
A Temple delegation came to John for
answers. John did better than respond, he confessed; he gave more than answers,
he gave Truth and Truth-enfleshed. The
Council’s legation wanted to know who John was and why he had introduced this
new doctrine of public baptism for the forgiveness of sins. They were concerned, possibly worried, and
not amused. They wanted to know if John
was the long-awaited Messiah.
As Aaron the High Priest and Levite was the
forerunner and spokesman for Moses, so too John the Prophet and Levite was the
forerunner and spokesman for the Christ.
Moses and his brother were the two most prominent men in the Old
Testament and were always together—especially in the minds of faithful Jews. John and his Nazarene kinsman are the two
most prominent figures in the New Testament and are forever linked in the minds
of the faithful. Moses sent to rescue
and redeem the captives of Pharaoh, with Aaron going before his face to speak
for him and announce the great Law. Blessed Jesus sent by The loving Father to
rescue and redeem you, and all the world, held captive to sin, death, and the
devil, with John Baptizer going before His radiant face to announce repentance
unto faith.
That Jerusalem committee at least knew some
of the Scriptures. They knew about Malachi 4 and the prophesied “return of Elias (Elijah)” prior to the
terrifying “day of the Lord.” Whether they actually believed any of it is
another matter. John said that he was
not Elias. This was true, even though Jesus at a different time [Mt. 11.4] did
in fact call John: Elias. Both Christ
and the Baptizer simply meant that John was not the original historical Elias
come back to terra firma. Rather John
was the “Elias to come,” i.e. he ministered in the spirit of
Elias. This is exactly what Gabriel had
told Zacharias [Lk 1.17] when he told the old man that his son-to-be would come
in the “spirit and power of Elias.”
John was the greatest of all Prophets;
so, when he also denied that he was not “the
Prophet” he meant that he was not like the other Hebrew holy men looking
into the distant future. John was not
prophesying from afar, but he was the Aaron, standing right next to the
Moses…the kinsman right next to his God brother, in place and in time! John testified
that he was what God has made him to be—a wilderness preacher of
repentance. His “call” was to prepare the way for the Messiah. He was what every pastor
is to be! John both denied himself and
preached Christ. This is all the Lord’s
will. The Baptizing one was not some
protestant, self-chosen, made-up ministry, schwermerai
(i.e. enthusiast) but a man in Holy
Orders, in the Pastoral Ministry of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church, called and ordained by the Holy Trinity.
John was not “The” Light, but, he was
the torch handle. John was that final “hinge” between the receding darker
night of the Hebrews and the dawning of a Son-shine brightness. John pointed to The Lamb and said the Son is
rising.
Jesus shone forth through His own God-lit little
torch John, because Jesus is Himself the uncreated and eternal Light of
Light. Jesus also sprouts forth the
Righteous Branch from a withered root—the stump of Jesse. Yes, Christ born from a blooming Virgin even
as John closed out the Old Testament lesson by being born from an old
woman. John carried the Missal Stand of
his service, to the Gospel horn of the altar and let Christ sing into your
ears!
As the Levites blew the trumpets calling the
Israelites together; as they sounded the horns to lead the 12 tribes into
battle and to precede before the Ark of the Covenant; so too John trumpeted the
arrival of the Incarnated God/Man—the Ark of the Godhead Itself. As you prepare during Adventide, you are
waiting for that final trumpet blast wherein Gabriel will herald the return of
the Christ in glory.
Thus
the Gospel is always preceded by the Law, the Absolution by the contrition, and
the Peace, by the Person and Work of Jesus!
For John, and all of us, it is only and
always Soli Deo Gloria! His confession, your confession, “The”
confession—“the only way to the Father is
through the Son; there is no other Name under heaven whereby you are saved!” [Jn.
14.6; Acts 4.12]
The Sanhedrin was a very smart group. They
got it all wrong. Your “old Adams”
get it wrong on as well. So Jesus does
it—does it all.
Jesus through John then, and through His
called ones now, Jesus baptizing you and cleansing you from sin; Jesus’ voice
preaching and forgiving you from trespasses; and Jesus’ hands feeding you His
Body and Blood. Christ does it all for
you as the Apostle reminded the Corinthians
“for God exhorts through us.” That
too is why the fiery light, the tongue of flame. was atop the heads of the
Apostle’s at Pentecost; it shows that the Light of Jesus, the Word of The Word,
is now on and in His called ones: Christ speaking
through them!
John was born first from Elisabeth, before
the Blessed Virgin went to Bethlehem, yes, but the Light, Logos, Son of God, existed before John. The Christ is God and is eternal. John said he was not worthy to untie the
Lord’s sandal strap—quite true, but in fact, the Messias let the Sanhedrin’s
thugs and torturers, the Roman executioners, do that very thing to Him; as well
as take off his tunic. Jesus let Himself
be bound and tied to a Tree that He might untie you, loose you.
Christ stepped into the midst of the Jordan
for you; into the middle of the crucifix for you! Aaron burned incense in the presence of the
Easter—Lilly Lord, and, Paul acknowledged that it is Jesus Who offered Himself
up as a sweet fragrance. [Eph. 5.2]
Today Messias has brought you to Bethabara—the place of crossing, the
passage way. It was probably there that hundreds and hundreds of years earlier,
Jesus had led the Children of Israel across the Jordan into Canaan. The Ark was
carried by Joshua’s Levites into the midst of the river wherein the water flood
pooled up and let the Israelites pass on dry ground. Christ, your true Ark, Christ the real Throne
of Grace stepped into the same river, steps into the + same font, steps into
the same line-of-fire that your sins have created, and is your Mediator and
Advocate. The flood of divine wrath drenches Him so that you may pass into the
Fatherland safe and secure.
“And
this is the record of John…about the One Who standeth among you.”
In The Name of
The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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