"Who Are You?"

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
December 13, 2008; 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(John 1:6-8, 19-28) -- There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 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. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
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"Who are you?" the authorities asked John. John is remarkably clear about his sense of self and about his vocation. "I am not the Messiah." There were many expectations about the coming Messiah. Most of those expectations had Biblical roots; some expectations were contradictory and debatable. John quickly stepped out of that triangle, disidentifying himself with whatever projections others may have about the Messiah.

Many expected that Elijah would return as a precursor of the Messiah. The questioners were familiar with the oracle from Malachi: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."

They ask of John, "What then? Are you Elijah?"
"I am not." John immediately deflected from himself whatever expectations they might have had about the return of Elijah.

I'm not sure about their third question: "Are you the prophet?" Maybe they were referencing Deuteronomy 18:15 which says that God “will raise up a prophet like Moses… I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak all that I have commanded him.” To that identity, John also answers, "No."

Well then, who are you? Define yourself, John.

"I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

William Faulkner famously said, "The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." John the Baptist invokes the past; he invokes the memory of Second Isaiah, the great prophet of the 6th century bce Babylonian Captivity. We heard his voice last week in that poetic passage that begins, "Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God." Sometime before the Persian king Cyrus defeated the Babylonians in 538, this Isaiah spoke of the renewal of hope. He imagined a highway from Babylon through the desert all the way back home to Jerusalem.

John picks up Isaiah's vision and urges people to return to their home. He used the ritual of baptism as a cleansing new birth to facilitate that passage home. Wash yourself. Become pure again. Renew your hope. God is doing great things. Prepare. I will cleanse you with water, but God is bringing on a future more powerful than any of us can accomplish. "Make straight the way of the Lord." Come home.

"Coming home" is one of the phrases we use to describe our own sense of knowing who we are and where we come from -- knowing who and whose we are. Each Sunday as we come to this holy place, we return home. We come to the waters of baptism, where we were given our truest identity, as children of God. We let the past become present again, touching the water of baptism in the font; and if our ears are attuned, we may hear once more the voice that split the heavens at our own baptisms, declaring: "This is my child, my beloved."

"Who are you?" they ask. "I am God's child," we answer, and the baptism of our past is alive yet again.

In just a few days we will remember God's coming among us as a child, and the past of Christ's birth will come alive to us yet again.

Hear the Advent call. "Make straight the way of the Lord." Renew your hope. God is doing great things. Prepare. "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

Have you ever thought of that aisle in the middle of our congregation as a highway for our God? It is the path through which God comes to us and we come to God. It is our road home. Each week we come from our own wilderness experience, walking thirstily through the desert, and we come home to the table prepared for us from the beginning. And whenever we come home, we do what families always do when they return. We have a feast.

God comes to us on a highway from heaven and feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation. Christ's life becomes our food and drink -- nourishing us, empowering us, forgiving us so that we start anew, cleansed, refreshed and strengthened. Enlightened by the light. Some days you can almost see a highway of light streaming from the window above our altar, descending upon us as the light from light -- bathing us in new light, filling us with the Spirit.

For, "the Spirit of the Lord God is upon [us], because the Lord has anointed [us]; God has sent [us] to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." That is the sound of another voice, present from our past. It is a later prophet writing in the tradition of Isaiah. He writes after the return of the people from exile. It is a hard time. A time of economic depression and corporate distress. A time when the challenges that face them seem bigger than their resources.

We hear this prophet speaking to us today in our hardship, in our time of economic depression and corporate distress. He comforts those of us who mourn, promising us an end to our grief and a renewal of our gladness. He tells us we will be "oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory." Renewal is coming. We will "build up the ancient ruins" and "repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations."

This prophet reminds us of what we can do because of who we are and whose we are. We are God's people. We will not only survive, we will prevail. This prophet reminds us that we are called to love what God loves and to turn away from what God despises. "For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing." So do we!

The voice and light that comes to us from heaven anoints us with the Spirit of God to share in God's work of restoring justice. We are the advocates of the oppressed, the comforters of the broken, the liberators of the trapped, and the enemies of injustice. That's part of what we promised at the waters of our baptism when we were asked, "Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?" "I will, with God's help."

Let them ask us as they asked John, "Who are you?" In answer, return to your baptism. Hear the heavens open and the voice speaking of you: "This is my child, my beloved." Feel your anointing with God's Spirit, the light that brightens your highway through the wilderness.

Who are you? Return to your baptism. And hear again the defining words that call you to your mission. "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?"

We answer, "I will, with God's help."

We have come home. We know who we are. We know whose we are. We know what road to follow. Anointed, blessed, empowered. Thanks be to God.
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