The following sermon was delivered by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on December 13, 1981. The title is, Who Are You Baptizing? And the scripture reference is John 1, verses 6-8 and 19-28.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to John. I'm reading from the first chapter, beginning at the sixth verse. 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. And this is the testimony of John.

When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed. He did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not.

Are you the prophet? And he answered, No. They said to him then, 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 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, Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The Gospel of the Lord. If I could take you back to ancient Judea, to approximately the year 26 AD, as we now measure it, to the reign of Tiberius Caesar, to the little country of Palestine, You'd find there Jews who were living in occupied territory that had been occupied, that had been under dominion of others, Gentile occupation and rule, and for the most part, oppression, for over 600 years.

And during all that time, they were living in the light of a promise from God, a promise that He had made over and over and over again, that I will send Messiah to you. I will send to you a deliverer, a liberator. He will come.

And they went on year after year, decade after decade, century after century, waiting for that promised Messiah. Think of it, 600 years of living under somebody else's rule. Three times longer than America has been in existence.

and no deliverer. 400 of those years, not a word from God. This people whose very existence was a matter of being called into covenant relationship with a God who speaks to men, who has made them His chosen people, who has called them into a love affair with Himself, and for four centuries He hasn't spoken a word to them.

Not a prophet, not a vision, not a message, not a messenger. And the time goes on. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there bursts into the public view on the banks of the Jordan an absolutely incredible figure, a wild man.

He's running around wearing a hair shirt. He's living in the wilderness for the most part, except when he comes out to preach. Undoubtedly, he's unkempt.

He's eating insects. and wild honey. You might think him a comical figure unless you stop to listen.

Nothing comical about his message. He starts proclaiming the righteousness of God. And what a remarkable kind of sermon he preached.

You brood of snakes. You filthy unrighteous. Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come?

Bear fruits of righteousness. Fruits that befit repentance. If not, God will surely come and consume you.

I'm always glad we get to that preaching after Stewardship Sunday is over. I wonder about all the preachers in America that address their congregations vicariously in John. They would never say those things themselves.

But it says all Judea came out to hear him. This was no laughing stock. And people began to buzz.

began to wonder, began to rumor. Maybe He's the one. Maybe He's the one.

I don't exactly understand what He's about. Looks a strange way to start a revolution. But look at the people flocking to hear Him.

He speaks with a boldness from God that we haven't heard. Our fathers haven't heard it. Our great-grandfathers haven't heard it.

Maybe He's Messiah. Now mind you, John was calling people to be baptized in the muddy Jordan. That was not altogether a new thing.

For about two centuries, the Jews had been baptizing people. But it was always Gentiles who were baptized if for some strange reason they wanted to become Jews. Jews themselves were never baptized.

They said, who needs to be baptized? We've got Abraham as our father. I mean, we're the chosen people.

It's those dirty Gentiles that need to be washed. And John's message is, Don't you think that because you've got Abraham as your father, that cuts any ice with God? Abraham was okay, but God has no grandchildren.

You've got to know Him yourself. You've got to be converted to Him yourself. You've got to repent yourself.

You've got to come to Him in your own right. And many, hundreds, thousands did. And so they're saying, Who is this?

What is He about? Where is this leading? And they got together a little delegation.

The authorities back in Jerusalem sent a delegation. They had their little list of prepared questions. This wasn't exactly face the nation.

It wasn't exactly meet the press. It was more like face the Pharisees. They came to John with a list of questions.

They said, who are you? And John said, I know exactly what you're thinking. Let me put that right out of your mind.

I am not the Christ. I am not the deliverer I am not the liberator I've come to prepare the way for him he is coming God has not forgotten his promise he is coming and you better get ready but I am not the Christ the rest of the interchange might strike you as a very odd series of questions unless you know a little bit of Bible history they say well if you're not the Christ then are you Elijah? You might scratch your head on that one.

You say, how in the world could they think he's Elijah? Elijah lived 850 years ago. Why in heaven's name would they suppose John is Elijah?

Well, there are two reasons why they might have thought that. First of all, Elijah is one of the two men in the Old Testament who never died. The other one is Enoch, way back in the book of Genesis.

these two men were carried up by God bodily, supernaturally into heaven. I frankly don't understand that very much, and I'm sure the Jews didn't either. But they could have said to themselves, well, last time we saw him, he was still alive.

So maybe he's still here, see. The other reason is a little bit more profound than that one, and we find it in the very last chapter of the Old Testament. You might look at that with me.

The last chapter of Malachi, just before we get to the Gospel of Matthew. And mind you, as I've already said, there have been 400 years since prophecy has been given to Israel. These are the last words that God has spoken.

They're sort of ringing in people's ears all this while. The last words, the last paragraph of Malachi chapter 4. God says, 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. If any of you ever visited a Jewish home at Passover time and been privileged to sit in on the Passover meal, Undoubtedly, you've been aware that there's an empty place set. Why?

For Elijah. Symbolically saying, he might come. Elijah might come.

Scripture for the Jews ends with the promise that before Messiah comes, I'll send Elijah to prepare the way before him. So, whoever this strange figure is here calling men to repent, if he's not the Christ himself, maybe he's Elijah. But John says, no. No, I'm not Elijah.

either. Now that might strike a very jarring note in you because I'm sure you remember that a little bit later in the story Jesus himself says all the prophets and the law prophesied until John and if you are willing to accept it he is Elijah who is to come. What's going on here?

John says no I'm not. Jesus says he is. Well it's not really a self-contradiction though it sure looks like it.

John is not Elijah of old. He is not historical Elijah. This is not the same man.

Elijah has not dropped down out of heaven, much less has he been reincarnated, as some occult teachers have suggested. But he comes in the role of an Elijah. If you could picture it, he comes with the mantle of Elijah.

He comes with the authority of an Elijah. He comes as an Elijah figure. 850 years earlier when Elijah lived, the scene was one of incredible apostasy and compromise.

This nation of Israel that was called to be the people of God had thrown out all the true prophets, excluded the priests, and had institutionalized the worship of Baal. Jezebel the queen had 450 prophets of Baal living at court expense. 400 other prophets of the Asherim, the high places, the female counterpart of Baal, living at court expense.

And Elijah comes into that situation and calls the people back to the one true God. Wonderful story. You can read it in 1 Kings about 18, 19 and following.

Marvelous confrontation. Elijah says, send me all the prophets of Baal, all 850 of you. Let's go up the top of Mount Carmel and we'll have a little contest.

We'll each make a sacrifice on an altar. You pray to your God, I'll pray to mine, and we'll see which one sends down fire and consumes the sacrifice. And they pray and they leap about and they cut themselves with lances and they scream all day and nothing happens.

And Elijah prays, O God, let this people know that You truly are Lord. And fire falls and consumes His sacrifice. And the people begin to chant.

It begins to well up inside them. A chorus, a refrain gets louder and louder. The Lord, He is God.

The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. And they get rid of all those false prophets.

And there's a tremendous revival that begins. It's not complete. There's still some mopping up to do, but a tremendous spirit of repentance begins to move among the people.

That's the role of Elijah. In fact, that's what his name means. The name Elijah literally means the Lord is God.

And he calls God's people to know the one true God in the midst of all the false gods. And so Jesus says, this John, this baptizer, comes as an Elijah. To call the people of God to know the one true God.

the Lord Jesus he is God of course the historic Elijah himself shows up on the scene a little bit later just to fulfill the promise literally you remember on the Mount of Transfiguration Moses and Elijah come and bear honor bear witness to Jesus in that moment when he's spectacularly transformed before the eyes of a few of his disciples so Elijah literally comes but this one is a kind of a metaphoric Elijah he comes in the role of an Elijah to call God's people to know who the true God really is but John says no I'm not literally Elijah of old we say you're not the Christ and you're not Elijah are you the prophet you say the prophet what prophet Deuteronomy 18 nearly the closing words of Moses' life he's led the people for 40 years having led them out of bondage in Egypt now they're about to enter the promised land and he begins to sum up his ministry sum up his life and he says the Lord our God will raise up from among you a prophet like me a prophet like me and in fact greater than I with the benefit of hindsight we know that that prophet like Moses greater than Moses was in fact Messiah himself. Peter says so when he preaches in Solomon's portico in Acts chapter 3. But the Jews didn't understand that at this point in the story.

They hadn't worked out that the prophet greater than Moses and Messiah are one and the same. So they say, are you the prophet? And John says no. No, I'm not the Christ.

I'm not Elijah. And I'm not the prophet. Well, then who in the world are you?

He says, I'm a voice. I'm a voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare for the Lord.

He is coming. He is coming. And you better get ready.

Are you prepared for when the Lord makes His advent, for when He comes among us? Are you ready? He quotes here from Isaiah chapter 40, and we almost invariably punctuate it wrongly.

The RSV punctuates it wrongly. It's not a voice crying in the wilderness. It's a voice crying.

In the wilderness, prepare the way. Do you catch the difference? Where is He coming?

He's coming right into the wilderness where nobody else comes. Right into the wilderness of my personal life where all the tangles, the brambles, the vines of sin are so tightly interlocked with each other that nobody would even want to come. He's coming into my wilderness and I better get ready.

He's coming into the desert. The desert with its twisted, kinky paths. Straighten out those paths.

He's coming where your spiritual vitality has become so arid that nothing lives there. He's coming into the desert. Are you ready for Him to come into your desert?

Straighten out those kinky things in your life, says John. He's coming right up against the mountain that you've erected as a barrier. You know, that mountain that is so high and so steep that nobody can scale it.

That mountain of pride. That mountain of self-importance. that barrier that I've put up that nobody might really know me.

I mean, I'll show you what I want you to see, but I'll keep the secret things to myself and I'm going to put a mountain right between us. And He's going to come right through that mountain. Some of us have dug a moat around our castle.

You know what I mean? Nobody can get across it. It is too deep.

It is too wide. Some of us have surrounded ourselves with a moat of despair. We've isolated ourselves with a little valley of self-pity.

He's coming right across that valley. Are you ready to have Him come? John says, He is coming.

He is coming. And in His graciousness, He sent me before Him to give you the opportunity to tear out the brambles, straighten out the kinky things, tear down the mountains that stand in the way Fill up the valleys or He'll do it for you. That might not be quite so pleasant.

Because He is coming. Get ready. He's quoting, as I said, from Isaiah 40.

You can go on and read the passage for yourself. And I invite you to do that. The reason for this message, John says, as Isaiah said before him, is that the glory of the Lord might be revealed.

That the glory of the Lord might be revealed. He comes in glory. He comes as Himself, the Holy One, the Righteous One, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

And where He comes, that which is not holy cannot stand before Him. St. Paul put it this way to the Corinthians. He said, Every man's work will be tested by fire.

He's talking about Christian people when he writes that. Every man's work will be tested by fire, whether it be gold or silver or precious gems or wood, hay or stubble. What happens when you pass gold through the fire?

It becomes purer and it shines more brightly. It reflects the glory more clearly. But what happens when you pass stubble through fire?

It burns up. there's nothing left he is coming that his glory might be revealed and whatever is not worthy of him will be burned up as by fire he's not talking about salvation at that point he's talking about the work of each man he's coming in mercy and love but he's also coming in holiness the rest of the passage involves a very curious statement He says, I baptize with water, which is a symbol of cleansing. But among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

Or in Matthew's version, that reads, whose sandal I am not worthy to carry. What's John saying? Well, if you were a Jew and you knew your Old Testament, you'd be aware of the fact that in Deuteronomy 25, there's a very curious law.

It's called the law of leverite marriage. And what it involves is this. That if a man dies before he's fathered any children his brother has an obligation to marry his widow and father children by her in that man's name so that the family name would be continued.

Of course that involves paying the bride price. It involves taking on yourself all of the responsibility for her. It involves buying her back, redeeming her out of her widowhood.

And it involves shouldering the responsibility for her family. It removes her disgrace and brings her into the joy of being a bride once again. But if a given man didn't want to fulfill that responsibility for whatever reason, he said, I'm sorry, I'm just not interested.

I don't care to pay that price. I will not redeem that widow. Then in Deuteronomy 25, the woman was instructed to come up to him in public, spit in his face, and take his shoe from him.

And from then on, he would be known throughout Israel as he who had his shoe removed. Obviously, that began as a response of anger and disappointment, and then it became stylized into a way of expressing, I'm sorry, I abdicate. I will not do this thing.

I will not be your bridegroom, redeemer. You remember the story of Ruth and Boaz? Remember the Moabitess girl who became an Israelite?

And she was widowed, and a fellow named Boaz fell in love with her, and he wanted to marry her. But the problem was, he was not next of kin. There's one nearer than I, he says, who has the right of first refusal, if you will.

and he says I'll go to him and I'll ask whether he might perhaps abdicate and that's exactly what happens the kinsman says I don't want any part of that Boaz I don't want to be her redeemer I don't want to pay the price and he reaches down and he takes off his shoe and he hands it to Boaz and Boaz is thrilled out of his mind he says now I can marry the girl because the one whose responsibility it was wouldn't do it. Do you understand what's being said here? In John chapter 3, this John, the baptizer, says, You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.

He who has the bride is the bridegroom. I'm the friend of the bridegroom. He says, don't think that I've come to presume to do that which the bridegroom can do.

I have not come to take the shoe off of the Christ. I have not come to be the Redeemer of the bride. I am not prepared to pay the price.

I can't do it. But more than that, nobody else can either. Do you understand that this Jesus whom we celebrate comes as a bridegroom who will pay the price?

He will buy us back out of the shame and disgrace. that is ours. He will make us the very bride of God.

And He'll pay the price for that in His own body. And nobody's going to take His shoe off. Hallelujah.

He keeps that promise. And how do you get ready for that one? By straightening out whatever you know in your heart of hearts is not right.

People celebrate the coming of Jesus. with all of the joy of Christmas and yet you know what we're celebrating is a little innocent baby. Couldn't harm a fly.

That's just a prelude. He comes as bridegroom, redeemer. He comes as the Holy One, the righteous One, the King of kings.

And before Him, nothing that is unholy, nothing that is kinky, nothing that is twisted, nothing that is choked with wilderness, growth will stand. He came. He comes to each one of us.

He comes to you. And He's coming to all of us again. I think it's soon.

I think an awful lot of people aren't going to be ready. I hope you and I will be ready. It's our privilege.

It's also a solemn warning to us. Get rid of that which is not holy, that which is not true. In a word, repent.

For He is coming. He's coming in the beauty, but also in the awesomeness of holiness. May we not shrink back in shame at His coming.

But may we greet Him. with the joy of the bride who receives her bridegroom. Let's bow our heads together.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us the opportunity to make straight paths in our lives for You to come upon. We pray this day as we've prayed before that You would be born in our hearts as You were born so long ago in that stable. But Lord, we would prepare a place for You to be born in.

We would prepare a place for you to come and make your royal throne, your place of residence. We would prepare a place in our hearts and lives where you can exercise the wonder of your kingship. Thank you for sending John.

And thank you for his message. Lord, give us strength to hack down those wilderness growths and straighten out those twisted paths and tear down those mountains and barriers and fill up the valleys of despair for His great namesake. Amen.

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