I’m just the messenger
By: John I. Carney
Tags: Sermon, United Methodist, John The Baptist, Advent

I’m just the messenger

John 1:6–8, 19–28 (CEB)

A man named John was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light. He himself wasn’t the light, but his mission was to testify concerning the light.

— -

This is John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” John confessed (he didn’t deny but confessed), “I’m not the Christ.” They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” John said, “I’m not.” “Are you the prophet?” John answered, “No.” They asked, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John replied, “I am a voice crying out in the wilderness,

Make the Lord’s path straight,

just as the prophet Isaiah said.” Those sent by the Pharisees asked, “Why do you baptize if you aren’t the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered, “I baptize with water. Someone greater stands among you, whom you don’t recognize. He comes after me, but I’m not worthy to untie his sandal straps.” This encounter took place across the Jordan in Bethany where John was baptizing.

We are, of course, in the season of Advent, the season of expectation, of preparation for the coming of Jesus. And today’s passage is about John the Baptizer, who helped to prepare the people of first century Judaea for Jesus’ ministry.

John was a messenger, a spokesman of sorts. A representative.

Some years back, there was a terrific documentary on public TV about David Newell. I’d like to see a show of hands — has anyone here ever heard of David Newell?

I bet you have. You just didn’t know his real name.

For decades, David Newell was Mr. McFeely, the “Speedy Delivery” man, in a place called “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Fred Rogers, who was a Presbyterian minister, went on to his reward in 2003, but his show continued to air in reruns for years after that, and children who weren’t even born when he passed away grew up with all of the show’s familiar characters and messages.

David Newell was not only Fred Rogers’ co-worker but a good friend, and when Mister Rogers was unable to do so, David Newell became the primary goodwill ambassador for the TV show, making public appearances around the country at the request of local public TV stations. He signed autographs, and greeted young children, not-so-young children, and nostalgic parents and grandparents. He told each child that he or she is special and that Mr. McFeely, like Mister Rogers, loves them just the way they are. That’s a pretty good message.

Today, the company that Fred Rogers founded to present “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has an animated show based on Daniel the Striped Tiger, one of Fred Rogers’ puppets. Mr. McFeely is a character in that animated show, but someone else provides the voice.

In the documentary about David Newell, the president of one of the big public TV stations, the one that funded “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” was interviewed about David Newell, and I thought he was sort of condescending. It was almost like he didn’t think as much of Newell because Newell had devoted so much of his life to representing someone else.

But I don’t think that TV executive understood the holy nature of David Newell’s calling.

The commentator William Barclay points out that John the gospel writer, whenever he refers to John the Baptizer, always tends to downplay him a little bit. John the gospel writer is not trying in any way to be critical of John the Baptizer. Rather, he’s trying to help his readers keep John the Baptizer’s role in perspective.

There were some people who, struck by John the Baptizer’s preaching, tried to cast him in the role of the Messiah. John the Baptizer, at one point, had a large following. Even in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul encountered people in Ephesus who had been baptized by John but had never even heard of Jesus. Groups of people who followed John, instead of Jesus, were reported as late as 250 AD, more than 200 years after Christ’s death and resurrection.

So John the gospel writer is trying to make sure that his readers understand who John the Baptizer was in relation to Jesus. “A man named John was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light. He himself wasn’t the light, but his mission was to testify concerning the light.”

The two largest celestial bodies that we can see in the sky are the sun and the moon. The difference between them is that the sun produces light. The moon is just a piece of rock; it reflects the light of the sun. If it were not for the sun, we would not be able to see the moon. John, the gospel writer, wants us to understand that Jesus is the real light of the world, and John, the Baptizer, is just a messenger, trying to reflect that light onto a world of darkness.

John, the Baptizer, understood this clearly. The religious leaders, who were suspicious of unaffiliated new teachers, sent some representatives to check out what John was up to. They asked him whether he claimed to be the Messiah, or the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah, or some other grandiose persona. They knew that John was the son of a priest, Zechariah. It could be that he had picked up just enough of the priestly knowledge to get himself into trouble. Sometimes, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. You can take a little bit of truth and build a lie around it. The religious leaders, who considered themselves the gatekeepers of truth and propriety, wanted to know just who this strangely-dressed prophet was, and what his teachings were. So they sent a delegation to see for themselves.

John told these investigators that he was just a messenger. He told them he was not the Christ (the Messiah). He reassured them that he was not the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. He even denied that he was the great prophet who had been predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15.

In the days before electronic communications, messengers often played an important role. Sure, there were letters, but often a face-to-face messenger could communicate more effectively than ink and paper. One of my favorite movies is the Kenneth Branagh version of Shakespeare’s play “Henry V.” That play has to do with a war between England and France over some disputed territories, and there’s a messenger — Montjoy the herald — who turns up from time to time to bring King Henry messages from his French opponents.

At first, they’re threatening messages, pointing out the overwhelming advantage of the French army and demanding that the English forces stand down. But then, near the end, the herald shows up to surrender and ask for permission for the French forces to collect their dead from the battlefield..

It’s interesting that, even though there’s great animosity between the English and the French, the French herald is treated with respect. They understand that he is just the messenger. At one point, King Henry even praises him for doing what he does so well.

John understood his role, and his calling — to point people to Jesus. To get people ready to meet Jesus. David Newell represented Mister Rogers by upholding the ideas of kindness and respect that Mister Rogers represented. John represented Jesus by representing the ideas that Jesus would soon be preaching.

Nevertheless, there were some people who followed John rather than looking to Jesus. That’s been a problem for us numerous times through Christian history — we fixate on a particular leader or preacher or author or singer, and we put emphasis on the messenger that should go onto the message. We become a follower of this TV evangelist or that megachurch pastor rather than a follower of Jesus.

The United Methodist church has a system called itinerancy, meaning that our preachers get moved around, although they aren’t moved as often nowadays as they once were. Itinerancy is somewhat controversial, and there are some people who want the church to do away with it. There have been some very large United Methodist churches that have left or threatened to leave the denomination because their senior pastor was being moved. Those churches are more devoted to keeping their current pastor than they are to the policies of the denomination.

There are good and bad points on both sides of itinerancy. But one of the good things about it is that it helps prevent the church from being all about the pastor. Another advantage is that it gives pastors a little more independence, a little more ability to speak the truth.

“I am a voice crying out in the wilderness,” John said, “Make the Lord’s path straight, just as the prophet Isaiah said.”

This world sometimes seems like a wilderness, a strange and dark place. But that just means it’s all the more in need of the light and love of the Gospel message.

When John replied that he was just a messenger, the religious leaders asked him, OK, if you’re just a messenger, what gives you the right to baptize people?

John answered, “I baptize with water. Someone greater stands among you, whom you don’t recognize. He comes after me, but I’m not worthy to untie his sandal straps.”

John was not claiming that he had any special magical power to forgive sins or give people a new life. He was baptising people in anticipation of Jesus’ ministry, and (whether John understood this or not) Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In the United Methodist tradition, baptism is a sacrament, one which must be presided over by an ordained minister. That’s as it should be — but it doesn’t mean that the minister has any sort of mystical powers. Baptism is a symbol of God’s grace, a symbol of something that God is doing or will do in our lives. That’s why we believe in infant baptism, and it’s why we don’t believe in re-baptism. Baptism is not something we do; it’s a symbolic way of acknowledging what God does for us.

But while baptism must be presided over by an ordained minister, there are a lof of other things that you and I, as laypeople, can do to spread God’s kingdom.

One of our other lectionary passages today is from Isaiah. I’m going to read the first four verses of it:

Isaiah 61:1–4 (CEB)

The Lord God’s spirit is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me.

He has sent me

to bring good news to the poor,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim release for captives,

and liberation for prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

and a day of vindication for our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

to provide for Zion’s mourners,

to give them a crown in place of ashes,

oil of joy in place of mourning,

a mantle of praise in place of discouragement.

They will be called Oaks of Righteousness,

planted by the Lord to glorify himself.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins;

they will restore formerly deserted places;

they will renew ruined cities,

places deserted in generations past.

Isaiah may have been a prophet, but I believe some of those words are for us as well, describing how we are called to be messengers for Jesus: “…to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release for captives, and liberation for prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and a day of vindication for our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for Zion’s mourners, to give them a crown in place of ashes, oil of joy in place of mourning, a mantle of praise in place of discouragement.”

We reflect Jesus by the way we treat those around us — the poor, the brokenhearted, captives, prisoners, and all who mourn. In this difficult year, there are a lot of people who need the light of the Gospel reflected into their lives — a lot of people who need us to point them in the direction of Jesus.

Advent is the season of preparing for Jesus’ arrival. But if that only means preparing for Jesus to arrive in our own lives, it’s a tragic missed opportunity. We are to show love and compassion, and the Gospel message, in how we treat other people, how we talk to other people, how we live our lives.

Let me rush to say that I fall so short of that mark myself. I fail to glorify Christ. I look the other way when people ask me for help. I am not the shining beacon of light that John the Baptizer or Isaiah were. But with God’s sanctifying grace, I can get better. I am not the light, but with God’s help I can be a part of testifying to the light, through my words and actions, as we anticipate the coming of Jesus this Advent season.