The Redirector

"St. John the Baptist Sees Jesus from Afar" by James Tissot

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The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare Your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight,’” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:1-8).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

In hockey, it is called “redirection.” This happens when an offensive player positions himself before the opposing team’s goalie. Another offensive player who skates much farther away from the net takes a slapshot directly at the goalie. As the puck speeds toward the goal, the redirecting player lifts his stick and tries to deflect it around the goaltender. He does not want to get in the way. He does not want to block the puck. He tries to give it a slight touch, just enough to change the course of the shot past the goalie and (hopefully) into the net. When done well, it is almost impossible to stop.

As I prepared for this message, the word “redirection” was brought to my attention by Peter Nafzger in his article for "Craft of Preaching.” This Sunday’s Gospel is from Mark 1, in which the evangelist writes, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (verse 1). From this verse, we immediately know that we will focus on Jesus.

But after this opening non-sentence, Mark turns away from the book’s primary subject to provide some context. He points back to Isaiah, who looks forward to the John the Baptist. “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”’”

Mark quotes Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:2. Mark mentions only Isaiah because Isaiah was the prophet who spoke about the coming Savior in greater detail than any other Old Testament prophet. In their messianic sense, Isaiah’s words cause us to understand the words of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets. Therefore, this mention of Isaiah is not an error on Mark’s part, as some commentators insist. It is the Holy Spirit who caused Mark to write as he did. And it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us that the words of Isaiah, first fulfilled in the return of Israel from Babylon in the days of Cyrus, found their greater fulfillment hundreds of years later in John and Jesus.

These Old Testament prophecies make clear that God sent John the Baptist as His messenger to announce the coming of His Son and thus to prepare the hearts of His people to receive Him. Mark shows us how John fulfilled these words of prophecy. When John the Baptist came, those who saw and heard him could draw only one conclusion, namely, that with the appearance of John, the promised Messiah would appear. Comparing prophecy and fulfillment, we have no doubts that He who followed John the Baptist was indeed the promised Messiah. John was God's messenger, God's voice. He did not proclaim his wisdom but God's wisdom.

John the Baptist wore rough clothing woven of camel’s hair. His diet was wilderness fare—locusts and wild honey. He was another Elijah, whom 2 Kings 1:8 describes as “a man with a garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist.” When John began his work in the desert region, the uninhabited area near the Jordan, the similarity was not lost on the Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem who came out to hear him. The 20-mile journey was arduous, downhill from Jerusalem and uphill on the way back. It took them away from their business deals and their hours of relaxation. But they came because they sensed the power of God in John. They were excited. After all, it had been four hundred years since a legitimate prophet had appeared on the scene. They had to find out, and they did.

John the Baptist “appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Why? Because the hearts of the people had become a desert region, and they needed to be rescued. In this baptism of repentance, he offered them not merely a ritual washing but the gift of forgiveness. His baptism was essentially no different from the baptism by which our Lord comes to us today with His pardon and peace. The forgiveness granted through John’s baptism was not a reward because they had repented but a wonderful gift of God who, through John’s preaching, brought them to repentance and gave them a change of heart.

That’s why Mark does not emphasize John’s preaching of the Law, although John did that, too, as is evident from the other Gospels. John the Baptist’s message, as recorded by Mark, was the Gospel pointing forward to Jesus Christ and His great work of redemption. John did not claim to be what he was not. He was not the Christ, and he set the record straight when he said, “After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” In Jesus’ presence, John the Forerunner did not even consider himself worthy to render the service of an enslaved person.

But all this depended on something else that had to precede, and that is our Lord’s work of redemption. It is only because John’s baptism brought forgiveness of sins that God today deals with us in the same way in Word and Sacrament. Without Christ, no one could ever accomplish this. That's why God sent Jesus—to prepare the people to receive Christ. His coming assures us that this Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior. John is and remains one of Jesus' credentials. John the Baptist is part of the beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

John plays the role of middleman in God’s plan of salvation. He is the preparer, the precursor, the pointer, the redirector. John is the last of the prophets in the old covenant. Yet, he lived to see the One to whom all of them were pointing. John shows up every year during Advent. As a friend of mine likes to say, you have to get through John to get to Jesus.

John's part in the story is essential, but not because of anything extraordinary about him, which becomes apparent as the text unfolds. After identifying John as the voice of one crying, Mark tells us about John's ministry in the wilderness. Unlike Luke, who gives us John's backstory, Mark says he "appeared" (more literally, he "was") in the wilderness baptizing and preaching. But John's baptizing and preaching was not the end. It was a means. It was the means by which people were being prepared to encounter Jesus, which suggests that we need not pay much attention to John's person (or appearance or diet) in this sermon. Instead, we might think of (and describe) John as a “redirector.” He redirects our attention toward Jesus.

This begs the question: What does John redirect away from?

First, John redirects his listeners away from himself. Notice that this was the very first thing John preached. “After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” John was gathering a lot of attention. “All the country of Judea” and “all Jerusalem” were going out to see him. But he would not let them focus on him. He redirected their attention away from himself to Jesus.

You may need to be redirected away from yourself, too. We all tend to focus on ourselves too much. Maybe this is even more prominent during December as we have much we “need” to accomplish. There are concerts, parties, family gatherings, and open houses to prepare for and attend—gifts to purchase and wrap.

John also redirected his listeners away from sin. The people came to see him “confessing their sin.” You may need to be directed away from your sin, too. Perhaps guilt from sin (real or perceived) is consuming your attention. Maybe you feel guilty for not providing the storybook Christmas for their children. Or you might feel guilty for contributing to the family dysfunction that comes to the surface every year around this time. Perhaps you feel guilt for failures, old or new. If this is a problem for you, the promise of forgiveness is a direction away from guilt toward a clean conscience.

Maybe your heart is a desert region. You find this season to be filled with sorrow rather than joy because you grieve the death of a loved one, or you’ve just received a scary health diagnosis, or you’re confronting a burdensome financial challenge. Perhaps you find yourself anxious about the state of the world, your country, your congregation.

Whatever you need to be redirected from, it is easy to identify what to direct you towards. Jesus is always the correct answer here.

Jesus comes into this wilderness to bring hope and healing, life and love. He comes into the rush and busyness of the season, bringing rest and bearing our burdens. He delivers a clean conscience to those weighed down by guilt.   

The Good News that Mark reports centers on “Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus is His personal name chosen by God and revealed to Joseph by the angel, saying, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus is the New Testament form of the name Joshua, which means "Yahweh is help and salvation." It was a popular name. But for Jesus of Nazareth, it is descriptive of our Lord’s mission—to be mankind’s Savior.

The name Christ is a title descriptive of our Lord’s calling. Christ means “the Anointed One.” This Jesus, whom Mark writes, is not just any Jesus but the Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit to be our Prophet, Priest, and King. As Prophet, Jesus proclaims the Word of God to us. As our Priest, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sin, and He intercedes with the Father on our behalf. As our King, Jesus rules over all creation, especially for the good of His Church.

Jesus Himself, in His ministry, avoided using the name Christ, or Messiah, because, by that time, the name had been given false political overtones. He, therefore, preferred to call Himself the Son of Man. Only after he had by word and deed instructed His disciples did He finally ask them, “Who do you say I am?” and then accept Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). And when Caiaphas the high priest asked Him. “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus replied, “I Am” (Mark 14:61-62).

Mark’s opening statement emphasizes the final words: "the Son of God." Mark presents his account of the Good News about Jesus Christ through this lens. Though Jesus Christ was rejected by His own people and crucified as a malefactor, Mark tells us that He was anything but a malefactor. Mark’s answer to the question Who is Jesus Christ? Is: He is the man who is the Son of God. The study of Mark’s Gospel leads step-by-step to the conviction arrived at the centurion at the cross: “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39). Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who lived as a man among men, who experienced pain and death, was more than just a great man, an eloquent teacher, a mighty miracle worker—He is God the Son, God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Mark’s God-given purpose is to lead you and me to recognize the man Jesus Christ as the very Son of God and confess Him as such.

You only find forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Go in the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy. You are forgiven for all your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.