John the Grass Man

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 20, 2015

John 1:20 & Isaiah 40:6-8

John the Grass Man

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I.

John could have tried to be Jesus. For a while John could have said that he was the Christ. And it's a good bet that many people would've believed him for a while.

If John had said that he was the Christ, many would have followed him. John would have been able to civilization and gotten a haircut. He could have gotten free home-cooked meals instead of eating grasshoppers and honey. He could have put on comfortable clothes instead of his animal skins.

He could have had it all, but when asked directly if he was the Christ, he said,

“I am not the Christ.” (John 1:20)

Perhaps his conscience prevented him from claiming to be the Son of God. But he could have settled for being Elijah. That would have been good. The Pharisees would have been interested in meeting an 800-year old Elijah, back from the dead. They would have listened to that prophet. But John said he wasn't Elijah, either.

Instead he borrowed from a different prophet, Isaiah, and used Isaiah's words to point to the true Christ.

I am the voice of one calling in the desert, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” (John 1:23)

John patiently explained to these fellow Jews that the Lord was coming soon. Therefore, it was time to get ready for His arrival. The Jews who heard John quote Isaiah would have known the words that followed this straight-way making.

A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

We get ready for Christ just as John did. We confess freely that we are fading blades of grass. We also confess that we puff ourselves up and try to stand on our own before the righteous Lord God. This is as foolish and dangerous as a blade of grass thinking that they are indestructible just before the lawn mower comes and the frost hits.

II.

So it seems odd that Jesus praised a blade of grass.

John had confessed that he was grass, here today and gone tomorrow, we might say. John said that he was not even worthy to untie Jesus' sandals. He refused to pretend to be anything more than grass.

Yet Jesus praised John.

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. (Matthew 11:11-14)

John had said that he wasn't Elijah, but Jesus said that he was! Jesus didn't mean that John was the dead Elijah brought back to life. He meant that John was the promised prophet who spoke boldly like Elijah of old. He was the forerunner whom God had promised would arrive before the Christ and announce His coming.

John is the promised Elijah; Jesus is the promised Christ.

Jesus didn't need John (or Elijah, for that matter). But He chose to need John. He gave John life in the womb of his barren mother. He put John under orders to go out and preach repentance and baptize sinners. John didn't go on his own. Christ chose to need John and sent him out.

III.

With the same mercy Jesus chooses to need you. He sends you out, but not into the wilderness. He sends you back into your life. He sends you into His Word to confess freely that you are a blade of grass who is joyfully waiting for the coming Christ. Paul promised that the Lord is near. These final days of waiting will pass quickly and so we rejoice and are glad. John had been dead for many years when Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi, but surely they capture John's joy in the coming Christ. Our joy, too.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21