Uh-oh. Crazy guy down by the river! He's wearing camel's hair and a leather belt. He's living on grasshoppers and wild honey. Crazy beard and long hair. What kind of fashion statement is that? Is he a prophet? Camel's hair is so Last Century, so Old Testament. Ask the clergy, they'll know what he's doing there. They don't. So they send some people to ask. Better check him out. Who is he and what is he preaching? Maybe this is the sign that the Messiah is coming and we all know what that means: God is going to reward us for working so hard to be righteous! Why does John preach like he does? Why does he dress like he does? Doesn't he understand? Doesn't he get it? Religion has evolved and grown out of that silly fire and brimstone phase. We don't have prophets who dress like that now. Now we have highly educated clergy who day after day prove to the world how smart and holy they are and how others can be holy if they act like the scribes and Pharisees. Somebody better tell YOUR pastor. Doesn't he know that robes and stoles and crucifixes are so out of date? That what matters is how people live? If they're living for the Lord? If they have a true relationship with Jesus? If they can show by their lives that they're better than other people? Doesn't your pastor know that religion has evolved and grown up from all that silly stuff about sacrifices and blood and doctrine and all that? That the big deal is to affirm people and make them feel good about themselves?
But all John has to talk about is Christ. All he can point to and preach about is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John isn't the Christ. He's not Elijah the way the Jews expect. He's not the Prophet Moses spoke about. He's just John and all He's got to talk about is Jesus. Just like your pastor. I've got nothing but Jesus to tell you about. Don't ask about my advanced degrees or if I'm an expert in this or that. Nope. Just Jesus. I can't even untie his shoes, but He has made me a preacher, so I'll preach about Him. But just Him. It is given to John and to all preachers to do one thing and one thing only: point people to Jesus. To teach us why we need Jesus: because we have sins. To teach us what Jesus does with our sins: takes them away. To teach us what Jesus would have us do with our new freedom: serve others. John did not come to tell the Pharisees to keep up the good work of teaching people how to fool themselves that they could keep the Law and so put a smile on God's face. No, he told them, like everyone else, to throw away their own righteousness and get in the water and get baptized like all the other sinners. If you are not a sinner, or not too bad of a sinner, then I apologize, but I don't have anything for you today. If you are not doomed to death by God's Law and have no hope in yourself to avoid the damning judgment of God, then I'm sorry, I can' t help you. But if you ARE one of those whom the Law has crushed and mangled and doomed to death and you know that you've got nothing before God, then may I humbly present: Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The scribes and Pharisees send people to John to find out what's going on. Why? They figure that maybe he's the forerunner of the Messiah. But what kind of Messiah did they expect? The kind that would come and say: “Boy, you people are religious! Boy, you guys are holy! Boy, you sure live a good life! I'm so proud of you, especially compared to all THOSE people out there who never do anything but live like pagans!” Brothers and sisters in Christ, don't for a minute think that that's not the religion of the world. The world loves that kind of religion. The kind where you do some seemingly good works and everyone praises and flatters you for it. It's the kind of religion where you CAN be good enough and holy enough if you just try hard enough. It's the kind of religion where your life can be lived to prove how much more godly and religious you are than those people around you who don't live up to your standards—I mean, God's standards! John just points to Jesus. Not those people. Not their good lives and good works. Just to Jesus. Be saved by Him or be doomed. But that's what people want from church today: they want self-affirmation and flattery. Preach to me how good a job I'm doing. Let me run inside the church and escape this crazy world and be comforted by being told I'm doing a good job. Let me hear some preaching about those sinners out there, so that I can feel better about myself. If you've ever walked in the door for THAT reason, brothers and sisters, repent! Don't be like the Pharisees and send someone else. Don't go hoping for pat on the back for all your good intentions. Go to hear what the preacher says. Go to look where the preacher points: to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Only HE will save you. Only THAT Good News will rescue you. Yes, it means casting off yourself, and your sins, but it means casting them off onto the One who can bear them and take them away: Jesus, the Lamb of God!
The Word of God is clear, dear hearers: the wrath of God is piling up and building up against sins. Against every sort of thought and word and deed which denies the Lord and His Word, despises His preaching, misuses His name. The anger and judgment of the Lord is ramping up to full power against every thought and word and deed which tears down and despises our neighbor: every disobedient act against parents, hatred and murder, fornications and adulteries, and stealing and coveting and speaking badly about our neighbors. Everything which proves we are conceived in sin and born as nothing but selfish and self-serving and self-righteous, being full of wickedness while thinking we are pretty good people! Against all that the wrath of God is coming. That's also what John preached: The Lord is coming and He's got his ax ready to chop down unfruitful trees and the winnowing fork ready to burn the chaff like a pile of Du Quoin leaves! And THIS, dear Christians, is the preparation for the coming Savior: that we acknowledge and confess that such is exactly what our sins deserve, namely, the everlasting wrath and judgment of Almighty God. That Judgment IS true. It is for sure. And it is frightening! And if you are not frightened by it, you'd better be! So John points to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. That's all that preacher has. That's all any preacher should have: against that terrifying wrath of God we have Christ, the Lamb of God.
And just when the world thought that the Lord would appear with wrath and smoke and lightning and fire—like on Mt. Sinai—then He DOES come but not scary at all! John's preaching and the preaching of the Law prepare us for what? For the coming of Jesus. When we see what our sins have earned us then—Jesus comes. In the flesh. As a little baby in a manger. As if He were a sinner to be baptized by John. As a prophet and preacher, preaching not Himself but the Word of God. As a criminal, beaten within an inch of His life and then nailed to the cross. Understand, brothers and sisters, that the wrath of God against our sins is hidden in Jesus. It's poured out upon Jesus. It kills Jesus. But it's all on Him. This is what the Pharisees and scribes didn't want to get. But it is given to you to understand. You really can't save yourself! But Jesus saves you. You really can't live a good enough life. But Jesus does. You really can't make up for your sins. But Jesus takes them away. It is impossible for you to save yourself and to join God's side. But the Lord brings you into the kingdom in the waters of the font. It is impossible for you to get rid of your sins. But Jesus absolves them through the lips of your pastor who declares to you the verdict of the Lamb of God: sins forgiven. You can't find food to feed you. But Jesus feeds you with His saving and forgiving body and blood. Rejoice, dear Christians, that Jesus doesn't come with thunder and lighting but in water, words, and body and blood. Those are the gifts of Jesus which rescue your from yourself and the world's religion and bring you into and keep you in the kingdom of Christ.
The Pharisees and scribes send their agents to spy out John. All he's got for them is Jesus, the Lamb of God. That's no good. He won't do anything for their religion. He can't save them if they're not sinners. So today: your sinful flesh wants to come here and be flattered. But it's not going to happen. All I've got for you is what John had to point to: Jesus, the Lamb of God. Rejoice in that! Rejoice in Him! Because it is that Lamb by whom you are protected from the wrath of God. It is in that Lamb that you have peace with God, the peace which passes all understanding and keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's what the crazy-looking guys down by the Jordan river and up in the pulpit have for you this Fourth Sunday in Advent. Amen.