Advents Pointing Prophet
John the Baptist, our Advent icon and pointing prophet.
John the Baptist is one of our icons of Advent. He is one of the main characters in the story we retell during this season of the liturgical year. In the last two weeks of my church's lectionary, the gospel readings have centered John's story as he "prepares the way of the Lord…" John's story has so many fascinating bits; I love it!
Check out the story, Luke 3:1-20.
What has really captured my attention these last couple of weeks is the question, "Who is John pointing at." He is known as the pointing prophet, but who is he pointing at?
John's message comes across as pretty harsh, "repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near," and "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance." Yeah, that's pretty harsh. But when we hear his message, I think our imagination has us slinking in our chairs, feeling like we're getting yelled at as John points his finger at us and yells, "REPENT!" If you're a corrupt religious leader or politician coopting Jesus for personal gain, maybe that's the right picture to have in your mind. However, for most of us, when we hear John's message of repentance, we shouldn't imagine his finger pointing at us. John isn't the pointing prophet because his judgmental finger is trying to pierce your soul as he yells, "Repent." That's not the picture. That's not why John is the pointing prophet.
John is the pointing prophet because he is ALWAYS pointing at Jesus!
We should hear his invitation to repent and then follow his finger to whom he is point at, to the one we are called to align our lives with, Jesus!
If I were to do a little targum on Luke chapter 3, it might go something like this…
The word of God John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. John knew it was coming; he was ready. So he went all over the place proclaiming, 'repent and be baptized.' To the crowd, he would say, 'your hearts and lives are so misaligned with God and his kingdom. You've got to turn around, change your mind about what's important to you, align your lives with God, make important to you the things that are important to God. You religious leaders and politicians who claim to be God-fearing, yeah, you, you're a brood of vipers, just the worst! Your hearts, minds, and actions are so bent it's maddening! You need to repent and bear fruit, show with your actions that you have changed your mind and are putting first the kingdom of God. If you don't, you're in trouble. The divine ax is ready, and every tree that doesn't stand straight and bear good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the trash heap to be burned.
Now, this whole time, maybe you've been wondering where I've been pointing as I plead with you to repent, change your mind, and align your life with the kingdom of God. Well, I'm pointing at the one who is coming to put all things right, to put you right. He is coming to straighten up this crooked world and our crooked hearts! So repent and be baptized. Be ready for our coming king! He's on his way, so be ready because when he comes, he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.'
After his fiery message, everyone wanted to know, 'What should we do?' So John received a long line of people, all asking the same question, and he addressed each one according to their idols, according to how they were misaligned with the coming king and his kingdom. After that, he kept on challenging and encouraging the crowd, continuing to proclaim the good news to them.
That next bit is actually my favorite, the whole "what should we do now" section, but that's a whole other thing. I do want to highlight that Luke tells us in verse 18 that John's whole message is "good news."
"So, with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them." Luke 3:18
This was good news! Why? Because John was pointing at Jesus the whole time.
John is pointing at Jesus.
He points them to Jesus.
John points us to Jesus!
Let's be ready for our coming king. Prepared to celebrate his birth and prepared for his return!
Happy Advent!
(and soon) Merry Christmas!
PS: I was able to preach at Faith Anglican Church a couple weeks ago on the second Sunday of Advent. You can check it on their Facebook feed. The sermon starts around 23:40. The title of the message, “The terribly beautiful judgement of God”
Link: Faith Anglican Church - Facebook