Advent 3 The Sunday of John the Baptist in Prison December 17, 2017

Advent 3
Matthew 11:2-11
December 17, 2017

‘You Don’t Look Like Much’

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

Said one cousin to another, “You don’t look like much.” That’s John the Baptist to his cousin, Jesus. That’s John the Baptist, “You don’t look like much, Jesus.” That’s John the Baptist, rotting in prison and about to be beheaded by King Herod. Or more correctly, by King Herod’s new wife, Herodias, and her daughter who’s a pretty good dancer. The daughter that will ask for John’s head on a platter. That’s John the Baptist, who was thrown into prison when he told King Herod that he should have never married Herodias in the first place, her being his brother’s wife and all, his sister-in-law.

That’s John the Baptist, who shook up the entire countryside of Judea with his fiery preaching and his picturesque language of axes ready to chop down trees. Who even had Roman soldiers shaking in their government-issued boots asking, “John the Baptist, what should we do?” “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation,” John says, “And be content with your wages.” That’s John the Baptist, who made such waves through Jerusalem that the Pharisees sent a special group of priests and Levites on a fact-finding mission to the wilderness to question this fiery preacher of repentance and baptism.

That’s John the Baptist, who stood in the Jordan River with water of Baptism pouring over Jesus’ body as the Holy Spirit fluttered over Jesus’ head as a dove and the Father blasted from heaven, “This is My beloved Son.” That’s John the Baptist, who listened to his father Zechariah tell stories of the day when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him in the Temple and told him he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a son in their old age and they would name him John. And this son, John the Baptist, would go forth in the spirit of Elijah to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

That’s John the Baptist, rugged, fiery, famous, courageous—now sitting in prison waiting to be executed. And he sends message to his cousin Jesus, “You know, are You really the One or not? ‘Cause You don’t look like much.”

Yes, Jesus didn’t look like much. Jesus wasn’t taking on adulterous Kings like Herod, the way John was. Yes, Jesus didn’t look like much. He wasn’t calling Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers”, the way John had. Yes, Jesus didn’t look like much. He wasn’t shaking up the entire world and sticking it to sinners the way John had. Was this Jesus really the One? Cause He doesn’t look like that much.

Well, said that cousin Jesus back to his cousin John, “You’re right, cousin, I may not look like much. But don’t be offended. Don’t be offended, cousin John, because I may not look like much but I’m exactly who God says I am. Look at what I’m doing, John. I’m doing the exact, very things that God said I would do through the prophet Isaiah. The blind are receiving their sight. Ever seen that, cousin? The lame are walking. How ‘bout that, John? The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised up. And the poor have good news preached to them. Yes, cousin, I may not look like much in the eyes of the world. But God has sent me to do these very things. I am the Coming One, the One for you, too, cousin. I am the Christ, the Savior of the world. God says so.”

Said that cousin Jesus about John the Baptist, after the questioners had gone away, “What about my cousin, John, everybody? What do you guys think about him? He didn’t really look like that much, did he?” No, he didn’t. That John the Baptist, he was just plain weird. He didn’t look like much. He was dressed in camel’s hair. Come on, John, where’d you get your fashion? That John the Baptist, he ate locusts and wild honey. Come on, John, that had to be hard on your digestive system. That John the Baptist, he lived out in the desert like he had no home. No family. No friends. Said cousin Jesus about John the Baptist, “He didn’t look like much, did he?”

“Aha, but he was a prophet. Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. Because not only about Me did the prophet Isaiah speak, but Malachi spoke about him. Cousin John it is of whom Malachi the prophet wrote, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.”

“Yes, John is a prophet. He may not look like much, but truly I say to you, God says there’s no one greater among those born of women than John the Baptist. Cousin John really is the guy. God says so.”

But, dear friends here today, what about you? Said this pastor to all of you in the pews today, “You don’t look like much.” And said all of you back to me, “Neither do you.” Yes, we don’t look like much, do we? A bunch of poor, miserable sinners sitting with John in this prison of sin and death.

Perhaps you’ve been called a lot of things. But I doubt you’ve ever been called what the prophet Isaiah calls you—what God calls you in Isaiah chapter 40. I doubt you’ve ever been called—grass. Yes, that’s what God calls you, nothing more than a blade of withering grass. Boring, uninteresting, dull, easily cut down and easily trampled.

That’s us. Grass. So Isaiah says, “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.” That’s us. Withering. Dying. The breath of the Lord blows on us, the breath of His Law, His will, His commandments, and we wither under the heat of it. We don’t look like much. Like a blade of grass struggling to stand upright as the blustering winds of this world beat us down. Like a blade of grass browning and dying in the cold, dry winter of our sins.

You don’t look like much. But neither did Jesus, the suffering servant who was hated and ridiculed and arrested and sentenced and beaten and crucified and buried. And neither did John the Baptist, who was hated and arrested and imprisoned and beheaded. But God said Jesus is the One. And God said John was the messenger to prepare for that One. So let us learn this lesson well—what you look like to the world and in your own mirror doesn’t make you but only what God Almighty says concerning you.

The grass withers, the flower fades, BUT the word of our God will stand forever.  You don’t look much, withering blades of grass, but the Word of our God concerning you will stand forever. Said Jesus Christ your Savior to you, withering blade of grass, “Whoever believes in Me will not die but will have eternal life.” Said Jesus Christ to you sinners, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Said Jesus Christ to you, who don’t look like much but weak blades of grass, “This is my body and this is My blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Said Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, to you, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”  Said Jesus Christ to you, “I know my sheep and my sheep know Me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of My hand.”  Said Jesus Christ to you, “I will raise you up on the Last Day.”  Said Jesus Christ to you, “Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father in heaven.”

The Word of our God stands forever. Forever. The same God who says, “Surely all people are grass,” in Isaiah 40 says of His own people in Isaiah 61, “that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord.” You are an oak—an oak of righteousness planted in Jesus Christ.

Yes, it’s true we don’t look like much. But looks are deceiving. Said God to you, “You are mine.” Jesus looked like a sad, washed-out, common criminal dying on a cross. But He was God’s greatest gift to the world. John the Baptist looked like a wilderness weirdo who upset the wrong guy and lost his head. But He was God’s messenger to prepare the way. And of John the Baptist, Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

Yet His next words are the most comforting of all. You don’t look like much, right? Well, said Jesus about you, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist.”  You, least in the kingdom of God, are greater than John the Baptist. Why? Because God says so. Because God has said you look to Him as His own son or daughter. Because God has said that you are His oak of righteousness in Jesus Christ.

So stand tall, fellow blades of grass. You may not look like much, but God has marvelous things to say of you. You are baptized into Christ! You are given the body and blood of Christ for your forgiveness! You are sons and daughters of the King! And you are destined for the mansions of heaven!

Said your brother Jesus Christ to you, “Follow Me.”

In Jesus’ name. Amen.