I. The Prophet first points the sinner to his sins.
II. The prophet then points the sinner to his Savior.
Matthew 11:2-10
11 December Anno Domini 2011
I’m afraid, St. John the Baptizer would not have fared well as a pastor in our politically correct day and age. For one thing, he had very poor people skills. Rather than try to get those who came out to hear him to warm up to him and eventually to trust him, so that they would listen to what he had to say, he was insensitive. He would rebuke them harshly. At times he even called them bad names. And in no sense of the term whatsoever did the Baptizer have an open mind. He answered to only one authority, not the Synod, nor the Voting Assembly, not even to the arena of public opinion, but to God’s Word alone, and that made him inflexible. With John there was never a middle ground. It was always his way or the highway.
But now, here’s the irony. Our Lord refers to this politically incorrect, insensitive and inflexible preacher as the greatest of all the prophets, for he was the voice that cried, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,” the bony finger that pointed across the Jordan River to “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
It’s not that the other prophets didn’t also point to Christ. Of course, they did, but they pointed to him across the centuries rather than just across the Jordan. They said, “One is coming to be the Sacrifice,” while John declared, “The Sacrifice has come to remove all sin and by this to redeem a people for God, a holy nation that will live under him in his kingdom forever.”
But before John could point sinners to Christ like this, he had to first point them to their sins. For who will paint the Blood of this Lamb on the doorpost of his house and feast on his flesh except the one who is aware that he is in bondage? Who will turn to Christ for salvation, except he who has been brought to the realization that God has condemned him to hell for his sins?
So John did rebuke those that came out to hear him. He called the Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood of vipers”, the tax collectors “thieves”, and the soldiers “extortionists”. John did not spare the people’s feelings at all, and if that made him insensitive, so be it. He couldn’t have cared less that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar. His ministry was not about piling up impressive numbers anyway, but about making ready a people prepared for the Lord. And John knew the nature of sinners that they will not repent, not turn to their Savior for forgiveness, unless they feel the flames of hell licking at their feet.
And yes, that offends the sinful flesh. It always does. After all, it creates guilt. It also terrifies with the threat of eternal damnation. And let’s not forget it hurts feelings too. Look, at least we’re trying, and while we may not be perfect, we’re certainly better than most people in this world. That’s got to count for something, right? Wrong! “The ax is already at the root of the tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire,” John says. God does not reward a good effort. God rewards only absolute perfection, while he punishes every act of unrighteousness.
But we have all “sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Even our deeds that are righteous in the eyes of men are filthy rags to God. Thus, to use the picture Isaiah did- that of the Arabian Desert, we will never reach this holy God in heaven, until the valleys are filled in, the mountains leveled, and the rough roads smoothed out - that is to say, until the barrier of sin that separates us from our God is removed. But that task is as impossible for us as would be leveling out the entire Arabian Desert with nothing more than a shovel in hand.
So if we can’t do it, then who can? That’s the question which always arises when the Law is preached in all of its severity. Who can save us from the wrath of God and bring under his grace and blessings instead?
It’s with that very question in mind that John sent two of his disciples to Jesus with yet another question, “Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Don’t think the Baptizer was questioning his faith here. He who testified to Jesus by leaping in his mother’s womb, who saw the Holy Spirit descend upon him like a dove at his Baptism and heard the voice from heaven declare him to be God’s Son, and he who at the Jordan confessed him to be the Lamb of God knew exactly who Jesus was.
Now, so that his disciples would as well, he sent two of them to him with the question that he did. And behold Jesus’ answer. He is the one who gives sight to the blind, strength to the lame, hearing to the deaf, health to the leper, and life to the dead.
Simply put, his miracles testify that he is indeed the Son of God, who had come into the world to save his people from their sins, for these miracles were not done only to relieve the suffering of a privileged few in Palestine. Oh, no, they are the very miracles our Lord performs for us and for our salvation. That’s a fact. In Jesus we see the Light and hear the Truth; in Jesus we walk in the ways of the Lord; in Jesus we are cleansed of the leprosy of sin, and in Jesus we who were by nature dead in trespasses and sins have been raised to everlasting life.
This is the Gospel that brought great comfort to God’s OT people in captivity, five centuries later to John while he sat in prison, as well as to his disciples in the days following his senseless death. And because a minister cared enough to “offend” us by the preaching of the Law, to show us that we are so poor we have nothing to offer him but our sins, the preaching of this Gospel also brings great comfort to us two millennia later, as we wait for our Lord’s Return.
Though we are sinful and unclean, though we deserve to be cut down and thrown into the fires of hell for our sins, we don’t have to fear the Day when the Glory of the Lord is fully revealed in the clouds above us, for listen again what the Prophet says. Our warfare is over and our iniquity has been pardoned. Therefore, he will give us double for our sins. The blessings our Lord will bestow upon us in heaven will be twice as great as the horrible curse that should have been ours to suffer in hell.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
