St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 3rd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28.
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
19This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” 21And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23He said,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ”
as the prophet Isaiah said.
24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” 28This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
. . .
Who are we?
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Who are you? If I were to answer this question right now, I would begin by saying that a sermon should never be about the preacher. It is God who should speak at this moment, and the Word of God for us is Jesus, our Messiah. Therefore, the sermon should be about him and what he did, and still does, for us.
Yet who we are is a question that we face multiple times as we go about in the world. So much so that we prepared since we were little to answer that question. First, we learn to say our names and then to write them down. After that we learn our addresses, phone numbers, and the names of our family members and where they come from. Then, we grow up, start to fill out forms, do job interviews, and state our goals. We may want to be in relationship with others, to find friends and to have a partner, so we begin to socialize and maybe date someone. We tell about ourselves, and we listen as others tell about themselves. It is unavoidable. The world wants to know who we are.
So, for the sake of this exercise, I will break this quintessential rule about homiletics for a bit, and I will answer the question.
Who Am I? I am Mauricio, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Christmas day. My father has passed. My mother is still among us. I was not particularly close to any of my grandparents, but I used to hang around at my maternal grandmother’s house a lot when I was little. I was married out of college, went to graduate school, and then came to the United States to work as a life sciences/biomedical researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I consider myself an honorary Illinoisan since I have never lived anywhere else in the U.S. I became a permanent resident and then a citizen a few years back. In the meantime, I fathered two children, both in college. I love to cook when I can. I enjoy walking among trees. I am a soccer fan, obviously, and a motorsports fan, mostly Formula One, and I grew to become a die-hard Bears fan thanks to my friend David Boltz. I was baptized and raised Roman Catholic and became Lutheran down at St. Matthew in Urbana, IL.
There I received the sacraments and heard the word, until it transformed me enough to have this idea about going to seminary. I am an imperfect vessel, a fragile and ever-cracked jar of clay, restored way too many times by a potter that I cannot see or fully understand. Nonetheless, this divine artisan has chosen me to be one of many to receive and store this most precious gift called faith in Jesus Christ. He brought me the font. Claimed with the mark of the cross of his son and sealed in me his Holy Spirit. He created and recreated me over and over to his glory. I am a sinner, made a saint only by the grace he keeps pouring upon me. He is my Lord, the light of the World, and I know I am supposed to testify to him. I pray he can one day make clear to me how I should go about doing that.
Who are you, beloved children of God, besides being a beloved child and an heir to the Kingdom of Heaven? You may have it all figured out, but if you don’t, maybe the baptizer could help a bit here.
Who are you, they asked? Not anyone they would consider important, definitely not the Messiah, nor the second coming of Elijah, nor the prophet – whoever the prophet was. Who are you then? What do you say about yourself? “I am the voice of one crying out of the wilderness,” John answered. He is one of God’s elect, chosen to bear witness and to reveal the love of Jesus to those who do not know or cannot see, and so are we.
Our election by God to be disciples of Jesus has many timelines and outcomes that are unique to each of us. Nonetheless, there are a few things that may be common to all of us: to bring warmth, comfort, restoration, and hope to others and to the world that needs us. A world that needs crying voices preparing the way to Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 