Advent 2022: John the Baptist

Companies pay big money to get their product endorsed by a famous face. We see these ‘celebrity endorsements’ all the time in the media, especially in the run up to Christmas – from Gary Lineker eating Walkers Crisps, to George Clooney drinking Nescafe coffee, to Natalie Portman promoting Christian Dior perfume, the list goes on!

As the divinely appointed witness to the Messiah, it was John the Baptist’s task to offer a first-century celebrity endorsement of Jesus of Nazareth. John’s celebrity credentials are alluded to in Matthew chapter 11. He is identified as a true prophet, as a new Elijah, as the last in a long line of divine spokesmen stretching back centuries through the long history of Israel. Indeed, Jesus went so far as to say that ‘among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist’ (Matt 11:11). With his powerful preaching and his camel’s hair clothing, John was ‘a voice in the wilderness’ who drew a crowd. He was a famous face with a unique endorsement to offer.

Of course, what John came to promote was not a cosmetic product or a brand of crisps, but a person. His vocation was to herald the coming of the Lord in the person of Jesus Christ. Today’s reading explicitly identifies John’s ministry as the fulfilment of Malachi’s famous prophecy: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you’ (Matt 11:10, c.f. Mal 3:1). In each of the four Gospels we read of John’s remarkable testimony to the authority and power of Jesus, an authority and power far in excess of his own:

• ‘One who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ (Lk 3:16);
• ‘I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit’ (Mk 1:8); and
• ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (Jn 1:29)

Taken together, John’s words constitute an astonishing endorsement of Jesus of Nazareth, a powerful witness to his Messianic identity. But I wonder whether we truly believe John’s endorsement of Jesus? After all, its easy to doubt many of the extravagant claims made by celebrity salespersons on TV! Indeed, it would seem that John himself had doubts and second thoughts about the identity of the Messiah. Because after his imprisonment by Herod Antipas, John sent a message to Jesus, asking: ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ (Matt 11:3)

In response to John’s question, Jesus supplies compelling evidence for his Messianic identity. Evidence that should reassure us today, just as it did for John: ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.’ (Matt 11:4-6). These miraculous events demonstrated that Jesus really was the Messiah. They were compelling signs of the kingdom of God that Jesus had come to inaugurate. He truly possessed all the qualities claimed in John’s celebrity endorsement.

And so we need not ‘stumble’ over Jesus. We need not doubt his identity nor question his power to save. We can have complete confidence in the person and work of Christ. We can wholeheartedly commend Jesus to our communities, just as John did. May we all be faithful witnesses to Christ this Christmas season.

We can have complete confidence in the person and work of Christ.
May we all be faithful witnesses to Christ this Christmas season.

Published 11 December 2022