John the Baptist's Final Witness

Advent 3, Year B, 2002
John 3:23-30 – John The Baptist’s Final Witness
(Psalm 126, Isaiah 65:17-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28)

Sermon Preached by Matthew Mead
Saint James Church, Fair Haven, Connecticut
December 15, 2002

“The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” – John 3:29

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. Please be seated

“Joy to the World, the Lord has Come!” You can hear it in elevators around town, soft and smooth Muzack in stores everywhere, on TV during the commercial telling you that Macy’s is having another one-day sale. “Joy to the world all our cashmere sweaters are on sale today!” My goodness, that’s good news. Think of the savings! It’s that time of year where we are confidently told: “Jesus saves! And you can too! Come on down to Bob’s Sporting Goods and save, save, save!” Christmas is not yet here but we all know that it’s right around the corner. We can see it and hear it everywhere we go, and we are reminded that Christmas is here. Except Christmas isn’t here yet. We’re still in Advent; in fact we’re only on the third Sunday of Advent. There is still one more Sunday left after this one.

The season of Advent has historically been regarded as a penitential season. Purple is the liturgical color for the penitential seasons of the church year. During Advent the church is decorated with purple and a purple candle is lit each week in the Advent wreath. However, the Third Sunday of Advent has traditionally been seen as a break in the penitential season. On this Sunday the liturgical color is rose or pink and therefore we light a pink candle instead of a purple one in the wreath. Traditionally the rose or pink color is used to symbolize joyfulness during that break in Advent. In fact, the traditional name for this third Sunday in Advent is “Gaudete Sunday” which means, “Joy Sunday”.

Today’s Gospel also has a lot to say about joy. Let’s take a moment to open up our pew bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, and take a look. I want you to think about this question as we go through the text: What is the response we should have to the coming of Jesus?

Listen to what John says when he is asked about Jesus. In verse 28 he says: You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.

John is saying several things. First, he is clearly telling those around him that he is not the Christ. He is not the Messiah that people are looking for. Well, if John is not the Christ, then who is he? He explains to them that he is sent ahead of the Christ and has been waiting for him. John compares his wait to that of the best man at a wedding while he waits for his friend the bridegroom. When that best man finally hears his friend’s voice he is overjoyed. He is overjoyed because the Messiah that he has been waiting for has come! With the coming of the Messiah John’s work is now finished. Like the best man at a wedding, John’s job now is to fade into the background because the groom has arrived.

But why is John so joyful? What does Jesus’ arrival mean for him? In fact what does it mean for us? What is the response we should have to the coming of Jesus? Joy! Not like the “joy” that’s made out of big bubble letters that you can put up on your house. Not like the “joy” that comes attached to the standard “Seasons Greetings” card. Not even like the joy of this month’s one-day sale at Macy’s. This isn’t some commercialized form of joy that you can buy in the seasonal section at the grocery store. This isn’t the type of joy that is packaged and repackaged over and over again each winter. This is a joy of a whole different type. This is the joy that John feels because we have been given eternal life!

With Jesus comes eternal life. Eternal life is the theme of the entire third chapter of the Gospel of John. Today’s Gospel reading is in the middle of that chapter and it is describing the reaction that John the Baptist has towards the coming of Jesus and eternal life. To understand the joy that John has, we have to take into account the context that today’s reading is in.

If we look in our bibles a little bit above where today’s Gospel was, at verse 16, we’ll see what kind of joy we’re talking about. It says: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God sent his only Son to save the world! All who believe in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life!

Eternal life, that’s heaven right? Well, yes it is but it’s also much more than that. Jesus himself tells us what eternal life is. In chapter 17 when he is praying to God the Father he says: Now this is eternal life: that they [meaning all of us] may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” [John 17:3].

That is eternal life, to know God. Through Jesus Christ we know God and we can be sure that we will be with God forever and He will be by our side, in this life and the next. I can’t think of anything better than that. This isn’t just good news, this is excellent news! This is the best news! This is a reason to be joyful.

This is why John is full of joy. Joy like nobody has ever had because John now knows God and he knows that God is by his side. John can only compare this joy to the feeling of joy and happiness that you get when you have been waiting for your best friend all day on his or her most important and biggest day. And when you finally hear his or her voice, you know that its all going to be awesome and you’re just blown away because you’re so happy. As wonderful as that feeling is… this is better! Eternal life with God by your side! How can it get any better than that!

It’s been nearly two thousand years since John had that joy. Two thousand years since Jesus came into the world. It’s been a long time, did this joy, like John, become lesser and lesser and finally fade out of the picture? Or is there still reason to have joy? Yes there is! I’m here today to tell you that. Yes, the joy that we have today is the same as it was all the way back when John first had it. Jesus came into this world to die for us so that all who believe in him will get eternal life. Eternal life! Think about that for a second. Think about all the good things and the bad things that we go through in our lives, all of the joy and sorrow that we feel, all of that is pain and suffering. No matter how good or how bad things are, know this: Jesus has come and because of that we have eternal life with God, not just when we leave this world for the next, but also now. This is a truly amazing thing. Jesus has given us eternal life now and forever!

I am not perfect; I am just trying to get by like everyone else. But I can tell you this. I have joy because I know that the Lord has come. Because of that, I know that I am saved. Even when I’m down and out and things aren’t going my way, I always know that God is by my side. When I think of that, like the psalmist who wrote of joy in today’s psalm, my mouth is filled with laughter and my tongue with songs of joy.

So as we get closer and closer to Christmas, remember: Jesus saves. Through Jesus we know God. As we get closer to Christmas think of the joy that John felt when he found out that the Messiah had come. When he found at that he had been saved. Think of that joy and know that we have all been given the same gift that John got. All we have to do is believe in Jesus and we will know God. To know God is to be saved because God will forever be by our side. Once we believe that Jesus has saved us we can experience that wonderful joy that John felt. As we come closer to Christmas, let us all sing out in our hearts: joy to the world, because the Lord has come!

Let us bow our heads in prayer. Almighty God, we give you thanks for sending your one and only Son Jesus Christ. Our mouths are filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy because you have sent your Son to us, to live and die upon the cross for our salvation. We ask today that you strengthen our faith in your Son Jesus so that we may more fully experience that joy that your servant John experienced at your coming to earth. Lord, we thank you, for you have done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.