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The
Second Sunday after The Epiphany.
The
Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things
in heaven and earth; Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant
us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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HE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in
the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John
did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and
It is unlikely anyone hearing this
sermon can remember the day they were born. With what words could you have
remembered, since you had no words in your mind at the moment of your birth?
But we all remember the day Christ was born in Bethlehem – and that was even
before our own birth. How is that we know? Because God has provided His Word
for us to know and to understand. But even having God’s Word, and knowing it
intellectually, does not mean that we truly KNOW His
Word and, furthermore, know Him! If you believe that you came into being the
day of your birth, you would be wrong. You were conceived some months earlier;
and if you believe that you came into being at the moment of conception, you
would be wrong again because God knew you and conceived of you in His
omniscient Mind in the great eternities past. According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
(Eph 1:4-5) So what does Saint Mark the apostle mean in his opening remarks
in verse 1 of our text: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God?
First
of all, Mark does not mean this account to be the Gospel of Saint Mark (though
for simplicity, we call it that). He means the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ insofar as we can know it. It is the revelation of beautiful truths that
have existed forever, but revealed to us in the time of God’s own choosing. It
does not mean, for example, the beginning of Jesus Christ, for He has eternally
existed with the Father, and the Holy Ghost. “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God!” (John 1:1)
In fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham and His spiritual Seed, Christ
came in the fullness of time to fulfill all things spoken of Him by the
prophets.
When traveling to a new land, every great sovereign is preceded by emissaries
who prepare the way for his visit, make all arrangements for his reception by
the host people, and send out news (such as the Gospel news) of his coming. The
emissary sent should reflect, though imperfectly, the nature of the Sovereign
who comes. If the Sovereign takes particular interest in the poor and downcast,
so should the emissary in selecting his schedule of events, insure that the Way
is made ready so that those, especially, will have opportunity to be introduced
to Him. The old prophets spoke profusely of this coming Sovereign, but they
also spoke uncommonly often of His emissary. The voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the
desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3) and, Behold, I will
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant,
whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. (Mal 3:1)
Truth is unquenchable and it resounds, not only across great distances, but
also across the ages of time. So, it is meet and right that Mark should echo
and remind us of the great prophecies of one called John the Baptist: The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight.
I have always been struck by this clear and precise description of John the
Baptist. He is one who cries, not among the false lights of the city, but
in the Wilderness. If men will come to hear a “voice crying in the wilderness”
then they must have a serious reason to leave the comfort of Jerusalem and
come. They either are drawn by the promptings of the Holy Spirit (for those
hearts whose soils are rich to bear fruit), or by the spirit of anti-Christ who
sends out his spies to learn of ways to stem the rising hopes of the people in
a Redeemer. We have the same among us today in both kinds – and they are IN the
Church more than OUTSIDE it. The dress of John the
Baptist would have met with serious disdain from the First churches of
today. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a
leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
(Matt 3:4) There certainly was nothing special about John’s appearance, but
there certainly was something of an overriding importance in his message! He
was a burden on none that he taught, unlike many modern seekers of filthy
lucre. No one brought him steak and wine – he ate locusts and honey. He wore
neither Armani, nor Gucci, suits but, rather, a robe of camel’s hair and a
leather girdle about his loins. The Pharisees and Jewish rulers must have been
in a pickle to understand John. He appeared so very low and common, but what of
these wondrous words that he spoke which so completely enthralled the crowds
who flocked to hear him in the Wilderness? They simply could not lower their
dignity from the dunghill of religious sophistry to the pinnacle of simple
righteousness and truth found in John’s preaching.
John did not simply speak in even tones when he preached – he roared the
message of the coming Savior as one “crying in the Wilderness.”
The message was to ALL who believed – not the ones who failed of faith and good
will. The dark chambers of the heart were opened in the bosoms of many men and
women to a new Voice – a new Truth (to them) of hope and wonder. Yet, it was
not in the polished halls of the Temple at Jerusalem that they first learned of
this hope – it was in the lonely Wilderness. Have you ever considered how much
more clearly one can hear the Voice of God in a quiet place as opposed to the
hustle and bustle of the city? The point of John’s preaching in the Wilderness
that most touches my heart is the fact that all who ever preached the Gospel
before, or after, were as a Voice crying in the Wilderness. Perchance, one is
easily enticed to go to the city square to hear a speaker; but they will not
travel into the Wilderness to hear the words of a man dressed in camel’s hair
and a leather girdle unless there is something mighty special about his
message. Did I say HIS message? I should have said “the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.” THAT message is worth travelling into the Wilderness to hear. If you
are a minister of God, or a devoted witness, you, too, will be as a Voice
crying in the Wilderness, calling men and women to the HIGHWAY –
not the BROAD and DESCENDING Way
– of the Lord. Enter
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it. (Matt 7:13-14)
If a man preaches the whole counsel of God, even with great love, the city
crowds will not flock to his audience. Therefore, I hope that the ministers of
God will cultivate the ground, and plant the seed, without expecting great
success in the eyes of the world. The world has never known the meaning of
truth and joy in Christ. If the numbers of Wilderness travelers remains few, be
happy for the FEW! We sow the seeds of the Gospel – their
germination and sprouting to the sun is the responsibility of the Holy Ghost.
He works in the darkness of the soil, unseen by human eye, in creating the new
life in the heart of the convert.
I love John the Baptist as my true brother! He surely is! What does one see in
John that would discourage love? He speaks the truth, as any real friend would
do, even when it hurts the water of our face. He is dedicated and earnest.
Finally, he is HUMBLE! We are often lifted up with
pride at our tiny successes, or even a presumed superior knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures. Why should we be if the Word we have learned is not ours, but
God’s? 7 And preached, saying, There cometh one
mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloose. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost. It was, in the time of John, the
responsibility of the lowest servant in a household to unloose the shoe
latchets of guests, and to wash their feet. But John, by contrast with Christ,
was not even worthy to SERVE Him – and, friend, neither are you and I. If
He calls us to the duty, He will MAKE us worthy through His own imputed
righteousness.
It is the duty
of every believer to be publicly baptized. That is the means by which, like
circumcision, we come into the covenant relationship with Christ and His
Church. Faith, too, must be the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart.
When, by the grace of God, faith is confirmed in the “broken and contrite
heart” the Holy Ghost has baptized that heart in the heavenlies.
8 I
indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost. It
is not the outward form of baptism that is efficacious to us before God, but
the inward and spiritual grace attaining thereto – else it is only a work of
man’s hands. It is much like the calling to the ministry and its recognition by
the Church in the following ordination. If the head is ordained to preach, and
the heart is not, there is no authority granted to preach. There is
one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all,
who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Eph 4:4-6) Must we be baptized twice? Certainly
not! There is one baptism for the remission of sins. The Holy Ghost atte4nd the
believing heart in baptism just as we see that it presents Itself at the
baptism of our Lord.
9 And it came to pass in those days,
that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. “And it came to pass…..” I love the casual
manner in which God speaks of momentous events! Sure it came to pass,
but it didn’t simply come to pass as a matter of happenstance – it was
foreordained from all time and eternity! When all of the stars of Heaven were
drawn in perfect alignment; when all the words of the prophets had been met
with fulfillment of time and purpose; when Christ had been incarnated and made
a man after our physical likeness; when the approval of God the Father
thundered down the halls of time – Christ was baptized by John in the unseemly
little waters of Jordan. How seemingly inappropriate in the eyes of man, but
altogether appropriate in the eyes of God! There was a time fixed for you
coming to Christ. Do you feel that coming was accidental, or ON PURPOSE!
I
hope you will notice the presence of the Divine Trinity at the baptism of
Christ….Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens
opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 11 And there came a voice from heaven,
saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit descended at the moment of baptism
– not a long delay of months or years afterward; and the Voice of a joyful
Father thundered out of Heaven! Did you feel the love and comfort of God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost at your baptism, or in your
confirmation? Though you may not have felt it in the first, it was nonetheless,
present; and certainly the Trinity was present at your confirming faith in your
baptism. I say
unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)
