His reputation, not ours
Readings: John 1. 6-8, 19-28
There’s much rejoicing in our readings today. In our opening Canticle, Old Testament reading and the Psalm. A foretaste of the coming joy of Christmas as we rejoice in God with us, Emmanuel. There’s that excited expectation, like that of children on Christmas eve permeating these readings.
And the same is true of our Gospel reading, there’s that excited expectation there too, but perhaps we wouldn’t say that it’s particularly about rejoicing. This reading is partly extracted from the prologue of John’s Gospel, which we’ll hear properly at Christmas, and then continues as John begins his Gospel narrative proper. And what we see in this reading is that watchful expectation, the priests and Levites are sent out to Bethany to see John, they’ve heard that something big is happening, something is afoot. And so a delegation is sent to investigate, is this the beginning of the coming of the Messiah as they have long hoped? Is this the Messiah? If not is this the forerunner, the prophet, Elijah?
At this time it was widely expected that an Elijah type figure would appear before the Messiah did, that the Saviour would be preceeded by a prophet who would get people ready for his coming. Sound familiar?
But what’s interesting about John’s reply is that when he’s asked if that’s him he says no. He’s certainly not the Messiah, but he is the Elijah they’re expecting, he’s certainly dressed like him. He is the prophet, the forerunner who will appear before the Messiah. But John says no. And I think he does so because that then puts the emphasis on him. If he’s this great figure long prophesied even more people will be coming to see him, to hear him. And that’s not what John is about, he knows that his role is to go before the Messiah, to prepare the way, to prepare the ground, to prepare people’s hearts. And so he’s not interested in his own reputation, his own following, he simply wants to serve, to do the role that God has given him. If you read on a little from where our reading ends you’ll see John sending his disciples after Jesus, because he knows that is what is best, that’s what is meant to happen. As he says even later ‘he must increase, I must decrease’.
This idea of forgetting about your own reputation, influence, and following in order to serve another runs counter to where we are at currently as a society doesn’t it. Everything is set up so that you can build up your reputation, your following, your brand. Whether you’re trying to make it big on TikTok, trying to build the next big podcast with a few mates, trying to get views on Twitch or YouTube. Everything is set up so that the younger generations are encouraged to try to build a brand, build their reputation and following.
Now perhaps you can identify some of that with your own kids or grandchildren, but the phenomenon isn’t new, it’s just bigger and more accessible now. I wonder how much you think about your legacy, what you’ll leave behind when you’re gone. I wonder if there’s part of you that would like to be well known. But on a smaller scale I wonder how much you think about what others think of you in those more every day things, what will people think if I do or say this, if I wear this or go to that. We may not worry about our following in those big ways, wanting to be famous or go viral, but perhaps we do want those near us to think well of us, even look up to us.
But John the Baptist challenges us in that. He’s less concerned with his reputation, what others think of him, whether they’re his friends or disciples, or the crowds coming to see him on the edge of the Jordan. He’s more concerned with being faithful, of doing what God has given him to do, no matter the cost. He’s constantly pointing away from himself, pointing to Jesus saying ‘this is the one you have been waiting for’, ‘here is the one who is the Saviour of the world’.
The church is much the same, it doesn’t exist for itself, we exist to point people to Jesus, to point one another to Jesus, to point the wider world to Jesus, but it’s amazing how quickly church come become about personalities and little empires.
The big name speakers or leaders who everyone wants to have at their event. The big ministries that have global reach and impact that everyone wants to be associated with. And what’s so troubling is that looking on such things can appear to be all about Jesus, pointing people to Jesus. But so easily the focus can slip, it can subtly shift onto the leaders, the movement itself. And when it does we find that, as has happened in a number of high profile cases these past few years, issues and abuses and problems are hushed up, hidden away. Hidden away to protect the Gospel mission so it seems, but the reality is to protect their own brand and reputation.
But it happens on the smaller scale too doesn’t it. Perhaps we can’t let go of a certain role we’ve been doing for decades, because it’s a point of personal pride that we have it, that we do it. Even when we can’t do it as well anymore, we need to do it, because it’s our thing. Thing’s cant change because its how we like them, how we want them to be, and we have enough influence to ensure that things go our way.
It’s easy to spot in wider life when things have become more about us than about the thing. But in the church it can be more subtle, more insidious because we can act like it’s all about Jesus, and it may appear to be, but under the surface it’s all about us. About our reputation, about the reputation of this place, about our little empires.
One way to tell if that’s the case is to ask ourselves, if the thing stopping people coming to Jesus, to seeing him more clearly, to coming to faith in him, if the thing that is stopping that is me, my control over this thing, more role in that thing, would we let it go? Would we step out of the way so that the Gospel could spread and the Kingdom grow?
If we’d see revival in this community but for it to happen we had to close this place, lock the door and throw away the key. Would we do it? Would we do that so that people would come to know Jesus? If the answer is a protest of ‘but we exist to share the Gospel so that wouldn’t need to happen’, perhaps it’s less about Jesus and more about us.
We as individuals, we as a church exist to point away from ourselves, to point to Jesus and say ‘isn’t he wonderful’, ‘isn’t he amazing’. And once we truly start to do that, we can allow ourselves to mess up and acknowledge when we have. We can allow our reputation to be torn to shreds if it means we’re faithfully serving Jesus. We are freed to be the people God made us to be, working with others experiencing that same freedom, bringing Jesus to this community.
The thing about John the Baptist isn’t that he doesn’t think he’s important, downplays his significance. He may refuse the mantle of Elijah or the prophet but he does claim the role of the one crying out in the wilderness, which is the same role. It’s that in doing so he points less to himself ‘yes I’m the one you’re waiting for’ and more to the one whose way he is preparing.
I’m not calling on us to downplay our gifts and talents, I’m not calling on us to downplay the role that this place has to play in sharing the Gospel with those around us. God in his great generosity invites us to partner with him in his work to save a people for himself. It’s not that we’re unimportant, God loves you, rejoices over you, has saved you for himself, for a Kingdom he has been preparing for us since before the foundation of the world. But he hasn’t done it so that we can laud it over others, so that we can build our little empires. He has done so out of love for us, love for this world.
Advent is a season for letting go of the things that don’t last and focusing on the things that do. My role as Vicar of this place doesn’t last into eternity. There is no building in heaven marked St David’s Church Hubberston. But the people God’s saving for himself do.
In seeking to follow him let us learn from John the Baptist, to point less to ourselves and more to Jesus. Not thinking less of ourselves, but of ourselves less, and Jesus more.
Amen.