In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Church does not remember her saints to teach a moral
lesson. The lives of the saints, especially those found in Holy Scripture, are
not fables. Aesop’s fables are taught to children for the purpose of teaching a
moral lesson – what you should do and what you shouldn’t do. The Tortoise
and the Hare teaches children not to rush but work slow and steady. The
life and death of St. John the Baptist are not given to teach you what to do
and what not to do.
The church remembers her saints for three purposes. This
ought to sound familiar as I have mentioned these three purposes at the feast
of many saints over the last two years. We remember the saints first as an
example of God’s mercy shown both in the works God performed on behalf of the
saints and in His giving such magnificent teachers to the Church; second, for
the strengthening of our own faith as we see how God forgave the sins of these
saints and know with certainty that He has forgiven us, too; and third, to imitate
first their faith and then their virtues.[1]
We gather tonight first to give thanks to God that He has
given such a magnificent teacher as St. John the Baptist to the Church. John
was the forerunner of the Christ. He preached repentance in the wilderness that
the heart man would be prepared to receive the Blood of Jesus. The Law must
precede the Gospel. The Law must uncover our sins before we can see the need
for a Savior.
It is true, this Law can take the form of physical
suffering. It can take the form of emotional suffering. It can take the form of
disease, loss, pain, betrayal, or any other type of non-verbal suffering. But
anything communicated non-verbally will always be less specific than something
communicated in words. Man was created to communicate through words because we
are created in the Image of God. What is that Image of God? In the first place
it is original righteousness, but it is also the very literal form which God
takes to relate to man. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the
Word of God and it is this Word which took on flesh. We are created in His
Image and thus were created to communicate in words.
As forerunner, St. John necessarily came preaching and
necessarily came preaching the Law. Herod, the son of the Herod who murdered
the babies at Jesus’ birth, clearly shows the result of one whose heart is
struck by the Law of God but who only hardens against God’s Word rather than
begging for forgiveness.
Herod enjoyed the preaching of St. John. He enjoyed it so
much that he would not let his adulterous lover murder the prophet. But Herod
did not enjoy the preaching so much that he would stake his reputation on
reneging a vow made to his stepdaughter. With a measure of regret, Herod gave
the order to have St. John executed.
Sometime later, when he heard about the miracles and
teachings of Jesus, Herod was terrified in his heart. He believed John had
returned from the grave and was going to come for him.
There are bold unbelievers in the world. They are entirely
content to deride the True God. These are a law unto themselves. They have no
moment’s hesitation regarding their salvation. Then there are those who have
heard the Word of God and even though they profess against it, or against some
doctrine therein, they cannot escape the pangs of their conscience.
It is here that many Christians find themselves. Sincere
Christians do not profess against the Scriptures or God’s doctrines. But we
often find ourselves with pangs of conscience. We know what the Word of God
says but we don’t like it. Or we know what the Word of God says, and we agree,
but are afraid of what might happen if we speak it out loud.
It is a dangerous time for children to be in schools and for
adults to be employed. Parents must be prepared to scrutinize everything your
children are learning. We cannot take anything for granted. Homosexuality is
assumed in almost every subject down to the youngest grades. Transgenderism, equality
of outcome, and resistance to binary truths are being taught even by well-meaning
teachers. As for adults, one overheard comment can cost you your job, health
insurance, and retirement. Woe to you if said comment is in print via social
media. You are looking at years of ramifications.
And yet none of this should stop us from proclaiming the
truth. St. John knew that telling Herod he was committing incestuous adultery
by marrying his sister-in-law would eventually lead to his death. But he did it
anyway. Why? Because he loves the Word of God, and he cared enough about Herod
to say something.
A sin of omission is failing to do the right thing. It is
very easy to convince yourself that by not saying something, you are protecting
yourself or your family. But at what cost? By staying silent in the face of your
employer, your child’s teacher, the school board, or even your sister, are you
condemning him? Are you sinning against yourself as well as that person? The
answer is yes.
And then there is the direction of our fiction, news, and
all forms of media. Things unimaginable 30 years ago are commonplace on
primetime TV. It is so very easy to claim to shut your eyes or mute the TV for
a few moments, but you will eventually get too lazy to catch it every time. Then
you will figure it isn’t so bad, so long as you remember that it isn’t good.
But eventually, you will become hardened to the sexual images, the images of
violence, the crude joking, and substance abuse.
So repent. Repent of not loving others the way you have been
loved by God. Repent of thinking you are stronger than everyone else so as not
to be tempted by sex, drugs, and violent images. God loved the world so that He
gave His only Son, the lost to save. But God also sent the forerunner. He sent
John, preaching the Law to prepare the way for the Gospel.
St. John was clearly blessed with extreme humility and
fortitude. These are virtues, beneficial characteristics of Godly men, we are
called to imitate. John clearly confessed God’s Word, both Law and Gospel, to
Herod just as he confessed to the multitudes gathered at the Jordan. He saw no
difference between the beggar and the Tetrarch. Both needed to be called to
repentance and both needed to receive the blood of Jesus.
Yet our imitation of these virtues is not the most important
thing to gain this evening. St. John died in imitation of His Lord. He did not
raise an army to fight back against Herod but humbly submitted to unjust
imprisonment. From the stony garden of his cell, John prayed to his Lord, “Are
you the coming One, or do we look for another?” It is true, when Jesus prayed
in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was not experiencing a crisis of faith. St.
John did experience such a dark night of the soul. Yet when faced with imminent
death, both trusted that the Father in Heaven would guide them into eternal
life.
Good Friday must come before Easter morning. St. John, the
forerunner of Christ, prepared the hearts of man to receive their Lord but he
also prepared the grave to receive God. He was a forerunner in life just as he
was a forerunner in death. We, too, must imitate Christ by imitating St. John
in this way. Unless Christ returns in glory to gather His saints to His bosom,
we shall all experience death. Our friends and children will collect our bodies
to prepare them for burial. This is the way of all flesh.
We give thanks to Almighty God that He has shown us His
mercy in upholding the faith of St. John, who endured a terrible death, but who
is now singing with the angels and archangels in heaven. If John could be
imprisoned, beaten, and executed because of his preaching, yet retain his faith
by the strength of the Holy Spirit, so too can you be assured that the Holy
Spirit will uphold you through suffering and even death.
And if John had a moment of doubt before his death, yet is
counted among the glorious saints in heaven, then you too can be assured that
while doubt is a result of your sinful flesh, it also cannot be present without
faith. You cannot doubt something you do not believe in. Doubt will come when
you endure suffering of any kind.
St. John handled his doubt with much more grace than many of
us are capable of. First, pray a psalm, like Psalm 13 which begins, “How long,
O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”[2]
But remember the mercy of God, just as David does at the end of Psalm 13, “But
I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will
sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.”[3]
While this seems like a stark change, it is the experience
of Christian doubt. Christians do not doubt if God exists; we doubt if He is on
our side. We doubt whether He cares about what we are going through.
Our Father absolutely cares. He cares for you such that He
sacrificed His Only-Begotten Son that you might have eternal life with Him. The
deliverance of St. John from the torment of Herod was his deliverance from this
side of glory. Your deliverance might be more temporal or it might wait until
you too are delivered unto heaven. Either way, the Word of God, which was
placed upon your head in Holy Baptism, delivered into your mouth in the Holy
Supper, and proclaimed into your ears this night, though it is undeserved, is
true for you. God has never forsaken the soul that trusted in Him. Just as
Christ died for John, He died for you.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
