Sermon 12/14/08 (John 1:6-8, 19-28)

Third Sunday of Advent
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Sunday, 14 December, 2008
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
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 Who can tell me what a witness does? ... A witness gives a detailed description of something that they have seen, or of something that they know. These days, the word “witness” probably first conjures up the image of a courtroom and a person being interviewed by lawyers. Indeed, when I did an Internet search for the word “witness” most of the results had to do with courtroom drama.

But, of course, there are other types of witnesses. If I asked you what a “witness” is in a religious context, you might immediately think of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” The Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group named themselves after a line from the Book of Isaiah: “You are my witnesses, is the utterance of Jehovah...” And now we’re more on track with this morning’s use of the word. A witness can be someone who believes something so deeply that they simply have to share it with the world. In the words of this morning’s Gospel: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light.”

John had the singular opportunity of knowing the Light of the World before it even came into the world. He knew the Truth in his heart so deeply that he simply had to tell everyone around him. Indeed, God had sent him to do just that. We who sit here today are in a somewhat different position. Jesus already came into the world once. We have a book filled with stories about his birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection. It would seem that we have nothing in common with John the Baptist, who showed up before Jesus was born. We cannot “witness to the light” in the same way that John did. But in fact we have quite a bit in common with John the Baptist. Like him, we have been called to testify to the Light that is Jesus the Christ.

What does it mean to “witness to the light” in our context? It means that we are called to share what we know about Jesus Christ with those around us. During the season of Advent, we talk about Christ coming back into the world, and this is a good time for witness. During Advent we might have more people in church than we usually do, and we can share with them what we know about Jesus. This does not necessarily mean telling people the specifics -- that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that he was a rabbi from a young age, that he traveled around to this city and that, and where exactly he died on the cross and reappeared to those who loved him. “Witnessing to the Light” has more to do with sharing the kind of love that Jesus preached -- love for the poor, the oppressed, the enemy.

It’s fairly easy to do this when we’re in church. We can show visitors the love of Christ through the way we worship, the hymns we sing, the way we treat one another and the visitors themselves. But we are not just called to witness inside the walls of a church sanctuary on Sunday mornings. John the Baptist witnessed to the light wherever he went, and we are called to do the same thing.

This does not mean that we have to go around telling people, “You should believe in Jesus or else”! This is not helpful, especially in our culture, and I do not believe it is an expression of the real Truth of the Gospel. But we can witness to the truth of the gospel by living that truth -- by loving our neighbors as ourselves, thereby setting an example of the kind of love Jesus preached. This is when witnessing gets more difficult. Witnessing to the light means truly loving the most troublesome people among us. In the words of what is actually a great rap song by Kanye West, Jesus walks “with the hustlers, killers, murderers, drug dealers, even the strippers.” If we are going to witness to the true light that is Jesus Christ, then we need to reach out in love to those kinds of people. This means realizing that the most despised people in our society are creatures of God...children of God. As you know, I have a pen-friend who is in prison. It is easy to reach out to him, because he comes across as very pleasant and is very strong in his own faith -- we talk about God a lot. But truly witnessing to the light of Christ means knowing that even the worst criminal who will never come across as pleasant or faithful is, in fact, loved by God. It also means realizing that, while God may judge us for our actions in this world (while still truly loving us), we humans are not supposed to get involved in the judging part, just the loving.

In an economy like this one, it seems like poverty carries less of a stigma -- which is a good thing -- and reaching out to people in need has become “the thing to do.” But in order to truly be witness to the light we need to help those in need not because it’s popular and not even because we know we could be in the same place. We need to do it because we know something so wonderful about Jesus, and that he has called us to do so.

Advent is a good time to do some of this witnessing. Opportunities are all around us -- giving Christmas baskets, for example, or getting a gift for a man at Earl’s Place. But Advent is also a good time to prepare for the witnessing that we have been called to do the rest of the year. Witnessing to the truth of the Gospel -- witnessing to the love of Christ -- is not a once-a-year job. It is something that God calls us to do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with every breath we take. It’s tough stuff. Loving the greatest enemies among us -- yes, even terrorists -- takes a lot of work and a lot of prayer. Even as we carry out acts of witness during this Advent season, this contemplative time in the life of the church is a good opportunity to gird ourselves for the hard work we will do the rest of the year. Take extra time to pray for those less fortunate, and include among them those human beings who are in prison. This is a very difficult time to be behind bars, even if you’re the worst person on earth. When you sing “Peace on earth, good will to all,” remember that all really does mean every human being -- or it least it would have to the Messiah for whom we are witnessing. Take time to breathe in and realize how much God loves you -- often we’re better at loving the rest of the world than we are at remembering that we are included among those whom God loves. And remember that John the Baptist was not the only one who witnessed to the light. You are called to witness too.

Now let us pray.