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Increasingly Decreasing

The Rev. Thomas W Simmons IV

St Peter’s is the first church I’ve served in that uses the color blue in Advent.  Purple is the more traditional color, but blue is being used more and more widely.  Blue is the color of the Virgin Mary, appropriate as we wait for the birth of Jesus. It’s also the color of the sky, expressing hope, anticipation and expectation.  “The sky’s the limit.”  It puts us in mind that Christ will come with the clouds of heaven. 

I think blue is good, and I especially like these vestments.  But purple is also good for Advent because it reminds us of the penitential nature of the season, which John the Baptist embodies by calling all Israel to repent and prepare the way of the Lord.  John’s call echoes to us across the centuries.  We must repent. 

But it’s not just John’s words that proclaim the need to prepare.  His austere lifestyle does, too.  He LIVED Advent.  We saw that last week with his austere and penitential outfit and diet.  We also see it in this morning’s gospel lesson in how John dealt with life’s disappointments and difficulties. 

John’s got a problem: his work is done.  He has boldly proclaimed Christ’s coming and he’s done a good job preparing Israel to receive Messiah.  Thousands of people – all Jerusalem and Judea – flocked to the Jordan River to be baptized for repentance.

And then came the big day when Christ came to be baptized.  John recognized his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, as the Messiah. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”  What anticipation, what a build up, what a glorious climax and culmination of all that everyone was waiting for! 

But now it’s the day after and there’s not much left for John to do.  His work is done.  It appears that John the Baptist has served out his useful purpose in this world. Christ has come and there’s nothing left for him to do.  All of the attention, fame, disciples – all the action – has gone to Jesus.  Maybe now John can clean out his basement or rearrange his sock drawer or take up Bridge. 

Do any of you ever feel that way?  It’s kind of like having been on the Search Committee…or being benched and watching the rest of the game on the sidelines.  Or maybe you’ve been unemployed and felt this way.  I understand that a lot of parents go through this when their kids are grown up and married, or for folks when they retire and wonder what to do with themselves. 

In John’s case, the situation is made worse by having people around perfectly willing to remind him how bad it is.  “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”  You just imagine a smarmy reporter sticking a microphone in his face with the cameras rolling and asking, “How does that make you feel?” 

How would you feel? Well, John makes two points in response that tell us a lot about him and about the work of preparing for messiah.   They tell us a lot about Advent.  

First, he quotes an aphorism familiar in that day.  “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.” John acknowledges the Source of all things.  His calling and ministry have been a gift from God, just like everything else.  In God’s world, who we are, what we have and what the future holds are all from the hand of God.  

John could have wished he were someone else, like so many people do.  He could have yearned for a job that would give him more power or prominence and been jealous of Jesus for getting what he didn’t.  But that would have been covetousness.

Instead, John knows who he is and what God has called him to do.  He tells his disciples, “you yourselves are my witnesses that I have said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’”  He is content with who he is, what God has given him and what he is called to do. 

Contentment is such a fine virtue and is often a scarce one, too.  People tend to be grasping, covetous, longing for things just out of their reach and jealous of the blessings of others.  And if you think of it, discontent drives large sectors of our economy.  Most advertising subtly – or not so subtly – stimulates discontent and yearning to be and do and have things that you currently lack.

The same dynamics were at work in the Garden.  The serpent persuaded Adam and Eve to be discontent with God’s provision.  They wanted more.  God gave everything to them, but they wanted the one thing they COULDN’T have. 

Ultimately, their discontentment led to a form of arrogance that wants to be God and to stand where God stands.  The serpent convinced them that when they eat it they will be like God.  John said, “I am not the Messiah!”  That’s a lesson John learned and that helped him prepare for the coming of Christ.  We need to learn the same lesson as we wait.  So repeat after me: “God is God and I am not.” 

Paul describes this attitude of contentment in our Epistle lesson.  “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  God’s will is for us is joy and happiness and rejoicing. His path to these things is contentment.  Our desires so often wage war against our happiness.  But not for John the Baptist. 

John’s tells his questioners just how GLAD he is to see Jesus come.   He likens himself to the best man at a wedding.  His best friend just married this knockout, beautiful, lovely gal.  Way to go, man!  Sure the bride is beautiful, but she’s marrying the groom.  John’s not jealous, but “rejoices greatly” to see bride and groom headed off into their life together. 

A lot of us find it difficult to rejoice at the success of others.  John’s questioners figure that’s the case with him, too. They think John will be jealous and resentful with Jesus for cutting into his ministry.  But instead John replies that, “my joy has been fulfilled.” His joy has been fulfilled.  His mission has been fulfilled.  His purpose in life has been fulfilled.  Wouldn’t you love to be able to say that?  What better ways is there to live?

John concludes, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John knows that Jesus’ star is rising and his is sinking low on the horizon.  Jesus will go on from here to perform his messianic ministry.  He will teach and heal.  He will call disciples and be followed by a great multitude. He will confront the corrupt religious officialdom of Jerusalem and he will be crucified and rise again from the dead.  Ultimately, Jesus will go on to baptize Israel with the Holy Spirit and with fire and start a movement that will embrace the whole world.  “He must increase.”

But for John, the future looks bleak.  Did you notice the mention in our text that, “John had not yet been thrown into prison”? His future consists of taking the career-enhancing step of denouncing the sexual excesses of Herod, followed by a brief imprisonment, followed by having his head served up on a platter at one of Herod’s parties. 

I think John’s saying here, “He must increase.  I must decrease” is a very helpful formula to remember in our penitential season of waiting and preparation.  It gets to the heart of our priorities and motivation .  It shows who we put first in our life and it is an essential first condition to loving and serving Jesus. 

We invest so much enhancing and promoting and advancing ourselves.  Of that we must repent.  “He must increase, but I must decrease” is a great description of repentance.  It’s less of me and my will and ways and more of God’s.    That’s how we prepare the way of the Lord.  We must increasingly decrease.

Let me close with the Prayer Book’s prayer of self dedication, “Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee, and then use us we pray as thou wilt, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen”