I would like to start with a prophecy - it is that Christian will have tested us on the Sundays of Advent and we will have replied, ‘the Patriarchs, the prophets and today John the Baptist’. Remember this sermon was written on Monday! 

Sometimes we can see prophetic statements as somehow appearing from nowhere making prophecy look like magic. Whereas prophecy starts with prayer and then having the honesty to comment on what we see happening or often not happening around us.

That is indeed what John the Baptist was doing. There were two major prophecies; first he saw the terrible things that were happening in the people of his day. They were concerned with putting themselves first, accumulating wealth and power and ignoring the poor, the widow, the orphan and the alien. Two thousand years later things have not changed, we face many and similar problems. The answer that John the Baptist gave was that people needed to stand before God and admit their failings. The outward sign for this was to be baptised and allow God to wash away their sins.

The problem then, as now is, do we really mean what we are saying and doing. In this service we have confessed our sins and been forgiven. But did we really mean it or has it become a formula which we just mutter without any clear thought. What was the worst sin you have committed in the past week? I’ll give you a few moments to think about this . . . . . .

It’s alright I am not going to test you on this! NOW offer that sin to God.

May God forgive us our sins.

John the Baptist made another prophecy; he condemned King Herod because he married his sister-in-law, that is Herodias his brother’s wife. Herod should have been challenged by the Jewish authorities but they were too cowardly to do this, so it was left to John to uphold the morality of the Jewish faith and as a result he was thrown in prison and eventually was executed for his beliefs.

He would never see much of Jesus’ ministry but he remained faithful to his God and his beliefs and as such has become a great example for all of us to follow. Let us strive to keep the faith walking humbly in the presence of God and always trying to speak the truth with care, compassion and love.

Andrew SSL