We often refer to John as “the Baptist,” perhaps causing some to wonder why he's not "John the Lutheran." Some translations call him “John the Baptizer.” Luke identified him not by vocation, but by his parentage, “son of Zechariah.”
...the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The “baptism” John offered bore little relation to the rite of Christian initiation we know as baptism in the church. He was not baptizing people into the identity or family of Christ – he was offering a ritual cleansing to symbolize the spiritual cleansing of repentance and forgiveness. And why would anyone need a “baptism of repentance?” To clear the way in their hearts for the message Jesus would bring and the reconciliation to God he would make possible.
John was the advance man. His mission was articulated even before his conception, when his father received a visit from the Angel Gabriel telling him that he and his aged wife Elizabeth, long childless, were to have a son:
The angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’
To make ready a people prepared for the Lord – that is the mission for which John lived and died. He approached it by calling people to repent, for personal sins and shortcomings as well as complicity in societal sin and injustice.
I have been asked why we confess sins in church – doesn’t that convey a message of shame and “not-good-enough-ness?” I would not drop that from the liturgy for the same reason that John was in the repentance business: If we want to welcome God, we need to be real about ourselves. We need to make room in the clutter of our hearts and lives. In fact, I prefer to put the confession closer to the beginning of the worship, so that we can clear the decks and make space for the Spirit before we engage the Word and share the Meal.
We are to share John’s mission to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord." We don’t need to point out to people their sins or sinfulness; we need only be clear and humble about our own, in a graceful way, speaking freely of our need for forgiveness and God’s abundant mercy. That way we invite people to bring their whole selves into an encounter with God, and let them know that everything can be transformed, everything made whole.
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