Today’s Reading: Luke 1:57-80
Daily Lectionary: Proverbs 30:1-9, 18-33; John 20:1-18
“…to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:77)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. John was a preacher. We normally of thinking of him as a baptizer. I mean, it’s even in his title: John the Baptist. But still, he was a preacher. He was the forerunner of Jesus. He was preparing the Lord’s way, Jesus’ way, the Way’s way. He was like the surveyor or the crew who tears down the trees so that the road can be built.
John was a preacher and baptizer, and he did both for the same reason. He didn’t just preach doom and gloom. He did preach repentance, but He also preached forgiveness of sins. He delivered Baptism “for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). That was John’s work, which is good, because sinners need that.
You and I do, too. We all need preachers and baptizers. Sure, they aren’t forerunners anymore. They’re messengers of what’s happened in Jesus, that He died and rose, that He forgives sinners, He baptizes them, that He eats with them, feeding them His own Body and Blood which were given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
We doubt the Lord’s Word. We live for ourselves. We reject His message and gift of new life and forgiveness, choosing to live in our sins and unrighteousness. We do that daily and much. We’re like John’s dad Zachariah, who didn’t listen to the Lord’s Word that was preached to him.
Rejoice! Jesus doesn’t leave you alone. He sends you a John—a preacher and baptizer. Your pastor does those things for you so that you would be given the knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of your sins. Forgiveness is yours: in the Word, in the water, in the Body and Blood.
Remembering John’s birth, we’re thankful for the forerunner, but we’re also thankful for our modern day “Johns” who deliver Jesus’ cross-won forgiveness to us. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Almighty God, through John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, You once proclaimed salvation. Now grant that we may know this salvation and serve You in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life; through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Collect for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist)
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