I am not!

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

I am not!: 5 December 2010: pm: The Very Revd Frank Nelson

• Psalm 11
• 1 Kings 18: 17 - 39
• John 1: 19 - 28

There’s a bitter and tragic irony that in the week we read that wonderful story about Elijah on Mount Carmel, the news should contain a story of more than forty people killed in runaway brush fires in the same mountainous area of modern day Israel. As we worship God tonight, the fires continue for the fourth day. New Zealand’s recent experience of the Pike River Mine deaths leaves us with a very good idea of what communities and families which suffer multiple deaths go through. Nor is it that long ago that our hearts went out to people in Victoria, Australia, following the devastating loss of life through fire there. Week by week, and day by day, we pray, in this sacred space, for all who suffer, wherever they are.

The readings for the 2nd Sunday of Advent invite us to consider the role of people like Elijah and John the Baptist in the greater story of God and God’s people. From the questions asked of John the Baptist it is clear there was some expectation of Elijah’s return – after all, he is one of only two people mentioned in the Old Testament, who did not die, but were whisked off to heaven.

Elijah is the first of the prophets in the Old Testament. A strange and interesting man, his task was to recall the people to God. In tonight’s reading we have this wonderful contest between the prophet of God and the prophets of Baal. It is a classic piece of theological story-telling as people struggle to come to terms with new situations. With a desert faith honed by the forty years in the wilderness with Moses, the people of God crossed the River Jordan (later the sight of baptism by John the Baptist) and entered a strange new land. Not that the land itself was so strange, but the customs of the people were. Where their God was a warrior God who saved them in time of trouble, and found water in a thirsty land, the gods of the new people among whom they lived were more interested in the fertility of the soil, the yield of the harvest, and the offspring of their flocks. It is quite possible that the people really struggled to keep the 1st of the Ten Commandments – that they should have no other God but Yahweh. It seemed much easier to worship both Yahweh and the Baals. It’s common enough today too, to keep a foot in both camps (all camps).

Elijah comes on the scene after some hundreds of years. Having challenged the prophets of Baal, and told the people in no uncertain terms to decide once and for all who they were going to worship, Elijah rebuilds the long-neglected altar to Yahweh. In an action full of symbolism he uses twelve stones to build the altar before drenching it all in water. In contrast to the futile efforts of the prophets of Baal, Elijah’s prayer results in a mighty fire that destroys all – bull, wood, altar, even the water. Tonight’s reading ends with the crowd shouting: The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.

But will that cry last? Will the people worship God and return to the Covenant made all those years ago in the desert with Moses? Will the Ten Commandments and the way of life, summed up by loving God and Neighbour, really become the yardstick for life?

Jump across the centuries and we find the events of tonight’s 2nd reading, portrayed so beautifully in Gibbons musical treat known as the Record of John. Those who are familiar with John’s Gospel will already have been thinking about what comes before and after the few verses we read and sang tonight. In the prologue to the Gospel, read as the Gospel at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, John the Baptist is identified as the one who testifies to the light – not the light itself. In John’s own words, he is not the Messiah, not Elijah, not the prophet! Rather he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’. Read on and you will see that John points to Jesus and identifies him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – a profoundly theological identification which will make no sense until, and unless, we know the rest of the story. The altar frontal used in Advent reminds us of this identification. In John’s Gospel the timing of the crucifixion of Jesus is different to that found in the other Gospels: Jesus dies at the same time as the lambs were slaughtered for the Passover Meal.

But let’s take a moment to look at what else John the Baptist says in tonight’s reading. The first words he utters come in response to the question: Who are you? It’s an odd response. “I am not the Messiah.” Are you Elijah? “I am not.” Are you the prophet? “No.” What a negative sort of person he seems to be. Why did he not come out straight away and tell the authorities who he was. Why this strange collection of negatives?

Everything John the Baptist does points away from himself and towards Jesus. For those who know, even his words, negative as they are, do the same thing. Even in the English translation read tonight we see something of the playing with words. Centuries before John the Baptist came on the scene, Moses had the audacity to ask God for a name. Standing at the burning bush in the Sinai Desert, Moses asked God to identify himself. He got a very strange answer. “I AM who I AM” – that is the name of God. Say to the Israelites, I AM has sent you.

As we read through the whole of the Gospel of John, we find, time and again, Jesus using this same phrase: I AM – the Good Shepherd, the True Vine, the Living Water, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and so on. Where Jesus claims the divine name for himself, John the Baptist makes it very clear he does not. John’s role is different. He is the voice, the herald. He is the unworthy one, fit not even to untie the thong of the Messiah’s sandal. His task is to point the way, and then get out of the way. John the Baptist must make the introduction, and then move aside.

John’s is a very good role model for every Christian, and certainly every priest. Be the voice, point the way, draw to the attention of people – and then fade into the background and let people meet Jesus face to face.

Tonight I challenge you to be a John the Baptist figure. With Christmas fast approaching, and some wonderful services full of beauty and meaning coming to this Cathedral, can you be a voice, the hand that points the way, the finger that identifies Jesus in the crowd? Can you get out of the way and let people discover that God is God? Can you say, I am not, but let me show you who is?