A Living Sermon of Grace

Text: Luke 1:57-80

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            The very best public speakers can say all that needs to be said in as few words as needed. This includes sermons. We have examples of these short, yet powerful sermons throughout Scripture. Jonah preaches, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” and that entire great city repented in sackcloth and ashes. John the Baptizer preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and the entire region of Judah and Jerusalem were stirred up to go out to the Jordan and be baptized by him. But there’s one sermon that’s shorter still, only four words, and it’s preached by John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah. “His name is John.”  

            There’s a lot packed into that name John. In Hebrew, the name is Yohanan, which means “YHWH is gracious” or “YHWH has shown favor.” In Greek, this name became Iohannes, which then became John in English. But the original meaning of the name still stands: YHWH, or the Lord, is gracious. This name was meant to be a reminder that the Lord deals graciously with His people, giving them what they have not earned from Him, but always as a gift.

            And this is precisely what John the Baptizer will do: remind them of God’s grace. His father Zechariah recognizes this, having sat long in silence to ponder the meaning of this name. When the angel Gabriel came to him to tell him that he and his wife Elizabeth would finally have a child in their old age, after decades of waiting and praying, Zechariah wrestled with believing that such a miracle could happen. So as a sign, the angel said that Zechariah would be unable to speak until the child was born and the name John was given to him. And then, as soon as Zechariah wrote that name, blessing his son with it, his mouth was opened and he began to prophesy. All that Zechariah proclaimed about this boy—who he was and who he would be—showed that the long-awaited graciousness of the Lord was arriving. And so Zechariah unpacks all that’s contained in John’s name, explaining his short, written sermon with a prophesy in the form of a song, beginning with the words that tell of God’s grace, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.” The arrival of this miracle child, this gift of grace to these parents, would be the sign that the great fulfillment of that ancient covenant was reaching its pinnacle. Every word that John would preach in his years to come would be as a prophet of the Most High, to prepare people for the coming of the Lord to do what He had promised from old, giving them the knowledge of the salvation that was coming in the person and work of Jesus, forgiving sins and giving light to those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death.

            In point of fact, John the Baptist will himself be a sermon in human form, preached by none other than the Lord God Himself. John was a gift to his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth, the fulfillment of all they prayed and waited for. And he was not given to them because of any particularly outstanding quality in themselves—remember, Zechariah had his doubts, even though he, as a priest in the temple, should have known better than to not believe the word of one of God’s messengers. Even when Zechariah was unable to speak, it was the gift of John, God’s living sermon about grace, that gave Zechariah his voice back when he clung to the promise the Lord had spoken: “You shall call his name John.” This son was given to them freely, as a gift, a blessing, a promise and token that the Lord really does grant the prayers of His people; a promise that the Lord’s grace was on the way, about to be delivered not only to these parents, but to all humanity, beginning with the life of their son, John.

            John’s entire life would be one of pointing to the Messiah, God’s grace in human flesh and blood, Jesus. Every word John preaches is about the coming Jesus. “He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.” “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” “He must increase, but I must decrease.” “I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” It was his life’s purpose to show people God’s grace in Jesus, which would be poured out upon the whole world in His crucifixion, proclaimed forcefully in His resurrection as He breathed new life into all creation. John lived up to his name, showing that the Lord is gracious; and that His grace is seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

            It’s in that same graciousness of God that we have beheld the fulfilled, completed baptism of Owen this morning. For John did indeed come to baptize with water, but that baptism of water has now had the Holy Spirit and holy, divine fire added to it with the work of Jesus, added when the Son of God went down into the Jordan River to be baptized by John, completed and handed over to His Church on earth when He sealed our salvation on the cross. As our father in the faith Zechariah said of his son John, we now say of this son, Owen: the Lord has visited and redeemed you. He has raised up a horn of salvation for him, that he should serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before God all the days of his life. And we can’t help but reminded of that promise given to all of us, that we are saved from the hands of our enemies: sin, death, and evil. We now serve Him without fear, even as we serve those He has given to us and entrusted to our care, from the newest baby to the oldest Zechariah and Elizabeth among us. We celebrate today that our heavenly Father has given us knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of our sins that we have received at our baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, in the Absolution spoken over you this morning. For this is how our Lord wants to be known—in grace—to give us light, to guide us into the way of peace. In these ways—real, concrete ways that you can grasp and know with certainty—you have received grace upon grace in Jesus, in His Word, in His Baptism, His body and blood. His grace is now preparing us for His great return and the life of the world to come, when the dawn from on high shall break upon us in that final, never-ending day when we are gathered with all the faithful in His peace forever. In the name of Jesus, the Gracious One, Amen.