The Nativity of St. John the Baptist—June 24, 2012

Isaiah 40:1-5

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
     for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Vs. 5

     Today’s readings are a break in the “Sundays after Pentecost”--an opportunity to turn our attention to John the Baptist.  These verses delivered by the prophet Isaiah in announcing the end of Israel’s exile are used as well by the gospel authors to introduce John the Baptist.  Evidently these authors saw and delivered a connection between the release of Israel from her Babylonian captivity and the release of the world from its captivity to sin.

     The Baptist says of Jesus:  “He must increase but I must decrease”  (John 3:30).  In Jesus the “glory of the Lord shall be revealed…”  While in the flesh, Jesus’ glory was to be lifted up on the cross—not exactly an attractive sort of glory.  There in that humiliation and death, God hides his glory, forgives sins, and releases the world from its captivity.  There lifted up on the cross, Jesus drew all people—all flesh—to himself (Jn. 12:32) so that they could “see it together.” 

     You, accustomed to the glory of the world, can never “reason” your way to the cross where glory hides beneath its opposite.  You can’t “reason” your way to faith.  But the Holy Spirit does call you through the gospel and establish you in faith.  Your own understanding or effort cannot accomplish this.  It is the work of God.  Your work is nothing; Christ’s work is everything.  The mouth of the Lord has spoken, and spoken well through his prophet John.

Timothy J. Swenson

The Institute of Lutheran Theology

www.ilt.org