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
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
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