The Question of Identity-John 1: 19-28
By Kurt Jones

November 27, 2005
Valley Church

 COMMUNION - Coming to a dinner -

The ''hot'' new Thanksgiving culinary trend is to cook turkeys in big deep-fat fryers, which are hugely popular because they give guys an excuse to spend Thanksgiving outside and messing around with a device that could potentially destroy an entire neighborhood.

Believe it or not, researchers have carefully studied dinnertime -- from the kind of conversation that goes on around the table, to the lifelong effect that regular mealtimes have on children's eating habits.

When the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse studied ways to keep kids from destructive behaviors, family dinners were "more important than church attendance, more important even than grades at school." – From BreakPoint by Charles Colson

The American Psychological Association published a study in 1997 that illustrated the crucial role of the family meal in the lives of teenagers. The study found that adjusted teens—those with better relationships with their peers, more academic motivation and few, if any, problems with drugs and depression—ate dinner with their families an average of five days a week.

Other research by the University of Minnesota and the University of North Carolina showed similar findings: drug use, sex, violence and emotional stress were less likely in households where the parents were present at crucial times, particularly during meals.

Researchers at Emory University analyzed routine interactions at the dinner table and the kinds of stories that emerge in conversations. "The power of the family stories and the family history is really remarkable. "There seems to be something that's particularly important about children knowing where they came from in a larger sense and having a sense of family history and a family place."

 Family Meals give us

• A sense of story - I am part of a wonderful, ongoing adventure…
• A sense of purpose - My life has meaning, beauty, focus, direction,
• A sense of belonging - I have a family, a safe place, a committed group, a home…

Communion from Luke 22

INTRODUCTION

How do you answer the question "WHO ARE YOU?" For each of us that is different, but most of us at least start by giving our name... but what else? O.K., I am the son of .... I am the daughter of.... I am the mother of.... or the father of.... Perhaps there are some who would say, " I am a student at SJSU", or "I am an engineer at Lockheed" or "I am a senior sanitation engineer...."

If you had to fill In the blank right now to this question "I am ____________". What would you’re answer be? What a critical question this is... Some of us spend our whole lives seeking the answer to this question. 

CONTEXT

With this passage John begins the narrative part of his Gospel. In the prologue he has shown us;

• that the Word of God has come into the world in the form of a man,
• that John knew him, saw him, understood who He was.
• He has made it clear that in Him is life and light...
• that as He comes He gives mankind free access to become children of God
• that He came to show us God, full of Grace and Truth

Locale and setting

Without ceremony we are introduced to the Baptist at the very height of his ministry and his influence. No background, biography, or details of his life are given to us here.

"Bethany beyond Jordan" v. 28 - On the other side of the Jordan river from Jerusalem (East Bank), but the exact location is uncertain. He distinguishes it from the better known "Bethany" which was near to Jerusalem, the home of the friends of Jesus, Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

Matthew 3:5 tells us that "Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan." We get the idea of LOTS of people going out to see this man John. So much is going on that an official delegation is sent. The Scribes and the Levites (v. 19) came along for John was the son of a Levite. His father Zecharias has actually been serving in the temple when Gabriel came and announced to him that he and Elizabeth, his wife, would bear a son in their old age. They came wanting to know why the son of a priest would behave in such a way.

Pharisees (v. 24) made a great deal of the study of the Law and were the defenders of strict religious orthodoxy. These men may have even been from the Sanhedrin and may have felt that it was their duty to check up on this man in case he was a false prophet.  A man was preaching and baptizing. He was drawing crowds in the name of religion. The Pharisees must know all about it!

Time line

Jesus had already come to Bethany beyond the Jordan which was not far from his home, to be baptized by John. (Matt. 3:13-17) From the Jordan Valley Jesus was led to the desert to be tempted by the devil for forty day immediately after his baptism. It is probable that Jesus returned to the place of his baptism after his ordeal in the desert. John's examination by this board of inquiry takes place the day before Jesus arrives.

1. What do OTHER PEOPLE say about you?

John 1:19-21 - This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, " I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."

A. I am not the Christ

• No one in the delegation is reported to have said anything about Messiah. But John discerned the drift of their inquiry. Messianic speculations were in the air...  They didn't HAVE to ask…
• According to Luke 3:15, other people were wondering John was the messiah…
• For FOUR centuries the people of God had waited to again hear the voice of the Almighty.

What were they waiting for? The annointed one - The Christ, Messiah…

Isa 9:2 - The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.

Isa 9:4 - For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

 Isa 9:6-7
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.

Isa 42:1-3

" Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 "He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3 "A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.

Isaiah 53, Is. 64, Psalm 22… Going clear back to the book of Genesis

That must have sounded pretty good!

The Jews were waiting, and some are waiting to this day, for the Messiah.  The time of Jesus was filled with expectations of Messianic deliverance, a great national champion, a new reign of righteousness, perhaps peace on all the earth.

• It was an excited age. Pretenders had arisen and caused rebellions.  John's name was on the lips of everyone. It was completely natural that people would ask John if he claimed to be the Messiah.
• Look at John's answer! "He confessed, and did not deny, and confessed..." emphatic denial of what is to follow.        
• John completely rejected the claim.  His use of the pronoun strengthens his reply, "I  am not the Christ." as though to say, "I am not the Messiah, but, if you only knew, the Messiah is here."

B. not Elijah

Malachi's prophecy was followed by 400 years of silence, with no new word from the Lord.

Mal. 3:1"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple."

Malachi 4:5,6 - "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

• He is, but he isn't...
• Literally he wasn't - Mark 9:11-13; Mal. 4:5;  Luke 1:17;  Matt. 17:11-13
• Cross reference to Rev. 11:1-13. It has been predicted that prior to the judgment of the nations, two witnesses would appear on the earth. Some believe that these will be Enoch and Elijah for these are the only two men who have not died.

C. not The Prophet

• The increasing shortness of John's answers seem to show a dislike for talking about himself. He had come to talk about someone else!
• Some believed that Isaiah or Jeremiah would return at the coming of the Messiah.
• There was no need for John to say "which prophet?" It was one who was believed would be raised up at the end of the age….
• Undoubtedly referring to the Prophecy made by Moses.  "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him… I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." (Deut. 18:15)

APPLICATION:

Traditional themes for the first Sunday of Advent include hope, longing, expectation, and prophecy. We celebrate the fact that the coming of Christ was foretold, promised, and expected. 

What someone is really asking when they say "WHO ARE YOU?" is "WHO DO YOU KNOW OR WHAT DO YOU DO THAT IS IMPORTANT?"  We attach value to the relationships we have and the accomplishments we have attained based on their significance to others.

We get pressure that you aren't really anybody unless you know somebody famous, are related to someone important, talked to someone glamorous. You aren't really anybody unless you have accomplished something great, been somewhere exotic, or met with someone prestigious. You've got to have a successful job, a well decorated home, and wonderful, successful children. Who we are becomes dependent upon our success, or failure, in these areas.

2. What do you say about you?

At this point they are frustrated with him! read v.22

22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I amA  VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said."

What COULD have John said?

• Cousin to the Messiah
• Miraculous birth
• Foretold in prophecy
• Announced by none less than Gabriel himself
• A Nazarite from birth
• None greater... LK. 7:25

John's Function: "I AM the voice of one crying in the wilderness" - v. 23

• John's reply is given in words from Isaiah 40:3 and are applied to him in each of the four Gospels. It's an obscure figure - just "a voice"….
• The imagery is that of preparing a roadway by clearing away obstacles. 
• The roads in this day and age were not the nice surfaces that we are accustomed to now. They were basically tracks in the dirt. When a king was about to visit a province, when conqueror was to travel through his domain, the roads were smoothed, and straightened and put in order.
• Remove anything that will hinder you from accepting the King when He comes. What might be standing in the way of you turning your life over to Christ today? When you think about your relationship to God, is there one big chunk in the middle of the way that you get hung up on every time?
• Jesus and John had the same message. Matt. 3:2 and 4:17, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
• John had one function and one function only: to point men to Christ. The last thing he wanted was for people to be looking at him. EXAMPLE: sound man at church
• John 3:30 - "He must increase, but I must decrease."
• John said "Here is the thing that God has given me to do.... I will do it with all my heart"

APPLICATION:

• Recap: John's identity was not determined by who he knew or what he'd done but in living out God's will for his life. His MISSION was to prepare the way for Christ to come.
• Does this mean I'm going to have to wear camel hair and eat wild locusts and honey??? 
• Searching for primary purpose in life - Who are you REALLY?
• What do YOU believe about yourself?
• I'm a loser just like my Dad said I was…
• I'm a winner and don't need anyone or anything
• I'm ­­­________________ Now how does that square with what God says about you?

3. What do your ACTIONS say about you?

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them saying, " I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 "It is  He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Baptism - v.25 "Why are you baptizing if you are not any of these people?" he says "I baptize in water..."

Messianic Expectations - Had John been the Messiah, or Elijah or the Prophet, the Pharisees might have expected him to be baptizing.

Isaiah had written "So he shall sprinkle many nations"  (Is. 52:15)

Ezekiel had said, " I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean." (Ez. 36:25

Zechariah had said. "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and unclean-ness" (Zech.13:1)

1. Baptism was not new to Judiasm.
   • It was regularly practiced by those who came to Judiasm from other religions. Males would be circumcised, and all the family, both sexes, would be baptized.
   • The significance to John's baptism and the sting behind this practice was that he was applying to Jews  what would be appropriate for a Gentile coming newly into the faith. To put a Jew in the same class as someone who was outside of the chosen people of God was horrifying! (Hendrickson p.140)
   • John was baptizing Jews for repentance - "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me .... shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" Matt 3:11
   • John was suggesting that the chosen people of God need to be cleansed! His message was unexpected and unacceptable to the religious leaders of the day. It shattered the common thinking that the Jews, and the Jews only, were the apple of God's eye, That the Messiah would be THEIR Messiah, That every Jew would be included in the expected new kingdom and everyone not a Jew would be excluded.
   • John's message was God's message with no compromises... It did not cater to popular concepts, political formulas, or misunderstood favoritism.
   • ONE clear message - Turn from your sin, turn toward your God and prepare to see the Messiah. This was so foreign to the religious leaders of the day that they couldn't even comprehend it.
     
     Eyes so blinded that John adds the comment...
2. "...among you stands One whom you do not know" v. 26
   
   What was the reaction of those who were there to what John said?
   • the critics - religious background
   • the tag-alongs, curious, but not involved...
   • the searchers,
   • The repentant (Mt. 3)
     
     
3. "Thong not worthy to untie"
   • It's like he's saying "Oh and if you only knew who it was!
   • The baptism of Jesus had already taken place and John knew who He was.  The very next day Jesus would arrive and John would declare,  "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." 1:29
   • Untying a sandal was the task of a slave. Even a disciple would not be expected to perform it.
   • There is a Rabbinic saying: " Every service which a slave performs for his master shall a disciple do for his teacher except the loosing of his sandal-thong."
   • John is declaring that he is unworthy even to do the most menial task for the One who would come after him.

APPLICATION

What kind of life would someone have to have In order to be able to say those kinds of things? Everything John did supported his message - How about us? Do our actions support our message? Do the actions of our lives line up with our Identity In Christ?

What do other people say about you?

What do you say about you?

What do your actions say about you?