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Before John the Baptist was born, his father Zechariah, who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied of John, “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways” (Luke 1:76). In other words, John would be the forerunner of Jesus, both life and in death. Like Jesus, John was born to die a martyr, which St. Mark records for us in Mark 6:14-29.
What a timely reading, full of sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, violence and gore; a veritable catalog of sins against the Ten Commandments. We find that 30 A.D. wasn’t all that different from the 1960s and 2019. God has given us sex, alcohol, and dancing as gifts to enjoy according to His Word, but sinners have always abused and misused them, as we see in this reading. The despot Herod lusted after and coveted Herodius, his brother Philip’s wife, so he took her as his own wife. And then at Herod’s drunken birthday party, Herodius herself offers up her middle- school-aged daughter as entertainment for the “gentlemen” at the party. She danced for them, and it was no polka. Do you think child exploitation and pornography are new problems? Think again. There is nothing new under the sun.
Then consider the death of St. John the Baptist. How could God allow the great prophet and preacher, the chosen forerunner of Jesus, to be chopped down in the prime of life by the vindictiveness of Herodius and the careless, piggish King Herod? Where is the justice in all of that? This great and faithful man’s life is ended in a moment on account of the passions and whims of wicked sinners. He didn’t deserve such mistreatment. John had done the right thing. He had called on Herod to repent of his adulterous marriage to Herodius, and he had told them both to believe in Jesus. Yet for that, he lost his head. Jesus had said, “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11), and look what happened to this great man.
John’s greatness was in pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus. When Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized by John, John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then [John] consented” (Matthew 3:13-15).
To fulfill all righteousness— that means to accomplish everything necessary to save us from eternal damnation in hell—to fulfill all righteousness happened by Jesus stepping into our place as sinners, undergoing a baptism of repentance, going all the way to the cross, and dying for our sin, so that in exchange for our sins Jesus could grant St. John and all of us righteousness and salvation. As St. Paul said, “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He did all of that for John, and for all of us, too.
So listen to what that means for you now. What Jesus has done for you means that all the sins and failures of your past are forgiven and forgotten by God. He doesn’t keep track and exact punishment from you; He doesn’t bear a grudge against you; no, He gives you a clean slate, and works repentance in you and promises a new life for all who believe and are baptized.
In your Baptism, your sins have been washed away so that now each day you can fight against the old sinner and walk in newness of life. Are you ashamed of your own involvement with sins related to sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll? Drown that shame in your Baptism. Are you plagued by guilt over such trespasses? Dunk that guilt in the blood of Jesus Christ in the font, and at this altar, where Jesus gives you His true body and blood for the forgiveness of all of your sins. Are you plagued by continued temptations, and have you once again fallen? Then let the absolution sink deeply into your ears, as Jesus says, “I forgive you all of your sins.” Amen.
