https://app.dropwave.io/episode/c2ba4890-1e10-40a3-8cd5-9d5d8a5e9ad3/memento-nostri-advent-4-ad-2025.mp3

They come asking questions. But these are not mere questions. John is being interrogated. They don’t kidnap him and tie him to a chair and threaten him, but it’s an interrogation, nonetheless. They’re an official delegation from the Jews who have come to investigate this weird preacher.

He’s under investigation because he dresses and eats like an Old Testament prophet. He preaches like an Old Testament prophet. He also baptizes. He even baptizes faithful Jews. Many were going out to see him. Matthew says, “Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him” (Matthew 3:5). More than a new preacher, he had become popular. The religious bigwigs in Jerusalem couldn’t ignore him anymore. They needed to investigate and make an official statement about John.

Who are these investigators? The Evangelist John just calls them ‘Jews.’ Sometimes he uses that term to refer to the people as a whole; other times it’s just the leaders. But the way John uses the term, they always have some kind of hostility toward Jesus. Today we find these Jewish leaders as hostile toward John.

It’s also important to point out who these people were not. They were not among those who had come to John for baptism. Nor were they interested in hearing his preaching in order to be converted. Their desire was more sinister.

The initial question sounds innocent enough. Who are you? But John’s answer seems … odd. I am not the Christ. OK, well I’m not King David. So what’s the point? It might seem confusing, but it’s not. The religious bureaucrats are politically astute. They use indirect language. They ask the question without asking outright. It’s like when God comes after Adam has sinned and asks, “Where are you?” It’s not that God doesn’t know where Adam is. He wants to hear Adam’s confession. So when the officials ask John, “Who are you?” they’re asking for more than his name.

And I think John’s answer tells us what they were truly asking: Are you the Christ? It’s an insightful question to ask. They ask because John bears some resemblance to the Christ. He proclaims the nearness of God’s Kingdom and the Lord’s impending judgment. He calls all people everywhere to repent. He is no respecter of persons. He proclaims a physical washing that gives spiritual benefits. So, is it possible — are you the Christ?

But I think their question goes deeper still. This is their first time coming to John. Had they taken his preaching seriously, they would have come in repentance and faith. They would have desired his Baptism. But instead they come full of pride and self-importance.

More than that, they come with an agenda — an offer, if you will. They are the religious authorities. They can give John a public microphone for a bigger audience. They can make him truly popular. I think their real underlying question was something like this: Would you like to be given the highest honor? If you claim yourself as the Christ, we will receive and worship you. Would you like us to give our stamp of approval to your work? Will you let us confer the title of ‘Christ’ upon you?

After all, they know that any legitimate ‘christ’ will need advisors and assistants and bureaucrats. Those are services the Jewish leaders know how to provide. Besides, that’s where the real authority is. They’ll let John be ‘christ,’ but only so long as they get to be his ‘deep state’ as it were. By smooth speech and concealed motives, his interrogators offer him the highest honor. If he will only accept their authority, they would make him the Christ.

But John is no such preacher. He doesn’t care about their accolades. He isn’t interested in putting on a show of being the Christ. He’s also not going to succumb to their kind of speaking. He isn’t a reed shaken by the wind. He clearly and directly speaks the truth. Thus we hear in threefold manner: He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

John didn’t hesitate for a moment. He understood the premise of the question and rejected it without equivocation. He knows this title wasn’t theirs to give. Nor does he care what other titles they may offer. I am not who you want me to be. I am not the Messiah, the Redeemer sent by God. More than that, the Christ will not come according to your designs. You are not Lord over Him. You are right to ask about the Messiah — the Christ — but I am not Him.

The messengers from synod headquarters had more options for John. And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” (John 1:21). If he won’t accept the title of ‘Christ,’ maybe they can make him Elijah, or one of the prophets. After all, they knew the prophecy at the very end of the Old Testament. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers (Malachi 4:5-6).

This part of their exchange is curious, too. Jesus in Matthew chapters 11 and 17 says that John is Elijah. Yet here John directly and decisively denies being Elijah. But it all becomes clear when we understand that the Jewish hope at this time was that the Old Testament prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, would return bodily from heaven in order to usher in the Messiah. So John can quite honestly and easily say that he’s not Elijah in his person. God’s Word remains true: John came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah — that is, in the office of Elijah.

A prophet is anyone who proclaims God’s Word. Yet John will also refuse this title. Because the Jews of his day had reduced that title to describe a seer, one who looks into and announces the future. But John was no such seer. For the coming of Jesus was imminent.

Fine! they say, tell us who you want to be.

That’s just it, says John. It’s not about what I want to be — or even who I am. It’s about the coming One.

It’s as if John is saying: Step aside; make room. Your King will be passing this way momentarily. Prepare yourself to greet Him. Behold your King. No — I am not the Christ, but I will point you to Him. By my own voice and confession, I will declare the true Christ to you. He is the fulfillment of all your longing, the satisfaction of every need, the completion of every promise of God.

John rejects all honors that others wish to place upon him. He claims only one thing. “I am ’The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23).

Luther imagines John speaking in this way.