This is the record of John

Sermon preached at Choral Evensong at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 13th December – Advent 3

Readings: Isaiah 35: 1-10 Matthew 11: 2-11
Choir Anthem: This is the Record of John by Orlando Gibbons


Before I arrived at St Alphege Church, three and half years ago, I had had very little exposure to serious church music. Well, over the last three and half years, I have had quite a lot of exposure and I am very grateful for it, and I have enjoyed it far more than I expected. And now that I have been here some time I have started to notice how certain pieces of music come round and different times of the year the Churches calendar and I start to look out for them and to enjoy them all the more.
Our anthem today is just one such example. This is the record of John by Orlando Gibbons. I find it a particularly distinctive anthem because of the very demanding countertenor solo, and we are very fortunate to be able to sing it. The composer is Orlando Gibbons, who lived from 1583-1625 and was one of the outstanding Anglican musicians of his period. Apparently his is particular known as a master of counterpoint, which is where more than one tune is being sung simultaneously by different parts. Nigel was explaining to me earlier that This is the record of John is written for five parts. There are places they are all singing different tunes, and then there are sudden contrasts when all the voices come together, as though to emphasise certain lines.
This is the record of John is a perfect anthem for the third Sunday in Advent when we think particularly about the John the Baptist and the preparations her urged for the coming of Jesus. Gibbon chose English over Latin and the words come from King James’ Authorised Version of the bible, John chapter 1, verses 19-23. These words come up in the gospel reading for Advent 3 in year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. John explains to the priests and Levites that he is not the Christ, nor even a prophet. When John is pressed to explain who he is he says, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.” Here John the Baptist is quoting from the book of Isaiah, chapter 40. In Advent we always read a great deal from the prophet Isaiah. At present the OT readings set for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer are both ploughing their way through different sections of the prophet Isaiah. At Morning Prayer in Advent we say a canticle every day based on the words that we have already heard in this service from Isaiah 35.
The reason that we read so much Isaiah in Advent is that the book of Isaiah, especially that part of it which the scholars attribute to second Isaiah, is full of promises about the coming Messiah; God’s anointed one. Second Isaiah was writing in the sixth century BC when the Jews were in exile in Babylon. They were in a very bad way, utterly oppressed, unable to help themselves and a long way from their home in Jerusalem and the Promised Land. Into this experience of desolation God speaks a message of hope. God pours out this message through the prophet Second Isaiah, but he also pours it out through other prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel. Even the prophet Jeremiah, who is all doom and gloom in the build up to the exile, starts to preach a message of consolation and hope once the worst has occurred.
When we read these prophets from the exile period, and their great message of hope, it always a little bit difficult to pin down exactly what the hope is. There is lots of promises about joy and celebration. There is a great deal about the restoration of the Jews in Jerusalem. There are lots of promises about the strengthening of the weak, the healing of the deaf the blind and the lame, the uplifting of the oppressed. The Isaiah 35 that we read today also talks of environmental miracles; the wilderness blossoming with flowers, dry deserts being filled with water so that they can grow with beautiful trees and gardens that we might normally associate with Lebanon or Carmel. Although the hopes are not always clear, it is clear that many of them revolve around this Messiah, the anointed one of God.
It is also very difficult, reading these prophets’ messages of hope during the exile, to pin down exactly when these hopes and blessings might be realised, when they might come about. Some of hopes were spectacularly realised in 539 BC when Cyrus, the king of the Medes and Persians mounted a surprise attack on Babylon. He conquered the Babylonians and promptly announces that he wants the Jews to go back to Jerusalem. This was undoubtedly an extraordinary moment, but other promises remained unfilled and the Messiah figure was still awaited.
Then, eventually, John the Baptist bursts onto the scene, preparing the way of the Lord. His ministry is a great success, with many people coming for baptism and great expectations about the Messiah. When Jesus comes to him for baptism and John recognises him as the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the one on whom the spirit of God descended (John 1: 29-36) and from this point Jesus’ ministry grows, and John’s starts to shrink. Eventually John is put in prison, and it would seem that while in prison he starts to have doubts about whether Jesus really was the Messiah. In the reading we heard today John sends his disciples to Jesus to check if he is the Messiah. Jesus doesn’t give a simple “Yes” answer, but he does point to the evidence. The after John’s disciples are gone, we hear Jesus’ testimony about who John is. Jesus describes him as the greatest of all born of women. Meanwhile John is languishing in jail, full of doubts, and is eventually beheaded. The price of being a top-dog in the kingdom of heaven is very high.
As we leave here, let’s take with us those words of John’s which we heard in the Anthem, “Make straight the way of the Lord”. Jesus is coming. We need to get ready. We need to make straight his way, so that we can enter into our hearts. Are there crooked aspects of our lives that we need to straighten out? Are their relationships where healing and reconciliation is needed? Are there hurts or disappointments that we need deliverance from, which we need to move beyond? Advent is the time for this. Advent is the time to humbly lay these things before God, to offer the pain to God, to seek his healing. We can do this in prayer. Often it becomes more real if we talk about it with someone we trust. We can do this before a priest in confession; I’m going to confession next week. Above all we need to do it before God so that we can be filled with the promise Advent and of all God’s good gifts to us in the coming of Jesus.