Christmas 1 (NL4) John B. Valentine
John 1:19-34 December 28, 2025

“LIFE IN PARCHED PLACES”

Let’s start this morning with a decidedly “unChristmasy” story ....

+ + + + +

One day ... there’s this fellow on horseback who comes racing into a small town out in the wild West ...

Making like Paul Revere .... and hollering “Big Jake is coming! Big Jake is coming!” .... as he tears through the town.

At this news ... to a person ... the townsfolk shriek in horror.

• They run to their homes ...
• They bolt their doors ...
• They close up their windows ...
• They get the kids to hide under their beds.

Meanwhile ... at the saloon ... the bartender’s still trying to board up his windows ...

When ... all of a sudden ... his heart stops.

He looks down the dusty main street and sees like the biggest man he’s ever seen ... coming straight in his direction.

This fellow is huge!

• He’s dressed in black from head to toe.
• He’s got bullets draped across his chest.
• He’s a mountain of a man ... maybe six foot six and two-forty-five.
• Holstered at his waist are two of the biggest pistols the barkeep’s ever seen.
• And ... to top it off ... he looks incredibly mean.

Anyhow ... the bartender quickly drops what he’s doing and ducks into the saloon to hide ...

But ... soon enough ... he hears footsteps.

The big fellow steps up to the bar and says “Get me something to drink, and make it quick.”

Needless to say ... the bartender immediately hands him a glass of whiskey from his trembling hand.

The big fellow downs that drink in one swallow ...

And the bartender asks ... “Can I get you another?”

But the big fellow is plumb near out front door ... and pauses just long enough to yell back over his shoulder ...

“I don’t have time for another! Haven’t you heard? Big Jake is coming.”

+ + + + +

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

He confessed and did not deny it,
But he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?”
He answered, “No.”

Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

He said, “I am simply the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.

“Haven't you heard? Big Jake is coming .......”

+ + + + +

It’s a strange day on the church calendar ... folks.

I mean ... it’s the Sunday after Christmas ... the first Sunday of the two Sundays is this short Christmas season ...

And ... as if to shake off the afterglow of the baby’s arrival three or four days ago ... we get this visit from one drug straight out of the wilderness ... a visit from a wild-eyed fellow known as ‘John the Baptist’.

You see ... back in the day ... back in the days right before Jesus showed up in this world in which we live ... a whole lot of people were waiting .....

Waiting ... hoping ... watching ...

• for someone was going to actually make a difference in their world ...

• for someone whose presence would mean that tomorrow wouldn’t have to be like yesterday ...

• for someone who would depose and maybe dispose both the despised Roman occupiers and their political pawns whom we know as the Herods ...

• for someone whose coming would put the people of Israel ... the people of God ... and their Holy City Jerusalem ... back in the center of the story of humankind ....

Hoping and waiting and watching ....

For days when righteousness and justice would abound.

Hoping and waiting and watching ....

For days when the lion would lie down with the lamb.

Hoping and waiting and watching ....

For the coming of the Prince of Peace.

And rumor had it that maybe ... just maybe ... this wild-eyed man from the wilderness ... was that man ... that one ... that veritable embodiment of hope.

But John said “No ....... the one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit ... I’m just here to deliver a message.”

It’s as if John is the one who storms into town and pronounces: “Haven't you heard? Big Jake ... big Jesus ... is coming .......”

+ + + + +

As I’ve been turning this text over in my mind for the past couple of days ... there’s something about this old familiar John the Baptist story that has really kind of wormed its way into me ......

That word “wilderness”.

“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness ...”

I mean ... sure John says that he’s a voice ‘crying in the wilderness’ .... but to what extent does the word “wilderness” describe the kinds of places where we live?

I mean ... we don’t use the word ‘wilderness’ to talk much about our world ... although there are times when we do feel like we’re wandering in the wilderness ...

But this word that gets translated ‘wilderness’ could just as soon be translated ‘desert’ ...

And while we may not use ‘wilderness’ to describe this world in which we live very often ... it doesn’t take much imagining to apply the term ‘desert’ ... or maybe better yet ‘’parched places’ ... to this reality in which we find ourselves these days.

I mean ... to what extent is our society ... our community ... our nation ... parched these days?

• Parched for lack of meaning?
• Parched for a lack of integrity?
• Parched for a lack of substance?
• Parched for a lack of community?
• Parched for a lack of security and surety?
• Parched for a lack of hope?

I mean ... if the politics of the past decade reveals anything ....

It confirms that none of us ... NONE of us ... like the way things are right now.

We may disagree with one another as to HOW to get out of this mess that we are in ... but at least we all agree that things are a mess!

And people are acutely dissatisfied with the answers that anyone and everyone would seemingly have us buy.

Does that not stand up and scream that we are living in a desert ...

That we are parched for certainly ... and that we find ourselves in a moral, spiritual, ethical, relational desert???

And it was for people living in a wilderness ... living in a desert ... that this John the Baptist came ...

Bringing his message of warning and anticipation and preparation and high alert ....

Bringing his message that Jesus is coming ....

Bringing his message that it is time for us to get ready for the coming of the King.

+ + + + +

Speaking of messages ... any of you been on an airplane lately?

Anyone want to guess how many people on your flight actually listened to the emergency instructions that the flight attendants went over when the plane was about ready for takeoff??

You know the drill ...

The flight attendant gives out all kinds of important information about oxygen masks and emergency exits and seat belts and the like ...

And most of the people on the plane are doing what?

• Looking out the window ...
• Checking their phone one last time ....
• Pulling out their reading materiel ... or
• Maybe just settling in for their nap.

To my experience ... most of the people on the plane are doing just about anything but listen to what the flight attendant has to say ... because they figure “I know it all already” ... “I’ve heard that spiel before” ... or “That doesn’t apply to me.”

The problem is ... if there WERE to be an emergency on board ...

There’s no time to go back and revisit the instructions ...

There’s no time get everyone to pull that card out of the seat back in front of you and review what you’re going to need to do ...

There’s no time to have the flight attendant repeat what she has already said.

What you would have needed to do would have been to pay attention right from the start.

Now ... I might be wrong ... but it seems to me that this John the Baptist character was a whole lot like that flight attendant.

• Whether we heard that spiel before ... or not ... his words DO apply to us.

• Whether we think there’s going to be an emergency in the near future or not ... his words DO apply to us.

+ + + + +

He does come ... my friends.

Whether you believe it or not ... whether you’re ready for it or not ... he comes.

• He comes ... in bread and wine.

• He comes ... as we linger on his Word.

• He comes ... as we become "little Christs" one to another.

• He comes ... in mysterious and wondrous ways ...

• In opportunities to make the Spirit of Christmas real to others ...

• In moments big and small.

He does come ... my friends.

Make straight the way of the Lord!