It is the lot of many people in life to be what, in the theatre, is known as the ‘Supporting Cast’ – people who support others and whose work is often not as the star of the show, but who, simply by doing what they do, allow others to be the stars.

In this category we can place St. John the Baptist whose ministry we heard about in the Gospel this morning.

John is often described as the Forerunner – the one who, coming before Jesus, prepared the people for our Lord’s ministry and message.  John is one of the Supporting cast in the Gospel story and his ministry is a ‘warm up’ for the main act. 

To call him the Forerunner is to put him in that role and it is a position he accepted with humility. As he said towards the end of today’s Gospel, “One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.”

It would be easy to sideline John the Baptist because that, in truth, is what the Gospel writers do. Once Jesus arrives on the scene, John’s role in the plan of God for the Salvation of  Humanity all but disappears. This is something John understands when he said, of Jesus, ‘He must increase. I must decrease.’  But we must never deny the part John played by playing that part down.

A distinguished writer from the Orthodox Christian Tradition, Sergius Bulgakov, prefers to call him ‘The Friend of the Bridegroom’ and that is a much kinder and more accurate title than merely as a ‘Forerunner’.  His ministry is of the utmost importance and, whilst it will always be eclipsed by the ministry of Jesus, without John’s work that ministry would not have begun as positively as it did.  He was the pivot on which two ages turned.  On the one hand he stood firmly in the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament. He was compared to the great prophet Elijah because he spoke with the same Prophetic authority.  But he pointed, as none other, to the new age – the New Testament of Christ.

I don’t know whether you have had the chance to see the new Icon of St. John the Baptist in St. John’s Church.

When I commissioned it from a nun at the Convent at Bec in Normandy, we looked at various images on which it might be based.  I came across one that was painted by a famous Russian Saint Theophan the Recluse. It showed John the Baptist with his arms outstretched. On its own it had less impact than when it formed part of a triptych – the central panel of which was the birth of Christ.  The artist had painted it to show John pointing towards Christ.

I was able to persuade Sister Irène to turn the image around so that, as we have hung it, the outstretched arms of the Saint direct us into the Sanctuary of the Lady Chapel – towards the Reserved Sacrament and the altar.

For me this is a symbol of John pointing us towards Christ and towards the New Age of God’s reign which Christ came to bring.  This New Age needed preparing for and that was John’s task.

How he did this is made clear in the opening words of today’s Gospel and it is summed up in just one word – REPENT.

This is central to John’s message and his call from the wilderness between the Old and New Testaments is a call to Repentance.  This becomes the ‘bridge’ word which calls us all from one kind of life to a completely different one.  The word ‘Repent’ is both uncomfortable and challenging. It is also a necessary word.  Yet it tends to set up one of three general attitudes in people. 

The first is that of GUILT.  Few of us believe that we measure up to what God requires of us and we know that we do wrong in our lives.  Guilt is often that negative feeling which we experience when we actually sit down and are honest with ourselves – and realise just how much we fail to measure up.  The problem is that Guilt is such a negative feeling that it actually prevents growth.  There are those who wallow in it and, eventually, are destroyed by it.  It is also something that is used by others to have control of and power over us. The Church has used it often to keep people under the yoke of power and authority.  It is the stuff of hell-fire preaching and of instilling a fear of God which is really a fear of the Church and it is all the more insidious because it masks as a call to Penitence which it actually prevents.  Guilt is ultimately a self-centred emotion and quite alien to the Christian Gospel because it is actually a denial of Jesus Christ. It says that he didn’t do anything to change people or the world and that he lived, died and rose again in vain.

So the second reaction to the call to Repent may be more palatable.  This is to take the view that is opposite to guilt and which could be called SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS.  This approach takes the view that sin is what somebody else does and that it doesn’t really apply to me or you.  After all, we’re decent, upright pillars of the Church who, whilst we might acknowledge some general, unspecified sin in the general confession at the beginning of this service, don’t really let it bother us too much.  Of course, following the teaching of the Book of Common Prayer and what we learned in Confirmation classes we will have spent some time on Saturday evening in an examination of our consciences.  Naturally we may have come across one or two minor flaws in our life and possibly the odd tiny sin but then, we are only human, and anyway, compared to some we are blameless and good-living.  In case we start to feel guilty the best approach is to turn the spotlight away from ourselves and onto others. That really is fruitful ground because we can always, always, find fault with them.  Look at so and so and what they get up to!  Oh dear, perhaps we had better move swiftly on in case we get caught up with judging and blaming others.

So let’s move instead to the third attitude towards this word ‘Repent’.  I can assure you that we really will be on safe ground.  This is the THEOLOGICAL approach.  The way to really get to grips with a word like ‘Repentance’  is to treat it as a Theological idea and so discuss it philosophically. That way, we don’t have to act on it at all.  We can begin by looking at what the word MEANS. Before long we can see that before Repentance there must be Sin – and Sin in wrong-doing, and wrong-doing is something we see a lot of in the world.  Near to home we might think of someone such as a Politician in the news.  Further afield we can point to the Sudan, the Middle East, Iraq, Terrorists generally, dictators like Mr Mugabe; or those who tried to rig the Presidential elections in the Ukraine.  We’re on very safe ground here because we have moved away from any thought of personal repentance and turned it into a global problem.  It’s the sort of thing that we could write to the Church Times about, or our MP – or even start to write a book which examines the effect of Sin on our world. 

OK then, we’ve got it sewn up. Nothing in John the Baptist’s message need make us feel uncomfortable or challenged. This strange, young and slightly frightening man who cries in the wilderness ‘ ‘Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come near’ need spoil our preparations for Christmas. We can simply concentrate on decorating the tree, writing the Christmas cards, planning the Christmas meal, buying and wrapping presents and making sure that all is ready for the annual jamboree.  We can, in fact, turn our backs on the figure dressed in camel’s hair who had a liking for locusts and wild honey and close our ears to that disturbing cry to REPENT.

Or can we?

Well, you know that this sermon has got to have a sting in its tail so here it is: without Repentance we will never make sense of Christmas nor discover its true meaning.

At the heart of Christmas is the turning point – the pivot which overturns all those values and attitudes that prevent us finding God.  Repentance means, literally, to Turn Around. To re-turn – to turn back towards God. It is a positive action and a deliberate choice to live our lives with God’s values.  What John the Baptist is saying to us as he prepares us for Christmas – for Christ – is – BE FREE.

Be free from those things inside us which are not of God.

Be free of any self-image which does not reflect the image of God within us.

Be free from Guilt too because when Guilt flows into Repentance it disappears. It is healed by God.

Perhaps, most of all, the Baptist’s cry frees us from that ability we have to dilute the message of the Gospel by applying it to anyone but ourselves.

Be free, therefore, to approach Christ and accept that life lived with Him at the centre is real life; joyful life; proper life – a life that is like His Life – a life that is always turned towards God our Father.

Repentance is an action rather than a doctrine.  It involves us in turning around – and the ultimate purpose of this turning around is made clear in words which begin our Lord’s own ministry.  After John the Baptist had prepared the way for Him, Jesus completes John’s message. In St. Mark’s Gospel we read these words: 

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said, ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel.

That is what John wanted – and that’s what is required of us still.

By turning ourselves anew to God in this time before Christmas may we discover afresh – and with renewed joy – that Jesus IS our Good News – He is the Gospel on which the whole of our life turns.